We've had this in a 20 year old house in Lancashire, soft water area. It brought a ceiling down. The rest of the pipe had little green spots in it so I was relieved when we sold the house soon afterwards.
What the... ? Corroding copper pipes - pinholes.
- Thread starter jlacd
- Start date
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As Shambolic & Softus has said that the only way to solve your problem is to completely replace the affected copper. It was during the copper shortage that we were using imported copper that was a poor quality. I have had to replace lots with exactly your problem also tried lots of different ways to repair only to find it pin holes in a new place in a very short time.
Peruse, I'd agree with that too. The nature of the problem would suggest that even copper in the system that has yet to fail, but exposed to the same conditions, would also need to be carefully inspected. To attempt minor repairs may be a false economy.
This is a known problem with copper in soft water areas. NHS scotland has banned the use of copper for domestic water in their premises. See link.
http://www.hfs.scot.nhs.uk/publicat... Systems for Scottish Healthcare Premises.pdf
http://www.hfs.scot.nhs.uk/publicat... Systems for Scottish Healthcare Premises.pdf
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Agreed on the soft water point - I come across this problem in some parts of Devon too. At least some of the cause may be electrolytic corrosion, and earth bonding of pipework can help to alleviate the problem.
My sixpennyworth.
In Stevenage, Herts, a notoriously hard water area, a whole estate many years ago awoke to find floods on the ground floor.
The copper, bought in during the shortages and improperly manufactured and cleaned was fine with a patina of scale but as water was bought in from other source area as a water supply grid developed the scale was erroded and the minerals in the new supply got to work on the imperfect tube. Couldn't get a length of 15mm for 30 miles.
Hard water is good!
Interesting point on the earth bonding as I believe it can lead to faster errosion of copper cylinders and radiators in bathrooms that are cross bonded.
In Stevenage, Herts, a notoriously hard water area, a whole estate many years ago awoke to find floods on the ground floor.
The copper, bought in during the shortages and improperly manufactured and cleaned was fine with a patina of scale but as water was bought in from other source area as a water supply grid developed the scale was erroded and the minerals in the new supply got to work on the imperfect tube. Couldn't get a length of 15mm for 30 miles.
Hard water is good!
Interesting point on the earth bonding as I believe it can lead to faster errosion of copper cylinders and radiators in bathrooms that are cross bonded.
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