Old 'Brown' Rubber Pipe Burst - How To Repair?

EViS · Aug 8, 2012

We have found one brown coloured pipe made out of rubber which in essence look like a thick rubber hose at circa 15mm (although it is likely to be imperial) carrying hot water to a bathroom on the other side of the house. I would guess the pipe was installed some 20 years+ ago and is possibly a very old version of the modern day barrier pipe (?).

This morning, it burst. No fittings in the vicinity, just the pipe burst at the side.

We have located the burst and cut the pipe in half to see what on earth it is made out of (as above).

What joint fitting can be used to repair this old pipe? (And is it advisable to replace it with barrier pipe sometime down the line?)

mountainman · Aug 8, 2012

I'd cut a section out and go to a decent plumbers merchants and see what fits.

You'd probably be wiser to renew the lot though or you may end up chasing bursts.

Resolute · Aug 8, 2012

If its burst once then it's likely to go again, therefore I'd advise that you replace it.

hasbean · Aug 8, 2012

it looks like the first plastic called accorn, it is 15mm. so any 15mm fiiting will do the job.

EViS · Aug 8, 2012

hasbean said:
it looks like the first plastic called accorn, it is 15mm. so any 15mm fiiting will do the job.

Thanks for the reply, pushift fits perfectly, however is this a permanent solution? Speedfit (grey or white) inserts won't go in, however metal Polyplumb one's do, together with a Speedfit straight connector. Would this be a reliably combination (I can't remember the last time I used Polyplumb metal inserts)?

How likely is this pipe to burst again (i.e. how common is it for these pipes to burst)? There are a number of these in the house and it would be a real bugger to replace.

Koogatubac · Aug 8, 2012

I would renew from start to finish, it most likely will burst again therefore you would know that you've done it and done it right!

EViS · Aug 8, 2012

Upon further inspection the pipe seems to have rubbed through (take another look at the photo to see the thin side of the pipe). The damage was caused at a point where two sheets of plasterboard meet. The gap in-between them was in-filled with some form of drywall joint adhesive which came through into the ceiling void and created a slight ridge above the plasterboard. This lines up with where the pipe has been rubbing!

What causes a pipe to move so much to have rubbed like this? Is it the change of pressure every time a tap is turned on?

I supposed the next step is to remove all the ceiling spotlights across the house and clip it to the joists wherever possible?

Carl86 · Aug 8, 2012

EViS said:
Upon further inspection the pipe seems to have rubbed through (take another look at the photo to see the thin side of the pipe). The damage was caused at a point where two sheets of plasterboard meet. The gap in-between them was in-filled with some form of drywall joint adhesive which came through into the ceiling void and created a slight ridge above the plasterboard. This lines up with where the pipe has been rubbing!

What causes a pipe to move so much to have rubbed like this? Is it the change of pressure every time a tap is turned on?

I supposed the next step is to remove all the ceiling spotlights across the house and clip it to the joists wherever possible?

Pipes expand and contract with different temperatures, in this case the hot water has probably been expanding the pipe around this adhesive and its rubbed against it causing it to wear and burst i also wouldnt rule out the possibility of the rubber perishing due to age particularly if its been in contact with this adhesive. If it was me i'd personaly rip the whole lot of it out and renew it, its a bigger job than a repair but atleast if its renewed properly you wont need to go ripping anything to bits later down the line to repair another leak it will probably save you money and hassle in the long run.

tamz · Aug 8, 2012

It is acorn pipe. a predecessor of hep. One of the first plastic pipe system to be used from the early 80's. Any hep fitting and inserts will do.
You can see straight away from your photos that the pipe has been rubbing for a while (30 years?). You will need to cut it back and use 2 fittings and a bit pipe.

PB pipe expands by around 0.13mm/m/ºC so a 3m pipe with a temperature rise from 10º to 60º would expand by 3 x 50 x 0.13 = 19.5mm
That is why plastic pipe running surface on walls looks like a dog pyshing in the snow.

For comparison, copper expands by around 0.017mm/m/ºC so the same pipe if it were copper would expand by 3 x 50 x 0.017 = 2.55mm

Old 'Brown' Rubber Pipe Burst - How To Repair?

EViS

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mountainman

Resolute

hasbean

EViS

Koogatubac

EViS

Carl86

tamz

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