Cold Water just wont shut down!!!!

[Pakamish]

thanks..Ill try my upstairs neighbour tonight. Ive pestered him about a pipe leak in the past so fingers crossed he will play along. ill let you know what i found out. thx.

As I thought. The neighbour does not know where the tank is located. Now im really stuck.. any other ideas please???

Just came across this product..Pipe freezing kit from screwfix.. does this stuff actually work? and would it really feeze the water to allow me to fit a stop valve???

[Mark Moss]

You could call a Plumber perhaps? Or use a pipe freezing kit? Or cut pipe live (run bath tap whilst doing this to reduce pressure) and whack on a ball'o'fix valve? Oh by the way, keep your hammer handy, this may come in useful to throw around the room if it all goes wrong.
I would be inclined to phone a plumber, they are not as expensive as you might think.

[WaterTight]

Originally Posted by Mark Moss

Or cut pipe live (run bath tap whilst doing this to reduce pressure) and whack on a ball'o'fix valve?

Presuming you're serious (I've not heard anyone say you can do that before) how much pressure does that actually reduce it by? I'm guessing only a tiny bit. Also I guess it would only work if the bath was on the pipe run before the basin..

[Pakamish]

Mark, all good advise thanks. Here is my plan for the weekend:

1. Get the freezing kit and freeze the pipe between the bath and the basin (it actually freezes for 30 minutes according to reviews)
2. Run the bath to reduce pressure on basin.
3. I already have one of those screw in taps on the pipe. it allows another pipe to branch off the existing colder water feed. Then ill get a plastic pipe attached and run it to my bath just incase the freeze thaws.
4. In the meantime ill install a stop valve.

That should hopefully do it, which should give me pleanty of time to replace the basin. Please stop me if you think its a crazy idea! BTW, the hammer wont be far from my side incase anything goes wrong

[dontknowitall]

To me that's a risky way of doing things. If you do that, I'd have a Speedfit stop end to hand.

If you're cutting through the pipe and it all goes wrong (doesn't freeze or something) you'll have a major pipe leak.

If you get a leak while cutting you'll need to continue cutting as quickly as you can (a pipe cutter is better to use than a hacksaw because a plastic stop end might be damaged when putting on a hacksawed cut).

Once cut, you can slap the stop end on and have a think.

Did you run the cold bath tap for about a minute or just a few seconds? If there is definitely no cistern the water coming out of the tap will be from the pipes alone. But if you run the tap for a minute you have definitely got a cistern and it would be best to find it.

Good luck, whatever you choose to do.

[Pakamish]

Hey.. good news. Ive done it!.. used the freezing kit. Cutt the copper pipes, inserted the speedfit stop valve and bobs your uncle.. The only problem i have is an over tightened thread for the pipe going into the mono block mixer.. any ideas to stop that leak apart from the white tape?

[dontknowitall]

Nice one Pakamish. Did you use a fibre washer? If you didn't that's probably what the problem. And if you wrapped the tape around the thread that won't really do much except possibly ruining the thread.

But good one for doing the hard work.

[Winston]

Well done but in future if you freeze a pipe you shouldnt turn any taps on as this can cause the ice block to thaw.

[Pakamish]

Oh Man! another problem.. the basin is now connected. But the chrome waste fitting has two holes in it.. i assume this is for the overflow. There is also a hole in the basin which aligns with one of the holes on the fitting.. but as soon as it turn on the water is leaks .. what should i do?

[Phil]

Where exactly is it leaking from?
The seal between the basin and the waste fitting or the seal between the waste and the trap?

Most of the time I ditch the cheap rubber sealing washer and use 'vanity basin washer', you can get them from B&Q (not that I do) they are coned in shape and provide a much better seal.

Did you use any silicone when assembling the waste?