Teeing Into Galvanized

Verdeboy

Verdeboy

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I need to tee into some galvanized pipe in a narrow crawl space, make a 25 ft run, drill a hole through some cinder block, and install an outdoor spigot.

Will a sharkbite work, or does everything have to be threaded? There's a 90 that's screwed in. Do I need to unscrew the 90 and if so, what's the best way to unscrew it? If I do need to cut it, will my rotozip work with metal cutoff wheel or do I need some other tool?
 

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Cut and unscrew at 2 joints then transition from the galv. with a brass nip. then go copper and then your sharkbite or what have you. Get the joints nice and hot B 4 unscrewing.
 
Cass, I'm having a hard time deciphering your suggestions. This is an area of plumbing that's new to me, so I need to be absolutely clear on what I'm doing.

Am I cutting out and unscrewing an entire length of galvanized pipe between two elbows? What tool do you use when cutting galvanized steel?

Am I replacing this pipe with 3/4" copper that has two screw-in brass fittings soldered on the ends and some sort of a tee in the middle?
 
Where do the two lines go that pass through the floor?

Pull those, replace elbow with tee, and do your run. You can convert after the tee however you like.

:)
 
I'll have to see where the lines go.

If one of them is a cold line that goes to a toilet or a sink, I suppose I'll have to remove the shutoff valve and/or the supply line, and try to unscrew the pipe from the elbow (in the picture) and then replace the elbow with a tee. I'll need a torch to heat the joint and a large pipe wrench (or two?) to break it free. I need pipe dope rather than teflon tape for the threads.

Does this sound right?
 
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You might want to just replace the 90 with a brass one and then install a copper male adp. with nipple pre sweated into the MIP adp. and then sweat the T on to it and then up to the toilet shutoff.
 
Thanks Cass, but I want to do this job in as few steps as possible. If I can re-use the pipe going up to the bath, I'll just screw it back into the (new) galvanized tee and then run a pipe from that out to the wall, and plumb in a spigot.

If I can't do this plan, I'll have to start replacing pipes.
 
There are 'waterworks' compression fittings that will work to cut a tee into just about any pipe. Less work than cutting and threading the existing pipe, and extremely strong and durable, as demanded by the trade. The only problem, is that there may not be any made for 1/2" IPS. (if that's what you have) - 3/4" CTS might do as a substitute. I know there were brass compression tees, with FPT side outlets, and that the (lawn sprinkler brass equipment) manufacturer (Champion) sold the same unit for 3/4" copper and 1/2" galvanized. The Champions were durable, but did not 'bite' into the pipe like the waterworks fittings do, so they might not be as good as preventing a blowout.
 
I believe I need a 3/4 x 3/4 x 3/4 tee. Are you saying that there is a compression tee out there that will work with galvanized? If so, can you give me a link to where I can buy it?
 
Find out where your local water department buys their stuff from, and look there first. I've used three brands of these types of fittings. Ford. Mueller. McDonald. All of them are trustworthy, as would be anything designed to be buried below the frost line. If it was possible for the pipe to move out of the fitting, I would still add some bracing. (If you couldn't find the waterworks tees, and used a Champion compression tee, I'd want to make certain the pipe didn't have enough freedom of travel to blow out)

By the way, there is also Lawnlife as a source for the old-style compression tees. I haven't seen their tees, but the company so exactly copies all the Champion products (for overseas manufacture, no doubt) that I would expect it to be physically the same thing.
 
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Thanks for the info!!

This project is occurring in a basement crawl space and not underground. Does that matter?

Also, it looks like the part of the tee where the water line goes into is threaded. Do you know what kind of threads those are and what kind of piping I should use to run 25 ft. to the spigot that will be coming out of the wall of the crawl space?

Do you recommend a sawzall, hacksaw, or metal cutoff wheel for cutting the galvanized, or is there a special tubing cutter, like for copper?
 
Verdeboy said:
Do you recommend a sawzall, hacksaw, or metal cutoff wheel for cutting the galvanized, or is there a special tubing cutter, like for copper?
Click to expand...
Actually, I'd be recommending cutting the old pipe with a sawzall, and threading the cut end of the long piece, and putting it all back together with galvanized nipples, tee, and union, and charging by the hour for all the time it takes to accomplish this in cramped quarters.

But a compression tee would be a whole lot quicker. You see waterworks compression fittings used in setting water meters on copper supply lines in basements, without any bracing to prevent blowouts, and the water departments don't seem to have problems with them.
 
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