What’s Involved In A Copper Repipe Job
Most of the plumbing found in older houses is made of galvanized steel, although some past the century mark may even have iron or (non-galvanized) steel pipes coated with zinc. While these may be fine for use irrigating farmland or even as sewer pipes, they are susceptible to mineral deposit build-up and corrosion that can cause serious leaks in home plumbing. For this reason, many repipe specialists need to make homeowners fully aware of what’s involved in a copper repipe job before replacing everything in their homes.
The total copper repipe cost can be quite expensive. Yet many homeowners find it that their initial investment can end up paying for itself by increasing the efficiency in the way their major appliances, such as dishwashers and clothes washers operate, and getting rid of the toxins in their drinking water produced in older plumbing.
Copper repiping jobs require a lot more skill that just fitting two straight pieces of pipe together. It also entails knowing how to piece together various bends and elbow joints, as well as connecting tees for “branch” pipes and hooking the pipes up to water taps, etc.
There are basically two primary methods used to join copper pipe. A copper repipe specialist often accomplishes this by using compression fittings in which the ends of the pipe are shoved through a screwed body with a sealing ring (properly called an olive) and nut at both ends using spanners. Once in place, the nuts are then tightened to flatten the olives, forming water-tight seals. There are also different “push-fit” fitting used to connect the copper in either plastic or brass coupling. These have the edge of allowing the pipes to be rotated in the fitting after they’ve been made. The main problem with compression fittings is that they cannot be used if the space is too tight to use a spanner.
A second method is to solder a capillary joint on to the pipe in order to create a water-tight seal. The hot solder will actually seep into any small gaps between the fitting and the ends of the pipe inserted into it. This method is often employed by do-it-yourselfers using a “Yorkshire” solder ring that comes with its own (built-in) solder supply. Either way,the solder-rings are heated around the joints using either a blowtorch or “blow lamp”, though many people find it much easier to use electrically heated tongs to melt the wire so that it oozes into any gaps. The main problem with this method is that there is always a risk of starting a fire when using blowtorches.
When you meet with a repipe specialist, you’ll want to go over all of the details of how he plans to do the job. Having a good idea of what his intentions are as compared to that of another plumber will give you an idea both as to whether the copper repiping cost he is quoting is legitimate, and also if one of the two methods are sounder than the other.
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