Burst Plumbing

[tracker]

       Woke up at 1.30 this morning...... Went out to get a drink....opened bedroom door and walked out  through an inch of water through the rest of the house.....flexi hot water hose in the main bathroom had burst ....wifey went to bed at or about 10.00pm...all ok at this point....so were not sure when it burst....now in comms with insurance .... the vanity is stalked....bottom of wall unit in front lounge swollen... 3 i-pads and a pc on the floor after a sleep over with the grand kids....plus the sewing machine on the floor in the laundry..and as you can figure any thing that is on the floor  ..benches ..skirtings ect..... i suppose we were lucky...were supposed to have been out at Carnarvon Gorge for 4 days....Lesson here is...if you go away camping.....TURN THE MAINS WATER OFF....

                                  Cheers Tracker.

           

[loanrangie]

Learnt that lesson, came home after a week away and found a waterfall coming from kitchen into downstairs laundry and bedroom.
 Plaster from ceiling and walls had all fallen off so essentially both rooms totally open to elements while we were away, luckily insurance were great and being January i was able to setup all our camping gear in the backyard to dry out.

[Fizzie]

Jeez Tracker, what a bastard of a thing to happen

Hope insurance comes to the party as they should.

A mate was saying a while back that this happened to a mate of his who was away for a week . Upstairs bathroom, so you can imagine the mess they had . Eventually all dried out with the use of heaters & industrial fans & insurance covered everything - until they got their next electricity bill which included a weeks worth of fans & heaters running 24 hrs a day! So, when they dry your place out, make sure insurance agree to cover the cost of power involved as well as the rest of the claim.

Good luck

[Bird]

       Woke up at 1.30 this morning...... Went out to get a drink....opened bedroom door and walked out  through an inch of water through the rest of the house.....flexi hot water hose in the main bathroom had burst ....wifey went to bed at or about 10.00pm...all ok at this point....so were not sure when it burst....now in comms with insurance .... the vanity is stalked....bottom of wall unit in front lounge swollen... 3 i-pads and a pc on the floor after a sleep over with the grand kids....plus the sewing machine on the floor in the laundry..and as you can figure any thing that is on the floor  ..benches ..skirtings ect..... i suppose we were lucky...were supposed to have been out at Carnarvon Gorge for 4 days....Lesson here is...if you go away camping.....TURN THE MAINS WATER OFF....

                                  Cheers Tracker.

it was 7 Ipads, 4 laptops, 3 PC's, and several valuable stamp collections...

[tracker]

Ohhh....and the other thing ...if you have these flexable hoses in your  vanity sinks or kitchen...check them occasionally....if they feel like sand paper...it's rust....and going to fail soon....having bleach and similar chemicals  in laundry cubbords below taps is not advised....

                                  Cheers Tracker.

[seehuusen]

I work for an insurance builder, when you make a claim, the trade will no longer be allowed to re-fit those hoses, as they can't gaurantee them. We get a lot of work relating to those. Life span is generally no more than 10 years.

[tracker]

I work for an insurance builder, when you make a claim, the trade will no longer be allowed to re-fit those hoses, as they can't gaurantee them. We get a lot of work relating to those. Life span is generally no more than 10 years.

    Ok...i'm hearing you....and agree....but with what do i replace them with ?....I have replaced the busted one with the same....new taps....The insurance company don't fix the busted hose.....they only fix the water damaged gear...... .....  No directive from the insurance company.....so if it happens again....do the insurance company pay out again ?...i suppose it's like a production line when the item gets to the end and it's faulty.....it get's thrown back to be recycled....would't it be better to solve the problem in the middle......and at the end have first class product.... ... ....I had to pay the plumber to fix the busted hose at fault....i also replaced all other flexable hoses in my house..... this house is 13 year old and i never knew there was a life span on these hoses

                             Cheers Tracker.

[edz]

Thanks for the reminder to check them ..
We have been this club too, Vanity pipe burst in the ensuite  and floor mat partialy blocked the drain .. Lucky the wife was home,  though  by the time she rang me at work and got  the mains water off we had a decent amount of water through the bedroom and hall way .
Edit : Just checked all ours,  5 lots and the so called stainless shrouds are rusted / fraying in places on all of them, being a rental I cant see the owner coughing up to have them all replaced, but will have to log it with the real estate ..

[seehuusen]

Hey Tracker, your insurance company should replace your fix too IMO.
It should get replaced with solid copper lines, which, although it takes longer to fit ($$$), it works out cheaper for the insurer in the end.

These hoses are so renowned for causing this damage, that some insurers are considering suing the manufacturer (exactly because they don't put a life span on them)

[tracker]

Thanks for the reminder to check them ..
We have been this club too, Vanity pipe burst in the ensuite  and floor mat partialy blocked the drain .. Lucky the wife was home,  though  by the time she rang me at work and got  the mains water off we had a decent amount of water through the bedroom and hall way .
Edit : Just checked all ours,  5 lots and the so called stainless shrouds are rusted / fraying in places on all of them, being a rental I cant see the owner coughing up to have them all replaced, but will have to log it with the real estate ..

     Good move edz....


dit : Just checked all ours,  5 lots and the so called stainless shrouds are rusted / fraying in places on all of them, being a rental I cant see the owner coughing up to have them all replaced, but will have to log it with the real estate ..

[tracker]

Hey Tracker, your insurance company should replace your fix too IMO.
It should get replaced with solid copper lines, which, although it takes longer to fit ($$$), it works out cheaper for the insurer in the end.

These hoses are so renowned for causing this damage, that some insurers are considering suing the manufacturer (exactly because they don't put a life span on them)

 They said to my wife...the cause is not there responsibility .....they just repair the result...

[seehuusen]

The guy that came out to estimate the damage should've included it in the quote IMO. The hose was damaged, therefor it should be fixed... different builders do provide different services i suppose.

If they're frayed, I'd certainly consider replacing them.

[seehuusen]

Imagine a tree fell through the roof, surely the insurance company wouldn't come fix the roof before they'd sorted the cause

"Oh I'm sorry sir that you can't fit your couch in the living room because of that great big tree poking through the wall... At least you won't get rain on your head while you watch the news from that branch next to the coffee table" wait some insurers might

[tracker]

Much  the same as the time my panel ift door just collapsed and fell in a heap...mechancil failure ...NO INSURANCE......If i had have hit it with my car.....NO proplemo..!!!!...had  to pay for a new one myself...........

[seehuusen]

Yep, they are profesional at bending you over and taking ya for a ride!!

[GBC]

The guy that came out to estimate the damage should've included it in the quote IMO. The hose was damaged, therefor it should be fixed... different builders do provide different services i suppose.

If they're frayed, I'd certainly consider replacing them.

No, read your pds. Insurance repairs resultant damage, not what caused it. It has always been that way. It isn't a rip, insurance isn't a handyman service. We used to assess and repair $500k+ a month of insurable damage. If an oven shorts out and burns down your house, you'll be paid out for everything except the oven - you fix that.
Buy flex lines from a plumbing supplier and you'll have much better results than if you buy them at the green shed.
Why did the door fall? Insurance needs to be linked to an insurable event. If some clown under specified it or it was poorly installed by a weekend warrior for example, it won't be covered. It is my experience as an assessor and a builder that doors don't 'just' fall down.
Lastly, insurance will remove a tree if it falls through your home and you are insured. This info is all in the pds. How the hell do you decide what insurer to go with if you don't have a clue what is being insured?

[seehuusen]

Edit: i stand corrected, you're right. Resultant damage is the only thing which is repaired. The cause is the owner's responsibility

[banksy69]

I work for an insurance builder, when you make a claim, the trade will no longer be allowed to re-fit those hoses, as they can't gaurantee them. We get a lot of work relating to those. Life span is generally no more than 10 years.

Good luck with that.
Find a kitchen, basin or laundry mixer that doesn't have flexible hoses.
Fitting them to a toilet cistern shows the plumber is lazy.

[seehuusen]

Yes, for the mixer taps, they have those come into the tap itself... seems self explanatory that you cant remove those?!
 
In any case, I'd not expect any of those flexy hoses to last longer than 10 years. Especially if frayed/rusty. 

[D4D]

Yeah, we had one let go in the main bathroom. Luckily there were a bunch of open plastic containers in the vanity to catch a lot of the water. Still stuffed the vanity and the floor/tiles, $10K insurance job.

[achjimmy]

Yeah, we had one let go in the main bathroom. Luckily there were a bunch of open plastic containers in the vanity to catch a lot of the water. Still stuffed the vanity and the floor/tiles, $10K insurance job.

How's it stuff the tiles?

[D4D]

How's it stuff the tiles?

Went down the back of the vanity, got between the floor tiles and the yellow tongue, yellow tongue expanded and lifted the tiles.

[rags]

I will put my Plumbers hat on ;
1 Flexi- hoses cannot be avoided in modern houses, as you can not use any thing except hoses on all mixer taps, there is no provision to do connections in copper.A good plumber being paid a reasonably fee should use a bit of chrome tube on the cisterns but that doesn't happen today with project type homes and builders who squeeze the plumbers price. A good plumber will still bed the WC pan with a sand/ cement base also but along with Flexi- hoses comes the silicant tube. (Ah miss the good old days when plumbers where tradesmen)
2 Ensure that your property is fitted with a 500Kpa pressure limiting valve somewhere between the meter and the house. It is a requirement of AS3500 that the water pressure is restricted to this pressure. All your fixtures like dishwashers, washing machines and your Flexi- hoses etc are rated to this pressure, failure due to excess pressure will void warranties.
3 Any fixture that is connected with a Flexi- hose should have an isolation valve so you can shut off just that fixture without shutting down the rest of the house.
4 A good investment is to fit Flood Stop Valves on each Flexi - hose, cost around $30 each point but cheaper than your insurance claim.
(link)http://www.envirotechtreatmentsystems.com.au/about.html

[rags]

Went down the back of the vanity, got between the floor tiles and the yellow tongue, yellow tongue expanded and lifted the tiles.

That sounds like a failure of the waterproofing system. The floor should have a membrane over the sheeting and recessed leak control flanges, so flooring should not got wet.

[D4D]

That sounds like a failure of the waterproofing system. The floor should have a membrane over the sheeting and recessed leak control flanges, so flooring should not got wet.

I asked the same question of the insurance assessor, as the house was built in 2000 and it is a bathroom floor apparently full waterproofing wasn't required then, only the shower and bath.