Warning!!

[berry271909]

So the plumber has just left.
Let me explain. 7:30 this morning I heard a hiss coming from the bathroom. Seems the hot water pipe at the sink just burst. Just like that.

Apparently the new type of webbed metal pipe with a rubber core (used universally for the last 15years instead of copper) has a tendency to just burst without warning!
My post is to warn people to locate and practice using your stopcock. Keep it oiled as it took 2 men and a hammer to get mine moving - with boiling hot water gushing out for the whole 40 minutes it took.

I thought all I needed was to know where it was, never occurred to me to make sure I could turn it 🤦‍♀️

Oh gosh I hope not too much damage was done. This is a very good warning thank you

I must be mellowing with age because once the water was off I was "Oh well..." !!!

Do you mean the house stopcock?

There should be individual stop values for each tap as well.

That flexible pipe looks to be at too much of a right angle (twice) unless it’s the photo distorting the view.

My folks had a similar thing happen to them. Unfortunately they were on holiday at the time and there was extensive damage by the time it was discovered. For them, it was the toilet cystern that cracked. Apparently they can do that randomly after many decades

Huge insurance claim and three months of industrial dehumidifiers later it all looked quite nice.

Yes, house stopcock. I don't have a clue about any other stop valves for each tap. But I know how to turn my water off from the street now too!

Just really grateful it happened today when I was at home and not out at work.

Lonelycrab - horrible shock to come back from holiday to 😟

Yes, found that out too when the plumber came! All written down now for when/if anything like this happens again.

All our flexi pipes have individual isolators. I'd avoid having one without for reasons you'll now appreciate!

Oh no! I hope there hasn’t been too much damage!

We have individual isolator valves for every tap but I must admit, despite knowing where the indoor stopcock is and having a vague idea where the external valve is accessed from the driveway, I have never actually turned/accessed either.

I will gratefully heed your warning and check them!

If that is how it was installed it is obvious that whoever did it cut corners. The angles are too sharp for flexi tails and any decent plumber would have cut the copper pipe down to accommodate a better angle and also should have fitted an isolation valve. Or bent the copper to facilitate a better angle.

But yes, I too have had to turn off a stop cock in an emergency, mine was when they were digging out for my kitchen extension and the man on the digger came flying inside to tell me he had caught the main feed going into my house. I went into the kitchen to find water pouring out of the cupboard under the sink and when I opened the cupboard I was attacked by ice cold water. I had to feel for the stop cock blindly and turn it, first the wrong way then the right way. But I did know where it was.

I have Isolators on both the copper pipes which were also pointed out to me by the plumber.

Thanks for the input re the picture - this is actually the REPLACEMENT which the emergency plumber put on today!

Better than nothing, but now I know it is wrong this will be changed ASAP 😲

This happened to us recently. One of those pipes just split with no warning under our kitchen sink (there had been no leaks or drips). I had gone to bed and dh was just putting some bits in the dishwasher at about 11.30 at night. He yelled upstairs to me and I found him running around like a headless chicken. Luckily I remembered where the kitchen stopcock is and so hot water was only gushing everywhere for about 10 minutes. But it could so easily have been all night if he had come to bed a bit earlier! Terrible thought.