Repairing frozen and split copper water line

[Mnfisher]

With this extended cold, a copper pipe that I had repaired about 6 years ago froze and came apart at the seam. This had been my 1st attempt at soldering/sweating copper pipe together. The other two breaks have held. I have checked out some youtube videos. What is the easiest and best way to make this repair again.

1. Use the shark bite push fittings? (1st I had heard of these from the videos).

2. Repair with copper pipe adapter and then use the PEX plastic tubing?

3. Re-solder it again using all copper?

Seems to me the #1 would be easiest. Does anyone have any experience with this type of connector? Does it work okay? I suppose #2 might be easier than #3 but you would still need to do some soldering.

Thanks for any advice.

[delcecchi]

I have always just soldered a new piece of copper in. The fittings with the solder already in them seem to work really well, but the regular kind aren't hard if you clean everything well and flux them well.

[highlife4me]

I have used three Shark Bite fittings in my house so far, two for a new water heater install and one for a silcock faucet. They work as advertised and haven't had so much as a drip form around them. Simple to install and they can be removed easily with the included tool. Kinda spendy but I would use them again.

[Cheers]

I think the deciding factor should be can you get 100% of the water out of the line ? If so solder . If not forget about trying to solder as you will not get a good weld

[Mnfisher]

How far away from the seam/break should I get rid of the water? Do I need to blow it through with a compressor or just soak it up with a piece of cloth?

[CAMAN]

I know Menards (probably others as well) sells a 12 (maybe 16?) inch long copper repair pipe that is oversized and slips right over the old pipe. Less joints and much easier than messing with multiple fittings.

Just cut the bad section of pipe out, cut the repair piece an 1 1/2" or so longer, clean the burs off real well and clean the ends. Flux the contact areas and slide the pipe on. Solder everything and you're good to go.

[Archtek]

Getting all the water out so you can solder the joints can be a challenge sometimes, especially if it's a horizontal line. What I do is turn off all the water at the water meter, open up all the faucets in the house and let the water drain out. Then cut out the bad section of pipe and let more water drain out until there is no more water coming out at the part you have to solder. If you continuously get a little water, there's a trick I learned from an old time plumber. Get everything cut to size, cleaned and fluxed, then stuff a small amount of plain white bread (NO seeds, etc!) in the pipe where the water is coming from. Very quickly assemble everything and solder the joints. That bread you put in the pipe will dissolve when the water hits it and it will blow right through the screens in your faucets. I suppose if you really wanted to be safe, you could take the aerator off the faucets, but I have never had a problem.

[Mnfisher]

thanks to all for the help. Caman, I like the idea of that oversize pipe and Archtec, thanks for the suggestions on getting the water out.

[bogman]

Archtek's idea with the bread is spot on. It has never failed me. I always take the aerator off before turning the water back on though.

[Redlantern]

Bread works, but take the aerator off or run water to a fixture without an aerator such as a laundry tub, hosebibb, bathtub, etc. There are some dissolvable balls, looks kind of like paint balls, that can be inserted into the pipe and when you're done sweating the pipe, run the torch over the spot where the ball is and it will break down and flush through the system. When you're sweating the pipes, not only do you need them to be dry, you also need to have a place for any steam to escape too. If you don't, you're going to have a leak. I'm not a fan of the sharkbite stuff, seems like a flood just waiting to happen, IMO.

[delcecchi]

I find it hard to trust a non-soldered fitting, but it sure would be nice to fix a pipe under the cabin without having to lay on my back in the cold with a torch.

[CAMAN]

I believe Sharkbites are only legal if they are installed in an easily accessible location. Not behind walls, ceilings, etc.

[nofishfisherman]

I've used shark bite fittings when replacing a bad shower fixture. There is an access panel to the area but soldering the new joints would have likely ended up in a fire as it was tight quarters without much relief from wall studs and drywall.

I had a hard time trusting them at first as well. I hooked everything up but left the panel off for weeks and would keep checking for leaks. 5 years later and they haven't leaked a drop (yes I checked recently).

If you can a soldered joint is the best bet but if you are in a situation where using a torch just isn't doable for whatever reason then these are a good option.

[Pat K]

Who ever put the sprinkler system in at our house tapped into a soft water line. When we moved in I used Sharkbites when I hooked it up to unsoftened water.

That was 5 years ago and it hasn't leaked at all. The lines are in an unfinished utility room so I knew there would be easy access if there was any problem

[delcecchi]

Who ever put the sprinkler system in at our house tapped into a soft water line. When we moved in I used Sharkbites when I hooked it up to unsoftened water.

That was 5 years ago and it hasn't leaked at all. The lines are in an unfinished utility room so I knew there would be easy access if there was any problem

You guys convinced me. I am picking up a few for my cabin repair kit.

[CAMAN]

Del, if you have issues with bursting water lines at your cabin have you thought about replacing the stuff you can reach with PEX?

[Mnfisher]

What would be the advantage of replacing with PEX? One pipe froze in my cabin this year but had trouble with 3 or 4 about 6 years ago.

[nobody05]

pex can whitstand freezeing without bursting

[PurpleFloyd]

I don't know if they are similar or not but I have been using a lot of the John Guest fittings at the shop for plumbing and they seem to hold up very well.

[delcecchi]

Del, if you have issues with bursting water lines at your cabin have you thought about replacing the stuff you can reach with PEX?

I have only had like two or three water lines burst in 30 years, so probably not worth doing the replumb with pex thing. If I do my job right in the fall, no problem. If I miss something blowing pipes etc then a problem.

Sharkbites will be part of the contingency.