water is flooding my room what should I do??

Okay this is not a joke im dead serious.

Just 30 mins ago the heating in my room ( its this kind of heating where hot water runs trough ) broke of from the wall, as a result the pipelines where the water runs trough somehow has a crack or is not wel fitted onto the heating itself again....
As a result of this water is coming out of the pipes into my room instead of into the heating...

I already offed the heating downstairs, and i already closed the tap coming from the thing that heats up the water before it gets pumped to my heating at the second floor....

Is there anything else i can do at this point but to sit back and watch how my room is getting like a swimming pool...
Right now im capturing the water with an empty soft drink bottle of 1.5 liter...but this is already the 4 th bottle in like 20 minutes time...

Man im really desperate in this and its already late in the night so calling a plumber right now would cost me an amazing fortune were i´ll have to work for like for one month i think... ( plumbers are very expensive in belgium,especially at 20 minutes to one in the morning)

this was ganglylamb live from his still flooding flat....

PS: there´s still one floor above me and as far as i know that floor only has one same heating, so what i think ( im not a plumber ) is that once the water has gone out of the heting upstairs and out of the pipes it should stop, right....
Pls tell me I am right....

::edit::
PS2: And o yeah, it may seem silly to put this kind of thing here but realise that im not with my cellphone, every shop has closed, there´s no bar or club in my direct environment where i can call, nor a phone booth and At the time im all alone in the whole block, we are living here with four ppl me and 3 others but they are all gone since its holiday and uni hasnt started yet....

Well the water is still running, although it seems with less pressure behind it....i figured that there should be a valve which is able to flush all the out of the heating system but i cant seem to find that one...

And by looking at the amount of replies i guess that there is no plumber as well here on cboard...
Maybe i should google for a plumber board :-s.

One idea is to get out before you drown.

No at this point im going offline i have to move my systems from the floor onto my desk because this water and the electricity is getting really risky by now, so that will be all for me now,

Hope to live and manage trough this night,

ganglylamb

Shut the intake off and find someplace where you can drain the system below the level of the leak.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by exluddite

Shut the intake off and find someplace where you can drain the system below the level of the leak.

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good call. go down to the appartment below yours, tell them you need to check something, then *BAM* crack their heating pipes open... your problem will be solved. ;)

There should be a valve, pretty much at the lowest point in the building, which allows the contents of the system to be drained. Often, it does not have an obvious tap, rather, it needs a "key" to open it.

When the system first ruptures, the pressure will be higher, but as it drains, the pressure drops and will stop eventually. Presumably, you have reached that point now. :(

constructive thinking, Perspective :)

Well right now it has been about 11 houres since the first water came trough the crack...
After alot of bottles of soft drink filled up with water the pressure is really gone, as i went to sleep this morning around 5 i emptied the bottle and right now 6 houres later the bottle wasnt even full maybe there was only 1 liter inside...

As for the tap or valve where i can drain the system, i dont seem to find that one...
Right now that its day ill first call my landlord and ask what to do since im renting this place ( hopefully he will pay for it - and that is what he should do because i investigated the wall where the heating fell of and when you knock the space where the plugs where before you hear a much higher sound then there where the plugs were not, meaning that the piece of the wall that was supposed to hold this heay heating was patched up by someone some time ago...Me myself i didnt know this as i just rented this appartment 2 weeks ago and moved in last week...)

Well guess the worst is over, i hope...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by GanglyLamb

Is there anything else i can do at this point but to sit back and watch how my room is getting like a swimming pool...

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Yes! You can post images! :D

Has anything been damaged, like computer, stereo, TV or whatever?

Well i wanted to post images but i dont have a digital camera ( man im so into this new ago of technologie :-s)...

Well theres almost no damage except for the wall which has a large piece ripped out, the wooden floor which will soon start to expand and crack as result from the water that was absorbed, and some other small items that were on the floor....

Theres more damage to the room itself then all the stuff inside, which is great because i called the owner of the room and he said that they will come and fix it this week or next week and he said that this was a "known" possible future "problem"... well the future has arrived it seems...

Nothing like stereo or comp is damaged since i removed everything to higher grounds when it was getting dangerous...

Well everything is ok right now except for some water coming trough but its really really little not even mentionable worth right now....

So the danger has gone and Ganglylamb has conquered again. :-d. Actually i can laugh about it right now but 18 houres ago i couldnt do anything but being afraid and think on how to resolve this thing.

NOTE: This might be an important lesson to the younger or not as plumbing experienced under us, NEVER but NEVER mess with pipelines before taking of the pressure, and if its an accident like in my own case stay calm and cool and think, dont loose your head anywhere since you will need it the most because you CANT just put your finger in a pipeline to stop the water, you can only stop it by reasonable thinking and acting likewise.

Ganglylamb.

Hopefully this has been cleared up by now, but just in case, I'll lend my 2 cents.

1 cent: If the pipe is PVC (plastic) then you can buy a coupling at any hardware store and fix it yourself in minutes even with the water still running. If the pipe is copper (likely) then you'll have to find the shutoff valve and have a plumber fix it (unless you have a torch, solder, and the proper coupling, and are able to totoally dry the pipe).

second cent: Pull up any rugs or cloth anywhere even remotely near the leak where water hit your hardwood floor. Get a heater on the section immediatly. Keep it on low heat, high airflow for at least a couple days. If you dont (depending on how much water hit the floor) your hardwood flooring will pop and buckle. Since you're renting this wont be your responsibility to fix, but it will be a pain in the arse so you might as well prevent it while possible.

Thats it. In future adrianxw is correct about the valve, though its almost certain that only your buildings manager has access to it. Since misery love company, you can take comfort in the knowledge that at least several other people are suffering from no heating whilst your pipe is ruptured. You are certainly correct that your water heating will be connected to other units in an apartment building.

Let us know how things turn out. Good luck.