What do you do if drill through pipe?
Discussion
Just a question, that one should always know the answer to.
What happens if you drill through a wall (to hang a big picture) and you go into a water pipe. Central heating got water.
Anyone done this? What happens, what do you immediately need to do? What happened and how did you handle it?
Just want some ideas, so that if I ever find myself in the situation, I'm not just frozen watching a plasterboard wall melt in front of me as I panic over the wife's reaction.
Assuming pressurised system, and the stop cock does nothing?
What happens if you drill through a wall (to hang a big picture) and you go into a water pipe. Central heating got water.
Anyone done this? What happens, what do you immediately need to do? What happened and how did you handle it?
Just want some ideas, so that if I ever find myself in the situation, I'm not just frozen watching a plasterboard wall melt in front of me as I panic over the wife's reaction.
Assuming pressurised system, and the stop cock does nothing?
Defcon5 said:
Smash a hole in the plasterboard and seal the hole as much as you can with something to hand, then open the drain on the boiler to drain the water out of the system
Sorry in our house, the boiler is in the loft but we have a rad in the downstairs toilet with a drain nib (?) on it. I presume it's open this with a hose outside to drain the system? Then call home insurance? if you can't turn the water off then there is an issue, but get a clamp on asap
http://www.ebay.co.uk/bhp/pipe-repair-clamp
then when you work out how to turn the water off I would straight push-fit coupling to fix the pipe.
Im not an expert but that is what I would do.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/bhp/pipe-repair-clamp
then when you work out how to turn the water off I would straight push-fit coupling to fix the pipe.
Im not an expert but that is what I would do.
Firstly, think about where the pipes might be and don't drill there!
Second, if its plasterboard youre drilling it should be easy enough to stop as the drill bit breaks through the back of the board and to peep through the hole with a torch.
If you do drill through the pipes panic like f
k.
Second, if its plasterboard youre drilling it should be easy enough to stop as the drill bit breaks through the back of the board and to peep through the hole with a torch.
If you do drill through the pipes panic like f
k.I've done this to a modern pressurised system.
1) Find hole. I'd drilled straight into into it. Rating: Easy
2) Uncover hole. Crowbar, floorboards. Rating: Easy / Moderate
3) Panic as now released water cascades in a graceful arc over the bannister and in to the floor below. Rating: Easy.
4) Call plumber. Advice: take a wood screw and wrap it in PTFE tape. Screw it in to the hole, with some gusto. Rating: Easy, life is looking better. Less water.
5) Pay plumber to divert from his Xmas drinkies to fix pipe. Rating: Easy. Cost: Some many beers.
1) Find hole. I'd drilled straight into into it. Rating: Easy
2) Uncover hole. Crowbar, floorboards. Rating: Easy / Moderate
3) Panic as now released water cascades in a graceful arc over the bannister and in to the floor below. Rating: Easy.
4) Call plumber. Advice: take a wood screw and wrap it in PTFE tape. Screw it in to the hole, with some gusto. Rating: Easy, life is looking better. Less water.
5) Pay plumber to divert from his Xmas drinkies to fix pipe. Rating: Easy. Cost: Some many beers.
I've done this by cutting a rising main with a hacksaw (which I thought I'd frozen but hadn't).
1) Find hole. Rating: Easy.
2) Uncover hole. Rating: Not applicable as perfectly obvious.
3) Panic as now released water shoots out in straight line across kitchen cabinet. Rating: Easy.
4) Call plumber. Rating: Not applicable as cannot reach phone with finger over hole.
5) Try to think of way out of mess, whilst jammed half in/out of cabinet with finger over hole. Rating: Hard.
1) Find hole. Rating: Easy.
2) Uncover hole. Rating: Not applicable as perfectly obvious.
3) Panic as now released water shoots out in straight line across kitchen cabinet. Rating: Easy.
4) Call plumber. Rating: Not applicable as cannot reach phone with finger over hole.
