The Cellar - View Single Post

glatt · 09-05-2017, 09:19 AM

So I replumbed the house yesterday. I had gradually installed the majority of the pex tubing adjacent to the old galvanized pipes but needed to make all the connections at the the service entrance, each fixture, the water heater, and the boiler. I thought it would take some time, but had no idea that it would take so long. I got started at 8am and finished at 9pm, turned the water back on to check for leaks and then cleaned up and was done at 10pm.

The pex connections were the easy part. It was trying to take out the old galvanized fittings to make room for the pex connections that was hard. Some of those joints hadn't been touched in 70 years and were completely fused together. I wasn't even trying to remove all the old pipes yesterday. Just enough to get them out of the way for the pex connections.

So I learned a few things.

- There are times (although not too many) where you just wish you owned a sawzall. Yesterday was one of those times.
- A good pipe wrench is indispensable and nice to have, but it would have been even nicer to have one with a really long handle. 12 or 14 inches just isn't long enough for the leverage you need.
- Propane torches, one in each hand, will loosen many stubborn fittings enough that you can get them loose with the wrench. Wear leather gloves.
-When you don't need to be saving the integrity of a pipe and its threads, a hacksaw will just barely fit in between joists in some situations, but you'll get a real workout.
-A power saber saw with a metal cutting blade can do the trick sometimes, but is mostly not worth the effort, vibrations, and noise through the entire house.
- Home Depot pretty much sucks and doesn't have the fittings you need in the size you need. You will have to cobble something together and it won't be pretty.
-Don't assume anything about the old pipes and what you will be able to save and connect to.

Oh, and the main shutoff valve isn't going to work when you want it to. We had even had it replaced about 20 years ago when the original shutoff valve wasn't working. It seeped enough water to make sweating a new copper male threaded fitting virtually impossible. I was finally able to get it done by having my son hold two propane torches on the fitting while I held a shop vac nozzle just above the fitting to suck the seeping water out of it so it would heat up, and I used my other hand to hold the solder against the joint. I had tried the bread jammed in the pipe trick, but this was about an inch from the shutoff valve, and there was no room for a bread ball to be jammed in there. The good news is that the pex has a new ball valve to act as a main shutoff just 6 more inches downstream, so this shouldn't be a problem in the future.

09-05-2017, 09:19 AM	#718
glatt ™ Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Arlington, VA Posts: 27,717	So I replumbed the house yesterday. I had gradually installed the majority of the pex tubing adjacent to the old galvanized pipes but needed to make all the connections at the the service entrance, each fixture, the water heater, and the boiler. I thought it would take some time, but had no idea that it would take so long. I got started at 8am and finished at 9pm, turned the water back on to check for leaks and then cleaned up and was done at 10pm. The pex connections were the easy part. It was trying to take out the old galvanized fittings to make room for the pex connections that was hard. Some of those joints hadn't been touched in 70 years and were completely fused together. I wasn't even trying to remove all the old pipes yesterday. Just enough to get them out of the way for the pex connections. So I learned a few things. - There are times (although not too many) where you just wish you owned a sawzall. Yesterday was one of those times. - A good pipe wrench is indispensable and nice to have, but it would have been even nicer to have one with a really long handle. 12 or 14 inches just isn't long enough for the leverage you need. - Propane torches, one in each hand, will loosen many stubborn fittings enough that you can get them loose with the wrench. Wear leather gloves. -When you don't need to be saving the integrity of a pipe and its threads, a hacksaw will just barely fit in between joists in some situations, but you'll get a real workout. -A power saber saw with a metal cutting blade can do the trick sometimes, but is mostly not worth the effort, vibrations, and noise through the entire house. - Home Depot pretty much sucks and doesn't have the fittings you need in the size you need. You will have to cobble something together and it won't be pretty. -Don't assume anything about the old pipes and what you will be able to save and connect to. Oh, and the main shutoff valve isn't going to work when you want it to. We had even had it replaced about 20 years ago when the original shutoff valve wasn't working. It seeped enough water to make sweating a new copper male threaded fitting virtually impossible. I was finally able to get it done by having my son hold two propane torches on the fitting while I held a shop vac nozzle just above the fitting to suck the seeping water out of it so it would heat up, and I used my other hand to hold the solder against the joint. I had tried the bread jammed in the pipe trick, but this was about an inch from the shutoff valve, and there was no room for a bread ball to be jammed in there. The good news is that the pex has a new ball valve to act as a main shutoff just 6 more inches downstream, so this shouldn't be a problem in the future.