Help Required : Mains Water Leak Under Sink

[WillCampbell]

Hello,

I am hoping someone on this forum may be able to offer me some advice.

I had a big water leak this morning from the mains water supply into the house, under the sink. The leak occured before the shut off tap that i could have used to turn the water off internally and had to turn the water off on the street in order to stop the leak. There is a plastic adaptor that connects the plastic water pipe under the house to the copper pipe that feeds the water up towards the stopcock and this had totally blown off.

Is this normal and does anyone have any idea why this would have failed? I am not a plumber and need to wait untill later tonight for someone to arrive

Thanks in advance

 

[rpm]

Hello,

I am hoping someone on this forum may be able to offer me some advice.

I had a big water leak this morning from the mains water supply into the house, under the sink. The leak occured before the shut off tap that i could have used to turn the water off internally and had to turn the water off on the street in order to stop the leak. There is a plastic adaptor that connects the plastic water pipe under the house to the copper pipe that feeds the water up towards the stopcock and this had totally blown off.

Is this normal and does anyone have any idea why this would have failed? I am not a plumber and need to wait untill later tonight for someone to arrive

Thanks in advance

Is what normal? I can tell you now the guys will need a couple of photos to even start to understand.

 

[WillCampbell]

Sorry for the poor description guys - what i mean is the mains water pipe (plastic) comes into the house, and into universal pipe coupler that allows it to join with the copper pipe that then goes up and into the stopcock. I just wondered if that set up is normal or if its common for joint to fail
[automerge]1567419789[/automerge]

 

[ballvalve]

You need some better pics, close up and more of them.

 

[snowhead]

No it's not normal for a fitting to blow off a pipe.
Either it wasn't originally fitted correctly, copper pipe not pushed in far enough or incorrect fitting used, or the fitting itself has failed.

 

[rpm]

Sorry for the poor description guys - what i mean is the mains water pipe (plastic) comes into the house, and into universal pipe coupler that allows it to join with the copper pipe that then goes up and into the stopcock. I just wondered if that set up is normal or if its common for joint to fail
[automerge]1567419789[/automerge]

Don`t apologise, we don`t expect people to know what this, that or other is called
Sorry Will but can you somehow highlight the joint that seperated in a photo. What colour is this coupler and is in the photo above?

 

[Chuck]

You have my sympathy, an open supply pipe causes a lot of mess and damage in a very short space of time. Make sure nothing electrical got soaked and get an electrician to check your wiring if in doubt.

No it's not normal for a fitting to blow off a pipe.
Either it wasn't originally fitted correctly, copper pipe not pushed in far enough or incorrect fitting used, or the fitting itself has failed.

Other possibilities are water hammer (banging noise when a tap or valve shuts off) or a pumping fault at the water company, which caused the mains pressure to rise (unlikely).

If there is enough damage for you to need to make an insurance claim your insurer may want to inspect the point of failure to establish cause.

 

[WillCampbell]

Plumber arrived early hes told me that it was the philmac coupler for connecting the underground plastic mains water supply to the copper pipe that feeds up into the stopcock.

He has no idea how it failed but suspects it was not fitted properly as no evidence of damage could be seen

 

[Aire]

Plumber arrived early hes told me that it was the philmac coupler for connecting the underground plastic mains water supply to the copper pipe that feeds up into the stopcock.

He has no idea how it failed but suspects it was not fitted properly as no evidence of damage could be seen

Chances are you've been knocking the stop tap while rummaging for cleaning products. If you've had a poorly fitted joint it can only take a few knocks before it causes a leak.

 

[WillCampbell]

Chances are you've been knocking the stop tap while rummaging for cleaning products. If you've had a poorly fitted joint it can only take a few knocks before it causes a leak.

Thanks Craig, plumber was surprised that there was no evidence of failing / cracking on the philmac coupler so it must have just been fitted poorly by the previous owners of the house