Running water in every apartment is no longer a luxury, and we take it for granted that this system must be in good working order. Yes, minor breakdowns occasionally occur - for example, the faucet starts to drip or the toilet flush starts to leak. But what if the problem takes on a larger scale - a pipe has seriously burst?
A water pipe break can happen not only on the street (where accidents, by the way, mostly happen underground, so only service workers can quickly detect it), but also directly in the house. In this case, the main thing is not to panic and take all necessary measures in a timely manner.
Pipe burst
A pipe burst: where to go and how to fix the leak
Where to contact
Who should you call urgently if a water pipe has burst in your home?
When the water supply breakthrough is really large and it is impossible to carry out repairs on your own due to lack of time, skills and/or special materials, you can call representatives of plumbing services. Moreover, the choice of organization depends on the day of the week and time of day.
Weekday business hours? Then you should call the ZhES (housing maintenance service). Its number should be in the information table at the entrance or on the website of the management organization.
Did the water supply break happen at night or on one of the weekends/holidays? It is necessary to call the emergency services (emergency service of the water utility unit assigned to the district).
It is best to find out the telephone numbers of housing and emergency services in advance and enter them in your phone book.
Information table at the entrance What to do if a pipe bursts in your house
If at the time of the water supply accident there is aseveral people, it is recommended to immediately distribute responsibilities: one calls the plumbers, and the other at this time tries to eliminate the cause and consequences of the accident.
- The first step is to place any container under the stream so that the water does not spill onto the floor. It can be a bucket, basin, pan - anything that will hold enough a large number of liquids while the problem is eliminated. The containers must be emptied periodically;
- Next, turn off the water supply tap all the way. It is located either in the apartment near the water meters, or in the basement of the house (in this case you will need the keys to basement). It should be taken into account that if you turn off the tap in the basement, everyone who lives in the entrance will lose access to water;
- After making sure that the water has stopped flowing, you need to start collecting it from the floor as soon as possible. To do this, use any convenient means: doormat, sponge, etc.
It is better to make a duplicate of the keys to the basement of the house in advance, so as not to waste your already precious time searching for them.
Now you need to seal the leak. To do this you will need the following tools:
- a piece of rubber (a piece of inner tube from a bicycle, a glove for cleaning the house) or other similar material that is impervious to moisture and capable of stretching;
- two screw (worm) clamps or wire;
- a strip of thick fabric or a sheet of tin (for example, cut from a beer can);
- wrench or a screwdriver for a clamp.
It is advisable to always have several clamps at home. They are very inexpensive, but their use will help you save a lot of money.
The action plan is:
- Wrap rubber or other similar material around the leak as tightly as possible. With tension and, preferably, in several layers;
- Secure the winding with clamps or wire until it stops;
- Wrap the structure with a piece of fabric or a strip of tin prepared in advance and secure it. In the case of tin, the edges of the strip should be connected with a pair of screws or screws and nuts of suitable size;
- For additional moisture insulation, it is recommended to use wide tape or cling film.
Sealing the pipe with rubber and clamps A replacement for these materials can be epoxy resin and an ordinary medical bandage (or other fabric). You just need to mix the resin as indicated on the package and soak the bandage in the mixture. After this, wrap the bandage with a wide overlap around the leak area with as many turns as possible and apply the resin on top. Repeat several times.
You can also apply a special material called “cold welding” directly to the leak site. It can even be used in water - but you need to be extremely careful if it is hot water: getting a burn in this case is a matter of a couple of seconds.
This “ambulance” will help the pipe hold out until professional plumbers arrive. Although it happens that such temporary measures help not for a day or two, but for several months.
Expert opinion
Nikolay, utility employee:
“Not everyone has a supply of clamps at home. In principle, any tightening material is suitable for a temporary patch: you can use a clothesline, wire, or even a regular medical tourniquet. Some people use rags and tape. But to adhesive tape held tightly, you need to thoroughly degrease the surface - for example, with gasoline or acetone. Stopped the leak? All that remains is to call and wait for the plumber to arrive.”
Who is responsible for the accident
It is this question - who is to blame, who should thoroughly repair communications and compensate for possible damage from a leak - that arises acutely immediately after the accident is stopped.
In private cottages, all internal communications are clearly the sphere of interests and responsibility of the owner of the house. As for pipes on and off site, those responsible for their repair and maintenance are usually specified in an agreement with the owner of the networks (for example, a city water utility or a specialized private company).
Apartment flooding But what if a pipe burst in a city apartment?
