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I could murder a plumber

AlanJ

AlanJ

Site Supporter
Joined
Dec 27, 2017
Messages
7,771
Location
Leeds, West Yorkshire
Alias
Alan
En-suite loo not working, wont flush - the diaphragm has gone, a £1 part, but needs the cistern removing to get at it. First job, switch off the cold water inlet using the nearby isolation valve............ NOPE. There isn't one. F*****g plumber who did this should be shot.

Now gotta switch the whole water supply off - which aint happening today as we have visitors.... Grrr
 
I hate that. I paid for someone to do a lot of work in our house and they did that sort of thing on everything. Shortcuts everywhere with no thought of what happens in the future.
 
Get an electrician in, they always do a good job😛
Ive had enough of people who shaft you, builders don’t get me started. I’ve only heard bad things about them, get the money and get out brigade then try to bury their heads when you have problems and make excuses that they caused😂
My wife’s cousin did some plumbing for me, in the end I told him to pack his tools and get out! Not good when you have to tell a tradesperson where he is going wrong.
 
Thoughtless shortcut or devious next job making ploy?. Many people rely on the trades to do a decent job and don't necessarily know to ask for an isolator to be put in at the time for a couple quid! Another nuisance shortcut is lack of drain valves at suitable low points in rad central heating pipework.
 
it’s sooo annoying. the cold feed comes out of a tiled wall. i have found an inspection hatch downstairs in the utility room ceiling. got some ladders and poked my head up, can see the pipe, no isolator up there though.


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How much pipe have you access to?

You can freeze the pipe then cut it and add the isolation value. A bit of faff getting the freezer kit and pipe cutter but better than switching the whole supply off.
 
I'm sure you've been thorough Alan, but if it uses a flexi pipe for the supply they sometimes they have a built in isolation valve at one end.

If on a cold mains supply, turning that off is ok for me, they do fit a nice stop tap on the (mandatory :mad:) water meter.

Tbh I feel a bit for tradesman these days being supervised by us Youtube experts :cool:
 
Bought a new build in 2013. Not a single local isolation valve in sight.
Basins, bath, showers all with either flexible connections, without isolators, or straight onto the copper.
The whole estate is the same. Shocking from a relatively decent developer. DWH.
 
Moonraker said:
How much pipe have you access to?

You can freeze the pipe then cut it and add the isolation value. A bit of faff getting the freezer kit and pipe cutter but better than switching the whole supply off.
Click to expand...

I never knew you could do that until last year. Had a slow drip from the stop cock and they replaced it by doing that.
 
astyy said:
Tbh I feel a bit for tradesman these days being supervised by us Youtube experts :cool:
Click to expand...

I pay a professional to do the job quicker than it would take me and to do the job no worse than I would. I respect there is a skill to doing these jobs everyday that allows them to do things with efficiently.
I have plumbed in bathroom and kitchens but I have to use my evening and weekend. I often try a job to see if I enjoy it and understand the task and then I am more than happy to pay the money if I don’t fancy doing it again. But skipping the future proofing bits so they need another bodge to fix later isn’t helping anyone.
Doing a whole estate like that is irresponsible.
 
3a31eb765799485d3101084c66638256.jpg
think they plumbed the feed pipe in too high up the wall and had no room for it


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my mrs and the guests are going out for a walk so i’m going to have a bash at turning the mains off.


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AlanJ said:
3a31eb765799485d3101084c66638256.jpg
think they plumbed the feed pipe in too high up the wall and had no room for it


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Click to expand...
That's true but you can get a tap connector that has an iso incorporated.
 
AlanJ said:
the diaphragm has gone, a £1 part, but needs the cistern removing to get at it.
Click to expand...

This sort of lazy, crap design drives me nuts. My downstairs loo had the same problem, horrible job took me ages.

So when the diaphragm went in my upstairs loo I thought it would be more of the same but nope - on that I could just remove the top of the flushing mech and swap the new diaphragm in. Took less than 5 minutes.

So why the **** aren't they all like that?
 
found the problem
02fa0af68e6f1d19a62c7515820ce2a9.jpg


none in stock anywhere near me and i needed to get the water back on quick, so:

4393d4403faf7b2c1e408f0b67701285.jpg

81ab535dc7e693be59383e890cf15567.jpg


neatened the edges up and it works! [emoji23][emoji106]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Old school fix that @AlanJ ,nice to see :thumbs:
That toilet connection is a push fit one , that means you can pull up the collar and it pulls off . If you are D I Y savvy them replaced it , the Hepworth toliet isolation valve will be longer so you will have to reduce the copper pipe . Now if you go with the compression type ones , the length of that pipe may be ok :hmm: . Before you all ask , no I am not a plumber , just someone who hates to be ripped off by plumber's so I do all the plumbing work myself .I have seen a lot of these people who would put these isolation valves in live ,it's a case off you have to see it to believe it :eek:
 
Is there any chance that we could change the thread title to 'I'm reasonably cross with a plumber'?

I keep receiving murderous notifications on my phone which is making this particular plumber rather nervous. 🥶
 
I stopped fitting isolation vales some years ago and many of us now dont fit them, its not down to cost or the time it takes, they are just not reliable.
I have had so many new ones fail, when I say fail they weep through the screw hole, enough to cause damage.
I have had ones which done turn off or then dont come back on, not worth the stress.
The first thing we do on every job is fit a Surestop, so easy to shut the water off at the flick of a switch, so much better than using the stopcock which also have many problems.
 
AlanJ said:
found the problem
02fa0af68e6f1d19a62c7515820ce2a9.jpg


none in stock anywhere near me and i needed to get the water back on quick, so:

4393d4403faf7b2c1e408f0b67701285.jpg

81ab535dc7e693be59383e890cf15567.jpg


neatened the edges up and it works! [emoji23][emoji106]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
You should have been on the Krypton Factor 👍
 
it's got worse for me, the same plumber must have fitted the bath in the main bathroom, the thing has leaked for years. I thought it was the kids when they were younger slopping water over the sides. Anyhow nobody in my house uses the bath - ever, so of course once the kids stopped using it, I forgot all about it - must be 10 years since it was last used. We have visitors, one decided to take a bath. Great big stain on the ceiling underneath and now a hole with water piddling out.

Took the side off the bath and discovered a real botch job on the fittings under the bath, leaky as heck and now I cant even unscrew them as years of crusty water has almost petrified the plastic . So, that's todays job - more plumbing grrrr.........
 
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