Plumbing frozen pipe help needed

slinga

We've been overseas since last October and will return to UK in a month or so. So the house was empty and not heated during the big freeze.

Before we left I turned off the water at the stop !!!!/water meter in the street.

What should I do when we return?
How do I check for damaged pipes without a massive leak occurring?

It's a 60 year old house, so the pipes and fittings will be 'imperial sizes'.
If I have to replace some pipework will the newer metric sized pipes and fittings fit onto my imperial pipework.

Any other advice.

Thanks.

GuidoT

After turning off the stopcock, did you drain all the systems where possible? If you did this will have lessened prospects for leaks.

Anyways before you turn on the water, you should undertake a visual check of as much pipework as possible to see if there is any evidence of burst pipes, but the reality is that it is not always possible to see the consequences of frozen pipes (without water flowing through them) never mind that a lot of the pipework would be concealed within a house.

You should isolate off as many systems as you can, then turn on the stop c0ck partially and then open one system at a time and then watch for evidence of leaks. Bit crude I know.

googler

Turn the water on slowly, rather than from zero to full pressure in one go.

If there is any damage, this will minimise the leakage. It will also depend on how patient you are.

You could always pay a plumber his regular hourly rate to be present when you're doing this so that he's on hand if anything does go wrong, and you don't have to pay a callout rate for an emergency plumber......

2010

Turning the water off at the stopc0ck will only stop anymore water coming in.
The water that`s already in the tanks and system will still caused damage if a burst pipe has occurred.
I think it will be pretty obviously if this has happened as soon as you enter the house.
If you have C/H, the system should have been drained and the tanks emptied for going away for a long period in winter.
Most insurance companies only cover you for 30 days away at a time.

slinga

Any thing to say about connecting imperial to metric pipework?

mart.vader

Turn on stop valve slowly as advised above - Listen for sound (or evidence) of dripping water inside house - If you have a storage tank, wait for it to refill. When tank and toilet cistern(s) have refilled, go out to meter - if its still going round with all taps turned off, you have a leak somewhere.

Provided that there are no tanks or cisterns refilling and if the meter is not going round, then you don't have a leak.

Plumbing shops sell adapters for imperial to metric pipework. If you have a leak, turn the water off again and call a plumber.

jafsie

slinga wrote: »

Any thing to say about connecting imperial to metric pipework?

That's no problem at all it's just a 1/2 x 15mm adaptor
or 3/4 x 22mm and so on

slinga

I don't think I'll be lucky but IF at first there was no leak is one likely to develop.

I can't think of any way to pressure test the system.

What about after a few hours and no leak then turning a tap on and off quickly therebye causing a water shock.
Does that increase the pressure.
And if I go away for a couple of weeks in about two months time should I turn the water off then or has the possibility of leak passed by that time???????????

Thanks again to all.

Canucklehead

slinga wrote: »

I can't think of any way to pressure test the system.

Thanks again to all.

I can or do you feel lucky?


GSR

GuidoT

slinga wrote: »

I don't think I'll be lucky but IF at first there was no leak is one likely to develop.

I can't think of any way to pressure test the system.

What about after a few hours and no leak then turning a tap on and off quickly therebye causing a water shock.
Does that increase the pressure.
And if I go away for a couple of weeks in about two months time should I turn the water off then or has the possibility of leak passed by that time???????????

Thanks again to all.

I think you worry too much.

I am no expert, but if pipework systems have been affected through frozen water, the problem will be evident quickly and will not manifest themselves many months later.

If you are going away again and want to be ultra cautious then turn off the water at the stop c0ck and drain the systems. Personally I would not bother, in particular as winter should be over by then.

2010

Whenever I go away, even just for a few days, I always turn the water off at the stopc0ck.