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So we were woken by the sound of the radiator in our bedroom emptying of water! Didn’t take long to find it pouring out the lounge ceiling 🙄
Found the culprit pretty quickly - if I cleaned the end of the pipe, put on a new olive and did it back up is it likely to last or pop apart again at the first opportunity? Not sure if it’s the done thing or if I should be fitting a new section of pipe?
WWAPD?
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Also don’t turn the radiator off in the spare room above the garage when it’s minus 10. The pipes have presumably been frozen and thawed out this morning now it’s warmed up!
Found the culprit pretty quickly – if I cleaned the end of the pipe, put on a new olive and did it back up is it likely to last or pop apart again at the first opportunity? Not sure if it’s the done thing or if I should be fitting a new section of pipe?
So the pipe disconnected rather than split?
Normally the copper is the softest bit and just splits:
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/2867/10571556253_627da1b966_c.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/2867/10571556253_627da1b966_c.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/h7aZng ]Burst pipe section[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/brf/ ]Ben Freeman[/url], on Flickr
Refitting an olive should be OK as long as you get a good seal.
Olive should hold if it doesn't leak once re-pressurized. If you put clamps onto the brick or timber either side of that valve, it won't have the chance to move about and pop.
I'd guess that the nut on that valve couldn't have been fully tightened & crushed the olive in the first place, for it to have come apart like that.
I'd give the end of the pipe a bit of a sand down to smooth it off & stick a new olive on.
So the pipe disconnected rather than split?
Yes although I haven’t checked the run to the radiator & back yet, so it might be split further along.
Is the pipe under tension for it to pop out like that? Does it need a slightly longs pipe?
Does sound very unusual, normally the pipe is inside the fitting with at least 15mm overlap, so to be pushed out like that, suggests it was never a very sound connection in the first place.
It was. You can see the witness marks where the fitting sat on the pipe. My guess it was watertight but not mechanically sound and its moved with the frozen water.
It was. You can see the witness marks where the fitting sat on the pipe. My guess it was watertight but not mechanically sound and its moved with the frozen water.
This is my theory too.
I’ll check that there isn’t tension pulling them apart and then get up there with the wire wool and put it back together.
Original issue fixed, new short section of pipe and reconnected to valve.
Started to fill system and there’s a soldered joint on the other pipe that’s also popped 🙄
Another short section of pipe in place 👍