Alternate to soldering copper pipe

I have some piping in my shower that appears to have been bonded with somthing other the solder. head does not affect it, almost looks like epoxy. Any suggestions on how to break bond?

Reply to
David S
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Depending on what and where it is, why not just cut the pipe and remove the bonded part.

Reply to
trader_4

Good advice. That is what I'd do.

Though you could replace the section with copper and solder it, a few years back I used SharkBite and saved myself a bit of work. It was absolutely leak free,

Reply to
philo

Yea, they do make an epoxy for copper pipe. I have never used it, but hear it works. I'd rather solder the pipe and know it will come apart (when needed), with a torch.

If you need to go back too far, to cut out the piece you want to repair, just cut the pipe and solder in a coupler. Just dont solder it too near an epoxy joint. The heat could cause that epoxy to fail or maybe even flare up.

Soldering copper pipe is not hard, as long as you use a good torch and use the correct flux and solder. Plus make sure the copper is very clean.

I have to strongly disagree with them sharkbites. I have seen them fail, and it's no pretty scene. All it takes is having that sharkbite fitting too close to a stud or other object that puts some pressure on the locking sleeve and you got a wide open pipe. Not worth the time savings and they are very costly as well. The best thing to do with them, is to leave them fill shelf space in the store. Plumbing codes should not even allow them, except for temporary use, (meaning not longer than 24 hours). They do provide a means to temporarily cut out a leaky pipe, and connect a new section of pipe overnight, until the pipe can be repaired properly.

Reply to
Bud

I can't speak from experience other than talking with a few plumber friends who've use the Sharkbite, but they have nothing but good things to say about them and the longevity thus far. They said if they fail, they weren't correctly installed.

My only personal experience is moving my outside faucet to another location on my house. I used Sharkbite to connect copper to PEX about 12 years ago and I've yet to have a problem.

Reply to
Meanie

In my situation I replaced a section of galvanized between two copper runs. It had multiple leaks. It's on the unfinished basement ceiling and no chance of anything disturbing it. If anything would go wrong though it's above the basement drain and all that might get wet is the wash tubs.

Reply to
philo

And stay together when you need it to. I used "just for copper" once

- never again. And it WILL release with (a lot of) heat. I found my soldered joints leak less -

They have their place, even for permanent repairs - but they are not the solution of choice for every, or even most, jobs.

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Reply to
Clare Snyder

How long do you have to wait for that stuff to dry before you can turn on the water? I never used it. With solder, by the time you walk to the water shutoff, the solder is hard. I did sort of think heat would release any epoxy, but I bet it would not be possible to solder to either the pipe or the fitting, because that epoxy would be near impossible to remove entirely.

I bet JB Weld would also work on copper plbg, but why bother, and have to wait for it to harden. Just solder it and be done.

I acquired a small pile of them, when I helped a guy replace some plumbing. Someone had used a bunch of them sharkbites and we replaced all the plumbing, so the owner was gonna toss them in the trash along with some old copper pipe. I took the copper for recycling and I saved those sharkbites for temporary repairs. I did use them when I was making up a solar water heater. for temporary connections, so that I could determine the best way to run the pipes, but that was just until I got around to soldering the copper. I keep them handy though, for emergencies.

The one I had separatre was inside a wall. After applying the sharkbite, they strapped the pipe in such a way that the sharkbite was tight against a stud. Over time, probably from expansion and contraction of the pipes, the pressure of the wood agaisnt that thing, caused the pipe to come loose and flood the whole place. A huge mess. That wall had to be removed, and a lot more damage repaired.

Reply to
Bud

I guess that's fairly safe as long as the sharkbites are not stuck against any wood, but if you do have a pipe come apart your water bill could be huge. That galv pipe probably sprung leaks because of the dielectric corrosion between the copper. Sometime when you got nothing else to do, solder in that new piece of copper and do it right. Sounds like you only need to solder in two couplers. Thats simple when it's right out in the open.

I just helped a friend replace all his pipes. It's an old victorian house and it had sections of steel pipe, rigid copper pipe, soft copper tubing, PVC, and CPVC. All mixed up. There was around 170 ft of pipe, but he only needed about 80 ft. It went across the basement and came back again. There were spots that looked like they had moved the water heater at least 3 times, and two washmachine hookups. The pipe to the outdoor spigot was cut off and plugged. There were at least 5 places dripping when I first saw it, one filled a 5 gallon pail every day. Another spot had rolls of electrical tape around the pipe, and he had just clamped a piece of rubber around another spot that was shooting water across the basement.

I took one look at it and said "lets rip it all out and start over". That made him nervous, but he soon learned that was the easiest way. I took a sawsall and cut that old shit in pieces and got rid of it. He wanted CPVC, so thats what we used. By the end of the day it was all connected except the bathtub because he wants to change to a shower. We just put some shutoffs there. and also put a shutoff for an outdoor spigot, because it was too cold outside to install that spigot. What a huge difference that made. His water pressure doubled, and you no longer got a bath walking thru his basement from dripping pipes.

Reply to
Bud

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