Old Copper Pipes
 

In article ,
hibb wrote:
Ooops forgot the link to the picture. This picture is posted through
"yousendit dot com" instead of FileAve that I used before that caused
some folks some concern about malware.

http://tinyurl.com/248evr8

Thanks, David


If that is just green discoloration on the surface of copper pipe, I
would not replace them. They have many years of life left.


--
There is always an easy solution to every human problem -- neat,
plausible, and wrong." (H L Mencken)

Larry Wasserman - Baltimore Maryland - lwasserm(a)sdf. lonestar. org

Old Copper Pipes
 

On Sep 21, 4:14*pm, (Larry W) wrote:
In article ,hibb wrote:
Ooops forgot the link to the picture. This picture is posted through
"yousendit dot com" instead of FileAve that I used before that caused
some folks some concern about malware.

http://tinyurl.com/248evr8

Thanks, David

If that is just green discoloration on the surface of copper pipe, I
would not replace them. They have many years of life left.

--
* * There is always an easy solution to every human problem -- neat,
* * plausible, and wrong." * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *(H L Mencken)

* * *Larry Wasserman - Baltimore Maryland - lwasserm(a)sdf. lonestar. org


I didn't notice any soft spots that wanted to kink when I was pulling
them to the side to get to other things.

I was asking because these will be under the tub far enough that they
will be hard to get to if something happens. This is an upstairs
bathroom. but it won't be used much and I might even turn the water
off to the upstairs most of the time.

Thanks, David

Old Copper Pipes
 

hibb wrote the following:
On Sep 21, 4:14 pm, (Larry W) wrote:

In article ,hibb wrote:

Ooops forgot the link to the picture. This picture is posted through
"yousendit dot com" instead of FileAve that I used before that caused
some folks some concern about malware.

http://tinyurl.com/248evr8

Thanks, David

If that is just green discoloration on the surface of copper pipe, I
would not replace them. They have many years of life left.

--
There is always an easy solution to every human problem -- neat,
plausible, and wrong." (H L Mencken)

Larry Wasserman - Baltimore Maryland - lwasserm(a)sdf. lonestar. org



I didn't notice any soft spots that wanted to kink when I was pulling
them to the side to get to other things.



The green color is the natural patina of copper. If it was a sign of
trouble, the Statue of Liberty would need a new skin less than every
hundred years.

I was asking because these will be under the tub far enough that they
will be hard to get to if something happens. This is an upstairs
bathroom. but it won't be used much and I might even turn the water
off to the upstairs most of the time.

Thanks, David





--

Bill
In Hamptonburgh, NY
In the original Orange County. Est. 1683
To email, remove the double zeroes after @

Old Copper Pipes
 

On Sep 21, 6:28*pm, hibb wrote:
On Sep 21, 4:14*pm, (Larry W) wrote:



In article ,hibb wrote:
Ooops forgot the link to the picture. This picture is posted through
"yousendit dot com" instead of FileAve that I used before that caused
some folks some concern about malware.

http://tinyurl.com/248evr8

Thanks, David

If that is just green discoloration on the surface of copper pipe, I
would not replace them. They have many years of life left.

--
* * There is always an easy solution to every human problem -- neat,
* * plausible, and wrong." * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *(H L Mencken)

* * *Larry Wasserman - Baltimore Maryland - lwasserm(a)sdf. lonestar. org

*I didn't notice any soft spots that wanted to kink when I was pulling
them to the side to get to other things.

I was asking because these will be under the tub far enough that they
will be hard to get to if something happens. This is an upstairs
bathroom. but it won't be used much and I might even turn the water
off to the upstairs most of the time.

Thanks, David

Thanks for posting the picture on a normal hosting site.

In such situations, where something won't be accessible after the work
is completed, and getting to it for a repair would be problematic, the
thing turns into a Wallya. Wallya at it, might as well replace those
pipes. Copper corrodes from the inside out, and as someone else
mentioned, the first signs of a problem is some green patina spots
showing up, usually near the joints where someone was liberal with the
flux. So, I have to disagree with Bill's assesment. If the patina is
more or less uniform on the pipe, fine, but if there are localized
green spots with white stuff around, then that's a bad sign. The pipe
has corroded from the inside and the change in patina somehow
indicates thinner material where the pipe has eroded. This seems to
happen more in fittings and probably has to do with turbulent flow or
some such and/or excess flux.

Sharkbite fittings work great, and they are rated for burial in slabs,
but I don't know if they'd be my first choice if you're going with
copper pipe. I don't doubt the Sharkbite fittings would work, but I
just like the purity of copper with copper. If you're transitioning
to PEX the Sharkbites make it trivial - one of their best points. You
can work with copper, PVC or PEX with the same fitting, which makes
them indispensable in the repair kit. If you are concerned about them
being buried for a long while over occupied space below, run an air
pressure test. Hook up a fitting and pump it up to double your house
pressure and let it sit overnight to see if the air pressure is
dropping. If it holds at double the pressure, it's unlikely you'd
ever have a problem. They probably would be fine, they seem very well
made and they work better than the competition that I've tried, such
as the Zurn plastic stuff. Pretty funny, eh? I have no problem with
PEX supply piping, but plastic fittings give me the heebie jeebies. I
have had issues with the Zurn fittings before, so I just stopped using
them.

