Tips on Repairing Your Plumbing

The sub freezing temperatures had really caused a lot of damage underneath this old house. The owners had been away for the weekend and the mercury had plummeted to 20 degrees below the freezing point for water. And to make matters worse, the entry hatch to get into the crawl space under the house had blown open and exposed all of that water filled plumbing to the destructive effects of expanding pipes in sub freezing weather.

Water is one of the few substances know to man that will actually expand as it freezes. Everything else we know about will contract. Anyway, I had a load of repairs to take care of. The first thing was to locate the areas of pipe that had broken and then go about getting them fixed. I was unfortunate here because the pipes were a mix of differing materials. I could see galvanized pipes mated to plastic. And I found rigid plastic pipe mated to the old style black flexible pipe. Turning the main water on I soon found numerous breaks and set about repairing the damage.

Galvanized pipe is rarely used anymore and I managed to talk the home owner into letting me replace all of the steel and flexible black plastic pipe with rigid plastic. It is inexpensive, goes in quickly and there is no need to thread the ends or carry around heavy connectors or unions and such. Rather than enter the house and run plastic to each and every sink in there, I just sawed off the steel pipe where it went to the water heater, and again where it left the heater and went from there.

I ran a line from the output of the water heater all the way to the bathroom sink and bath tub and then teed off from there and continued the line up to the kitchen sink. I had to place another tee and run a line for the washer while I was there as well. Continuing from that point I laid a line up to the remaining bathroom sink and tub on the other side of the house. At each stop and tee, it was also required that I use a hack saw to cut away the old plumbing and use the appropriate connectors to attach the new plumbing to the old plumbing fixtures where they projected into the crawl space.

That completed the hot water side of things and I returned to the main water valve and ran a line to the input side of the water heater and placing a tee there as well, I continued running a line to the cold water side of all the sinks,bathtubs, toilets and the washer.

Using plastic water pipe is the best thing to happen to plumbers since the invention of the self propelled shovel. Plastic by it's very nature is perfectly suited to plumbing. Plastic can be produced cheaply, in great numbers and in any size needed. To assemble it, all you need is a hack saw to cut it to the proper length and a can of glue. The glue is a specialized type suited for the type of plastic you are using. Just take the swab from the can and liberally coat the outer surface of the pipe about a half inch from the end. Apply the swab again to the connector..only to the inside of it this time as the connector will be sliding over the pipe. Place the swab back into the can and the push the two pieces of plumbing together, and give it a twist. A half rotation is plenty, and leave it alone. The glue melts the plastic you see, and them the glue quickly dries again. So what you have here is essentially a weld. A chemically produced weld. The plastic parts have been joined together is a seamless bond. That pipe is good to carry water within ten minutes.

I also like to use what is called a primer/cleaner on the parts before I glue them together. This comes in another can and serves to chemically remove any traces of oil, grease or other contaminates that might otherwise inhibit the glue from melting the plastic and/or preventing the glue from drying quickly or completely.

I made another trip under the house and this time taking with me some wire hangers to place under the newly installed plumbing to support it and the weight of the water that would soon be filling them. I also advised the homeowner that installing some foam insulating sleeves over the pipes would be a good idea and also installing heat tape over certain exposed areas.

Back at the main water valve I slowly opened it and allowed the inrush of water to completely fill the pipes and stayed there and listened to determine when the sound of rushing water stopped. The toilet tanks all had fill and then once the pressure equalized, I could go and look for leaks. I didn't expect any nor did I find any. By using plastic pipe for the this I had saved the home owner a lot of money. Plastic is far cheaper than steel to produce and faster to put in. I didnt have to stop and use a threading tool or use a pipe wrench at each and every connection either. He saved money on parts and labor.