I got a call from my tenant reporting that some enamel had "come off
the bath" and that since then she has heard a cracking sound when
filling the bath. She says there wasn't an accident, that she didn't
drop anything, etc. and on balance I would probably give her the
benefit of the doubt.

My question is how could the enamel have "just come off" without there
being an accident? The bath is about 2 years old so I wouldn't expect
a failure due to age. The tenant says that it looks like the enamel
has come off near one of the legs would be, but unfortunately I
haven't been able to get to the property to inspect

My insurance says that I'm only covered if there has been an accident,
but I can't see how it could have occurred in any other way.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Charlie

On 6 Oct, 09:34, Charlie wrote:
I got a call from my tenant reporting that some enamel had "come off
the bath" and that since then she has heard a cracking sound when
filling the bath. *She says there wasn't an accident, that she didn't
drop anything, etc. and on balance I would probably give her the
benefit of the doubt.

My question is how could the enamel have "just come off" without there
being an accident? *The bath is about 2 years old so I wouldn't expect
a failure due to age. *The tenant says that it looks like the enamel
has come off near one of the legs would be, but unfortunately I
haven't been able to get to the property to inspect

My insurance says that I'm only covered if there has been an accident,
but I can't see how it could have occurred in any other way.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Charlie

The usual trigger for such an incident is a point impact. Not
necessarily a heavy impact but enough to create a local stress point
and once the enamel fails the small localised "hole" in the enamel
spreads accompanied by audible crackling noise especially if there is
a temperature change. On balance I expect something was dropped into
the bath but the tenant did not notice at the time.
From a cover point of view maybe a recollection might be in order?

In article ,
Charlie writes:
I got a call from my tenant reporting that some enamel had "come off
the bath" and that since then she has heard a cracking sound when
filling the bath. She says there wasn't an accident, that she didn't
drop anything, etc. and on balance I would probably give her the
benefit of the doubt.

My question is how could the enamel have "just come off" without there
being an accident? The bath is about 2 years old so I wouldn't expect
a failure due to age. The tenant says that it looks like the enamel
has come off near one of the legs would be, but unfortunately I
haven't been able to get to the property to inspect

My insurance says that I'm only covered if there has been an accident,
but I can't see how it could have occurred in any other way.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

At 2 years old, I presume this is pressed steel rather than cast iron?

Most likely, excess stress and consequent movement of the steel at
that point, the steel being more flexible than the enamel.

I can think of two causes. A common one is fitting the legs wrongly
such that the steel is over-stressed, e.g. over-tightening the fixings
or leg braces (depending how they're held on). It might be that not
leveling the feet correctly could also do it too. The other possibility
I can think of would be something like jumping into the bath, stressing
the steel at the point where it's supported. This second case might
show up as an upward dent at the foot mounting point, and might be
most easily seen from the underneath. Unless something like this is
obviously visible, you're just going to have to believe the tenant.

I would tell the tenant to stop using the bath immediately - they
are effectively having a bath mixed with broken glass. Unless there's
another bath or shower available, I'm afraid this is likely to mean
an emergency fix is required. Maybe some really heavy duty gaffer
tape sealing the area against shards of enamel breaking free would
give you a few days grace, but this is a H&S issue.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

On Oct 6, 11:14*am, (Andrew Gabriel)
wrote:
In article ,
* * * * Charlie writes:

A common one is fitting the legs wrongly
such that the steel is over-stressed, e.g. over-tightening the fixings
or leg braces (depending how they're held on).

or possibly the bath was dropped on that leg by the installers during
installation.

Robert

On 6 Oct, 11:57, RobertL wrote:
On Oct 6, 11:14*am, (Andrew Gabriel)
wrote:

In article ,
* * * * Charlie writes:
*A common one is fitting the legs wrongly
such that the steel is over-stressed, e.g. over-tightening the fixings
or leg braces (depending how they're held on).

or possibly the bath was dropped on that leg by the installers during
installation.

Robert

cynic
Agreed if it was an impact then that makes sense. The audible
cracking sound was when the tenant tried to refill the bath - which is
consistent with what you say about a temperature change.

Andrew
I was pretty careful when fitting the bath not to overtighten the leg
braces and I screwed them into the floor to prevent them from moving
and checked and double checked everything was level (but I'm willing
to accept that I'm not perfect)

Regarding someone jumping into the bath, then I guess this is
possible. She is a rather robust lady or it may even have been a
previous tenant (6 months ago). As you say I'd have to go and inspect
the bath. I have asked the tenant to stop using the bath and use the
shower instead so the H&S issue is covered.

