sweating pipes

[littlewil]

Evening all,

I'm after abit of advice if I may, the problem is i seem to have a hot and cold water feed running from my kitchen up to the bathroom above, these have been chased into the wall by the previous owner as I didn't know they we're there until I noticed what resembled a damp line on the wall! I moniterd it to make sure there wasn't a leak and by magic the line disappeared now this has been happening like this for a couple of weeks! what I would like to know is whether I should dig out the wall and make sure if everything is ok with the pipe work or leave alone? the only annoying thing is the pipes are sweating and why?

thanks in advance

 

[Murf520970]

dunno might be condensation forming on the cold pipe if it was leaking wouldnt it be permanantly damp

 

[Onetap]

The plaster or mortar is porous and the water vapour in the air can penetrate it to the pipe. The cold weather recently probably means the mains water is colder when it comes out of the buried cold water main, so the water vapour condenses on the pipe. You know the rest.

Surface mounted has much to recommend it, you can insulate it properly for one thing.

 

[littlewil]

thanks for both replies.

should I dig out what ever is over the pipes and insulate them? having had another look the pipes run surface mounted behind the kitchen units and are then buried in the wall just before coming above the worktop!

 

[libby lou lou]

If you dig them out, they may not need insulation as they can now breath.