1st Gen. Lunch Table - General Discussion

Just turn the water off, cut about a 3/4- 1 inch out of the pipe and shark bite that mama jama. Been there.

truly poor pipe placement and no nail plate. Dern sheetrockers

 

You guys serious about the garden hose because I have a lot of old hose laying around? Got some of those stainless hoes clamps too.

 

I was just watching videos on shark bites. Sounds like I'd need to buy some of the tools to deburr the copper. But I'm guessing if I have one pinhole leak now, I may have more later. So it wouldn't be bad to have those on hand.

 

I’d use a piece of a bike inner tube before I used a piece of garden hose, but yea do it!

 

Three things

 

Barrel reamers are nice too
https://www.amazon.com/Ridgid-223S-...1482761&mcid=938854047ac83ba8a8a46015144bddad

 

There’s one built into that brush tool

Edit: well this one is like mine

 

Have your water tested for acidity. If that's the issue and you don't address it you'll be dealing with pinhole leaks as long as you live there.

 

Almost there but not sure how to do this without cutting more off the right side. I can't push it.

 

https://www.homedepot.com/p/SharkBi...Brass-Slip-Coupling-Fitting-UR3016A/326882596

 

Or a shorter version of this?

https://www.homedepot.com/p/SharkBi...eel-Flexible-Repair-Hose-UR3016FX18/323676111

 

Ehhhh maybe, you can’t push either one further apart? What about closer together?

 

This will be my 3rd trip to HD.

I guess I'll need the shark bite removal tool now too.

 

Removal should be similar to fuel rail disconnects. i.e. you're just sliding something over the pipe, so the sharkbite grabs onto the tool, then slide the tool off the pipe, then slide the tool out of the sharkbite.

That said, can you not bow the copper out enough to insert the top of the other site, so it grabs on both sides? I've used the braided sleeves you originally mentioned, hell I posted a pic of it on here (link) when I nicked one of our 3/4" copper supply lines to all our bathrooms, thankfully the cold line. But hot line is 1/2" in that pic, actually all cold supply lines in our house are 3/4" L and hot 1/2" L, up to mixer, then 1/2" L from there. I assume that's standard.

 

3 trips later and I'm good. The slip joint did the trick but the flex tube would have worked well also.



This tool was very helpful for deburring and also tells you the depth for the shark bite.



I bought two cutting tools and returned the Rigid.The Auto Cut was recommended on YouTube and I found it to be way easier.

 

I’m not a fan fan of shark bites in enclosed spaces. I’d either sweat a new section or switch to PEX. If you go PEX get a good crimper and rings. Don’t use the bands that crimp like CV boots.

Hard to say without more details of your situation, but pinhole corrosion leaks in copper can be caused by any of the following:

1. Excess flux not being cleaned off a joint, or dropped onto the pipe
   
   
2. Poor quality copper tube being used (there was a shortage back in the 1970s, which led to thinner wall copper being used). Also copper that doesn’t conform to relevant standards (cheap Chinese imports)
   
   
3. Water quality. Copper tube can be affected by water that is too hard, or too soft, so some kind of water analysis and treatment should be carried out. Water from a well or a borehole supply can make it worse, so effective treatment is vital. If the water has not been circulating regularly, that can allow mineral deposits in the water to build up and accelerate the process. Also check your sacrificial anodes in your water heater.
   
   
   Good luck and let us know what you do.
   

 

I'm leaning towards #3. There was a ton of buildup in the pipe.

 

That’s exactly what gets gummed up in your WPR also, fucking up your water pressure in the house. If you need to do a return at HD, grab a water pressure gauge with the return $$. It would be a simple round gauge on a female end cap. Screw it onto your outdoor spigot, open the spigot, note the pressure. I only warn about this because you mentioned hammering, and excess pressure can cause solder joint failure on copper pipes. In theory the spigots (all lines in your house really) should be on the inside of the WPR. But verify that also. Look up pics for “residential WPR if you don’t know what to look for. It should be within a few feet of where your water line enters the house.

 

I feel your pain buddy... I would rather take an ass whopping than repair plumbing.. Back in the day.. it was galvanized pipe and lead drain..

 

I'll second this but get a reading off of the washer outlets as well if the outside spigot comes back high.

I've seen the outside tapped off before the pressure regulator a few times.

 

All this plumbing talk makes me nervous.

Nearly all of the plumbing in my (mom’s) house is steel or cast iron. Much of it is also original and installed in 1926. Even the sewage pipe going to the street is still clay.

I’ve installed alarms that will send my phone a notification if there is water in the basement, and our water meter is electronic and will notify us if there is a slow (or fast) leak. We’ve had some of it checked out by plumbers and it’s all in decent shape, but still.

I’m guessing that one of the biggest reasons that they’re in decent shape is the Lake Michigan water, which is good stuff. Thankfully we don’t need a water softener. All of our drinking water is sent through a RO filter, even though it doesn’t taste bad straight out of the tap.

 

In my experience galvanized doesn't leak too often it just gradually slows the flow to nothing from crap building up in the pipes.

 

That’s what the plumbers that did the inspections have told me. Which is good to hear I guess.

The flow also seems like plenty to me, and even if it wasn’t ideal I think we’d be fine. We’ve made a hell of an effort to be as water efficient as possible, we use <80 gallons a day, as long as I’m not washing the car. Which is less than 25% of other houses in our area.

 

Sorry to throw this out for consideration - your plumbing is 1926, it was designed to move a certain amount of water with the waste products. If you are sending 'product' down the sewer line with 1/2 the amount of water to move it, do the waste pipes get a proper clearing? I suppose a long daily shower may make up the difference, but it's something I wonder about & use as an excuse to not upgrade fixtures.

 

I remember the AZ water from when I lived in Litchfield Park. The calcium destroyed my Kinetico water powered timer and seemed like I was replacing faucets every two to 3 years. Here in SC a good faucet can last a lifetime. I even see folks washing cars in the sun during heat of the day - that would have been catastrophic in PHX with permanent water spots. I’m on a raised foundation but friend on slabs that had polybutylene pipes ended up getting their homes re-plumbed with PEX through the attics.

 

That’s a great question. I would assume there’s enough water? My parents purchased the house nearly 20 years ago and we’ve had similar water use habits the entire time. No issues so far.

All of the water dumps into a manhole in the driveway that we can open. I’ve only opened it a handful of times but it’s looked fine to me? I don’t know. Crossing that bridge when we get to it.

 

I'm looking at these pipes and there are a lot of places that don't look good. I'm assuming that more leaks are in my future. I think I'll start replacing with PEX along the way. I wonder if they could be saved if I got a water softener pretty quickly. When the master bath was remodeled earlier this year it got all new PEX.

 

I hope this guy in the 1GT did the breather hose relocate: