OK, some elaboration on the nightmare of water leaks in a typical Thai house build with buried pipes in concrete. These photos are of the internal status right now, and will be fixed over the next week or so once our reliable handyman has some free time.
This first one is where we had to break into the gypsum ceiling to access the source of a water drip in the kitchen.
The leak was actually in an adjacent bathroom ceiling that already had an access hatch.
A leak in the sink pipework in the upstairs middle spare bedroom en suite. The master bedroom en suite is on the opposite side of the wall.
Above the ceiling in the utility room which appeared to be the main distribution point for water and drainage in the house. The 1" pipe with the isolation valve is the new water supply.
Where the new water supply enters the house.
The new supply going along into the utility room area. We've deliberately left where we've had to break the integrity of walls and ceilings until absolutely sure that problems have been resolved. Touch wood, after 3 weeks now, that appears to be the case.
I feel for ya PAG. Its never fun when you have a water leak or some seepage. I had the same thing happen on the main line from the meter coming to the house. One day it just burst and I was like WTF. I shut off the water and investigated why. One of the biggest challenges here in Thailand is they have numerous suppliers of PVC ( some crap and thin wall and others well made and thick wall). It appears from your recent installation of the tank and pump they used the much higher quality PVC. (I can tell from the writing). I checked out the quality on many before my house build and mandated new pipe and the brand you used. additionally the other challenge is that many places the contractors pick up pipe supplies is at a local place and they stored the pipe in an area where the sun hit it all day and its no longer round buy somewhat elliptical. They figure enough solvent glue and all will work and it might for a while but that solvent PVC glue ages and then cracks thus leaks happen. Its is not a filler. PVC and any union should be an intimate contact.
All good though, you will get it fixed. I encourage you check any 45 or 90 when they show up and do a slide test to the pipe you have. Hate to see it all get fixed up only to leak again. Just some good insurance and piece of mind.
^^^ PAG, Geez, that is a lot of fittings! One of the reasons I did the plumbing and electrical in our build is that I wanted it to be right.
As I mentioned previously, I bought this place 15 years ago, when the house was already circa 7 years old, making it over 20 years old obviously. A selling point of the house for me was the overall quality of build finish, and in fairness any problems we've had with the property have been due to external factors, not the original build. Water issues only manifested themselves over the last couple of years with ever decreasing pressure.
As most of us are aware, in our (Thai) environment, solvents have a limited life, as witnessed by soles falling off shoes and trainers (I've had to have 3 or 4 pairs of shoes repaired with the soles glued then stitched over the years). Solvent in pipework joints wouldn't be any different, eventually cracking. A salutory lesson for anybody considering building or modifying a property here, as Stumpy said, get the best quality pipe and fittings available (I recommend SCG), and consider the potential future access needs where leaks are potentially going to occur).
Interesting, I have never witnessed that but sure have seen them damn near submerge the joint in the solvent as they feel that will compensate for a poor fit. The theory, more is better
They do indeed PAG. In the case of PVC solvent/activator if the pipe and fitting have a really good intimate contact the life expectancy should really be endless as long as not exposed to direct sunlight. I agree SCG piping is top quality, thick wall and round. I have found the fittings at ThaiWatsadu are good and thick wall and match the SCG pipe extremely well.
A quick story on my pool filter plumbing. I had to replace the filter assy as it was all wrong for not only the size of the pool but the pump pressure. So I did it all myself. When I cut out all the old plumbing they installed, I looked down each fitting. Some of the pipe was not even a 1/4 way down inside the 90 or 45. I find that most do not take the time to measure properly then do a dry fit and check so they can achieve max surface contact area. Prior to me having to change the filter assy, I had 2 or 3 random areas that would drip from time to time. Again when looking the 90 fitting, it was a cheap brand and the pipe was the thick wall so they just loaded it up with solvent and if stuck...all good. The other thing I noticed is most installers do not lightly scuff up the pipe and fitting surface then when they install and rotate at least 90 degrees after applying the solvent to make thorough even contact. Took me a few days working in a small filter pump house to get it all done but has been flawless since.
It is not neccessarily the solvent but the expansion coefficient of pipes. Some PVC pipes have a higher expansion coefficient than metal pipe and this needs to be taken into account. By the look of the above pipework this fact has not been allowed for.
Putting fittings too close together will have a different expansion rate to the pipe and will virtually push themselves apart. Those 45° elbows pushed together are leaks in the making. Allowance needs to be made for expansion and contraction which includes making sure the pipe has room to move and expansion loops or expansion couplings can be fitted if necessary. Why you should never concrete in pipes. They should be sleeved otherwise they will eventually split.
Last edited by Hugh Cow; 21-03-2023 at 06:44 PM.
double post.
The different size pipes are for different purposes. The 2" pipes are grey water drainage (sinks/showers etc), the 4" pipes are black water (toilets), obviously they both go into manifolds. The 1" pipe is water supply, and the 3/4" pipe with the isolation valve is the new water supply we installed. Thank God there isn't any problem with the drains.
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