What would you do about this inaccessible weeping joint? (Pics)

[pb2012]

Hi all,

I have an en-suite which has a radiator and a weeping flow connector.

The joint/connection is some kind of pushfit I think (or similar). It is behind a tiled wall that is inaccessible. I can get in to the void behind there via removing the small sink unit, BUT, the flow to the rad goes up through a bit of timber in to a totally inaccessible area.

The leak is intermittent. It sometimes leaks sometimes doesn't. It leaked a fair bit for 3 days, and now hasn't leaked at all for 3 days.

Obviously, I can't ignore it. I couldn't go on holiday and just leave it.

Is my only option to remove rad, chip a few tiles off, pull the joint through the gap a bit and replace the fitting? Or could a good shove re-seat the pipe in to the fitting?

I'd rather not make a mess!

 

[oldbuffer]

1. How do you know it is the connector which is leaking? Just because the water appears there doesn't mean it is the culprit. Could be leaking elsewhere and tracking down the pipe to the connector.
2. Assuming the heating has been on and off during the three days it hasn't leaked suggests it may not be a heating pipe leak at all. Leaks rarely stop of their own accord.
3. First job is to ascertain exactly where the leak is. Try wrapping kitchen type paper (blue is best) around pipe and see where it gets wet first.
4. A good shove could just as easily dislodge a fitting as reconnect it, so I wouldn't advise trying that until you have access.
5. Unless the leak is that elbow at the right hand side of your first picture, I think you're going to have to remove tiles.
6. If you do have to go away before fixing it, drain down the heating system and turn the water off at the mains before going. Be mindful of freezing if going away in winter.

 

[Mottie]

Moist toilet tissue. Tidy.

 

[ScottishGasMan]

Your going to have to take tiles off and open the area around the fitting. A shove may engage the pipe better with the fitting, but if it came loose in the first place then its probably been fitted wrong and to remove the pipe to clean and refit you have to be able to undo the screwed collar around the fitting.

TBH that's a horrendous job that's been done of the fitting. If it were mine I'd want to cut it all out and do it again correctly so its not a constant worry in future.

 

[dilalio]

That looks like it can all be done from behind the wall. Just carefully multitool the studs to gain access to the pipework, the wall will hold up as it is all boarded and tiled. When the leak has been fixed you can then screw a brace back onto the studs to span the section you removed.

 

[Bodgedbuild]

If the JG connector is embedded in adhesive etc I would isolate the rad or drop the water, remove the rad and run a 17mm drill right through the connector. I'd then push a copper pipe through the new hole after picking out any bits and plug it into the elbow in the first pic.