Blocking off a water pipe.

[JohnRoss]

Has anyone tried one of these push on stop ends/cap to seal off a water pipe. The pipe, 14mm, is within the interwall space and will not be easily getatable should it leak. Have already tried a compression fitting but despite tightening a couple of times still weeps a bit, used the finger tight then a quarter turn more method to start with. I am thinking that given the location maybe I should fit a soldered on cap, what think you?...........................JR  

[Théière]

Always carry them in my plumbing box great for emergencies.

[La Guerriere]

If its going to be in a hidden location there's no real substitute for a soldered end cap.

[Gluestick]

Paranoid me once again.

I would trace it back to source and chop out the feed.

Having been plagued by Fuites during the last two very cold Winters, the thought of leaving any joint, be it compression or soldered behind a wall fills me with dread.

Now French pipe is thicker walled than UK equivalent: and one 16 m.m. pipe this Winter ruptured between joints! It was like a pistule that erupted; then the pipe split along an obvious manufacturing weakness for over 1 c.m..................

 

[Jo]

I'm with Gluestick on this one, the last two winters have shown me pipes can leak from anywhere and everywhere along their length[blink]

[Chancer]

And regardless of the country of installation and wall thickness, due to the vagaries of exchage rate I have some French plumbing in the UK and vice versa.

My reckoning is that copper pipe would need to be 12"" hick to withstand freezing conditions, actually even then it wouldnt but the water is  less likely to freeze with 12" of copper around it.

I can attest though that at the end of last winter even though I had to deal with 10 ruptures of copper pipe, soldered joints pushed apart, cracked plastic shower valves and ruptured braided flexi hoses the copper push fit fitting that I had bodged onto a pipe in a finished cloison that I managed to drill through did not give way but the pipe had ruptured a few inches to one side of it necessitating yet more keyhole surgery.

The fitting inquestion was a non - removable copper bodied one that a pal in a plumbers merchans had given me to test.

I should add that all these pipes were either lagged or within insulated cloisons bu the building was unoccupied and without heating for the whole of the winter.

Conversely I had run some PE piping with push fit fittings under the floor (lack of access meant that was the only solution) it was uninsulated and basically hanging in the 3" void between the wooden floor and the ground, this neither split nor did the fittings push off or leak, it has survived 3 winters like this. I am talking about the rigid thinwall UK stuff, not the thicker stuff for underground use or the Frecnh stuff that comes in a gaine.

There is a lesson to be learned here, if only I could afford to use PE.

[Gluestick]

Interesting to me, JRC, that all of my bursts relate to defective joints made by the original French Plombiere, Franc: who allegedly works at the Nuclear Power Station near Dunquerke........

We have been waiting for a black mushroom cloud ever since!

I have gradually chased down the worst culprits; mainly the long feed pipe in the Greniere, which runs from the Ballon to the kitchen.

Come September, I am going to change this to (probably French) PER.

The ruptured tube, this Winter was thus far, a unique event: despite the temp dropping to -15C Winter before last, all that let go were badly sweated joints: same last Winter; with the singular exception of the rupture.

Mrs Gluey and I were considering naming our house, Le Petite Barraque des Fuites: however, resisted, in case this put off potential purchasers in a few years time!

[:)]

[Anton Redman II]

I have had  5 French plumbing fittings fail with pin holes stripped thread etc on less than 200 joints in France versus  none on 500 joints on the UK. NB none of these were caused by soldering versus braizing.

[JohnRoss]

Thanks for the advice folks. The brass end cap soldered on and no leaks so far. Bit worried when doing it as the interwall space was full of thick polystyrene sheeting so wedged in some soaking wet old towels around the job and had the missus standing by with the garden hose just in case the blow torch set light to it! This pipe tees off from the kitchen sink cold water feed about a metre away so no point in shortening it.

Not had any pipe freeze so far apart from the outside tap which I forgot to isolate and drain one winter. The tap split but the feeder tube in black plastic did not but it must have been frozen too. Downstairs feed comes up directly from below gound level from the cellar and the feeds to upstairs runs up between the walls close to the chimney which probably keeps them above freezing in winter. I notice that Générale des Eaux Services were offering an insurance to cover the cost of repairs to any outside pipes and the cost of any water lost for 3,99 Euros a month. It did not cover internal pipe work though, don't know if it would have been worth it as all our external pipework is below ground which did not freeze in the Winter of 2001 when we were away, or if it did it did no damage, and temperatures were lower at night than they have been since, -18C one night someone said...............JR

[Gluestick]

The Polystyrene is probaby smouldering, quietly, John, whilst you're sipping your well earned verre de vin...........

[6]

[AnOther]

I've done my share of plumbing but for the first time in 40 years odd I've recently experienced not one but two 14mm compression fitting nuts suffer cracking around the hexagon, fortunately without causing much consequential damage. These were on fittings which had been in place for maybe 2 years.

I guess, and hope, that it was probably just a bad batch of castings but nevertheless one does like to regard such items as 'fit and forget' and I would prefer not have to reclassify them as candidates for routine inspections !

[Chancer]

Most of the stuff is coming out of Chine these days, you find things like nuts that are too large for the BSF/BSW spanners, bores that wont slip over the pipe and backnuts that are unmachined or badly machined with casting marks showing.

I find that I have to check and double check everything these days.

[Dog]

I cannot believe Gluey does his own plumbing - what a comedown...

I employ a permanent handyman and he sources our plumbing fittings from an engineering company in Switzerland that makes quality plumbing fittings. They cost a little more but are defcon standard in most european countries.

[La Guerriere]

Those will be the ones they use in cuckoo clocks ... essential for good timekeeping.

[Gluestick]

[quote user="Dog"]

I cannot believe Gluey does his own plumbing - what a comedown...

I employ a permanent handyman and he sources our plumbing fittings from an engineering company in Switzerland that makes quality plumbing fittings. They cost a little more but are defcon standard in most european countries.

[/quote]

So you wouldn't have anything quantitative to add to this thread, nor the main topic area, then............................

Perhaps your handyman ought to join?

 

[Dog]

[quote user="Gluestick"][quote user="Dog"]

I cannot believe Gluey does his own plumbing - what a comedown...

I employ a permanent handyman and he sources our plumbing fittings from an engineering company in Switzerland that makes quality plumbing fittings. They cost a little more but are defcon standard in most european countries.

[/quote]

So you wouldn't have anything quantitative to add to this thread, nor the main topic area, then............................

Perhaps your handyman ought to join?

 

[/quote]

I have a lot to offer on this topic and others - I could for example offer you advice on how to find and employ a good handyman.

For all I know my handyman is already here.