Home Plumbing Repair Projects

Plumbing repair projects around the home are performed by a few and avoided by many. Basic plumbing add-ons and repairs are not that difficult provided you have the right tools, basic repair parts, and a little know-how. Throughout the years, I've firmly come to the conclusion that there is a plumbing gremlin that follows me from home to home whereever I live. There is no other logical explanation for the fact that things only break when no plumbing supply store is open. To combat this "gremlin", I have developed an emergency repair kit that I grab when trouble strikes.

Little did I know that the gremlin was hard at work as I wrote the preceding paragraph. Here it is 5:00 PM Sunday, 8-26-07 and a trip downstairs for a cold one proved that the little critter struck again. And you thought I was joking! I was greeted by a three foot long streaming leak that sprung from a pinhole in a half inch copper cold water line. I was only planning on writing about repairs, not actually doing one. Looks like the repair kit is going into action sooner than I thought. The plumbing repair kit consists of:

I circled the leak with a Sharpie® to start off. Next step was to shut the water off and drain the system. That can take a while depending on the size of your system. It took about half an hour before the system was drained. Of course the leak was in a tough spot to work on. It was located in between a tee fitting and a really old valve that I didn't want to mess with. I was pressed for time and decided to use a straight coupling for the copper tube repair provided the whole bottom tube wall wasn't rotted out.

I centered the tubing cutter on the pinhole and made the cut right there. A quick look inside the tube on both sides with a flashlight and mirror revealed the damage was localized and the coupling would work for the repair. Sanding the heavy oxide coating off of both sides proved to be tougher than making the tubing cut in the tight access area. It took a while to get the copper tube sanded clean about an inch and a half back on both sides. I also roughed up the inside of the straight coupling with sandpaper to give the solder a little better surface area to grab. Flux was added to both sides of the cut 1/2" tube and inside the straight coupling.

Oxy/propane gives a much hotter flame than straight propane, but also causes the copper to oxidize faster. A liberal application of paste flux gives enough time for the copper to heat up before the oxidation sets in. Torch heat was applied mostly to the coupling until the sizzling of the heated flux slowed down. When the heat is just right, a solder wipe at the top of each joint moving about half way down each side should produce enough melted solder to completely seal the joint. The solder flows into the flux coated area by capillary action. Capillary action is the ability of a narrow tube or joint gap to draw a liquid into it against the force of gravity.

Another look with the flashlight and mirror showed that the solder flowed well and no gaps were present in either joint. The real moment of truth is when the water is turned back on. Yup, got lucky again! Nearly all of the above repair items and supplies with the exception of the oxy/propane torch can be found in most plumbing departments at any hardware or plumbing supply store for less than what you'll pay for one visit from a plumber. Oxy-propane is a bit of an overkill for soldering, but I also use the torch for gas welding, cutting and brazing.