Did a spring clean of the bathroom today, decanting all the
movable furniture out and a hand-on-knees deep scrub of
everything. I found a damp patch in the plaster behind a
cold water pipe near to a T junction. This is right next
to the shower, so could well be condensation rather than
a leak. Is there any simple way of telling before I
attempt resoldering/replacing the T junction?

I only discovered it because I haven't got around to boxing
that pipework in yet, so I want to know I've fixed it before
it gets hidden away and happily rots the wall unseen.

wrote in message
...
Did a spring clean of the bathroom today, decanting all the
movable furniture out and a hand-on-knees deep scrub of
everything. I found a damp patch in the plaster behind a
cold water pipe near to a T junction. This is right next
to the shower, so could well be condensation rather than
a leak. Is there any simple way of telling before I
attempt resoldering/replacing the T junction?

Run a fan heater in there, heating the room, not the pipe, for a bit.
If its a leak, it will still be wet but if its condensation it wont be.

I only discovered it because I haven't got around to boxing
that pipework in yet, so I want to know I've fixed it before
it gets hidden away and happily rots the wall unseen.

explained on 15/08/2017 :

I only discovered it because I haven't got around to boxing
that pipework in yet, so I want to know I've fixed it before
it gets hidden away and happily rots the wall unseen.

Leave the pipe unused for several hours, so as to allow it to achieve
the same temperature as it surroundings, maybe wipe away any moisture
in the meantime. If after that there is still moisture on the pipe, it
is due to a leak rather than condensation.

You can deter condensation to some extent, by insulating pipes.

On Tue, 15 Aug 2017 10:21:06 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

This is right next
to the shower, so could well be condensation rather than
a leak. Is there any simple way of telling before I
attempt resoldering/replacing the T junction?

Tape clear plastic/plastic film to the wall. Leave for a while.

Moisture on it: condensation, under it: leak (or residual moisture in the wall
from condensation).


Thomas Prufer

On Wed, 16 Aug 2017 16:35:13 +0200, Thomas Prufer
wrote:

Tape clear plastic/plastic film to the wall. Leave for a while.

Moisture on it: condensation, under it: leak (or residual moisture in the wall
from condensation).

eh, just re-read the post.

Adjust what I said for where the pipe is, and where the cold is coming from...

Thomas Prufer

Thomas Prufer wrote:
Tape clear plastic/plastic film to the wall. Leave for a while.
Moisture on it: condensation, under it: leak (or residual moisture
in the wall from condensation).

I pulled all the insulation off, dried all the pipework, then tied
lengths of tissue paper at strategic positions. By the position of
the one soggy length of paper it's confirmed it's a teeny tiny
leak from a capillary == join. Probably easiest to chop out a decent
length of pipe to the next == join. Bugger that it's the rising main,
it means shutting the whole house off.

On 17/08/2017 01:39, wrote:
Thomas Prufer wrote:
Tape clear plastic/plastic film to the wall. Leave for a while.
Moisture on it: condensation, under it: leak (or residual moisture
in the wall from condensation).

I pulled all the insulation off, dried all the pipework, then tied
lengths of tissue paper at strategic positions. By the position of
the one soggy length of paper it's confirmed it's a teeny tiny
leak from a capillary == join. Probably easiest to chop out a decent
length of pipe to the next == join. Bugger that it's the rising main,
it means shutting the whole house off.


I would just remove the old joint, clean the pipe ends with emery cloth
and maybe a maybe a file so that they are shining put flux on the pipe
and resolder using a new joint.

The pipes must be clear of water to unsolder and then resolder.


--
Michael Chare

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