Leak on newly installed kitchen

[DiyNutJob]

The leak appears to be In the elbow piece. Water at mains pressure comes in from behind the chipbaord. Is this a common problem or is the fittings used unsuitable? How hard to replace the elbow? The elbow appears to have external threads where it goes through the chipboard.

 

[matlob]

May just be that it's kinked at an angle as the pipes need to sit fairly straight in them or possibly not pushed home fully

Maybe remove the clip holding the pipe on and try and get it all straightened up

If it's always leaked the grey pipe may be too short

 

[DiyNutJob]

The builders did stretch the fittings while trying to fix another leak. Could that have caused this leak?

 

[terryplumb]

The builders did stretch the fittings while trying to fix another leak. Could that have caused this leak?

Possibly. It's also possible that they have not made the joints correctly, no pipe inserts ,damaged O ring, deformed pipe end, any combination of these.

 

[DiyNutJob]

Is the elbow piece easy to replace?

 

[terryplumb]

Probably doesn't need replacing . Just taking apart at the vertical part of the elbow ,new O ring,and that little bit of pipe replaced, preferably with copper.

 

[Madrab]

It may also be mismatched fittings to pipe. The grey pipe/fittings on the left is polypipe, the white fittings are JG with the possibility of it being a piece of grey polypipe in the middle. I'll be honest I don't ever mix polypipe with anything else.

You can usually get away with interchanging HEP and JG pipe and fittings but not polypipe, it's never feels quite right. AS suggested, replace thew little bit of grey pipe with a piece of JG pipe and check the seal.

 

[DiyNutJob]

Is replacing the grey pipe with copper better? I have some in the garage.

 

[terryplumb]

Is replacing the grey pipe with copper better? I have some in the garage.

Yes.

 

[DiyNutJob]

Here's the elbow from a different angle. Not sure if the bendy look is caused by the camera.

 

[Deleted member 267285]

The tee fitting above looks strained, so could be that. This might be why builders build and plumbers plumb.

 

[terryplumb]

Looks misaligned ,and the joints strained.

 

[DiyNutJob]

How do I pinpoint the leak? I am only assuming the leak is at the elbow. To disassemble, I just unscrew the "cap" and yank on the pipe? There isn't room to get a good grip on the cap by hand. Use of metal pipe grip ok?

 

[terryplumb]

Dry all above the elbow with paper towel ,to rule out water trickling from above.
Release the pipe from the pipe clip/s ,it may give you more free play. Hand tight preferred to using tool.

 

[DiyNutJob]

Dry all above the elbow with paper towel ,to rule out water trickling from above.

It's more complicated than that. Flow of cold mains causes condensation on the metal parts above. So I need to completely separate the bits above and see if it still leaks at the same place.