Galvanized Pipe Connector

[johnyquest69]

Hello all. My hot water line is leaking under the slab. House was built probably late 60's. I am trying to run pex overhead. Tore out paneled wall on back side of shower. 1/2" galvanized coming up through slab to mixing valve I can't get to. Was thinking of cutting pipe and trying to thread with a ratcheting or powered pipe threader. Don't have much room. Any ideas or recommendations? TIA!

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

Sharkbite.

 

[sms]

Dresser coupling.

 

[Caryc]

.

 

[john in la]

I don't believe sharkbite is approved for galvanized pipe.

Cut the pipe.
Install a galvanized compression coupling with a good section of pipe with threads in the other end.
You can use a nipple cut in half for this good section of pipe.
You now have good threads to adapt your pex to.
The big box store should have the 1/2 compression coupling in stock.

 

[Mule Meat]

Compression fittings are not allowed by code in a concealed space (inside of a wall).

Sharkbites will not go on galvanized pipe. It must use an adapter screwed onto the pipe and go from there.

Cutting and rethreading are about your only option.

Need to use caution also. The line that is being cut could be T'ed somewhere in the slab and may need to be plugged or you could have a flood on your hands when you turn the water back on.
-----------------

Jackhammered the floor of two apartments and cut holes through four walls chasing a broken sewer line once in an apartment complex built on a slab.. Slab living is not for me..

 

[Richard G.]

Compression fittings are not allowed by code in a concealed space (inside of a wall).

Sharkbites will not go on galvanized pipe. It must use an adapter screwed onto the pipe and go from there.

Cutting and rethreading are about your only option.

Need to use caution also. The line that is being cut could be T'ed somewhere in the slab and may need to be plugged or you could have a flood on your hands when you turn the water back on.
-----------------

Jackhammered the floor of two apartments and cut holes through four walls chasing a broken sewer line once in an apartment complex built on a slab.. Slab living is not for me..

I would never live on a slab.

 

[CEP ACB]

What's on the other side of the wall ?
If it's a closet could you cut an access hole then hide it ?

 

[Phill Tibbetts]

Compression fittings are not allowed by code in a concealed space (inside of a wall).

Sharkbites will not go on galvanized pipe. It must use an adapter screwed onto the pipe and go from there.

Cutting and rethreading are about your only option.

Need to use caution also. The line that is being cut could be T'ed somewhere in the slab and may need to be plugged or you could have a flood on your hands when you turn the water back on.
-----------------

Jackhammered the floor of two apartments and cut holes through four walls chasing a broken sewer line once in an apartment complex built on a slab.. Slab living is not for me..

I agree would never build on a slab.

 

[Phill Tibbetts]

They make clamp on couplings for iron and galvanized pipe. I have a couple 3/4 and 1" I think the are. May have to go to a plumbing supply place to get them. I wouldn't worry about codes If I had a leak and could fix it. I'll try to get a pic tomorrow if I can remember.

 

[MM-TX]

Hello all. My hot water line is leaking under the slab. House was built probably late 60's. I am trying to run pex overhead. Tore out paneled wall on back side of shower. 1/2" galvanized coming up through slab to mixing valve I can't get to. Was thinking of cutting pipe and trying to thread with a ratcheting or powered pipe threader. Don't have much room. Any ideas or recommendations? TIA!

Definitely not one for the faint of heart. I have never been able to get a hand threader to start on a cut by a saw since they are always crooked. To be honest I don't try because I use a pipe cutter with a roller cutter. A pipe cutter that will cut it straight isn't going to fit in that space. If you got your pipe cut really straight you might be able to start your die and cut threads in that spot and maybe not.

You might cut your pipe with your sawsall and then unscrew the two ends, cut them shorter, re-thread them then screw them back into the fittings in the wall and slab and put your npt to pex on. If that doesn't work then you are at the point of opening up what ever you have to to get to it.

I wouldn't use compression splices in that spot. It's not about code it's about how long before it leaks and when it leaks there what kind of damage is it going to do.

Be aware there are probably unions before the mixer, and they can get disturbed if you can't hold them properly.

What you haven't said is if you can attach your pex to the pipe going to the mixer what is going to stop your leak in the slab.

 

[MarkB_MI]

If I understand you, you have no access to the back side of the shower valve but you're able to get access to the pipes running up to it. I see three options.

1. Cut and thread. As MM-TX said, it's difficult to get a clean, square cut without using a pipe cutter.
   
   
2. Tear out the shower wall. I'm sure you don't want to do that, but it would allow you to replace all the galvanized pipe.
   
   
3. MegaPress. This is a heavy-duty version on the ProPress system you may have heard of. The tools are very expensive, but maybe you can rent a tool or hire a plumber to do it.

MegaPress 1/2" adapter

 

[showcrop]

Plumbers have been doing those for forty years with a clamp-on that they carry as truck stock. Fernco is one popular brand.

 

[MarkB_MI]

How 'bout thi$?

Galvanized compression adapter

 

[MarkB_MI]

Plumbers have been doing those for forty years with a clamp-on that they carry as truck stock. Fernco is one popular brand.

You can use a Fernco on a pressurized supply line?

 

[Fritz Maurer]

Are you talking about threading that pipe while attached to the valve?

Id be worried about the torque required to cut the threads ....will the valve break off somewhere?

 

[showcrop]

You can use a Fernco on a pressurized supply line?

no, sorry, I slipped up on that little detail.

 

[Mule Meat]

Cutting the pipe straight in a tight place is not a problem with the right tool..

Ridgid makes a good ratcheting pipe cutter..

 

[DanielW]

Cutting the pipe straight in a tight place is not a problem with the right tool..


Ridgid makes a good ratcheting pipe cutter..

I think those ratcheting cutters are great, but based on the original picture I'm not even sure there's enough room for one of them (or a ratchetting threader) against that wall on the back.

This probably isn't what the OP wants to hear, but by the time you spend time and frustration fooling around under there in that tight space, getting it cut square, making sure the threader starts square, trying to fit tools around that pipe (where they look like they might not fit no matter what you do), buying/renting the right tools, etc. - I'd think it would be just as cheap (and probably easier) to tear down whatever wall that's backing against. That gives you access your mixing valve so you can assess/replace it, do the whole kit/caboodle properly, and put a new wall up back there. That might depend on what that back wall is, however. Depending on what it is, I can't see it being any more than a few hours and a couple hundred dollars at most to rebuild.

Although I don't like compression fittings and they're probably not up to code in your state, if I was in a pinch and needed to get water running again soon I'd be tempted to stick one on there. Compression fittings are used in much higher pressure applications than that. But getting the pipe OD perfectly clean/smooth where the ferrule goes would be critical. I think threading would theoretically be better, but with such minimal access under there, I'd be a smidge worried that you couldn't get it quite square nor torqued well enough to seal fully: You might be just as likely to have a slow leak after trying to thread and union in that tight area as you would with a compression fitting.

My vote is tearing down that back wall. Unless the other side of that wall has the world's fanciest/most-expensive glass mosaic wall tile or something similar, I don't think you'll find a much easier/cheaper solution.

 

[Tony in SD]

Personally, I am highly unqualified to answer this question!