Help! Plumber Needed

[ecline]

Hi,

 

Does anyone know of a good plumber in Chiang Mai? I live it out in Doi Saket so should be a DS local or someone willing to hoof it out here.

 

We have a bathroom with one of those hand held sprayers next to the toilet. There is a valve at the wall that turns the water to the sprayer on or off. It seems the pipe behind the valve is leaking. I am not sure where the leak is. Maybe a tile has to be knocked out and the pipe section behind the valve dug out of the concrete wall and replaced. Maybe the leak is in another part of the pipe and several tiles need to be taken off the wall and the leak traced back to the source somewhere in the wall. I have no clue.

 

Several people have come to look and all have declined to take the job saying it is "too difficult". Of course the guy who built the place is AWOL and won't answer his phone. If anyone is about to build a house and is looking for a contractor, PM me and I will give you a few names to avoid like the plague!

 

Anyway, suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks in advance

[lopburi3]

Most people only have one pipe and use a diverter to toilet cistern and spray with flow control on the spray.  So if you have to just seal the old pipe anyone should be able to do that.

[ramrod711]

It's difficult to say where the leak is, if it's the diverter valve or nearby it should be an easy fix. One thing you should keep in mind is that it is extremely easy to find concrete finishers and tilers. I wouldn't hesitate to attack the wall to locate the leak and then have the concrete repaired. Good luck to you.

[Nienke]

There is an old(er) Chinese looking Thai handy-man in T. Luang Neua. 
You could give him a try. He speaks only Thai. 
His number: 086 one one 74 six zero six

[watcharacters]

 

 

 

Sorry, ecline but listing dissatisfaction in Thailand with contractors may exceed  bandwidth for THV.

 

 

Good luck in your endeavor.

 

 

 

[Dante99]

The leak may be the valve or the valve connection to the pipe or the connection of the spray hose to the valve, if so the problem could be solved fairly easily.  But anyway it would be worth checking those possibilities carefully before tearing into the wall.

 

So first look very carefully to see where the leak is.  Wipe it dry and try to identify where the water is coming from.  Wipe it dry several times to confirm.

 

I have one that occasionally leaks where the spray hose connects to the valve.  Sometimes I can not get it to stop but in a few days it stops by itself.  Years ago I was told that is not uncommon.

 

 

[CMKiwi]

For what it's worth....have a good dig yourself.  Start from the bum gun and work your way back.

 

A process of elimination. If the gun ain't leaking the what's the next section.

 

Once you're  at the wall and you have eliminated everything else (lots of Teflon tape included)...cut off the water supply and attack the concrete/mortar.

 

I've done <deleted> loads of plumbing and electrical repairs here in Thailand. The beauty is that you can.  In the West you are controlled by rules and regs.

 

The internet is you friend and can provide you answers to just about everything.

 

If you do it then at least you know if it's done right.

 

Oh....I must add that I love a challenge.  Education is ongoing.  Live and learn!

[rumak]

3 hours ago, ecline said:

There is a valve at the wall that turns the water to the sprayer on or off. It seems the pipe behind the valve is leaking. I am not sure where the leak is.

turn the valve to off. remove the sprayer.   is there a leak ?  wipe dry a few times.  still leaks? if so

disconnect the valve (turn water off to that area first !   if no shut off to bathroom you might have to use

main water valve to shut off).   

you can try reconnecting valve with some tape, securely but not tooooo much.  If still leaks you can replace valve .   IF still leaks then you can pretty well assume leak is behind.  usually connetions are made flush

to the wall (by thai plumbers) and then tiled over .  this makes it impossible to do much without tearing

into wall.  FYI:  I always have pipe come out of wall about an inch and use either a metal connector or

plastic one with brass interior . 

one possible cause is when the valve is screwed too tightly into the connector, causing it to crack.

good luck

[ecline]

Thanks everyone for the comments and suggestions. The leak is definitely behind the valve. I have removed the bum gun and its hose from the valve. There is water slowly seeping out from behind the valve, so it looks like I really do need a plumber. And, yes, the connection is flush with the wall, so someone is going to need to dig into the wall. I will try the guy in Luang Neua. I am fluent in Thai so no worries there and Luang Nua is right around the corner from us, which is also nice. Hopefully the guy can do the job.

[CMKiwi]

You might just get away with some teflon/thread tape on the valve where it joins into the wall.

 

I had a few in the missus guesthouse which were nearly recessed into the wall...so much for building standards.  But thread tape fixed one and with the other I bought an extension type fitting.  It was no longer flush with the wall but at least the leaking stopped.

 

Don't forget to put the tape on the right way, so it doesn't 'unthread' when you wind the valve back into the wall.

 

Gd luck

[rumak]

2 hours ago, CMKiwi said:

You might just get away with some teflon/thread tape on the valve where it joins into the wall.

 

I had a few in the missus guesthouse which were nearly recessed into the wall...so much for building standards.  But thread tape fixed one and with the other I bought an extension type fitting.  It was no longer flush with the wall but at least the leaking stopped.

 

Don't forget to put the tape on the right way, so it doesn't 'unthread' when you wind the valve back into the wall.

 

Gd luck

good idea about the extension.  if put in as you suggest (and remember to get it snug but not overdue it).

it just might work.   if still leaking inside wall then either the inside connector is cracked or wasn't glued

properly when installed.

[rumak]

not easy to get good people to do "small jobs"......as you might expect.  Since you speak good thai

it might come in handy if one of these guys starts pulling out a sledge hammer....DEOW DEOW !! comes

to mind.    

I know these things seem daunting to some...... but sometimes doing it yourself works best.

A sharp concrete nail inserted thru a short piece of garden hose acts as a fairly good tool to chip away

the tile without doing too much damage. (hammer also needed   ;-) 

[thaibeachlovers]

9 minutes ago, rumak said:

not easy to get good people to do "small jobs"......as you might expect.  Since you speak good thai

it might come in handy if one of these guys starts pulling out a sledge hammer....DEOW DEOW !! comes

to mind.    

I know these things seem daunting to some...... but sometimes doing it yourself works best.

A sharp concrete nail inserted thru a short piece of garden hose acts as a fairly good tool to chip away

the tile without doing too much damage. (hammer also needed   ;-) 

You forgot the most essential part of hammering concrete- a good pair of safety goggles. We only get issued one pair of eyes.

 

[rumak]

medium strikes with the hammer on the nail in this case (tile)........not too hard .  and yes, eye protection

is always a good idea

[scottiejohn]

Can you locate the shut off valve for the Offending Item?  It may take some trial and error.  If you can just shut of the valve and run a hose (in a decorative way) with a "Y" piece from a water pipe in the bathroom to your shower unit and forget the old pipe.  It is what we did, it took a while to isolate the right pipe tho!

[rumak]

and the concrete behind the tile should not be that difficult to chip away using the concrete nail