Can you tell me if this looks "fixed"?

Hi,
I had a major leak in a pipe in my wall, it flooded 4 rooms in my house. A plumber fixed the leak, and said the leak was caused by too muck tension on the pipes. He basically just added some glue ype substance to the pipe and left.I don't know alot about plumbing, but I think the work seemed "rigged". Can you take a look at the photo I have attached and let me know if it looks like a quality job has been done..or not? I just don't want my house to completly flood again. Any help is appreciated! Thanks.

Yes, it's rigged. I'll let the pros point out the specifics. I probably only know a couple of the problems here.

The only true fix for cpvc or pvc pipe, when it leaks is to cut it out and replumb, one of the reasons, besides breaking when it freezes every time, that I don't like it for water supply lines. PVC is great stuff for drains. I would guess that the original installer did not use primer before he glued the joints. Did the Joint he repaired blow entirely apart? If it did, then the plumber would have been able to clean the joint and prime and reglue. If he just applied more glue on the surface then it is not fixed. Before jumping to conclusions did you see him make the repair and did you pay him for the repair? He might have done every thing fine. No one can tell from a picture.

In the first place, PVC should not be used for interior water supply lines. In the second place, when PVC develops a leak, the leak must be cut out and replaced. That "repair" job is not the work of a real plumber. It looks like that of a handy man. Get a professional plumber to replace this hack job.

Flow guard gold is CPVC pipe, which like it or not IS, I repeat is, approved for indoor water supply lines.

It is not a pretty job for so many reasons, but from a picture you cannot tell if the pipes were glued together properly. I would like to make some assumptions too, but I won't, " it does not look pretty". oops... You did not see the "plumber" make the repair. If the pipe came completely apart it could be cleaned, primed, and reglued. Usually for a pipe that is just dripping you have to cut out the bad fittings and make the repair. You can not however just smear glue on the outside and call it fixed. I do not like CPVC pipe, however, I would make the repair using the same type materials, it is best to repair using the same system if possible on a minor repair other wise your plumbing becomes a mess of spliced in repairs.

I'm sorry if I implied PVC was aceptable for water lines. I just meant to compare repair techniques and the need for cutting, primer and glue. I have seen it used in barns for watering animals though.

Did you see him or her make the repair?

Thanks everyone for your helpful posts.

I didn't see him repair the pipe (the flood cleanup people were there as well). I only saw him do the glueing. He is a plumber that my home warranty company sent out. They have agreed to send him out again this evening. I was hoping they would send another plumber from a different company, but no luck. They said another plumber would be liable for the first plumber's work, and they would have to give the first plumber a crack at fixing it again.

That copper wire wrapped around the pipes makes me nervous.

If he glued the pipes correctly the wire could just be a way of holding the pipes together until the glue dried and to keep the pressure, stress, off due to crooked pipes. Ideally you should not have to hold them together, but if the pipes were not plumb, level, when first installed he might have to do that. You don't want to putstress, pressure on CPVC, but the pipes might have been so crooked he made the best fix he could. He was there to make a repair not replumb all that was wrong with your original plumbing.

Hopefully he reglued the pipes and didn't just smear glue on the outside or I am defending a guilty man.

Please repost and tell us what happens tonight. You could tell your plumber about the site and ask him to join and post his side? It might be nice to hear it from both sides for a change. What would it be like to see a picture of your work on here being torn apart?

looks like quality plumbing from the get go

cpve is allowed in our state even though it looks like
junk ....and your system looks no better



If he cut something out and used new fittings and
re-glued them together its about as good as you can get
from what I am loooking at.....

actually the copper wire is something I would have
probablly done myself if that is where the joint came apart at...

I mean honestly ...it really cant look no worse with the
wire and its hard to make a silk purse out of a sows ear....


the copper will at least keep the thing from
blowing apart again... so leave the copper wire in place....

it might be even better to put some more wire on it
down lower just for extra insurance.....



it looks like he used some extra heavy and nasty yellow glue

you are probably ok

here is what it typically looks like coming up out of the ground in the first phase of
the plumbing job.......

it is hard to make this look pretty

If he would've wiped off the excess cement like they tell you to do on the can instructions, it would have looked prettier, and you probably wouldn't have posted this.

I would have probably put the wire on, too, since a glue joint can creep back apart, especially under pressure, and he may have wanted to get the system up and running without waiting hours for it to cure. If he just smeared glue over the top of the pipes, I'd dump the warranty company as well as the plumber and start over.

he did ok

If you look a little closer it looks like those
two elbows at the top are actually new

there-fore he had cut out something that blew apart
above that manifold and
re-did everything like he was supposed to...

and the wire was a good idea.......

he should have wiped off the glue to make that mess
look a little prettier.....

You guys are right on the mark.

He explained what he did. The top portion is what blew to make the water leak. He cut out the existing top portion (which was originally about 3 times as long as what he replaced it with..causing the 2 vertical pipes to have a massive angle. It was a funky shape indeed) So the 2 top joints and the top horizontal pipe (with the small blue stripe) are new. He put the copper wire there to hold everything in place so the glue could dry. So, he did do the best he could with what he had to work with, and I have learned something about plumbing.

Thank you construct30, Master Plumber Mark and everyone else!

Heh heh....I "fixed" my underground irrigation system manifold like this a few years ago.


A 1" PVC fitting blew out after 15 years. I had never seen this happen.

120 degrees in the AZ sun, four 1" valves, 2" main, no pipe between fittings to couple on to. A NIGHTMARE to dig up and replace everything. I tried several times to clean, prime and re glue but it kept popping off.

A little romex tied around it as a clamp and it's still good after a year.

MAN IS THAT UGLY

Yeah, I agree, it's ugly, I would have atleast wipped the extra glue off, but the wire tie off was a good idea and in general cpvc sucks.