Wednesday, April 1, 2015

SHARK BITE! The DIY, affordable way to fix copper pipes.

Apparently I'm not the only one who drills into water pipes! Thanks to a blog reader/friend, I've learned of how to fix holes in copper pipes the easy way... no soldering necessary. I'm still glad I saw what the plumber did because I would have made much more of a mess and probably would have been second-guessing myself the whole time. Here's what to do.
For humility's sake, let's put up an image of the pipe again. Yep... hole right in the middle. I did that.


If this happens to you, here is what to do...
1) Sprint to turn off the water main! (hopefully you are reading this BEFORE drilling into a pipe because if you are googling "how to fix a copper pipe" and your water main is still on, then you are going to need professional help).
2) Clean up the mess and put a towel under the pipe where the hole is.
3) Drain your system by turning on your hot and cold water faucets in the bathrooms especially in the lowest level of your house.
4) Get a pipe cutter, deburr/depth gauge tool, and shark bite push-fit coupling from your local hardware store.
5) Cut the pipe on either side of the hole no more than 2 inches long. Be patient with cutting the pipe. It may take a while.
6) This short video shows you the rest of the steps. And dude had an accent so that's extra reason to watch.

I hope this saves someone $200+ in their next plumbing emergency!

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