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Condensation on toilet cisterns and cold water pipes
Sep 6, 2022
How to stop condensation on toilet cisterns and cold water [pipes in the bathroom and the kitchen. Insulating a toilet cistern is a fiddly but innexpensive job which can take only a couple of hours but save you a lot of water from soaking into your bathroom floor unoticed: For more help with this see our project here: https://www.diydoctor.org.uk/projects/condensationcisterns.htm
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0:00
We're on a little refurbishing job in a cottage and adding a couple of bathrooms, both of which you can see now
0:14
I'm in one of them and this cottage is very, very warm indeed
0:20
The result of that warmth, especially in the bathroom where there's so much humidity
0:25
is that condensation forms on pretty much every cold surface. The coldest surface in the bathroom, probably the house, is the toilet system because it's full of very cold water
0:36
So the water is very cold, the bathroom's very hot and humid. When the warm air hits the cold system, it condenses
0:44
We often get emails from people saying, my toilet system's leaking, but I can't see anywhere that it's getting out
0:50
Well, it's actually condensation. It drips on the floor, especially in the bathroom that we have upstairs directly above this one
0:56
It can rot the floor before you even know it. That also applies to the pipes
1:00
So I'm going to show you a very, very simple way of stopping that happening
1:06
or at least reducing it very dramatically, depending on how much time you want to spend
1:11
And that is by the use of an ordinary yoga map. Now, these can be quite expensive if you go to proprietary yoga schools to buy them
1:21
We pick this one up for a fiver on offer at Tesco's
1:25
so they can be bought at car boot sales as well. So all you really want is the rubber or whatever base this is for a yoga mat
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And what we're going to do is we're going to line the toilet system with this yoga mat
1:40
Now that is going to stop the cold water directly hitting the surface of the system
1:45
So the system gets a chance to warm up by the heat in the bathroom. It's not going to be some cold water
1:50
It's not going to condense so easily. And we're going to stop that drip, drip, drip from the system
1:54
So we're going to use the yoga mat. We're going to cut the shapes required. with the scissors and the first thing that we're going to do is down here we have an
2:03
isolation valve and I'm going to turn the water off first of all so that's
2:08
the first thing if you've got an isolation valve that's fantastic if you haven't
2:12
you going to have to turn the water off at the mains then if the camera man wants to come a little bit closer we going to take the lid off the system
2:24
Just like that and we're going to flush the water out
2:43
Okay. Okay. So cut the bottom first
4:01
Use a cardboard template if you need to. We've done it before so we've got a rough idea of the size or whatever
4:09
Give yourself plenty of room because a bigger hole can be made smaller by. can be made smaller by putting little pieces
4:14
of this in afterwards so don't underdo it if you like. And then to stick it down to the base of the system
4:21
we're going to use Everbills Forever White. It's an excellent bathroom mastic. We're using
4:29
this on the bathroom. There's no point you're going to buy another tube of another kind of sealant just to do that So forever white is the bathroom sealants that we use from choice and I going to use that now Just apply you don need a lot We just put it onto the
4:47
onto the, let me turn around to see what I'm doing, put it onto the yoga mat. A little bit here and there
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Okay and then we're going to get that. into the bottom of the system. ... ... ..
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There we have one lined
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There we have one lined toilet system
6:30
It's really important that that mastic is given 8 to 10 hours now to go hard before you refill the system
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That's because it's important that the neoprene or the yoga mat, whatever it is you're using
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is completely stuck to the inside of the system because some water will force its way up between the system and the mat
6:51
and that a good thing That will act then as a wet suit with the water traps between the neopreneur and your skin That water will warm up and keep the system at a temperature to avoid condensation
7:02
or at least absolutely minimise condensation. So make sure that mastig's gone completely hard
7:08
Leave that for six to eight hours, maybe a little bit longer if you can. And that's how to avoid condensation on the system itself
7:15
To avoid condensation on the pipes, because they are quite obviously the cold water
7:21
going to the system is as cold as the water in the system itself
7:27
If you've got room, you can put some ordinary pipe lagging on and perhaps paint that
7:33
to match the colour of your bathroom, that's ordinary 15mm pipe lagging
7:37
Or you can use these little things which you'll see me cutting now
7:43
This is called a pipe sap. It's a piece of plastic. It's moulded into a curve and if I can find a piece of copper somewhere just one second
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As I say, into a curve and that simply clips over the copper pipe
8:13
Let go and it covers the pipe. the pipe, the advantages you will see them used on central heating pipes quite a lot
8:23
Two advantages. One, it matches the pipe with the skirting boards or whatever that you're
8:29
going to put it around. That's one thing and the second thing is that it warms the copper
8:36
ever so slightly and you're less likely to get condensation on a pipe covered in pipe snap
8:40
than you are on a straightforward copper pipe. So just that bit of a warmer feel to it. So
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So there are ways of reducing the condensation on your pipes going to the system
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That's the way to reduce the condensation on the system itself. And I hope that's helped you in your bathroom at at home
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And it comes without blessing from DIY doctor
#Bathroom
#Home Improvement
#Plumbing