Plumbing Repair

2013-07-05 15:03 - General

The newly soldered plumbing connection I just made in my Mom's basement.

I've just executed a (mostly) successful plumbing repair in my Mom's basement. An old water softener, installed by the previous owners and never used by us, started leaking a while back. We cut it out of the system and I soldered in the replacement parts to bypass it. And it holds water just perfectly!

The "mostly" part comes in with the now removed discharge tube. You can see the black cast iron drain pipe in the background of the picture. It now has a gaping hole where an old PVC part broke off while trying to unscrew it. We need to head to Home Depot and find a replacement piece with the right threads to fill that gap.


Comments:

Suggested Repair Method and supplies
2013-11-08 12:08 - MrSilly

I would suggest this- DON'T WELD- or solder- galvanic corrosion between dissimilar metals. http://www.apisteel.com/differences-between-steel-pipe-black-iron-pipe-1176

You mention a discharge tube- was this from the (now removed) water softener to the drain? In this instance I would recommend a threaded plug. You will have to measure the internal diameter of the threaded hole. plumbing gods willing- it will be a common size. If it is too difficult to find a replacement- it depends one what hand-tools you have or are are prepared to buy. The rude, crude, rat-rod dude way is one I have done many a time on obscure fittings pipe (btw I learnt this from a British mechanic and former Rover factory line machinist) - find the closest steel automotive bolt that fits- often a metric. Put it in a vice and carefully with your hack-saw, cut two grooves perpendicular to the thread on the bolt. Now hand start it- then for every half-wrench turn "in"- go back a quarter turn. Don't force it, go slow and steady. This way you have made yourself a make-shift thread-tap from the bolt- which will tap itself a custom new thread (fingers crossed for luck). I've done this for many, many rocker covers, siezed water-pump bolts (for old cast-iron blocks I heated and water-quenched the bolts from yellow-hot with an oxy-acetylene torch- so they became a crude tool-steel) and probably the most crucial was an exhaust manifold header pipe bolts for an aluminium Rover V8 the previous owner had mangled the threads- and rounded the bolt heads. It was a a rush job- there was no chance of getting it properly re-bored and repaired (the owner had no interest in doing things the proper way). Used the closest metric size- and worked a charm. And millions of replacement bolts made by Japanese auto manufacturers.

I did a quick Home Depot search:

(http://www.homedepot.com/b/Plumbing-Pipes-Fittings-Valves-CPVC-Pipe-Fittings/Adapter-or-Coupling/N-5yc1vZbuugZ1z114xd)

I would buy an entirely CPVC adaptor and cap- should cost no more than $20 and seal it either permanently or not- up to you.

Hope I at least provided food for thought. PS I came cross this page after I downloaded one of your Mozilla plug-ins (forgot which one sorry)- but thanks.

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