There are two options:
- If a pipe burst occurs on the riser or in the interval from it to the first tap in the apartment, then you need to contact the building management company. Common property is their area of responsibility, and their duty will be to eliminate the breach and its consequences;
- In other cases, the owner of the apartment bears all responsibility. Therefore, preventive maintenance of pipes must be taken seriously.
If it happens that a water pipe breaks and floods your neighbors, you will need to establish the cost of the damage caused. There are several ways to do this:
- Calculate together with the victims market value damaged items and, by mutual agreement of the parties, pay this amount. It is imperative to draw up an act indicating the amount of damage caused or the method of determining its value. After agreeing on the figure, an annex to the deed is made, which indicates that both parties agree to this amount. If at the time of drawing up the annex to the act the entire amount has been paid, you can indicate there that the money was transferred to the victim and the parties no longer have claims against each other. Or you will have to demand a receipt from your neighbor stating that he received money as compensation;
- Together with the party affected by the flooding, it is possible to determine necessary materials and their quantity for independent purchase, repair, restoration and replacement of things lost and damaged when the apartment was flooded.
In case you find mutual language with neighbors is not possible, the amount of damage can be determined in one of the following ways:
- Hire an independent expert. Payment for his services will need to be negotiated with the victims: either both parties chip in, or only one of them pays. If someone disagrees with the expert's assessment, another can be hired; otherwise, you will need to go to court;
- Go to court. If neighbors cannot come to a consensus regarding the amount of damage, an opinion from an independent party is necessary. All kinds of evidence should be prepared: this could be photographs of the apartment, witness statements, a drawn up act, other available documentation - everything that will help the court to assess losses from flooding as fully as possible.
Crack in the pipe Expert advice
Vitaly, lawyer:
“Representatives of the operating organization must be called to draw up the report. They are required to appear. If they don’t go, you need to write a telegram in which the request form indicates where and when you need to come to draw up a report on the fact of a break in the water supply pipe (hot or cold). At the time of drawing up the act, you need to bring a couple of witnesses (representatives of the injured party can also act as such). The report should indicate the time and place of the accident, a description of the pipe and damage (peeled ceiling paint, the wallpaper on the square was damaged for the same amount square meters and so on.). After replacing the pipe, the dismantled damaged section must be preserved. If your neighbors are flooded and you have to go to court, then this piece of pipe may be needed to establish the cause of the accident.”
You need to make sure that the photo/video contains the following information, if possible:
- Correct time and date. If these are snapshots, then this data should be displayed on each of them;
- Information about the location would be helpful. Modern devices have a geolocation function - you can use it;
- If this is a video, then you need to turn on the microphone and comment on everything that happens in the frame;
- You definitely need to rent the room as a whole;
- Close-ups of specific damage are taken: wet wallpaper, swollen floors, water-filled equipment;
- You definitely need to capture the pipe break itself close-up and along with the rest of the room.
Preventing a water pipe break
If you want to avoid wasting money, time and effort on eliminating the consequences of a water supply accident, the most effective thing is to prevent its occurrence. To do this, you need to promptly check the condition of the water supply pipes in the house.
Rust on the pipe What should you definitely pay close attention to?
- Rust. This is perhaps the most main reason occurrence of cracks in water supply systems. If brown streaks or peeling paint are found on the pipe, you should understand that corrosion has taken over and will sooner or later cause trouble. And simple painting is unlikely to help here - the process has already begun;
- Gradual depressurization. Sometimes the joints between parts of the pipeline do not fit tightly enough to each other. If it is noticed that moisture accumulates in these places and leaks are visible, then depressurization has occurred;
- Water hammer is a surge in water pressure in pipes. This can happen both through the fault of utility companies, due to improper maintenance of the pipeline, and through the fault of the consumer of services - due to illegal changes to the water supply system not coordinated with utility services.
The best way to prevent a serious accident is not to try to eliminate a small leak on your own by applying a tire or cold welding, but to turn to professionals. Replacing pipes before they break is much more effective and profitable than after it.
An example of fixing a leak in a pipe:
A burst heating pipe always happens unexpectedly. Often in this extreme situation people stop thinking rationally, and cannot immediately find their bearings and take all the necessary measures to prevent an emergency in their apartment. In order to act correctly, you need to know in advance all the information on further behavior in the event that the heating pipes burst. Moreover, there is not much of it.
What to do?
When a heating pipe bursts, the question immediately arises: what to do to solve the problem with minimal losses? First of all, you should determine the location of the breakthrough. Then place some container for the water flowing from the pipe to prevent flooding of the apartment.
