Leaking plumbing joint

[Rick Sanchez]

Hi

Looking for some advise on my central heating plumbing.

I have an issue with a leaking plumbing joint. It seems to be losing about 100 ml a day through constant dripping. Is this a screw fitting or is it just soldered?

I have tried Fernox LS-X leak sealer, but this hasn't worked and the joint is still losing as much water. Has anyone got any recommendations?

 

[ianmcd]

They are soldered joints , they will have to be cut out and replaced

 

[oldbuffer]

I may be wrong, but they look like soldered at the large (22 mm?) end, with compression joints on the smaller (15 mm and 12 mm?) exits.
If the above is correct then:
1. If the leak is from one or more of the compression joints:
1a. You might be able to tighten the nuts up a little and seal the joint. If you do this make sure the body of the fitting is held securely to prevent twisting of other pipework. Don't over tighten as you can easily crush the olive into the pipe, which will make the leak worse.
1b. You might have to remove the leaking compression joint, possibly fit a new olive and retry. Will require a drain down unless you can otherwise prevent water flow through the pipes (bung, freeze etc.)
2. If the leak is from one of the soldered joints, then the whole fitting will need replacing as ianmcd states. I'm not sure if the same fittings are still available.

 

[ianmcd]

I may be wrong, but they look like soldered at the large (22 mm?) end, with compression joints on the smaller (15 mm and 12 mm?) exits.
If the above is correct then:

You are spot on I have just looked at the pic on my laptop rather than phone and the branches are indeed some sort of compression fitting, I have to say I have never seen these before , well spotted

 

[Jackrae]

Looks like someone has soldered in screwed reducing bushes to use as solder reducing bushes

 

[terryplumb]

You will not be able to disassemble that. Cut them off and replace with soldered fittings.

 

[Rick Sanchez]

Hi

Thanks for the replies.

I can see from the photo why you might think they are compression joints, but its just a trick of the light. All of the pipes are completely round at the joints, there are no nuts.

It turns out there is a 22mm pipe which splits off to a 10mm and a 8mm pipe on the same junction. The whole thing will likely need resoldering unfortunately.