You know when its not your day!

[yellowvanman]

 

[Andy78]

LOL ! Got to love it when you find a diagonal cable.


Today was not my day but strangely also was my day.

I drilled a joist without looking, it popped through and luckily just nicked a lead pipe. No damage done, take a bit of ribbing from my workmate and move on. That could have been bad !

40 minutes later workmate drills through a joist without looking and straight into a lead pipe. Mains cold feed, water hitting the opposite wall, everything soaked, water coming through the ceiling onto the neatly stacked kitchen units yet to be assembled. Plumber turns the water off at the buried lead stop tap poking out the wall, it turns off 90% then snaps off.

Luckily we got to the kitchen units with cloths and buckets before any damage was done, the plumber nipped off to the merchants, repaired the lead damage, installed a new stop tap further down the line, and managed to get the old tap open again.... all for a few quid in his pocket.

Bad luck and good luck sort of evened themselves out today.

 

[the pict]

Lead ? thought that was deemed unsuitable back in the 80,s we had whole streets dug up, council houses had any trace of lead stripped ou,t businesses were given like a year to comply, theives and ne'er do-wells had a field day at yards all over Scotland,

 

[Marvo]

I'm impressed you plumber could repair lead, I'm guessing most new-school plumbers couldn't.

 

[shanky887614]

I'm impressed you plumber could repair lead, I'm guessing most new-school plumbers couldn't.

ill be honest marvo, they do actually teach lead welding at college or at least when i was there in 2010/11 as part of the course

 

[Marvo]

I'm surprised. I was also taught how to do a wiped lead joint on pressurized cables at college. Doubt I could do one now though, I haven't worked on lead cabling for over 25 years.

 

[shanky887614]

I'm surprised. I was also taught how to do a wiped lead joint on pressurized cables at college. Doubt I could do one now though, I haven't worked on lead cabling for over 25 years.

don't mention lead cable technics and micc is just show and tell at the college i went to

 

[Deleted member 9648]

I got a call to a 'no hot water' old dear on Friday, stat on immersion failed, withdrew it about 3" and a fountain of water erupted from the stat tube! Panic for a few seconds as I scramble for the gate valve....even more panic when I discover the valve is stuck solid.....10 minutes later and a lot of water everywhere I finally shut it off. Turned out the tube the stat is in had rotted right off and was just hanging on until I moved it. I knew it wasn't going to be my day that's for sure.

 

[shanky887614]

I got a call to a 'no hot water' old dear on Friday, stat on immersion failed, withdrew it about 3" and a fountain of water erupted from the stat tube! Panic for a few seconds as I scramble for the gate valve....even more panic when I discover the valve is stuck solid.....10 minutes later and a lot of water everywhere I finally shut it off. Turned out the tube the stat is in had rotted right off and was just hanging on until I moved it. I knew it wasn't going to be my day that's for sure.

never trust a gate valve always isolate and drain it instead.

that was the first thing i was taught when i did a plumbing course, gate valves always seize even ones that look new and in good condition.

the isolation valves you get on toilets and sinks etc are a lot more reliable

 

[Deleted member 9648]

never trust a gate valve always isolate and drain it instead.

that was the first thing i was taught when i did a plumbing course, gate valves always seize even ones that look new and in good condition.

the isolation valves you get on toilets and sinks etc are a lot more reliable

True....but you don't normally expect to get wet withdrawing a stat!

 

[Andy78]

I'm impressed you plumber could repair lead, I'm guessing most new-school plumbers couldn't.

No impressive skills with lead repair I'm afraid. A plastic lead lock coupler was obtained.

 

[Marvo]

Awwww, c'mon. You can't call that a lead repair, that's an irrigation pipe fitting!!! I got all excited, I thought he actually done a real lead repair...you know....with a blow torch.

 

[davesparks]

Even I can manage to repair a lead pipe better than that!

 

[Andy78]

Apparently it was sold as a lead specific fitting, he was surprised too as he was expecting a brass leadlock fitting.
By his own admission he had no experience with proper lead repair.

 

[NDG Elecs]

View attachment 29897View attachment 29898

Unlucky mate! I would have maybe held a torch flush with the wall to see if there were any tell tale signs of a chase bring there as that sometimes shows them up even after a skim coat. Especially with the socket below. But hindsight is a great thing! At least you didn't hit a pipe and need a plumber to sort. It's nearly the weekend!!

I'm about to holesaw a ceiling to run a main bond; wish me luck, haha!!