Wow.. I can't imagine putting something like that into a 7' underground
ditch for my mainline. I'm thinking simple=best.

I need to join a 3/4" pvc to 3/4" copper.

"DanG" wrote in message
...
These things are great. We have gone to them exclusively on
repair work. You probably will not be able to buy them at a
regular plumbing supply house. Most sprinkler and irrigation
companies have them:
http://www.doityourself.com/invt/u542837

It does sound like you need to bush up or down on one line size or
the other.

--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DanG
A live Singing Valentine quartet,
a sophisticated and elegant way to say I LOVE YOU!
(local)
http://www.singingvalentines.com/ (national)


"Coloradotrout" wrote in message
...
Not quite sure I follow how that removes the slip joint ( slip
joint may be
the wrong words, I meant a pvc glue joint) but let me see if I
have the
idea.

1 cut off the 1" male (receptor of nipple connector) from the
copper, polish
the pipe
2 cut/clean the pvc end
3 so now I have in the hole a 3/4" copper pipe and 3/4" pvc
about 12" apart
4 now take a 3/4" female copper adapter and sweat it onto a
piece of 3/4"
pipe about 12" long
5 glue on a 3/4" pvc male threaded adapter to the pvc pipe
6 slip a no-ridge copper coupler over this piece
7 put this assembly in the hole
8 cut the copper pipe 'to fit'
9 tighten the copper female adapter onto the male pvc thread
(step 5 above)
10 slide the no-ridge copper coupler to the center of the copper
gap
11 sweat both sides into place

so I'd have..

copper line | copper coupler (no ridge) | new copper pipe |
copper female
threaded adapter | male pvc adapter | pvc pipe

So if I count the | above, that is 5 joints - 3 sweat, 1
thread, 1 pvc
glue. Better than the 6 with my union idea below! Not as
good as the 4
joint original, but I see no way to do that without running new
line (and at
6' plus in the dead of winter, that's not an option).

Maybe now to add strength, I could use a 1" joint on the PVC
side. Upsize
from 3/4" to get more plastic?

What about using those premade cpvc to copper adapters? I could
pvc glue
that to the pvc pipe and have a male copper thread to feed into
my female
copper adapter? Would that be any better than the male pvc to
female copper
connection? (Personally, I'm a bit leary of those
cpvc-to-copper fittings,
but I could be wrong.)

How can I pull the heat off that copper pipe while I'm sweating
the splice
so it does not melt the pvc? A wet rag?

Any tips to get that male pvc to female copper joint as tight
and strong as
possible? Use a copper/pvc thread sealant? Any other ideas?

When I backfill the hole, I think I will firm up the soil as
much as
possible under this, so when the soil from above settles,
hopefully it will
not apply so much of a load that the "fix" bends/breaks.
Thoughts on this?

What kind of PVC glue?

If this was above ground or even 3' under, I'd be a lot less
cautious. But
at nearly 7' I dont want to repeat this exercise for awhile.



"Speedy Jim" wrote in message
. net...
Coloradotrout wrote:
I have a 15 year-old home.

Water line between street(meter) and home was leaking (line
is about 60
feet).

A large sinkhole developed. I dug down 7' to find the solid
copper line
from the house joined to PVC. The connection was as
follows.

3/4" copper line from house (10') -- brazed to 1" female
connector -- 1"
male nipple w/ threads to 3/4" male threaded fitting (solid
brass) --
PVC
3/4" female thread to 3/4" slip -- 3/4" pvc pipe

The PVC slip connector sheared off. All of these are RH
threads, and no
unions. So it all had to be assembled sequentially.

How do I fix this? The right solution in my mind is to run a
new trench
and
lay continuous copper. I don't believe that is feasible. We
are
looking to
spend another 1-2 years here. But I hate leaving anyone a
problem
waiting
to happen. Going to Lowes/HD, the best I can come up with
is:

3/4" copper line from house -- 3/4" union -- short copper
pipe --
3/4"
male thread adapter -- 3/4" PVC female thread adapter to
slip -- pvc
pipe

The original solution was 4 joints. The above is 6.
Thoughts?
(would a
3/4" female adapter -- 3/4" male pvc to slip be better)

I can do basic sweating of copper. But I've never brazed.
Should my
copper
joints be brazed?

Thoughts? Ideas? Volunteers (just kidding.. at least half
way)




No need for brazing. The PVC is the weak link here, weaker
than
soldered connections.

BUT.....DO use a PVC Male adapter going into a Female
copper adapter.
That will be waaaaay stronger than using a Female PVC (as you
suspected).

You can avoid the PVC slip joint. Get a copper "repair
coupling".
This has no internal ridge and can be slipped over the ends of
2 pieces
of pipe. If you can, move this splice back from the PVC
connection
a foot or so to keep from heating the PVC. The copper Female
adapter
can be soldered onto a short length of copper working outside
the
trench.

Another approach would be to put a 3/4" Union in the line.
Normally, one wouldn't bury a union in the service, but given
all the other connections, I don't see it making any
difference.

Jim