5) Try to think of way out of mess, whilst jammed half in/out of cabinet with finger over hole. Rating: Hard.
I cracked a CH pipe upstairs on a pressurised system.
I don't know if it made any difference but I ran round and turned all the upstairs TRV's and the bathroom rad valves off and then just collected water until the pressure went out of the system. Not that much came out, thankfully.
Apparently I could have shut the flow and return valves at the boiler but there are horror stories of them leaking and needing to be replaced if you so much as look at them.
I don't know if it made any difference but I ran round and turned all the upstairs TRV's and the bathroom rad valves off and then just collected water until the pressure went out of the system. Not that much came out, thankfully.
Apparently I could have shut the flow and return valves at the boiler but there are horror stories of them leaking and needing to be replaced if you so much as look at them.
I would run round all the radiators above the hole and close off both valves, and if the pipe is located in a ceiling void i would then stab holes in the ceiling from below to releive the pressure on the plasterboard. You at least then only have the water from the pipework rather than.X number of radiators worth of extra water too.
Thats assuming i have nothing to hand to stop or reduce the leak.
Oh and if its a normal cold water pipe i would run like fk to the stop cock turn that off then pen up every tap on the ground floor
Thats assuming i have nothing to hand to stop or reduce the leak.
Oh and if its a normal cold water pipe i would run like f
k to the stop cock turn that off then pen up every tap on the ground floorEdited by dazwalsh on Sunday 20th December 00:11
Gas pipes - dont panic apply a bit of chewing gum over hole or tape it up - The pressure is only around 0.35 psi
Heating pipes? main priority is to release system pressure - if you can find the fill loop, open it into a bucket and whilst its doing that, find main cold water stop cock.
My house is a self build and I took digital photos of all floors,walls and ceilings before they were covered.
Heating pipes? main priority is to release system pressure - if you can find the fill loop, open it into a bucket and whilst its doing that, find main cold water stop cock.
My house is a self build and I took digital photos of all floors,walls and ceilings before they were covered.
In my previous house (1902 Highland manse) I once nailed down a squeaky floorboard in the bathroom. Nice job - no more squeaks.
5 years later we had the bathroom re-done and some floor boards needed to be lifted. Turns out I had nailed straight through the floor board and cleanly in to the centre of a copper hot water pipe. No leaks, nothing. Perfect seal.
Plumber cut out the damaged section and spliced in a new bit using brass connectors.
Went on holiday to France that afternoon. Came back a week later to discover the kitchen ceiling on the flooded kitchen floor. Seems the plumber had fitted crap connectors and one had split when the hot water came on and caused it to expand.
No real relevance to the OP but the screw / nail in the hole trick would seem to be a good temporary solution - for say 5 years or so!
TD
5 years later we had the bathroom re-done and some floor boards needed to be lifted. Turns out I had nailed straight through the floor board and cleanly in to the centre of a copper hot water pipe. No leaks, nothing. Perfect seal.
Plumber cut out the damaged section and spliced in a new bit using brass connectors.
Went on holiday to France that afternoon. Came back a week later to discover the kitchen ceiling on the flooded kitchen floor. Seems the plumber had fitted crap connectors and one had split when the hot water came on and caused it to expand.
No real relevance to the OP but the screw / nail in the hole trick would seem to be a good temporary solution - for say 5 years or so!
TD
TorqueDirty said:
In my previous house (1902 Highland manse) I once nailed down a squeaky floorboard in the bathroom. Nice job - no more squeaks.
5 years later we had the bathroom re-done and some floor boards needed to be lifted. Turns out I had nailed straight through the floor board and cleanly in to the centre of a copper hot water pipe. No leaks, nothing. Perfect seal.
Plumber cut out the damaged section and spliced in a new bit using brass connectors.
Went on holiday to France that afternoon. Came back a week later to discover the kitchen ceiling on the flooded kitchen floor. Seems the plumber had fitted crap connectors and one had split when the hot water came on and caused it to expand.
