Hi,
As some of you are aware, I am currently stuck in Italy running a shop that has nothing to do with plumbing
Yesterday I thought I'd got most of what I needed to get done by lunchtime and was able to take the rest of the day 'off' (which actually means try to get done the things that are hard to do when you are working 7 days a week) and leave my aunt in charge.
Which was when I noticed the water dripping through the concrete ceiling of the shop and onto a magazine
Turned out not to be the LCS pipes that are buried in the wall and floor of the flat above, but a flexi connector failing near the thread where it screwed into a 1/2" BSPP LCS socket that is buried in the wall. Obviously the male thread on the flexi sheared off when I tried to unscrew it, so I was left hacksawing out the remnants and levering out bits of male thread with a screwdriver so I could fit a new flexi. Given that the use of a hacksaw at 90° to the threads created a groove in the female thread, Loctite 55 did not seal, nor did PTFE tape. Neither would stay in place as the threads kept chewing everything up.
Had I been in the UK I would have given LSX a go. As I am in Italy where hemp and paste still appear to be legal on potable water, I did it the old-fashioned way and it worked, which is just as well as I don't know if LSX even exists over here.
What has occurred to me is that it would have been infinitely better to have removed the brass threaded tail from the LCS socket without damaging the socket in the first place, but I'm not sure how I would have gone about it. Had I been in the UK with my tools, I might have tried an easy-out, but I have a feeling it wouldn't have worked anyway. In any case, a 1/2" BSP male iron would have needed a rather large easy-out.
Any tips?
As some of you are aware, I am currently stuck in Italy running a shop that has nothing to do with plumbing
Yesterday I thought I'd got most of what I needed to get done by lunchtime and was able to take the rest of the day 'off' (which actually means try to get done the things that are hard to do when you are working 7 days a week) and leave my aunt in charge.
Which was when I noticed the water dripping through the concrete ceiling of the shop and onto a magazine
Turned out not to be the LCS pipes that are buried in the wall and floor of the flat above, but a flexi connector failing near the thread where it screwed into a 1/2" BSPP LCS socket that is buried in the wall. Obviously the male thread on the flexi sheared off when I tried to unscrew it, so I was left hacksawing out the remnants and levering out bits of male thread with a screwdriver so I could fit a new flexi. Given that the use of a hacksaw at 90° to the threads created a groove in the female thread, Loctite 55 did not seal, nor did PTFE tape. Neither would stay in place as the threads kept chewing everything up.
Had I been in the UK I would have given LSX a go. As I am in Italy where hemp and paste still appear to be legal on potable water, I did it the old-fashioned way and it worked, which is just as well as I don't know if LSX even exists over here.
What has occurred to me is that it would have been infinitely better to have removed the brass threaded tail from the LCS socket without damaging the socket in the first place, but I'm not sure how I would have gone about it. Had I been in the UK with my tools, I might have tried an easy-out, but I have a feeling it wouldn't have worked anyway. In any case, a 1/2" BSP male iron would have needed a rather large easy-out.
Any tips?
