Wall Pipe/Baton Detectors

[Hysteresis]

After 60 years of DIYing, and getting away with the inevitable 'Cartoon' disaster of drilling into a water pipe, whilst preparing to mount a shelf unit, it happened. NO excuses on my behalf just an admission of riding my luck for a few more times. Recovered from the disaster and all is back up and running.
Now the reason for the posting. I have previously used one of those detector devices for location batons, pipes etc, but my experience of their operation is that they tend to be unreliable and rather hit and miss. Has anyone got any suggestions for a reasonably priced, accurate and reliable locating device. Clearly my 'luck' has come to an abrupt end.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Has anyone got any suggestions for a reasonably priced, accurate and reliable locating device.

No. Tried quite a few over the years (including a super duper Bosch trade model at c.£500). Returned every last one of them. They don't seem to work with plastic pipes, they struggle in lath and plaster walls, they don't work well in lime plaster walls (plaster can be treally thick, 2in is not unknown), metal lath plays havoc with them, too.

 

[Hysteresis]

No. Tried quite a few over the years (including a super duper Bosch trade model at c.£500). Returned every last one of them. They don't seem to work with plastic pipes, they struggle in lath and plaster walls, they don't work well in lime plaster walls (plaster can be treally thick, 2in is not unknown), metal lath plays havoc with them, too.

Thanks for your very helpful and confirmative reply. I have tried a couple of the cheap devices and found them both unreliable and not repeatable. I thought maybe it was I was very much at the cheap end of the market, but I am just a DIYer and didn't want to invest in an expensive device. Your experience of even the very expensive devices suffering the same unreliability rather confirms my scepticism. I guess my next drilling into either a pipe or electric cable is just a matter of time. I aways follow the expectation of finding pipes and wiring in the corners of walls but that does not always work. The last time it happened was a nightmare for access to repair the damage.
Thanks for your reply. it is very much appreciated, and saved me a fortune.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

If you do feel the urge - buy from Screwfix or Toolstation - at least with them if you try it and it doesn't work, you can get your money back (at least for 30 days after purchase)

 

[Exedon]

Totally agree tried many yet to seen one reliably find cables/pipes.
Don't even seem that good at finding the aluminium tape we so carefully stick to walls behind plastic pipes!

 

[john4703]

Drilling one hole is not bad. I remember late one night being called out to a leak. The houseowner had decided that his upstairs floorboards were a bit loose so had nailed and screwed them down. He had managed to put 23 holes in the central heating pipes. I still don't understand why he did not stop after the first one. Working on an emergency callout at 11 at night I was not unhappy when I presented my bill.

 

[Hysteresis]

Drilling one hole is not bad. I remember late one night being called out to a leak. The houseowner had decided that his upstairs floorboards were a bit loose so had nailed and screwed them down. He had managed to put 23 holes in the central heating pipes. I still don't understand why he did not stop after the first one. Working on an emergency callout at 11 at night I was not unhappy when I presented my bill.

I looked at how I could make an easy fix as access was very awkward. I thought a way of repairing a 2mm hole in a copper pipe would be to screw a 'special Copper Solder plated Screw' into the hole and seal with a blow torch an solder but of course such a repair screw is not available. Another thought I had was that there must be a split ferrule available that could be put around the pipe at the hole location (similar to a 22 mm straight through connector) then solder it in place. I even thought it may be a solution to split a straight through connector and solder it around the Pipe at the Hole location as both access and the fact that both ends of the pipe where fixed and I could not get movement to insert a straight thorough connector. In the end I did get a connector fitted.