Here at NOBARS we feel that it is important for everyone to educate themselves to the best of their personal ability on the “inner workings” so to say, of their collective spaces and personal spaces. Whether it’s your bedroom, your bathroom or anything else that is shared by you or others it’s important to keep these things working properly. How can we expect to fix our communities problems when we can’t even fix a clogged sink!? Think of how many times you have been to someone else’s space and they tell you the toilets broke, or watch where you step cause you might fall through a hole in the floor or bring extra clothing because the windows broken in the middle of winter. The reality is that we don’t live in perfect buildings; we live in ones that need constant maintenance. Most of us rent from shitty landlords who never fix anything and if we do attempt to complain about their building, they take forever to fix the problem and if you're squatting its all on you. So we are left with 2 options, either leave the problem to get worse or fix it ourselves. The truth is that most problems are easy to fix ourselves with simple tools and knowledge of what we are working on. If you have internet access (which you should if you are reading this) then any problem you may encounter you can find the solution to online if you search for it. Lots of people have already taken the time to put together YouTube videos with step by step instructions to fixing everyday problems with your space or home such as repairing roofing, broken toilets or clogged sinks. Not only are there videos on how to fix things but there are also easy improvements that can be done to make your space more functional such as adding fixed lights or building walls where they are needed. We have taken the effort to search the internet and compile the best information and videos we could find on the topics along with posting our own 2cents where we feel its needed. If you see anything we may have missed or have more information that can be added please send it to us and we will be sure to get it up on the blog. Another tip for cutting down the cost of DIY home repair is to go to the local flea market to purchase your tools, you can find all tools you will need at a fraction of the price along with the parts you may need to fix your problem.
Here are some good helpful sites:
http://www.doityourself.com/
http://www.instructables.com/
http://home.howstuffworks.com/home-improvement/plumbing/how-to-repair-a-toilet.htm
http://www.diy-power-tools.co.uk/power_saws.htm- This site explains different power tools and their uses.
Saturday, December 10, 2011
REPAIRING A BURST PIPE
*If you have a burst pipe in your home or space the first thing to do is to shut off the water. this is done through the water meter to the building. placement of the water meter or water main varies from building to building so its important to locate this ahead of time, even before you have a burst pipe, in case of an emergency.
Video how to shut off your water meter.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEfXVOwEFiE&feature=related
Frozen water expands quite dramatically, and if contained in a pipe where no expansion room is available, the pipe will split. This in itself, is not the problem. The problem occurs when the ice thaws out again!
Rather than wait for a freezing spell and wish a burst pipe on somebody, we have used a pipe with a deliberate nail hole in, to explain the mending procedure.
Pipe lagging:
Incidentally, burst pipes can be avoided with the correct lagging applied to them, the minimum recommended thickness of pipe insulation are:
•15mm pipe: 25mm
•22-28 mm pipe: 19mm
•35mm and over pipe: 9mm.
Nail holes in pipes:
Nail holes can be avoided by a careful search of the area you are nailing in with a pipe and/or cable detector. These are available from most diy stores at about £12.00.
Burst pipe repair method:
First turn the water off as soon as you realize there is a problem. A small amount of water will dry out, a large amount will cause a great deal of damage. If, when you are reading this project and you do not know where your main stop cock is; go and find it!
Locate the burst or nail hole, remember this may not be directly below the visible signs of water. The ceiling may slope, or the pressure may have forced a spray of water away from the actual split, so search thoroughly.
For a single nail hole or small split, proprietary slip on couplers are available from the plumbers merchants.
These are lengths of copper pipe, threaded at either end. Using a pipe cutter, hacksaw or pipe slice, cut the section of pipe containing the split or hole, away. Make sure you have cut far enough back to a section of the pipe that is still completely round and not distorted by the burst or force from the nail.
If a hack saw is used, you may need to file the ends of the pipe free of burrs, to slide the olives on.
The olives slide into the slip on coupling and are compressed by tightening the nuts. This gives a seal as in any other compression fitting.
