Water or gas pipe?

[richandjo]

Probaby a daft question but is there an easy (and safe!) way to identify whether a pipe carries water or gas?

Want to tee from a 15mm water pipe in the cellar to supply ice making machine (mains pressure). Can see 22mm gas pipe and 10mm central heating pipes (old house!) down there. Have turned on central heating and hot tap to see if pipe is affected but remains cold.

Pipe rises towards upstairs but can't see where it goes. No gas appliances upstairs.

Any means of testing or any tips, please, without spending fortunes on a posh tester (if such a device exists) or having to call British Gas to make an emergency repair?!

Thanks...

 

[dreadnoughtheating]

It is best-practice to label Gas pipes accordingly, painted yellow. or adhesive tape with GAS on it.

As for water, if you apply a 'soundstick' (a long screwdriver will do), get someone else to turn a tap on and listen for the unmistakable sound of moving water.

DH

 

[Agile]

Surely if in a cellar you can at least follow it in each direction and see where it goes or where it comes from ???

The daft advice is to drill a hole in it and see what comes out! DONT DO THAT !

 

[muggles]

If you can't see where it comes from or where it goes to then you're a little bit stuffed. You seem to have identified that it's not a DHW or central heating pipe, which leaves either cold, gas, or defunct. You could try turning a mains cold tap on a bit and seeing if you can hear water running through the pipe, or you could try freezing it with a freeze kit. If a tap stops working it's a cold pipe, if no taps stop it's either gas or disused.

Alternatively get a Gas Safe plumber to come in and have a look, they can at least safely isolate the gas and cut into the pipe.

Word of warning though, if it's in your cellar it may be the incoming main, upstream of the stopcock, so make sure your outside stopcock works or you'll end up with an underground swimming pool

 

[Agile]

It is best-practice to label Gas pipes accordingly, painted yellow. or adhesive tape with GAS on it.

DH

Would that be yellow ochre ?

Do you know why Landrover's default colour is dull green?

 

[richandjo]

It is best-practice to label Gas pipes accordingly, painted yellow. or adhesive tape with GAS on it.

As for water, if you apply a 'soundstick' (a long screwdriver will do), get someone else to turn a tap on and listen for the unmistakable sound of moving water.

DH

Thanks but how does this soundstick work? What do you mean by "apply"? Sorry if I'm being dim.

Needless to say, no colour or tape markings on the pipe.

 

[richandjo]

Word of warning though, if it's in your cellar it may be the incoming main, upstream of the stopcock, so make sure your outside stopcock works or you'll end up with an underground swimming pool

Good point about supply pipe. Hadn't thought of that. Frightening thought!

 

[Agile]

Thats why its best to ask first!

You would be surprised how many stopcocks dont work or the householder does not have a tool or does not know where it is or its just jammed.

A neighbour broke a 3/4" stopcock supplying 8 houses after digging up the lead pipe in his garden.

I managed to reduce the flow to about 11 li/min ( unpaid ! ) but by then it was flowing down the lane and potentially mixing with sewage.

The next day ( earliest ) Severn Trent Inspector came to see it but was very uninterested and said they would replace the stopcock in about three weeks! So much for saving water!

Tony

 

[dreadnoughtheating]

It is best-practice to label Gas pipes accordingly, painted yellow. or adhesive tape with GAS on it.

As for water, if you apply a 'soundstick' (a long screwdriver will do), get someone else to turn a tap on and listen for the unmistakable sound of moving water.

DH

Thanks but how does this soundstick work? What do you mean by "apply"?

Its straightforward, hold one end on the pipe(s) and stick your lughole on the other end.

Old school water inspectors have a semi-spherical (?) cup to encase their lugholes on the end of theirs.

DH

 

[coliholic]

How about trying one of the self drilling pipe connectors as typically used for plumbing in a washing machine?

http://www.screwfix.com/p/self-cutt...C7mSVjPtt8ftkMkhTkQ1hThsytQsZlLw2V3!500919023

If it turns out to be a water pipe, well the job's done for you, there's your tee to your ice maker without going to the bother of turning off the supply and if it turns out to be gas, well just close the tap and either leave it or call Britich Gas or a plumber to fix it properly.

 

[mcmoby69]

How about trying one of the self drilling pipe connectors as typically used for plumbing in a washing machine?

http://www.screwfix.com/p/self-cutt...C7mSVjPtt8ftkMkhTkQ1hThsytQsZlLw2V3!500919023

If it turns out to be a water pipe, well the job's done for you, there's your tee to your ice maker without going to the bother of turning off the supply and if it turns out to be gas, well just close the tap and either leave it or call Britich Gas or a plumber to fix it properly.

suicide!
richandjo, if you have kids you will ignore the post above, if you value your life and your property ditto......
call a registered gas installer. if you do decide to do the washing machine tap trick and it is a gas pipe. turn it of at the gas meter. PLEASE!!!!!

(edit) or at least call a plumber who can tell the difference.

 

[Dan Robinson]

And the winner of the dumbasz of the day award goes to..........

How about trying one of the self drilling pipe connectors as typically used for plumbing in a washing machine?

http://www.screwfix.com/p/self-cutt...C7mSVjPtt8ftkMkhTkQ1hThsytQsZlLw2V3!500919023

If it turns out to be a water pipe, well the job's done for you, there's your tee to your ice maker without going to the bother of turning off the supply and if it turns out to be gas, well just close the tap and either leave it or call Britich Gas or a plumber to fix it properly.

 

[ChrisOxford]

That's a nice idea, Coliholic, but as the others have said, far too dangerous to actually try, surely?! Note that the OP said easy and SAFE.

What if it the pipe were the feed to the gas meter and the self-cutting tap didn't seal properly, for example?

Or if the tap leaked slightly, which is entirely possible, as they're neither designed nor approved for gas?

Gas in cellars is particularly dangerous. One of our neighbours had the bright idea of digging up his garden to make himself a cellar, and 9 months (and £100K plus) later, he has a small, dungeon-like extra room.

In the past, whenever I've reported a smell of gas in the road (happens all the time because it's an ancient cast iron main surrounded by clay with double-decker buses going down the road every 5 minutes), Transco have come out, done some tests, then returned several days later to dig up the road. But now, the digging starts within a few minutes, all because one single property in the road now has a cellar (according to the chap in charge last time, anyway).

 

[big-all]

you do own the property up to roof level ??
as in not someone elses supply
i live in a mid terrace and my supply goes through next doors kitchen

 

[richandjo]

you do own the property up to roof level ??
as in not someone elses supply
i live in a mid terrace and my supply goes through next doors kitchen

Yes, the house is detached and all ours.

The main stop cock goes to the corner of the house, well away from the cellar pipe in question, so probably unlikely to be main supply pipe. That said, I wouldn't take the chance and certainly wouldn't drill into it without 1) knowing what it contained and 2) without being sure that its contents were switched off at source!

Thanks for all of the helpful replies.

If it turned out to be the water supply pipe (and I switched off the supply at the water meter (definitely an option as was done a few days ago by a builder)), is there anything stopping me (from a regulations point of view) adding another stop cock between the meter and the tee I want to add?