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Posted by Heathcliff on January 5, 2007, 11:56 am
hat@uark.edu wrote:
> I am remodeling the kitchen with new cabinets. The cold water (copper)
> pipe happens to lie smack at a cabinet divider, which means it has to
> be moved about 6 inches out of the way. The line also feeds the two
> outside faucets so the exisiting contraption is the shape of an
> inverted "W" (with straight legs, of course). The pipes, which come
> out of a the floor slab, are reasonably accessable. Here is the
> question: I have been "reasonably" successful in the past in soldering
> exisiting copper pipes ("reasonaly" means that I had to go at it twice
> to stop nagging weeps in some joints). But in the current situation,
> all outside faucets set high above the level where I would be cutting
> the existing "W" connections and there is no way to drain out the water
> completely. I have read that you can stuff pieces of bread into the
> pipes and leave them there to absorb the water. Eventually the
> disintegrated bread will be flushed out through the faucets. But to my
> thinking, this may work only if there are few drops in the pipe. In my
> case, this will not be the case as the pipes will be filled to the
> tilt. Any ideas? Or should I just call my "trusted" plumber for
> expert help? I am just curious as to what he/she will be doing to get
> around this water problem. Thanks.
I'm not sure I am picturing your setup accurately. If the other pipes
are higher, won't the water drain out when you make the cut? But some
general advice. One, you only need to get the water in all directions
out a foot or two away from where you are working. If you can't drain
it by opening faucets, you can take a length of that clear plastic
tubing (or tape together some drinking straws if you want to go
low-tech) and suck the water out. Two, you have to make sure the
piping is open to air somewhere while you are soldering, so that
air/steam pressure doesn't build up inside - that leads to leaks as the
confined air looks for a way out and blows a channel through the solder
as it is setting. Three, sometimes it pays to do as many joints as you
can on the benchtop, then splice in the assembled part to the existing
piping. -- H
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