RobertL
I don't remember dropping it when installing it, so I'd probably have
to rule that out. But thanks for pointing that out.


Last question - do you think the bath can be repaired, considering the
cracking sounds when refilling the bath? I'm guessing the damage is
not localised anymore.

Thanks again for you advice, greatly appreciated.

Charlie

Charlie wrote:
On 6 Oct, 11:57, wrote:
On Oct 6, 11:14 am, (Andrew Gabriel)
wrote:

In ,
writes:
A common one is fitting the legs wrongly
such that the steel is over-stressed, e.g. over-tightening the fixings
or leg braces (depending how they're held on).

or possibly the bath was dropped on that leg by the installers during
installation.

Robert

cynic
Agreed if it was an impact then that makes sense. The audible
cracking sound was when the tenant tried to refill the bath - which is
consistent with what you say about a temperature change.

Andrew
I was pretty careful when fitting the bath not to overtighten the leg
braces and I screwed them into the floor to prevent them from moving
and checked and double checked everything was level (but I'm willing
to accept that I'm not perfect)

Regarding someone jumping into the bath, then I guess this is
possible. She is a rather robust lady or it may even have been a
previous tenant (6 months ago). As you say I'd have to go and inspect
the bath. I have asked the tenant to stop using the bath and use the
shower instead so the H&S issue is covered.

RobertL
I don't remember dropping it when installing it, so I'd probably have
to rule that out. But thanks for pointing that out.


Last question - do you think the bath can be repaired, considering the
cracking sounds when refilling the bath? I'm guessing the damage is
not localised anymore.

Thanks again for you advice, greatly appreciated.

Charlie
If it is cracked near the leg just the weight of water may cause the
sound, not necessarily the heat.

In article ,
Charlie writes:
Last question - do you think the bath can be repaired, considering the
cracking sounds when refilling the bath? I'm guessing the damage is
not localised anymore.

I can't imagine that repairing a pressed steel bath would be
worthwhile, nor that it would last.

A Kawaldi (sp?) pressed steel bath cost me about £100 in
2002 and they stayed about the same price for several years
afterwards, although I've not looked recently. Fitting it
and making good is more hassle though. I'd hate to have to
take mine out - it's glued to the walls along 2 edges with
silicone (invisibly). I'd probably have to use a cheese wire
or similar to cut it out, after removing bottom row of tiles
so I can get to the silicone.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

On 6 Oct, 13:51, (Andrew Gabriel) wrote:
In article ,
* * * * Charlie writes:

Last question - do you think the bath can be repaired, considering the
cracking sounds when refilling the bath? *I'm guessing the damage is
not localised anymore.

I can't imagine that repairing a pressed steel bath would be
worthwhile, nor that it would last.

A Kawaldi (sp?) pressed steel bath cost me about £100 in
2002 and they stayed about the same price for several years
afterwards, although I've not looked recently. Fitting it
and making good is more hassle though. I'd hate to have to
take mine out - it's glued to the walls along 2 edges with
silicone (invisibly). I'd probably have to use a cheese wire
or similar to cut it out, after removing bottom row of tiles
so I can get to the silicone.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

Andrew,

I'm inclined to agree with you, replacing the bath will be a real
hassle. In my case my bath panel is tiled 18mm waterproof ply, which
is heavy and not 100% rigid so I just know that some tiles are going
to fall off it. However the repair guy I spoke to said that if he
couldn't repair it he wouldn't charge a call out fee (he's local).

If he can't do it I think I'm going to have to get someone in to do
the job for me. And regarding the panel I'm thinking of just getting
him to put an new acrylic panel on for convenience. I think they're
pretty horrid but I can redo it properly when the tenant moves out.

It shouldn't take a plumber more than a day to replace the bath and
fix the panel should it?

Charlie

"Andrew Gabriel" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Spamlet" writes:

Other bads for enamel are 'soap' powders, but I doubt if many people wash
clothes etc in the bath these days (except me of course - well duvets
anyway.)

and descalers, which take the polished finish straight off.
Make sure you don't leave a dripping tap.

--
Andrew Gabriel

The dripping tap lines/marks are one of the things easily tackled with my
always to hand 20% citric acid spray. Cleans scum and lime and splashes on
taps at a wipe.and leaves things shining.

S