Pipe not burst shock

[JohnD]

I am looking after an empty house, and had forgotten to turn off the supply to the garden tap

I went round a few days ago and turned off the underground stop-cock, to my surprise the pipe did not appear to be burst and was not squirting

It is an old threaded steel barrel pipe with bit of lead pipe wiped on and a brass bib-cock on it. The lead has previously been repaired with some kind of fibreglass and resin patch. The underground cock seems to have been replaced as it goes iron to copper on one side and copper to lead on the other. I know lead will bulge instead of bursting the first few times it freezes

 

[Bahco]

You are lucky as I have approx 15 metres of pipe exposed to the elements feeding 2 outside taps which gave me a nice water feature last week.

I forgot to drain it for the winter and am thankfully not on a water meter.