No real relevance to the OP but the screw / nail in the hole trick would seem to be a good temporary solution - for say 5 years or so!
TD
Truly the stuff of nightmares there! What did you do about it? Get him to pay for the repairs, or home insurance? 5 years later we had the bathroom re-done and some floor boards needed to be lifted. Turns out I had nailed straight through the floor board and cleanly in to the centre of a copper hot water pipe. No leaks, nothing. Perfect seal.
Plumber cut out the damaged section and spliced in a new bit using brass connectors.
Went on holiday to France that afternoon. Came back a week later to discover the kitchen ceiling on the flooded kitchen floor. Seems the plumber had fitted crap connectors and one had split when the hot water came on and caused it to expand.
No real relevance to the OP but the screw / nail in the hole trick would seem to be a good temporary solution - for say 5 years or so!
TD
Yes was not the perfect home coming.
It was clear the plumber was not going to do anything about the costs or repairs so I had to go through my own home insurance. Had to dry the house out first so we lived in a ruined house for 6 weeks with a load of giant fans blowing 24/7 to get the moisture out of the floors and walls.
All good in the end but it was not a great time.
Should have left the bathroom as it was - the new one never really did it for me anyway!
It was clear the plumber was not going to do anything about the costs or repairs so I had to go through my own home insurance. Had to dry the house out first so we lived in a ruined house for 6 weeks with a load of giant fans blowing 24/7 to get the moisture out of the floors and walls.
All good in the end but it was not a great time.
Should have left the bathroom as it was - the new one never really did it for me anyway!
Well, thanks for all the responses guys. Some good ideas should "a friend" ever find themselves in such a condition. As for me..... It has been confirmed, I need to move into rented accommodation safe in the knowledge they are not my walls or ceilings, so I have to resist the temptation to start drilling into them! Some true horror stories posted up there!! 
If it's a pressurised heating system, after the initial pressure has escaped, the system will then be held in a vacuum. So very little water should escape.
Providing you:
A) Have drain valves on your downstairs rads
B) They work.
You should plug the hole in the pipe with a screw, attach one end of the garden hose to the drain valve and lob the other outside and start draining the system. After you've electrically isolated the boiler!
Providing you:
A) Have drain valves on your downstairs rads
B) They work.
You should plug the hole in the pipe with a screw, attach one end of the garden hose to the drain valve and lob the other outside and start draining the system. After you've electrically isolated the boiler!
So I'm trying to be helpful...pop a picture up for the Inlaws in their new kitchen....and I stupidly drill through a hidden pipe...yes yes I should have used a metal detector...
Gallons of hot water start spewing at 90 degrees over the newly laid floor ....over the dining table....we are all frantically trying to stem the flow...stop cocks...towels...a true Sunday afternoon disaster...
In the mayhem I find this thread...(thank you OP and PH) out came the hammer to get at the pipe...and I manage to stop the flow with my index finger...
Then my Mrs comes down with two silicon earplugs....stuffed them in with a skewer and quite a remarkable hold and a complete seal....sufficient until we could eventually find an emergency plumber....
which incidentally took over two hours to find...as it appears most of those plumbers who claim to do emergency 24/7 call outs...don't on Sundays.
Great fix I thought...
Gallons of hot water start spewing at 90 degrees over the newly laid floor ....over the dining table....we are all frantically trying to stem the flow...stop cocks...towels...a true Sunday afternoon disaster...
In the mayhem I find this thread...(thank you OP and PH) out came the hammer to get at the pipe...and I manage to stop the flow with my index finger...
Then my Mrs comes down with two silicon earplugs....stuffed them in with a skewer and quite a remarkable hold and a complete seal....sufficient until we could eventually find an emergency plumber....
which incidentally took over two hours to find...as it appears most of those plumbers who claim to do emergency 24/7 call outs...don't on Sundays.
Great fix I thought...
Edited by AndrewCrown on Sunday 19th February 19:44
Gassing Station | Homes, Gardens and DIY | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff