I finally got my central heating up and running in mid December, all nicely
pressurised and no leaks. Left it running for a few weeks, came back and
.... no pressure! (I hadn't left the pressurisation on as there's no cold
system yet to supply it).

It took about 35 litres to fill it up again. No sign of leaks at any of the
joints. Next day it took another 3 litres. Absolutely no sign of leaks or
wetness anywhere. This was a bit worrying! Was it (a) leaking inside the
HW tank, (b) leaking from the only joint I couldn't see - buried inside a
solid wall?

After a lot of feeling around I found water coming down behind the
dry-lining on an external wall - it dripped outside the concrete floor and
disappeared amidst the stone-work. Ripping off the plasterboard
showed.....an awful lot of nibbled pipe insulation and, under that, a very
neatly nibbled oval in the side of the Hep2O pipe, just deep enough to drip
once a second or so.

Moral: don't use foam insulation on plastic pipes! Use loft insulation
instead, it is probably less tasty.

Is this a common problem? Perhaps the FAQs should mention it.
Roger.

In article ,
Roger Moss wrote:
After a lot of feeling around I found water coming down behind the
dry-lining on an external wall - it dripped outside the concrete floor
and disappeared amidst the stone-work. Ripping off the plasterboard
showed.....an awful lot of nibbled pipe insulation and, under that, a
very neatly nibbled oval in the side of the Hep2O pipe, just deep
enough to drip once a second or so.

Moral: don't use foam insulation on plastic pipes! Use loft insulation
instead, it is probably less tasty.

I've heard of rodent damage to cables, but not pipes. Although perhaps the
plastic is similar?

My moral would be to use copper. ;-)

--
*Always drink upstream from the herd *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Roger Moss wrote:
I finally got my central heating up and running in mid December, all nicely
pressurised and no leaks. Left it running for a few weeks, came back and
... no pressure! (I hadn't left the pressurisation on as there's no cold
system yet to supply it).

It took about 35 litres to fill it up again. No sign of leaks at any of the
joints. Next day it took another 3 litres. Absolutely no sign of leaks or
wetness anywhere. This was a bit worrying! Was it (a) leaking inside the
HW tank, (b) leaking from the only joint I couldn't see - buried inside a
solid wall?

After a lot of feeling around I found water coming down behind the
dry-lining on an external wall - it dripped outside the concrete floor and
disappeared amidst the stone-work. Ripping off the plasterboard
showed.....an awful lot of nibbled pipe insulation and, under that, a very
neatly nibbled oval in the side of the Hep2O pipe, just deep enough to drip
once a second or so.

Moral: don't use foam insulation on plastic pipes! Use loft insulation
instead, it is probably less tasty.

Is this a common problem? Perhaps the FAQs should mention it.
Roger.


Was it barrier pipe? The PEX pipe I used is so hard that it would take a
hell of a lot of nibbling, by a very determined rodent, to get through.
Or was it the single layer grey pipe?

--
Grunff

I've heard of rodent damage to cables, but not pipes. Although
perhaps the
plastic is similar?

It is a known disadvantage of plastic pipes. I believe that most, if
not all, of the manufacturers' installation instructions mention it.
The mice don't eat it, they gnaw it to sharpen their incisors. They
gnaw cables for the same reason.
*Always drink upstream from the herd *

And the mice.

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote:

I've heard of rodent damage to cables, but not pipes. Although perhaps the
plastic is similar?

AN uncle of mine had that happen - to the cables AND the pipes!

Sheila

Was it barrier pipe? The PEX pipe I used is so hard that it would take a
hell of a lot of nibbling, by a very determined rodent, to get through. Or
was it the single layer grey pipe?


As far as I know it was just ordinary Hep2O.

Roger Moss wrote:
Was it barrier pipe? The PEX pipe I used is so hard that it would take a
hell of a lot of nibbling, by a very determined rodent, to get through. Or
was it the single layer grey pipe?



As far as I know it was just ordinary Hep2O.


Tut tut - you should always use barrier pipe for CH!

--
Grunff

After a lot of feeling around I found water coming down behind the
dry-lining on an external wall - it dripped outside the concrete floor and
disappeared amidst the stone-work. Ripping off the plasterboard
showed.....an awful lot of nibbled pipe insulation and, under that, a very
neatly nibbled oval in the side of the Hep2O pipe, just deep enough to
drip
once a second or so.

We woke up yesterday morning to find water dripping through the hall
ceiling. After lifting some floorboards all the joints for the central
heating pipes seemed dry, but lifted one more and found a little jet coming
from a very neatly gnawed section of Hep2O pipe which the plumber had used.
Replacing the section of pipe shouldn't be too bad, keeping the pesky mice
(we are still hoping for mice not rats at this point!) away from the rest of
the plastic piping would seem to be the bigger problem. Wish we'd specified
copper pipe with hindsight.

In article ,
Martin Gill wrote:
Wish we'd specified copper pipe with hindsight.

Strange thing is the material costs are less with copper. Of course labour
will be more with 'difficult' pipe runs.

--
*A closed mouth gathers no feet.*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

Strange thing is the material costs are less with copper. Of course labour
will be more with 'difficult' pipe runs.


I don't think rodent damage is a valid reason not to use plastic. If
rodents are chewing through your pipes, they'll also chew through your
cables, which is potentially (!) more dangerous. The solution is to get
rid of the rodents, not the plastic pipes.

I do understand your reservations Dave, but after using plastic pipe and
pushfit in a very harsh lab environment, and seeing how well they cope
with this, I'm perfectly happy to use it at home.


--
Grunff

On Thu, 6 Jan 2005 16:50:15 -0000, Roger Moss wrote:

Moral: don't use foam insulation on plastic pipes!

This is true rodents love to nibble the stuff.

Use loft insulation instead, it is probably less tasty.

But just great for burrowing into and making a nice snug nest...

You need to keep the mice out. Much easier said than done. B-(

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

On Fri, 7 Jan 2005 13:28:46 -0000, Martin Gill wrote:

(we are still hoping for mice not rats at this point!)

Any droppings? Mouse poo is like a small long grain rice kernel,
roughly 1.5mm diameter and 4mm long. Rat poo is more like 5mm dia and
10mm+ long again black but generally with visible undigested fiberous
content.

The gnaw marks from mice are two parallel cuts total width about no
more than 3mm and the longest single cutting stroke being 6mm tops.
Rat marks are much bigger.

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

Dave Liquorice wrote:

On Thu, 6 Jan 2005 16:50:15 -0000, Roger Moss wrote:


Moral: don't use foam insulation on plastic pipes!


This is true rodents love to nibble the stuff.


Use loft insulation instead, it is probably less tasty.


But just great for burrowing into and making a nice snug nest...

You need to keep the mice out. Much easier said than done. B-(

You reminded me. I had been hearing scratchings in the loft, and set a
trap last time I was up there.

BT installing new phone line...

I haven't heard em since. Scratcjhings. BT still haven;t enabled
broadband tho :-)


May be time to de-corpse...