Leaking external bathroom sink pipe

[sundaybighouse]

Hi guys, the external pipe for my bathroom sink is leaking at the seal as shown below.

The pipe is wedged against the roughcast and like the rest of my plumbing seems to be just sealed with tonnes of silicone.

I would like to do a more permanent repair but I don't understand how it's put together as the top half has some sort of plastic covering and the bottom looks to be the original pipe.

Could you advise me on how I go about making the repair?

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Thanks

 

[ChrisOxford]

...I don't understand how it's put together

And nor do I. And the lack of replies suggests no-one else does either

What a bodgy mess! It almost looks like someone's slipped a length of modern plastic waste over the old, narrower waste, and hoped some silicone would make it watertight. Or maybe all that plastic nonsense is just someone's idea of insulation? Or even a "bandage" to repair a pipe that froze and split.

Can you have a look at your neighbours' waste pipes to see what they've done with theirs?

What's the "original pipe" at the bottom made of? Plastic, copper or iron? Iron will attract a magnet, copper won't.

And what's the newer pipe made of where it comes through the wall on the inside? Does it go straight to the trap on your basin?

I suspect the solution is to rip it all out and do it properly, rather than try to mend what you've got.

C.

 

[sundaybighouse]

Thanks for the reply Chris. Yeah judging by the rest of my plumbing I'm not surprised this is a bodgy mess.

I posted a problem about my soil stack recently and that had the same response. To be honest my whole house has been a disaster since I've moved in. It seems nothing has been done well.

Anyway back to this problem.

- I had a look at my neighbour's(not exactly same style of house as mine). His is a length of copper going into the ground:

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- I think the bottom half is copper cause it doesn't attract a magnet. It's not plastic anyhow.

- I can't see the entry point of the top bit as it had been encased by some sort of tile cabinet. There is a modern piece of white piping that goes from the sink towards the encased part:

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When you say rip it all out, could you explain what that involves exactly.

Much appreciated.

I'll be back online in an hour or so.

 

[ChrisOxford]

- I had a look at my neighbour's(not exactly same style of house as mine). His is a length of copper going into the ground... I think the bottom half is copper cause it doesn't attract a magnet. It's not plastic anyhow.

Your neighbour's looks neat, doesn't it?! I agree that the original is probably copper. It certainly doesn't look like lead which was the other nonferrous metal commonly used for wastes. Scrape a little bit of paint off yours to see what colour the metal is.

I can't see the entry point of the top bit as it had been encased by some sort of tile cabinet. There is a modern piece of white piping that goes from the sink towards the encased part.

The waste pipe under the sink is nice, modern plastic stuff, probably 32mm solvent weld (i.e. glued together). Your problem is seeing where this goes and what happens where it turns and goes through the wall. A mirror and torch may help.

Can you work out what the "botchy bit" actually is? Is it plastic on top of metal, or entirely plastic where it enters the wall to the bathroom?

When you say rip it all out, could you explain what that involves exactly.

Basically, remove the botchy looking bits, then replace it with plastic, solvent-weld waste to match that under the sink, and finally connect it to the old, copper(?) waste, using a proprietry connector which should be available from a specialist plumbers' merchants (not a DIY shop). Possibly something like this, though I'm sure there's a neater/better option: http://www.screwfix.com/p/flexi-waste-straight-coupling-30-38mm/29220

Would be interested to see what the professional plumbers advise. I'm not one of them!!

Good luck.

 

[sundaybighouse]

Thanks for the advice Chris.

I ripped off the plastic top and surprise surprise it was covering an 8cm gap.
So basically they just covered it with plastic and rammed it to death with silicone and hoped it would hold just like you said:


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They are both copper pipes (30mm internal diameter).

The bit that goes into the wall is also copper and its not leaking.

I am familiar with the coupling valves in your link as the guys on the forum advised me to fix my soil stack with one and it worked very well.

Do you think I can get one to cover this 8cm gap or do I have to do :-

coupler to plastic solvent-weld waste to coupler to the copper pipe?

Thanks again Chris

 

[ChrisOxford]

We're getting somewhere now!

I can't make out exactly what's going on in the pictures, but it's certainly a mess. At least the bit coming through the wall seems OK, but gawd knows how they've joined the solvent weld to it on the inside.

I think two of those "universal" waste joiners plus a bit of pipe of appropriate diameter might make a reasonable long-term repair, certainly better than what you've got at the moment. Might be worth measuring the diameter of the copper pipe and taking a trip to your local friendly plumbers' merchants.

C.

 

[sundaybighouse]

Yeah I'm going to see whats available this afternoon.

Thanks for all your help.

 

[sundaybighouse]

Well I've done the repair. The 1 1/4" (£3.63 from local plumbing merchants) fitted well but was 3" long, it was just a tad short, so I had to buy two and fit a slither of pipe inbetween them.

It's certainly not leaking now. I'm not too bothered about the aesthetics as it's at the back of the house and it's still to be painted.

I was thinking, I haven't used any sort of glue. Is this a mistake?

Also, in an ideal world, how should it be installed correctly? Should there be one continuous pvc pipe going from where it enters the wall into the ground?

Like you said I hope they haven't botched where they've joined the solvent weld to it on the inside!

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[ChrisOxford]

Not a work of art, and the experts would probably tut tut, but it's a million times better than before, for very little effort and outlay. A result in my book.

No "glue" needed on this type of fitting.

Once you're satisfied there are no leaks, you could possibly box it in to make it look neater, maybe with a section of half-round guttering and a stopend, siliconed to the wall. Easy to prise off when acces is required. And it would protect the rubbery couplers from UV which might degrade them prematurely.

Also, in an ideal world, how should it be installed correctly? Should there be one continuous pvc pipe going from where it enters the wall into the ground?

Probably the neatest way would have been to source some copper pipe of the same diameter and some straight couplers, but I've no idea if copper waste accessories are made any more. Probably expensive now if they still exist.

And I would guess that most plumbers would have run modern solvent-weld MuPVC all the way from your basin trap, through then down the wall, and connected it to the copper stump coming up from the ground using some kind of coupler not unlike yours. But this might have involved a lot of making-good in your bathroom.

As you suggest, solvent-weld all the way from trap to inspection chamber (or whatever) would be ideal, but would be making a mountain out of a molehill IMHO.

Once again, I'm no professional plumber though

 

[sundaybighouse]

And I would guess that most plumbers would have run modern solvent-weld all the way from your basin trap, through then down the wall, and connected it to the copper stump coming up from the ground using some kind of coupler not unlike yours.

A job for next summer I think!

Thanks again

 

[ChrisOxford]

If not the one after that

 

[xr4x4]

Looks like someone's removed a tee from another pipe feed.

 

[ChrisOxford]

Ah, well spotted.