Plumbing question

[cheapdave]

I have hot water heating, and removed all the baseboard heaters to refinish living room floor. My house was built in 1951 and has old style baseboard heaters they have two 1/2 inch copper pipes that run through them and each section is 54 inch long and sweat soldered together...anyway about 36 ft altogether. I made a few cuts to get it apart and now have run into a problem trying to put back together...it seems that the 1/2 inch copper they used in 1951 (or at least what was used in my system) is about 1/16 inch bigger than the fittings - 1/2" elbows & couplers.....................what to do? I have tired using emery cloth to grind down old copper a little so the fitting will go over it, but it is not working, after much work can just get fitting on like 1/16 inch..... I can not afford to go out and buy all new heaters right now......I only have 2 90's and about 8 couplers to sweat together........what to do???? any help appreciated.

[jeff_wisnia]

Any chance those olde heaters use 5/8" pipe and not the 1/2" pipe you're described?

You know, there is a 5/8" copper pipe standard:

Have you used a vernier caliper or a micrometer to confirm the pipe's outside diameter?

And, they do make fittings for 5/8" copper pipe:

Good luck, let us know how you make out,

Jeff

[RBM]

I would expect them to be 3/4", but it's possible they're 5/8" as Jeff said

[Bob F]

IIRC, there may be fittings used for A/C systems or something that are slightly different sizes than water pipe fittings. They might be what you need.

[Tony Hwang]

Hmmm, Wonder you were looking at metric pipes?

[clare]

I was going to say the same. MOST Hydronic heating systems used a lot of 5/8" copper.

[jim]

You have copper tubing not pipe and you should be able to get the fittings at a wholesale not Home Depot Refridge fittings will work do not sand the pipe thinner as it is holding some pressure in the system

[cheapdave]

I did take a sample to ACE Hardware this afternoon, they measured and said was about 1/16 inch larger than 1/2 inch copper......I do not believe it is

5/8....I just checked and compared with some new 1/2 inch I had in basement and there is just slight difference in size.... pretty much, they look the same to me.

[Ed Pawlowski]

That would be 11/16 then. Or very close to 17mm. Get a micrometer and get the actual size and you may do better finding what you really need.

Try these guys

I have no idea why metric tubing would be in a US house built that year though. It would not be common at all.

[Stormin Mormon]

HVAC tubing is typically smaller. For example, 3/4 water copper is the same size as 7/8 HVAC tubing. But, it's possible.

[RBM]

[The Daring Dufas]

HVAC tubing is measured by OD, plumbing is measured by ID. That's why I have calipers in my pocket.

TDD

[DD_BobK]

What is the od measurement?

What did the ace folks measure it with? a tape?

You really don't care that is measures "about 1/16 inch larger than

1/2 inch copper", that is a pretty much useless piece of information

.......you want the actual outside diameter, measured with a caliper to the nearest .005"

standard copper tube has the following "od's" ......... in your size range .5, .625 & .750

any other od's are not standard copper "tube"

ACR tube has the same od's but the size designations are "shifted".........go figure?

I've been working with copper tube since the 60's and the sizes haven't changed

for the spec sizes visit

cheers Bob