Any plumbers or semi-pro plumbers here?

LionAquaLooper

Noticed a leak under the upstairs bathroom sink yesterday.  Called a mate who pulled this hot water pipe and replaced it.  Look at the state of it:



Anyone know how the hell this happened?  Mate said it's just standard degradation especially as it's the hot water supply, but he's no expert.  Before anyone asks - no it wasn't rats gnawing at it even though it looks like it.  Also, the cold water pipe right next to it is perfectly fine and is the same age as this one.  

Does this thing happen all the time?  I'm starting to worry about the other hot water pipes in my house if this is what can happen.  

Perdix

Looks like a flexi tap connector from a basin mixer tap. They are supposed to be a stainless steel mesh around a rubber tube but the quality of the stainless steel is usually poor and is susceptible to corrosion. Yours doesn’t appear to have rusted but was probably damaged when installed by tightening it in by holding the hose rather than putting a spanner or grips on the flats at the top. 

Revolutions

PolarityMan

that happened to me recently, was having breakfast with the kids and heard water running and I was like..alright..who left the tap on, came out and there was water spraying out across the downstairs loo.

Just as well we were in or would have totally flooded. 

Took the tap apart and hot hose looked remarkably like that. 

robgilmo

Looks like it was leaking for a while then rusted out, I would check all the other flexi tap connectors just to be on the safe side, replace anything that doesnt look right. 

pumkin

Looks like the flexi could have been twisted and kinked when installed and this could result in the mesh breaking down … plucky you caught it early .

LionAquaLooper

robgilmo said:

Looks like it was leaking for a while then rusted out, I would check all the other flexi tap connectors just to be on the safe side, replace anything that doesnt look right. 

Yep, I've done a quick check of others but only checked for visible leaks.  Will do a 2nd round to check for any kinks or minor damage to the outer lattice.

pumkin said:

Looks like the flexi could have been twisted and kinked when installed and this could result in the mesh breaking down … plucky you caught it early .

Yes, and equally lucky that like @PolarityMan we were actually in the house at the time/  I think mine could've turned into a full blown rupture at any time!.

boogieman

pumkin said:

Looks like the flexi could have been twisted and kinked when installed and this could result in the mesh breaking down … plucky you caught it early .

Yup, this. It’s been twisted and failed. You can see the inner tube looks kinked as well, so it’s probably been mullered by whoever put it in. It’s definitely not “standard degradation”, they don’t normally fail like that.