# Forum Home Renovation Plumbing  Fixing broken charged stormwater pipe

## JB1

Hi, 
After my backyard was always flooding for over 1.5 years, i assumed it was run off from the neighbours I figured out it the charged storm water pipe as it created a small sinkhole. 
The concreter punctured the pipe when setting out the formwork. I had to cut out the concrete to confirm. 
Called the plumbers who originally did the house plumbing (not drainage plumber) they cut the pipe and joined it using rubber joining bits (not sure of correct name). 
I thought it was fixed but it water slowly leaks from the joins as it still floods and the vertical downpipes seem empty.  
Now as the plumbers didn't charge me to fix it. I going to try to retighten the clamps myself.  
But I'm wondering are these rubber joining bits appropriate for charged storm water systems? especially long term as I will need to reconcrete over the top of it. 
I want to get second opinions before I ask the plumbers to come back to look at it again if I can't get a watertight seal.

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## ErrolFlynn

Wait for the plumber's advice, but I'd want to know that the worm drive clips are made of stainless steel.  Most clips will rust after a while, and being underground constantly damp and being scraped around my soil particles all year long standard clips won't last.

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## plum

If tightened correctly it shouldn't leak.

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## JB1

Thanks, pretty sure its stainless steel. 
I think the reason it may leak is that there maybe dirt/sand/clay on the pipes, I'll take the rubber off and give it a good clean before placing it back on.

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## METRIX

Gotta be happy with having to cut up your new concrete NOT, I would be contacting the concretors and asking them to fix the slab for free, although how did they manage to get down so far to puncture the when setting up the formwork ?

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## JB1

Concreters aren't happy with me and I with them. 
I claimed some insurance damage due to them damaging my other storm water pipe but never fixing it. I gave them ample time to fix it. 
I found out the cost to repair it when I received a nasty call from them that my insurance company was claiming a $5k bill to reline my storm water pipe under my slab.  
Thank god I had owner builders insurance. 
Needless to say, I doubt they would fix this bit for free  :Smilie:  
I'm assuming the ground was soggy but yes, its pretty deep. 
But just bad luck, 60mm either side of it and it would have cleared the pipe.

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## r3nov8or

if you dig enough soil away you should be able to get a little flex and fix this with PVC and glue. That would be peace of mind IMHO. (I've used rubber sleeves and clamps to convert PVC to earthenware, but they're not charged. )

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## JB1

Theres very little flex in the pipes given how much room there is.  
The damaged  pipe is between the last downpipe and water tank. 
I'm  actually thinking of asking them to cap off one end of the pipe where the repair was and then have the outlet if the charged pipe high up near the gutters.  
The nearest downpipe to the watertank is only about 4m away so there is plenty of fall. 
Its raining pretty heavily in melbourne so the hole is flooding badly. Whats more concerning is that there is no water flowing jnto the watertank meaning the leak is substantial  :Frown:  
Cant do it today, so will do it tomorrow, currently I'm  siphoning out the water out of the hole with a hose.

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## plum

I'm actually surprised the plumber didn't charge you to fix it. Why would they fix it for free?

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## JB1

I actually owed them some money when they did my house nearly 2 years ago.  They never came back to collect the balance. 
I forgot about it, but remembered when he said owed him money. So i paid them for the old job and they didnt charge me to fix this.

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## JB1

Unloosened the rubber sleeve and what do you know, clean water is seeping out. 
Hmmmmmm so I know the join is watertight, but the area is still wet so I figure there must be a second leak higher than the where the broken pipe was. 
I filled up the system using a hose from the water tank end. 
There was one downpipe near the broken pipe that seem to be always wet. So I started digging. The more I dug I could see running water mixing around the downpipe.  
Confirmed second leak. Ended up being a broken elbow join. The angle of the crack would mean it was not caused by a stake or physical force, maybe just a weal join. 
So in goes a second rubber sleeve. PVC glue can't be used as the pipes are still wet. 
So fingers crossed no further leaks. I'll have to wait until it rains to test it (can't be bothered wasting water to fill up the system).

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## SirMe

Hi, 
I have a sleeve like that on one of my pipes that the plumber installed I hope mine doesn't leak..... 
How did you know where to check?

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## JB1

Sorry, to check??

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