Which putty for emergency fix of water pipe?

[HappyHippyDad]

Evening all,

As you can see from the title I have not had a good day.

For the second time in my 6 year career I made a small nick in a water pipe whilst taking up the floorboards (using multitool). i thought i was prepared from the last time as I bought some clamps. However, they could not fit as there were other pipes right by the one I cut!!

So.... I shall try and be prepared again!

Can anyone recommend a putty (or whatever other methods you use) that just stops the leak temporarily until I get the plumber in? It would save me having to keep my thumb over it for 20 minutes whilst the entire heating system drains!

I have some electrical compound, is that the same as some sort of emergency putty?

An exhausting day!

Now having a beer

 

[mickfred]

As had been said it's hard to solder pipe with any water in it as steam will put hole in your seal . The best way is to use Yorkshire fitting couplers and it their is little play in the pipe cut a section out and when refitting the section file out the stop point in the couplers so you can slid them along the pipe to make it easier to fit . If your a lady spark a monthly product can be used to get rid of any left over water from the pipe

 

[ipf]

^^ Just reminded me of an elderly neighbour,who called a while back,to ask if i could trace a bad smell in her kitchen sprout under a plinth,i thought...lovely person,so off i go...

Rotting brussels?......what a stink!

 

[MFS Electrical]

Evening all,

As you can see from the title I have not had a good day.

For the second time in my 6 year career I made a small nick in a water pipe whilst taking up the floorboards (using multitool). i thought i was prepared from the last time as I bought some clamps. However, they could not fit as there were other pipes right by the one I cut!!

So.... I shall try and be prepared again!

Can anyone recommend a putty (or whatever other methods you use) that just stops the leak temporarily until I get the plumber in? It would save me having to keep my thumb over it for 20 minutes whilst the entire heating system drains!

I have some electrical compound, is that the same as some sort of emergency putty?

An exhausting day!

Now having a beer

I keep two pipe slices in the van with a little stock of push fit and compression stop ends and straights never had to use one in anger but I bet if I took them out of the van I would....

 

[davesparks]

If you accidentally put a screw into a pipe don't remove the screw!

For small holes in a pipe you can wrap some ptfe tape round a woodscrew and screw it in for a temporary measure.

 

[JOURNEYMAN]

Pipe freeze kit on the van comes in handy for leaking pipes. Buys a bit if time to make a decent repair or replace the pipe section or which ever method you use to fix. Not cheap at around £15 but a fraction of the cost of calling out Mr Wet Pants and can save a bit of embarassment. A little trick I know is to use a large wheelie bin bag wrapped around the pipe, tape it in place if necessary and work with your hands in the bag to cut the pipe, put on speedfit stop end or coupler etc. Bit like working in a decontamination unit! Any water in the pipes goes into the bag and not onto the ceiling below!

 

[telectrix]

smash it flat with a hammer, then get a wet-pants to fit a section in.

 

[Shoei]

Pipe freeze kit on the van comes in handy for leaking pipes. Buys a bit if time to make a decent repair or replace the pipe section or which ever method you use to fix. Not cheap at around £15 but a fraction of the cost of calling out Mr Wet Pants and can save a bit of embarassment. A little trick I know is to use a large wheelie bin bag wrapped around the pipe, tape it in place if necessary and work with your hands in the bag to cut the pipe, put on speedfit stop end or coupler etc. Bit like working in a decontamination unit! Any water in the pipes goes into the bag and not onto the ceiling below!

Good advice. If you have a wet and dry vac handy they can buy time too. It's surprising how long it takes to fill the vac when it's grabbing water spouting out of a cut pipe. So I'm told anyway, I personally never, ever sliced a pipe with a circular saw, not ever, no siree.

 

[Andy78]

If you accidentally put a screw into a pipe don't remove the screw!

For small holes in a pipe you can wrap some ptfe tape round a woodscrew and screw it in for a temporary measure.

Once lifted a board in a rented property to find the screw had been put through a heating pipe. Little dribble and it went right back in. Landlord was on site and his recommendation was to just screw the board back down, obviously make sure it was tight, for safety's sake.

 

[TomB]

I’ll put my 2 pence worth in but very similar to the inner tube method. Chop a bit off the end of your garden hose (rubber type not the expanding ones), cut that down its length so it can be put flat. Cut to the width you need then use jubilee clips to secure, usually one either side of the hole. Advantage i found with this over the inner tube is that it can be pushed in between 2 pipes were as a inner tube you may struggle to feed it through

 

[Darkwood]

Similar note to others, I have some rescue tape, it can be applied as a permanent solution and is designed to cope with wet application and the temp' and pressure expected in standard domestic pipe work, I once applied it in a customers house and they were not happy so they got a plumber in who through ignorance said it wasn't good enough and he made a repair himself, the customer tried getting the plumbers labour off my bill but I presented all the manufacturers industry compliance that it was a recognised fix.
I was paid in full but I did reduce it for the inconvenience and stress caused by me catching a pipe which was buried in a wall nowhere near any outlets, however not a reduction to cover the plumbers call out, the customer should have had faith in me and allowed me to present her with the info' before going behind my back and calling a plumber out.

 

[telectrix]

agree. ^^^^^. calling a plumber is a last resort after calling in the Muppets.

 

[pirate]

As an addendum to my previous post, I always keep a roll of DPC membrane handy too...cut to size, 2 jubilee clips...a bit of inner tube from a bicycle...

 

[Corbs]

piece of rubber and a hose clamp job done temp

 

[CACJL]

Evening all,

As you can see from the title I have not had a good day.

For the second time in my 6 year career I made a small nick in a water pipe whilst taking up the floorboards (using multitool). i thought i was prepared from the last time as I bought some clamps. However, they could not fit as there were other pipes right by the one I cut!!

So.... I shall try and be prepared again!

Can anyone recommend a putty (or whatever other methods you use) that just stops the leak temporarily until I get the plumber in? It would save me having to keep my thumb over it for 20 minutes whilst the entire heating system drains!

I have some electrical compound, is that the same as some sort of emergency putty?

An exhausting day!

Now having a beer

Us a self tapping screw to temporary stop the leak, then after switching off the boiler and draining the system, then get out my pluming kit.
Cut out each side of the hole with my doughnut pipe cutter and and join up with an end feed coupler.