Then you should call the appropriate services. It is better if one person fights the flood, and the other dials the necessary numbers. Then you should find the central valves of the heating system. They are located in the basement of the house. It is better if the valves are closed by a person who has a minimal understanding of how to handle this system.
Then you should take care of recording the consequences of the flood after the pipe burst. It is recommended to do this through photos and videos. The management company is required to draw up a special act with a signature.
Who is guilty?
Who is responsible for a burst heating pipe? These powers are vested in Management Company. However, there are some nuances here. Who is to blame if new elements were installed on the system by the residents of the house, or were carried out on their own? renovation work? In this case, responsibility for what broke the system is removed from the management company and transferred to the residents of the house.
Who should I call?
Before determining which number to dial in the event of an emergency, you need to understand some nuances. In particular, if a pipe bursts, this type of accident is divided into intra-house and intra-apartment. Who to call is determined based on what type of accident occurred:
- In-house. In this case, you should call the organization that is responsible for the emergency, that is, the management company. If the breakthrough is serious and water begins to flood the entrance, you should immediately dial the emergency number. Specialists from the service will not only eliminate the emergency, but will also record it in the relevant documents, which will help in the subsequent analysis of the situation;
- In-apartment. In this case, you also need to call the management company. It should be remembered that if the residents made repairs, replaced parts or otherwise interfered with the structure, the residents of the house bear responsibility for the accident. If there were no interventions, it is the management company that is obliged to eliminate the consequences of the accident.
It is better to study all the information in advance, find out the numbers of the city emergency services and your management company, as well as familiarize yourself with where the central valves are located and how to shut them off, rather than then make the wrong actions if the heating pipe in the apartment breaks. It’s good if you have the numbers to call in case of an emergency at your fingertips, because in the event of an accident you are unlikely to have time to look for them.
Our life is unpredictable, and no one knows what will happen to him in an hour, a minute, a second. Many unforeseen situations await us at every step. And even in your beloved and, it would seem, safe home we cannot be guaranteed to receive rest and peace. And all this is due to the fact that our houses and apartments are equipped with various communication systems - electricity, heating, water supply, sewerage. All of these systems use piping that cannot last forever. Therefore, each of us should know what needs to be done if pipes burst in a room.
Who to call if your pipe bursts?
It may happen that the pipes in the pipeline break specifically, and you either don’t know how to repair them yourself, or you don’t have the time for this work, or necessary tools. In this case, call a plumber immediately.
Most the best option will be fulfilled next steps: While one member of your family is dialing the phone number, others at this time, using available means, are trying, if possible, to eliminate the leak in the pipes.
This problem can also occur on weekdays. work time. In this case, call the housing office or personally a plumber who is an employee of your housing office.
Perhaps your pipeline will leak in the middle of the night or on the weekend or holidays. In this case, call your local water utility - they have an emergency service available 24 hours a day.
In almost all houses, the main telephone numbers of housing and communal services are posted on the doors of each entrance.
In order to in unforeseen cases (if water pipes will break through at an extremely inopportune time) you didn’t waste extra time searching for numbers the necessary telephone numbers, names at the information desk, which is always “busy,” write down important phone numbers before you start having plumbing problems.
How to eliminate broken water or heating pipes?
What actions should you take if your pipes have burst, but water is only dripping?
Perhaps you promptly noticed problems with your water supply or heating pipes, and water has just begun to slowly ooze or drip from them. In this case, you are in luck because there are several ways to fix the leak.
How to fix a small pipe break
If there is a small breakthrough, you may be able to keep the pipe leaking using a self-made clamp, which you can easily make if you have with you:
- A piece of rubber (this could be rubber pads, gloves, a piece of a bicycle inner tube) or a material that can stretch, be compacted and not allow moisture to pass through.
- A piece of wire.
- A strip of fabric.
- Screwdriver or wrench.
- A piece of sheet metal.
How to fix a broken pipe yourself.
A good material for eliminating the problem, which is a small hole in a broken pipe, can be a medical tourniquet to stop bleeding, which is certainly found in home or car first aid kits for thrifty owners.
So, you need to do the following:
- Wrap any of the sealants (harness or rubber) tightly around the place where the pipe is leaking.
- Using pliers, firmly secure the rubber with wire.
- Wrap several layers of fabric around the top of the seal and tie it in a knot.
- Using a wrench, screwdriver, or other oblong object, tighten the tissue using a rotating motion, as you would normally do to stop bleeding.
