Kitchen burst under floor pipe but no water escaping!

[KingboyD]

Had a burst pipe in the kitchen under the floor (concrete with old tiles on top), it was the old redundant hot feed to the washing machine that is buried in concrete to run from 1 side of the kitchen to the other, it must have been leaking for about 12hrs, at its height it was enough to kick up my combi boiler before the supply was isolated. It started with a trickle that I noticed leaking outside where the washing machine/dishwasher waste pipe exits the house (waste pipe sits on the same concrete channel), I thought it was just that pipe that had come loose. Had to go out to return later & that's when I realised it was serious!

No significant amount of water has escaped that I can see, a large section of my kitchen floor is still warm nearly a day later.

Should I be worried? I have chopped & capped off the offending pipe so the leak is sorted & supply restored. I plan to inform my home insurers tomorrow of what's happened, do you think they will Do anything? Is my kitchen & bathroom above about to disappear into a sink hole!?!?

I'm hoping the water will just dispurse into the ground below my kitchen with no I'll effects.

Sorry for the long post!

 

[terryplumb]

at this stage I would not involve insurer. alerting them to an issue with your plumbing will make you a higher risk and a hike in premium .a few days won't change any liability they have.see how it goes . sounds like you identified problem early and hopefully limited the damage. in current weather unlikely a full blown burst, more likely the pipe buried in cement has suffered erosion. are there any other buried pipes ,cold maybe ? consider having them re routed

 

[KingboyD]

Thanks for you're reply Terry! Yes the cold feed really could do with being re-routed, it must have been a reasonably sized hole in the pipe as the flow was enough to kick up the boiler for hot water demand, just concerned as to where the water is/will go hehe

 

[terryplumb]

O I have known combos to fire up when hot taps constant drip.put your hot tap on very low find out what flow kicks it in. no easy way of finding out what's under floor ,water will always find the path of least resistance .is there anywhere that you can get to like under kitchen cabinets ,behind plinth etc

 

[KingboyD]

That's about the flow rate the combi kicks in so a decent amount of water flowing.

 

[terryplumb]

if it had been leaking at that rate would you not have seen a lot of water outside ,think you said near the waste for dishwasher was where you first noticed, did a trickle become a deluge ? by the way is all ground floor in your property concrete or is it just kitchen ?

 

[KingboyD]

You would have thought so but nothing visible outside, I could hear it flowing out so it was deffo leaking at that rate. The kitchen & the middle room in the house (old terrace house) are concrete, the front room is floor boards with a cavity.

 

[terryplumb]

wow ,that's got to be min 4 litres per min flow ,over 12 hours that's 2800 ltrs of water , so either 1.the escape of water is not as much and we are overestimating ,or 2 you have a small underground swimming pool. I have changed my mind on the insurers ,if it was my house I would want it investigated .

 

[KingboyD]

I don't know how long it was that bad for but it must have been a good few hours!

So you think it's best I give them a call!?

 

[terryplumb]

honestly, if it was my house I would be doing all I could to investigate myself .if floor tiles are old ceramic I would take plinth out and look under all the kitchen cabinets where usually tile edges are exposed .I'd take up floor covering in adjacent hall and have a look under floor boards in the crawl space if had one. and if I could not achieve peace of mind I would contact insurers for expert opinion

 

[Agile]

It can amaze me how quite a large flow under a floor can just soak into the ground.

I went to a house with all concrete floors and built about 500 mm higher than surrounding ground and a leak from the heating of about 10 litres per day made absolutely no effect inside or outside.

Another had a leaking pipe with about 8 li/min and although that had created a pond about 2m x 3m under the suspended floor that all quietly soaked away without the standing water getting any deeper.!