R

Old Copper Pipes
 

On 9/21/2010 7:32 PM, RicodJour wrote:
On Sep 21, 6:28 pm, wrote:
On Sep 21, 4:14 pm, (Larry W) wrote:



In ,hibbShy wrote:
Ooops forgot the link to the picture. This picture is posted through
"yousendit dot com" instead of FileAve that I used before that caused
some folks some concern about malware.

http://tinyurl.com/248evr8

Thanks, David

If that is just green discoloration on the surface of copper pipe, I
would not replace them. They have many years of life left.

--
There is always an easy solution to every human problem -- neat,
plausible, and wrong." (H L Mencken)

Larry Wasserman - Baltimore Maryland - lwasserm(a)sdf. lonestar. org

I didn't notice any soft spots that wanted to kink when I was pulling
them to the side to get to other things.

I was asking because these will be under the tub far enough that they
will be hard to get to if something happens. This is an upstairs
bathroom. but it won't be used much and I might even turn the water
off to the upstairs most of the time.

Thanks, David

Thanks for posting the picture on a normal hosting site.

In such situations, where something won't be accessible after the work
is completed, and getting to it for a repair would be problematic, the
thing turns into a Wallya. Wallya at it, might as well replace those
pipes. Copper corrodes from the inside out, and as someone else
mentioned, the first signs of a problem is some green patina spots
showing up, usually near the joints where someone was liberal with the
flux. So, I have to disagree with Bill's assesment. If the patina is
more or less uniform on the pipe, fine, but if there are localized
green spots with white stuff around, then that's a bad sign. The pipe
has corroded from the inside and the change in patina somehow
indicates thinner material where the pipe has eroded. This seems to
happen more in fittings and probably has to do with turbulent flow or
some such and/or excess flux.

Sharkbite fittings work great, and they are rated for burial in slabs,
but I don't know if they'd be my first choice if you're going with
copper pipe. I don't doubt the Sharkbite fittings would work, but I
just like the purity of copper with copper. If you're transitioning
to PEX the Sharkbites make it trivial - one of their best points. You
can work with copper, PVC or PEX with the same fitting, which makes
them indispensable in the repair kit. If you are concerned about them
being buried for a long while over occupied space below, run an air
pressure test. Hook up a fitting and pump it up to double your house
pressure and let it sit overnight to see if the air pressure is
dropping. If it holds at double the pressure, it's unlikely you'd
ever have a problem. They probably would be fine, they seem very well
made and they work better than the competition that I've tried, such
as the Zurn plastic stuff. Pretty funny, eh? I have no problem with
PEX supply piping, but plastic fittings give me the heebie jeebies. I
have had issues with the Zurn fittings before, so I just stopped using
them.

R

it's been my experience that these soft copper runs to things in older
houses are rarely 5/8" OD. And that's the only way a sharkbite is gonna
be an option. He might just as well go back to a known good point and
either sweat on or flare fitting to a pipe thread and use a proper
adaptor to the material he wishes to use.

--
Steve Barker
remove the "not" from my address to email

Old Copper Pipes
 

On Tue, 21 Sep 2010 19:07:09 -0400, willshak
wrote:

hibb wrote the following:
On Sep 21, 4:14 pm, (Larry W) wrote:

In article ,hibb wrote:

Ooops forgot the link to the picture. This picture is posted through
"yousendit dot com" instead of FileAve that I used before that caused
some folks some concern about malware.

http://tinyurl.com/248evr8

Thanks, David

If that is just green discoloration on the surface of copper pipe, I
would not replace them. They have many years of life left.

--
There is always an easy solution to every human problem -- neat,
plausible, and wrong." (H L Mencken)

Larry Wasserman - Baltimore Maryland - lwasserm(a)sdf. lonestar. org



I didn't notice any soft spots that wanted to kink when I was pulling
them to the side to get to other things.



The green color is the natural patina of copper. If it was a sign of
trouble, the Statue of Liberty would need a new skin less than every
hundred years.

I was asking because these will be under the tub far enough that they
will be hard to get to if something happens. This is an upstairs
bathroom. but it won't be used much and I might even turn the water
off to the upstairs most of the time.

Thanks, David



What about the pipe at the bottom of the picture, below the cast iron
pipe?
And I'd be closely checking the quality/condition of the cast iron
pipe too. I've seen too many "weep" and let go. Many insurance
companies are not covering cast iron drainpipe any more on new
policies for that reason.

Old Copper Pipes
 

On Sep 21, 8:54*pm, Steve Barker wrote:

it's been my experience that these soft copper runs to things in older
houses are rarely 5/8" OD. *And that's the only way a sharkbite is gonna
be an option. *He might just as well go back to a known good point and
either sweat on or flare fitting to a pipe thread and use a proper
adaptor to the material he wishes to use.

Yes, of course - if the pipe is not standard, he has little choice.

R

Old Copper Pipes
 

On Sep 21, 9:40*pm, RicodJour wrote:
On Sep 21, 8:54*pm, Steve Barker wrote:



it's been my experience that these soft copper runs to things in older
houses are rarely 5/8" OD. *And that's the only way a sharkbite is gonna
be an option. *He might just as well go back to a known good point and
either sweat on or flare fitting to a pipe thread and use a proper
adaptor to the material he wishes to use.

Yes, of course - if the pipe is not standard, he has little choice.

R

I've already used the sharkbite stuff to replace the runs over to the
sink and the stool. I replaced those lines because the original did
not have shut off valves anywhere except in the basement.

Thanks, David