Help! New Bathroom Leaking - Who pays?

simonj007

keystone wrote: »

A pic would be nice as am off out now and not back til late tonight. Whats perfectly vertical? How does it make the (assumed in this case as I don't know yet) 90 degree turn to go onto the horizontal spigot on the waste? Normally you'd have a nice curve in it (hence the corrugated nature of most). Oh I wonder if its been cut too short, popped off anyway as a result and the J clip was the only way of getting it to stay in place?

Cheers

Good call!!! That could be exactly it - pipe too short!

Yes, it is the curvy corrugated type with push-fit at the end with what looks like two rubber bungs to hold it in place.

simonj007

Here's a link to the photo I took with the jubilee clip now in place:

http://tinypic.com/r/2ppaoet/6

simonj007

Here is the photo I took BEFORE they figured out the problem - see how the said pipe in question is standing upright in the background?

This is what they told me had fallen over or was not straight and so water was spurting out when the bath emptied - is that even possible?

http://tinypic.com/r/15zplvl/6

simonj007

Finally another photo taken of the pipework under the bath - what do you all think?

http://tinypic.com/r/ixs684/6

Many thanks

simonj007

Couple of questions sprint to mind now:

1) If the waste push-fit was faulty - why fit it in the first place?

2) What exactly is he saying is faulty?

3) Can a waste push-fit be fitted correctly, pass their tests before signing it off and fitting the bath panel - but THEN subsequently become faulty?

4) Is it the case that one of these either 'fits' or 'doesn't fit' - so he should have known/noticed at the time of original fitting?

5) Is he still liable regardless of not supplying the parts?


I may be over-complicating things, but to me a push-fit either fits or it doesn't - it can't fit correctly, then within just 12 weeks come loose - or could it?

Thanks again.

southcoastrgi

Do you have a combi or unvented cylinder ? Or just a normal cylinder & roof tanks ?, that overflow pipe is sealed with two o rings either they weren't fitted or weren't lubricated & pushed out, they don't normally just fall off.

simonj007

Thanks Keith,

We have a combi boiler - no roof tanks.

simonj007

As can be seen in the first photo - the jubilee clip now sits in between the two O rings...

DaftyDuck

OK, only an amateur's view, but I have used push-fit fittings in about four bathrooms, two en-suites, two utility rooms and two kitchens in the past four years or so. I have had one failure - obvious within seconds - and it was me being a silly idiot trying to reach round behind a fitted panel to reach an invisible drain. I could feel the angle was wrong, and shoved, and pretty immediately knew I'd bug d the rubber ring bit. Quick run of the tap showed a little leak, so another £1:50 bit was added to the next Toolstation order. More care next time, and job done. So, if it is obvious to an amateur eejit like me....

I have never had one fail. Frankly, I've never really seen much difference in quality. Last kitchen had an Ikea Domsjo sink with a flexible hose overflow and a weird connector on it: I can't say I love it, but I dare say it won't leak for 15 years.
So answers are...
1) (a) He saved himself £1:50 (but cost himself a morning's work)
. (b) Saved bending down under the bath again to fit the second.

2) He's implying that his arm is too short to reach up to fit the overflow, as he was too bone-idle to do it before he fitted the bath in place.

3) It could, but not without due cause. Such as 10 years use. Fitted correctly means throwing it away if it doesn't fit correctly.

4) Fitting it correctly would mean it fits - and lasts. I'm sure most of the plumbers on here could fix a 15mm copper pipe to a 3" waste pipe correctly so it wouldn't leak. I couldn't (why would I want to, I suppose), but if I called one of the professionals on here in to do it, they'd either do it so it worked, do it differently so it still worked, or tell me it couldn't be done.

5) Yes. The parts did not fail. The workmanship did. If it needed a Jubilee clip to hold it now, it did when it was first done. Or adhesive. Or mastic. Or a bit of wire and some "gloop". It's an overflow, not a darn pressure hose.

My opinion: they forgot to fit it before the bath was fixed, couldn't reach properly, botched it, hoped it'd last. I don't think they've a leg to stand on with charging for a visit. I'd pay a decent plumber for a second opinion; if he's less than happy, get him to redo it, pay him, and chase them for the money. You won't see any of it back, but it might help get them off your back.

(Rant over - I'll just have to do some of my own work - which I have been avoiding - now!)

Edit: sorry - that was long... I do not want to go back to paperwork!!!

simonj007

Dafty!

Brilliant thank you - couldn't have put it better myself.

Thanks again!