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The scary job is finally done! Have you ever sweat copper pipe?
I have done a little, but that was many many years ago. In fact,
it was this same job! The story actually begins with a mistake I made because I'm not a plumber. The bathtub faucet started to drip. I replaced the washers but it still dripped. That indicates that the valve seats need to be replaced. I went to Home Depot looking for a tool to remove the old valve seats. This is where I made the mistake. The Home Depot guy didn't recognize the type of wrench I needed to use to remove the valve seats and gave me the wrong kind. Using it damaged the valve seats to the point that I couldn't remove them. If I had just called a real plumber this probably wouldn't have happened. I actually didn't find out until years later that I had used the wrong wrench. I saw the correct one in a small plumbing shop and realized then what I had done. Anyway, to solve the dripping problem I decided to put ball valves in the copper lines feeding the bathtub. I had never sweat copper fittings before, but I had done a ton of soldering printed circuit boards. The two techniques are not the same. The first time I put in the ball valves I ended up ruining one and had to buy another one. I think that I over heated the valve and that contributed to its failure later on. Fast forward to about three or four years ago. Now the ball valves started to drip when they were off. It was a very slow drip so I simply put a plastic garbage can under it to catch the drips. That went on for several years until the dripping got worse. Something needed to be done. Several months ago I bought new valves and almost started in on the job. However, the job scared me. The last time it had taken me all day to do it. I kept putting it off. The drip got much worse, several gallons a day. I couldn't put it off anymore. Thank goodness for advances in technology. Youtube didn't exist when I did this the first time. Now, however, I was able to find several good videos on how to sweat copper fixtures. Armed with this knowledge I decided today to dive in and get the job done. I practiced on some spare pipe using an elbow fitting. That bolstered my confidence. I was able to remove one elbow joint, but after that nothing would come loose. I finally figured out that there was water in the lines. I ended up having to use a hacksaw to cut right next to the old valves. I then shoved white bread into the pipe to block the water. I had to make a trip to Home Depot for some copper 1/2 inch couplings. Of course I got the wrong kind. I needed couplings without a stop, but I got couplings with a stop. Fortunately I was able to file the stop off. I then put all the pieces together and cut pipe sections as needed to fit. Then I took it all apart and reassembled it a piece at a time, cleaning the fittings and applying flux. I did the cold water section first and then the hot water. I'm always nervous about plumbing jobs, but when I turned the water back on everything worked perfectly! No leaks! The new valves don't drip at all and are much easier to operate. Huzzah! |