If the glued joints did not take well due to dirt or a poor fit, it is
possible to chisel off the remaining pieces. Use a wood chisel and a light
hammer and try to get under the couplings to pry them away. Once it is all
off, sand the joints down to get all of the rough spots out. Use a pvc
cleaner on everything before attempting to glue the new couplings in place.
Be sure to apply glue to the couplings and the new elbow when putting them
together.

Personally I think that you are better off fitting in all new sections
rather than working with the old stuff if it is possible. One length of pvc
and a few couplings will only cost a few bucks for piece of mind. Be sure
that all joints are clean and free of burrs. Use pvc cleaner on everything
and apply glue to all parts.


John Grabowski
http://www.mrelectrician.tv



wrote in message
...
Last night we had our first deep freeze for the season. I forgot to
disconnect the PVC pipe in my barn that goes across the ceiling and
thru a wall into another part if the barn. This pipe is designed to
work in the winter by having a large amount of slope, as long as
disconnect all hoses to allow it to drain after using it.

However, in the summer I leave it connected. I did not disconnect it
soon enough and although the water was turned off, there was still
water in the pipe, and last night it froze and split the top most
elbow right in half. The half I found on the barn floor was actually
peeled right off the glue joint, leaving half of both pipes clean and
ready to glue again. But the other half is still glued to the pipes.

I would like to see if there is a way to neatly pull the other half of
this elbow cleanly off the glue so I can install a new elbow without
moving pipes or adding couplers and pieces of pipe. In other words,
there is really no spare pipe to cut off at the glue ends, unless I
tore the whole thing down to adjust the position of the pipes so they
are aligned. I'd much rather spend a little time trying to cleanly
take off the other half of that elbow than to tear this whole thing
apart. Adding couplers and short pieces of pipe are an option, but I
like to avoid adding all sorts of extra parts, not to mention I will
have to buy a whole 10ft. piece of pipe for 8 inches.

Is there a way to "pick off" the elbow at the glue? Is there any sort
of solvent that will help dissolve the glue?

BTW This is ONE INCH PVC.

Thanks

Timothy