no drain off valve....

[that bloke.]

just been round a friends house to replace a kitchen tap , no drain off valve on hot or cold anywhere in the house, looked at the feed for the out side tap and it had no stopcock or check valve , just straight into the mains.
apparently all the plumbing was done by a very well established kitchen fitting company in town.
id have thought as large kitchen fitting company would have done the3 plumbing right.

 

[tamz]

9 times out of 10 there will be no drain off valves on hot and cold.

"apparently all the plumbing was done by a very well established kitchen fitting company in town"

That bit speaks for itself.

 

[buffy27]

kill mains and drain taps ?????

 

[that bloke.]

isolating the mains and opening the taps up wont drain down anything under the taps. its a soldered monobloc. there are no compression fittings anywhere in the system to crack open and drain off either , all yorkshire soldered fittings. stopcock is letting by , its a really old one with iron main and the whole lot is half embedded in a wall, main stopcock in the street was buried under the drive and supplied two cottages.
its funny how people think changing a tap is a simple ten minute job.

 

[WaterTight]

it's what towels were invented for. get wet!

you only have to cut it long enough to slap on some iso's. bish bosh.

 

[that bloke.]

ha ha , thats exactly what i did. next plumber to work there should find it a bit easier. ive put in drain off's and isolating valves.
the outside tap still needs a stopcock and none return valve but at least the taps and undersink pipework is sorted.

 

[WaterTight]

its a really old one with iron main and the whole lot is half embedded in a wall, main stopcock in the street was buried under the drive and supplied two cottages

if you're busy - run a mile. if you're not - either quote for chasing the wall back to reveal pipe and freezing it or tell owner to get water company to fit external stop-cock. tell her to say there's a leak and her interal one doesn't work.

hmmm - why have i presumed it's a she? you made no mention..

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

why do you want a drain off?

 

[ocentric]

I carry one of those auto cut in drain off valves for situations like this. But I usually forget I've got it....

 

[tamz]

I carry one of those auto cut in drain off valves for situations like this. But I usually forget I've got it....

That is because you don't need it.

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

That is because you don't need it.

yep,my sentiments exactly

 

[pauls]

it winds me up when you go to drain down heating systems and there is no drain offs.

or you find one but the rad you want is on a different drop.

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

yes but this is hot and cold supply not really a issue,but fair enough your thoughts regarding heating docs winds me up to but i can always adapt a rad valve

 

[that bloke.]

you might be psychic gas man?

oops sorry , i mean watertight. it was a she.

 

[that bloke.]

so if you dont need drain off valves on the h+c how do you drain it all down to do any work on it?

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

you might be psychic gas man?

oops sorry , i mean watertight. it was a she.

water tights a she? are you fit watertight and do you like strongbow BCG would get this joke LOL

 

[phil the bucket]

the only thing wrong is no check valve on outside tap 9 times out of 10 drain off's dont work anyway there is no law saying u have to fit these items sounds like u havent done much plumbing ure lucking the stop tap worked

 

[that bloke.]

may not be law but good practice surely?

 

[WaterTight]

I wouldn't say 9 out of 10, at a guess i'd say it could be as high as 1 out of 30. which is still ridiculously high. but you were probably just using a turn of phrase anyways.

so if you dont need drain off valves on the h+c how do you drain it all down to do any work on it?

Turn of stop-cocks/isolation, open taps. Then cut the pipe, carry a towel and a bowl and a bucket. I bypassed a drain-off the other day because it was p***ing me off how long it was taking to drain the heating circuit. That last bit taking forever. If you cut the pipe it comes out a little quicker. I get impatient.

 

[that bloke.]

in this instance cutting the pipe was difficult but i do see your point , no way could i have got a bowl or basin under it and there was quite a lot of water in it , a ground floor bathroom as well as the kitchen. i know that the next plumber to work on this will have it a bit easier , providing the drain offs still work. the isolation valves fitted in 1987 were completely useless.
i suppose not every one would have the gumption to give them a turn once in a while, i know i would never think to.

 

[Avatar]

whats all this rubbish about drain off valves on the hot and cold pipes? Bit redundant that (1970's maybe) dont see it these days . . .

1) insist that SHE puts a stopcok on the system before you replace the tap . . .

2) i would cut a pipe that is cistern fed (under .5 bar), I would think twice about mains pressure (2.5 bar plus). Did do it once by accident (sodding freezing kits!) bit hard to get a fitting on the end quick enough, and would will get soaked. Better be super speed fit then!

Bottom line about 'draining the pipes' is rot - presuming you have a stopcock you isolate, and then simply make sure all other outlets are closed and thus the water in the system stays there by vurtue of airlock!

Just make sure you tell the custards not to use any taps - or you will be in for a nasty shock . . .

I would refuse to do the job unless she fitted a stopcock anyway. Inform her of the virtues of having a way of turning the watyer supply off in the event of a burst pipe!

That should do the job then!