If a sheet of tin is used instead of a piece of fabric, it is necessary to surround the piece of the leaking pipe with a sheet of tin, connect the edges of the sheet, and then fasten it with a screw and nut.
Repairing a pipe rupture using cold welding
Elimination of pipe bursts is also carried out using cold welding. This is a special substance that is not afraid of moisture, so it is used even in water. Cold welding superimposed on problem area- on a crack in a broken pipe.
How to fix pipe leaks using epoxy resin
If the leak in the pipe is small, this problem can be fixed by using epoxy resin with a very ordinary medical bandage.
To do this you need to do the following:
- Read the instructions for using epoxy resin carefully.
- Prepare the required composition in the proportions described in the instructions.
- Wrap a layer of bandage around the crack from which water is oozing.
- Smear epoxy resin the entire surface of the bandage.
- Do this several times in a row.
It is better to wrap a good layer of overlapping bandage.
What actions can be taken if a pipe bursts and water flows from it with strong pressure?
You big problems- the pipes have burst, a strong pressure of water is gushing out of them. If these are water pipes, this is bad, but even worse if they burst heating pipes. During the cold season, hot water is supplied to the heating pipes, so self-sacrifice, expressed in closing the breakthrough with your body, can be not only not useful, but also harmful.
Therefore, you must remember that if pipes in which hot water flows burst, you should not try to do something on your own, but urgently call emergency workers by phone.
Before the emergency vehicle and crew arrive, close the riser in your apartment, or better yet, in the basement. Before an unforeseen situation occurs, you must find out who holds the keys to the basement of your entrance.
Then take a good piece of thick fabric, cut it and wrap it around the holes or cracks where the water was coming out - this will at least reduce the pressure of hot water.
While one family member is performing the steps described above, other people in the room are constantly bailing out water.
Using rubber and wire, make a homemade patch and apply it to the leak.
The above steps are necessary in cases where pipes with hot water broke through in the kitchen or bathroom.
Who can be considered to blame for burst pipes?
When the problem is finally fixed, it is not surprising if the expected question arises: is it someone’s fault that the pipe burst? The organization that services this apartment building is responsible for all water supply pipes installed from the tap riser to the first floor, and the residents of this building themselves are responsible for all other pipes, including sewer pipes.
The building management organization is responsible for faulty radiators and heating pipes. However, in cases where the residents of a particular apartment installed new heating elements or carried out repairs that they did not inform the employees of the above-mentioned organization, the organization is not responsible for the fact that such an emergency situation occurred.
Therefore, there is only one answer to the question about the culprit of broken pipes – the apartment owners themselves.
Taking preventive measures
To ensure that questions do not arise about what to do in the event of a pipe break, and such problems do not seem like an emergency to the residents of an apartment or private house, periodic inspection of the condition of the pipes of the water supply and heating systems is necessary.
You should also know that possible breakdown pipeline problems can be prevented if the appearance of certain symptoms is not overlooked in a timely manner:
- In steel pipelines, you can notice how in some places, over time, the paint on the pipes begins to peel noticeably - this is a sign that rust is beginning to corrode the pipes.
- When small droplets of water appear on pipes or at their connections, it means that urgent measures are needed to find the causes of their appearance.
As you understand, it is impossible to foresee every life situation, there cannot be a warehouse with materials for repairs and spare parts at home, however, a real man and a good owner can definitely find some wire and old rubber in his household so that the problem with a broken pipe does not overtake him taken aback.
Breakdown of water supply, heating and sewer systems- this is an emergency, the culprit of which may be both the management company and the residents of the property. Before you begin to find out who is obliged to compensate for the damage caused and repair the breakdown, you need to take a number of specific actions to eliminate the flood. What to do if a pipe bursts in your apartment, where to go and what documents to fill out - we will consider further.
Since it is impossible to predict such an incident and prepare for it, many apartment owners are simply lost and do not take any action to eliminate the source of flooding.
What to do if a heating pipe in an apartment bursts? - everything is quite simple. You must follow the following recommendations from experts:
- Turn off the tap separating the battery or wiring of the apartment’s heating system from the common riser. In most cases, this tap is installed next to water meters. After blocking it, the water pressure will no longer flow into the pipes of the apartment, and therefore the flood will be eliminated.
- Call the housing office and call a plumber. This option is only valid for weekdays. On weekends, it is better to call the emergency service. The necessary telephone numbers can be seen in the receipt for payment for water supply services, the telephone directory, and they are also often available on special information stands at the entrance.
- Move all valuables and equipment as far as possible from the broken pipe. First of all, this applies to switched on equipment, which can cause a short circuit and even a fire.