Slip on coupling:
If the hole, burst or pipe distortion is longer than about 2 inches, you will need to insert a section of pipe. This is achieved by using two small compression couplers either side of the new section.
Compression joints:
A compression joint, as mentioned above, is so called because of the compression of a brass ring, or "olive" against the copper pipe, by a nut tightening onto a thread. The openings on compression fittings are made to accept the pipe, and a small amount of the olive, which is accommodated in a small bevel machined into the fitting. The nut is then tightened, while the fitting itself is held fast with another spanner. The olive is compressed, forming a water tight seal between the pipe and fitting. Care must be taken not to overtighten these fittings as it can lead to squashing the pipe slightly causing the joint to leak. No amount of tightening, should that occur, will remedy the situation.
Push fit repair:
The easiest way to effect a repair in a leaking pipe is with a push fit system. Simply cut out the burst, as described above, and push on this purpose made repair pipe.
The concepts of repairing a burst pipe can also apply to buildings where the copper pipes have been removed, it will just involve measuring and acquiring the new copper piping. The proper method for this though involves soldiering or "sweating" the pipes which we will go over in another post.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQYoz9blTFw Video on repairing a burst pipe.
Video how to shut off your water meter.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEfXVOwEFiE&feature=related
Frozen water expands quite dramatically, and if contained in a pipe where no expansion room is available, the pipe will split. This in itself, is not the problem. The problem occurs when the ice thaws out again!
Rather than wait for a freezing spell and wish a burst pipe on somebody, we have used a pipe with a deliberate nail hole in, to explain the mending procedure.
Pipe lagging:
Incidentally, burst pipes can be avoided with the correct lagging applied to them, the minimum recommended thickness of pipe insulation are:
•15mm pipe: 25mm
•22-28 mm pipe: 19mm
•35mm and over pipe: 9mm.
Nail holes in pipes:
Nail holes can be avoided by a careful search of the area you are nailing in with a pipe and/or cable detector. These are available from most diy stores at about £12.00.
Burst pipe repair method:
First turn the water off as soon as you realize there is a problem. A small amount of water will dry out, a large amount will cause a great deal of damage. If, when you are reading this project and you do not know where your main stop cock is; go and find it!
Locate the burst or nail hole, remember this may not be directly below the visible signs of water. The ceiling may slope, or the pressure may have forced a spray of water away from the actual split, so search thoroughly.
For a single nail hole or small split, proprietary slip on couplers are available from the plumbers merchants.
These are lengths of copper pipe, threaded at either end. Using a pipe cutter, hacksaw or pipe slice, cut the section of pipe containing the split or hole, away. Make sure you have cut far enough back to a section of the pipe that is still completely round and not distorted by the burst or force from the nail.
If a hack saw is used, you may need to file the ends of the pipe free of burrs, to slide the olives on.
The olives slide into the slip on coupling and are compressed by tightening the nuts. This gives a seal as in any other compression fitting.
Slip on coupling:
If the hole, burst or pipe distortion is longer than about 2 inches, you will need to insert a section of pipe. This is achieved by using two small compression couplers either side of the new section.
Compression joints:
A compression joint, as mentioned above, is so called because of the compression of a brass ring, or "olive" against the copper pipe, by a nut tightening onto a thread. The openings on compression fittings are made to accept the pipe, and a small amount of the olive, which is accommodated in a small bevel machined into the fitting. The nut is then tightened, while the fitting itself is held fast with another spanner. The olive is compressed, forming a water tight seal between the pipe and fitting. Care must be taken not to overtighten these fittings as it can lead to squashing the pipe slightly causing the joint to leak. No amount of tightening, should that occur, will remedy the situation.
The easiest way to effect a repair in a leaking pipe is with a push fit system. Simply cut out the burst, as described above, and push on this purpose made repair pipe.
The concepts of repairing a burst pipe can also apply to buildings where the copper pipes have been removed, it will just involve measuring and acquiring the new copper piping. The proper method for this though involves soldiering or "sweating" the pipes which we will go over in another post.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQYoz9blTFw Video on repairing a burst pipe.
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