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I have a small, slow and steady trickle of water running down the outside of a vertical 15 mm copper pipe.

How can I capture the leak and divert the water into a receptacle?

I'm not asking for a permanent fix for the leak itself. I have that in hand - the parts should arrive in couple of days. In the meantime I have a slow leak steadily oozing onto a nice wooden floor.

The pipe is hard to access (I have a length about 10cm I can get to) and I can't turn the water off. I have some rags wrapped around the pipe, but these need wringing out every minute or two.

I need some sort of clamp that can clip around the outside of the pipe and re-direct to a bucket. Is there such a thing I can buy to do this? or is there a quick diy solution?

UPDATE - following some experimentation.... the blue-tack suggestion is the easiest to fashion into a spout, but the blue tack just won't really stick to the wet copper - most water just leaks past.

Also tried gaffer tape - this only works with a thin strip of tape just because of the limited access, but similar problem with it not sticking well.

Best solution so far has been to use electrical tape to bind a piece of cling-film to the pipe and then fold the cling-film to re-direct the water.

Machavity
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ConanTheGerbil
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4 Answers4

24

Form a spout out of BluTack mounting putty (may be known by different names) and direct into a bucket.

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isherwood
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HandyHowie
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22

I used a cotton fabric wrapped around a pipe draped into a bucket - works well for slow flows.

Solar Mike
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15

Wicking with string or yarn (has to be a type that wets well to wick, not something hydrophobic) tied around the pipe and suspended to drip into a container has usually worked for me, as yet another option.

Ecnerwal
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7

I had the same thing once, in the cellar under the bathroom.

While we waited for the plumber to come I got creative with some aluminium foil and duct tape. I secured the foil where the water was running, and formed it into a point, so it dripped into a bucket.

Sorry, this was a long time ago, no pictures.

RedSonja
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