- Try to eliminate or minimize the leak yourself.
Attention! Don't sit back and wait for the experts to arrive. It is important to begin wiping up water from all surfaces and strive to protect the property from serious damage as soon as a broken pipe is identified.
Experts distinguish the following two types of breakthrough:
Troubles, as a rule, happen exactly when you least expect them, and problems with the plumbing system in the apartment take you by surprise. It’s not scary if a faucet leaks or water leaks from the toilet tank, but what to do if a pipe bursts? Who to call, what actions should be taken first, so as not to flood the neighbors below?
Where to call?
In the case where a broken pipe looks quite impressive and liquid very quickly pours out of it, filling the room, you cannot solve this problem yourself - you need to immediately call specialists. If there is another person nearby, then this is just great, because while someone calls the professionals, you can at least somehow reduce the pressure and plug the gap.
- If such an event occurred on a weekday, then you need to call the housing maintenance service or simply the housing office; their number can be found at the entrance to each house.
- If an emergency occurred on a weekend, then you should call the emergency service of the water utility; their number should be written down in the telephone address book. If this is not the case, then you need to quickly use the reference book. It is better to always have a list of such necessary telephone numbers on hand, because you never know what might happen tomorrow. Forewarned is forearmed.
What should owners do if a pipe bursts?
Of course, when a pipe breaks, specialists will not be able to immediately appear on the threshold of your home, so before the plumbers arrive, you need to take some measures to reduce the amount of water in the apartment.
- Firstly, the most important thing is not to panic and not run around the apartment at breakneck speed. At such a moment, it is necessary to be adequate and restrained, to give an account of every action.
- Secondly, you need to place a container under the broken pipe so that water does not spill onto the floor and you do not flood your neighbors. This must be done before calling the plumbers. Don’t forget that containers need to be emptied by pouring them into a bathtub or sink to prevent water from spilling over the edges.
- Then you need to shut off the water supply in the apartment or in the basement. The valves that regulate the water supply are usually located in the same place as the meters that control the volume of hot and cold water. You will need to turn the required valve all the way and check whether the water has stopped flowing. Usually, when performing such a manipulation in the basement, you turn off the water at the entire entrance.
- After all these steps, it is necessary to collect all the water that ended up on the floor. This needs to be done as quickly and efficiently as possible. Any rags will do; you need to do everything quickly.
After all the steps described above, you need to quickly seal the hole in the pipe so that it does not leak, because when you turn off the water in the basement apartment building you leave all the residents of the entrance without it.
You can try to restore the tightness of the pipe yourself. To do this you need to do the following.
- You need to wrap a piece of thick rubber (a bicycle inner tube will do) around the hole, do it very tightly in order to thoroughly tighten the leak.
- After this, you need to secure the piece of rubber with two screw clamps, screwing them all the way. There is no need to spare money, let there always be 5 extra clamps in your house, they are very cheap, but sometimes they are simply irreplaceable.
- After installing such a patch, be sure to rewind the leak with a piece of thick fabric. This will help contain the pressure for a couple of hours, which is just enough for specialists to arrive.
- You also need to go down to your neighbors below, see if you have flooded them, if this happens, then apologize and solve the problems.
Who is to blame for the pipe burst?
Who is to blame for the burst pipe in the apartment? This is a very important and necessary question that appears immediately after the flood problem is eliminated. In the case where this happened in a private house, laying the sewer system is the responsibility of the owner. Accordingly, all problems that may arise with the plumbing system fall solely on his shoulders.
If the breakthrough was in apartment building, then several options are possible.
- If a pipe breaks from the riser to the first tap, then the management organization that manages this house will be responsible for all this; in fact, all complaints should be addressed there.
- The remaining pipes in the house are the problems of the residents. Therefore, you need to monitor the condition of the pipes, change them from time to time, clean them, and so on.
- If a problem arose with the heating system, then this is a completely different case - the management company should bear all responsibility if the tenant did not change anything in the system.
Now you know exactly what actions need to be taken if a pipe breaks. To ensure that such an incident never mars your life, you should regularly check the condition of the pipes. If they need to be repaired or replaced, they must be notified. management organization. You also need to inspect the pipes that are installed in your home and replace various parts if necessary. The presence of rust, drips and other inconsistencies indicates that the pipe is in unusable condition. You also need to inspect the valve in the basement - it is important that it functions correctly and can be easily unscrewed and tightened. After all, if an emergency does happen, you will need to quickly turn off the water supply system.