Leak !!

[hammers4spanner]

Just had an answer phone message from a cust of mine saying that a pipe has just fell out of a radiator and leaked water all over the floor!!

I put new rads on about 3 maybe 4 months ago all has been fine and suddenly this??

he did say in answer phone message that its leaking over new floor he has had done what you lot make of that.

 

[PlumbBobBob]

he's knocked it when laying the floor

 

[hammers4spanner]

My first thought is that floor layer has done something.

 

[ShaunCorbs]

but wouldnt cause the pipe to fall out tho,

would love to know how it was done

 

[tamz]

Danfoss rad valves if you don't use their olive (or another big one ) the nut hits the valve body before it compresses the ring.
I had this on a new build last year where the merchant sent 8-10's instead of 15mm so i just stuck olives i had in the van on.
I cant remember what i was doing but i noticed one of the pipes was turning in the valve and the olive hadn't compressed. They were all the same.
It was before the water went on so not a big deal to go round and fix them but it could have been a wash out

 

[WaterTight]

I suppose good reason to get back into habit of removing fitting and checking olive properly compressed. Got into that habit and somehow have got myself out of it again. Takes time but sounds worth it.

 

[Last Plumber]

I suppose good reason to get back into habit of removing fitting and checking olive properly compressed. Got into that habit and somehow have got myself out of it again. Takes time but sounds worth it.

Always !
Good habit, gives peace of mind

 

[Rickster123]

Working on the council it's amazing how many radiators and pipes just fall off. And apparently it's just a coincidence that there's either a morbidly obese tenant or half a dozen kids or both living there!

 

[joni os]

Nut running out of thread before olive properly compressed is now a frequent experience, especially on iso valves. Never had pipe fall out, but easy rotation of fitting cause for concern.

 

[hammers4spanner]

Been here this morning .
And literally fell out checked olive nice and compressed , looked at pipe seemed ok

It's a bulldog valve have had probs with these before so can only guess cheap manufacturer again

 

[hammers4spanner]

Been here this morning .
And literally fell out checked olive nice and compressed , looked at pipe seemed ok

It's a bulldog valve have had probs with these before so can only guess cheap manufacturer again

 

[oz-plumber]

Was the new floor in when you replaced the panels?

Does the piping come through the floor?
If so, is the new flooring slotted to fit the pipe or does the pipe come through a round hole.

Had this issue once and asked the customer how they managed to get a round hole a around the pipe without taking the radiator valve off?

HE said he didn't know, so I asked him to find out and claim through them.

Never heard back

 

[Best]

I check every olive is full on and compressed. Normally what I do is tighten the nut on the pipe and then take it off to paste the olive. That way it is belt and braces. Some olives are too hard a metal and take a lot of force to compress, plus also some threads can have tight spots and fool you into thinking the olive has tightened. So many variable fittings that use different olives, that you can't know for certain if all compressed. Very easy to make the mistake of having the pipe slip back and the tighten the olive not fully onto the pipe.
I saw one new heating job (not my work) where the pipe had suddenly fallen out of a rad valve in a hall and flooded a very good quality carpet. Customer couldn't get the installer back fast, so called me. The rad valves olive was copper and was partially compressed, but hadn't gripped the pipe by the looks of it.

 

[hammers4spanner]

Was back today to do some bits for them , looked at the fitting and olive again and looking back cheap valve should of ptfe the olive thicken it up . Back to basics and slow down to a gallop can't get it right every time i guess.