I hate plumbing!
 

Just a rant, I hate plumbing, I have always hated plumbing. My hatred for plumbing is at a new level today.

I decided to move my water softener to a better location within a closet that I am building while I am finishing my basement. So far I have had 1 pin leak, which I fixed. I also have leaks at the connection to the water softener (copper to plastic). After tightening the living hell out of the connection it appears as though I have stopped the leak. I am also sure I have stripped the threads. To further test it I turned the water on full and received a nice mist to the face from another pin leak. I have not had lunch, I have been to home depot twice and a hardware store 3 times today.

I like to consider myself fairly handy, I have built my office in the basement and am now starting on the rest of the basement. I have NEVER had to call in "a pro" to do a job for me. I feel stupid and ashamed. I have called a plumber.

Are the pin leaks in the pipe or at the connections? Are you using any kind of thread sealant? Compression fittings can be a lifesaver.

Are the pin leaks coming from the copper fittings? When joining the copper to plastic, use a good wrap of teflon tape to help seal. As far as the pin leaks, it's tough to sweat fittings on a closed system, the solder doesn't want to completely go into the fitting,. Shut off the water @ the main, drain the system, ball up a piece of bread and shove up the pipe to block any trickling of water, open up closest faucet and sweat new fitting/pipe. Hope this helps, I spent an hour trying to sweat on a hose bib til I had the brighty idea of opening the valve. I know the feeling.

The biggest problem I've experienced with DIY plumbing is not having the right tools and parts on hand to do the job correctly. 2x to HD and 3x to hardware store in one day would spoil anyone's party. So there's that, and having a couple extra joints in the back, arms, and fingers would help to! :)

My name is Don, and I hate plumbing also. I hate sprinklers (an especially evil form of plumbing) even more.

yes pin leak from the copper joint. I have rammed a lot of bread into the pipe but I think its because its so close to the main shut off I just cant drain the system. We will see what expereince $75/h plus time and a half will bring.

Here is the history;

Home depot - wood to build wall, some copper fittings
Hardware store - change of plans, more pipe and fittings
hardware store 2 - need 1 more fitting because of the pin leak
hardware store 3 - out of propane for the torch
home depot 2 - lots of fittings, teflon tape

stop and eat some lunch. Bad problems become 10X worse on an empty stomach.

That's about all I can add. Luckily when I had a house I also had a great plumber who did great work and charged a reasonable amount. Now as a renter I don't give a *****.

David, only 2x to HD and 3x to the hardware store? Man, your good!

I hate plumbing as well, that is why I changed to wrenching for a living 20 years ago.

patience grasshopper...that is always what a good friend of mine who is a plumber always tells me.

I hate plumbing also........its not the tools its that oh, you should turn it 1/4 turn more or less and that will solve it, ggrrrrrrrrr :mad:

David, on some main shut-offs there is a small cap on the side that will drain the water out. Failing that loosen one end of the water meter enough so the water has somewhere to go. If you can when soldering have a tap open or leave the connection open by the softner to allow for expansion from the torch. Some times it will take forever to drain water from the lines.

Brian

If you have just pin hole leaks, you may need to clean the pipe fittings a little longer and use more flux. That "tinning flux" is good.

Oh, and too hot on the torch will always mess you up.
It just takes a small flame of propane...MAPP is hype.


KT

I have done plumbing in the past, I installed a tap outside of my garage this summer, have plumbed in a garbage disposal etc. For what ever reason this one drove me nuts.

I paid for a plumber to come out because of my growing frustration and the fact that we had guests and not having water is not really a good thing.

thaks for all the tips, reasurances and understanding.

+10 on too hot.
Seems like just when the joint just turns a nice blue is about right, but it's been a while. Also heat on the back side of the joint, and let the solder wick into it until you get just one drip.

I used to use just acetelyne and air...

+1 Too much heat kills ya and dirty joints do the same. If joining old to new get the emory cloth out and get ready for some sore fingers. Believe it or not the best way to get he best joint with compromised conditions are the self soldering couplers.