(Pools) removing old flex tubing

[alias123.john]

I recently fixed up some tubing around my pool filter, and I had a bit of a struggle removing some old flex tubing -- It seemed to be on quite tight. For this task I was able to take a small saw, and cut the tubing, but even then, I had to apply quite a bit of force to remove it. It got me to thinking that there must be a better way of removing the tubing -- some sort of trade trick that I don't know about.

The reason I'm concerned is that my next task is to replace some tubing on the solar pannels on the roof -- and suffice to say, I'm not bringing a saw or knife anywhere close to those pannels. I also don't have the leverage up there to pull with all my might, so I'm wondering if anyone can suggest a good trick. (I'm thinking WD40, but I'm not sure if that will melt the plastic...).

Thanks

John

[Lefty]

Hair dryer and liquid dish soap in a spray bottle??

[Bob F]

If this is hose on fittings with a clamp, try removing the clamp, then use pliers or channel locks to twist the hose on the fitting until it pops loose, then pull and rock it back and forth until it comes off.

Or, pry the end with a screwdriver to pop it loose, if the end is close enough to whatever the fitting goes into to be able to pry.

[alias123.john]

I've tried the pliers and screwdriver with no success -- I talked to the guy at the pool store, and he suggested using boiling water. I found that dipping an end of the pipe into boiling water does wonders when trying to put the fitting on, but dipping already connected pipes into boiling water, espcially while on the roof, might present an issue... What do you think boiling water will do to shingles? Maybe I'll try a heat-gun with some sort of heat shield...

Thanks for the responses. I'll let you know how I fare.

John

[Worn Out Retread]

The problem is that the fittings that the tubing is connected to usually has a heavily ribbed mail end that slips into the tubing. When clamps have been on the tubing for any length of time, especially if exposed to the heat of the sun, the tubing will conform to the shape of the fitting making a pull-off of the tubing impossible or very difficult. The easiest way that I found was to cut the tubing off about 1 inch from the fitting and then score the tubing with a very sharp knife and then start a slit in the tubing at the end of the scoring. Take two pairs of pliers and rip the tubing apart along the score marks. you may have to make several passes along the score marks to make them deep enough to allow the splitting of the tubing.

Most of the time, I just removed the fitt>> [e-mail] wrote: