Leaks in PVC waste lines

Mad Plumber

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I had someone put in PVC pipe in the house for the sewer system. When I tested the system I found several leaks that would require removing a lot of the system to repair. First of all I can not go back on the installer for he is no longer around. I did find out that he did not use primer on the joints that are leaking. He only used glue. Is there anything I can do to seal these joints other than removing most of the pipe and doing it the proper way with primer.
 
I would call a few plumbers and get a few estimates. It may be less $$$ than you think. It is hard for us to say since we can't see the work that needs to0 be done.
 
You should not have to remove any pipe, but just repair the fitting connections. Easy way is to use compression bands, that are rubber sheets, and large pipe clamps, and are good for emergency fixes, until you are able to fix the problem correctly.
 
A leaking joint is often mechanically strong enough but has a poor seal because of poor technique by a lazy or incompetent assembler. I have found that by deburring the pipe, purple primer on both surfaces, solvent cement on both surfaces, a 1/4 turn during assembly, and holding the joint together until it sets up a bit so the taper doesn't force it apart, I never get a leaky joint.

PVC joints can be sealed by thermal welding, usually using a special heat gun and rod, to put a fillet between the pipe and the fitting.

You could also try a soldering iron to melt and displace some material from the fitting to the pipe to seal the hole. I would first clean the area with solvent.
 
pvc

I hate to burst your bubble, but if some joints are leaking now, then some, or all, of the others might leak in the future as the cement ages. The only thing I would be comfortable doing, if you called me to repair it, might be to tear it out and redo the entire thing.
 
The system is defective

Replace the entire system. It is not worth piecing/repairing that entire system. The connections were made faulty by no use of primer. You might as well say it was dry fitted.

I've done work behind a few jobs where this was the case and explained to the customer that I will not tie onto, repair, add to without complete removal of the piping.

GOOD LUCK
 
Someone isn't going to like this idea, but you could probably get by with cleaning the leaking connections, purple priming them and loading on a few applications of the solvent to the surface. Might not look pretty, but its at least not pressureized. Worth a shot before you rip it out.

I would imagine that other fittings would get 'gunked' up where they potentially might leak in the future, thuse self-sealing it, no? I would add some pipe hangers though as that might help keep it all solid and non-flexible (less stress).

Why is it so many people post, ''I had ____ work done and the installer isn't around and now ____ is broken." Are their that many fly by the seat of your pants installers disappearing that quickly after finishing? Pay part first, inspect finished work, pay the rest when done...done properly.

Jason
 
I know the temptation to try a quick-fix is powerful. Who wants to tear out and redo the plumbing! But, try an quick-fix you want, then see how well you sleep wondering if the QF is going to hold. Here's what I'd do. I'd cut the old joints out. This would leave me with good pieces of pipe albeit too short. I'd get couplers. new fittings, and a joint of new pipe to replace what was lost with cutting out the old fittings. Sure I'd have some funny looking connections with all of the added couplings, but by using the original as a pattern, redoing the system wouldn't be that complicated. I wouldn't mess with the vents, there's no water in them to leak. I wouldn't get it done as quickly as a couple of plumbers, but I work a whole lot cheaper. BTW, there is a PVC solvent that can be used without primer. Never used it myself, but I've seen it on store shelves. The reason primer is purple was originally for inspectors to be able to see that joints were primed.
 
Repriming w/purple and then solvent welding right on top of the leak did not work for me. All this did for me was 'caulk' the leak. it failed under my pressure test with 2ft head pressure! Bottom line: I wouldn't trust it. I'd go through the minor headache of snipping out the bad fitting and adding in a coupla couplers good n proper.
 
pressure testing

pressuer testing is a total pain in the butt...always was

IMHO its more of a make work thing than actually necessary...

something to let the inspectors look at......and it cost lots

of time to do.........


we used to fix pressure test leaks by burning the joint
with a hot nail then running a new bead of glue
around the joint....it worked real well......

and of course the pressure test was the only time in the
systems life that it will probably be under any test what-so -ever...



If this is in the crawl space,

before you take the fittings apart ,
it might be worth your while to just go buy some heavy duty
glue solvent.... just run it around the pipe and press it in with
your finger.... see if that does not solve the problem....

if the only time you can make it leak is under a pressure test,
and its down in the crawl space,
I dont think I would sweat it too much..

or you can take some dap silicone and really lay a bead of that
on the jiont and I guarantee it will not leak....
 
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fly by nights

Yes there are that many fly by nights. And as long as people call "contractors" listed in the paper because they will get a cheap price, they will continue to exist. Since they don't worry about callbacks, they can operate out of an apartment and then move to another one with a different phone numbre.
 
Oh is that the term, 'Fly by night?' Then what's 'Fly by the seat of your pants? ???
 
Here is what a few plumbers do when installing a new system and ending up with a leak in an area that they don't want to bother with. Since a new system is closed when they test it it makes this easier. They pull a vacume on the system and suck PVC glue into the leak then remove the vacume and allow the glue to dry. Normaly this works.
 
cass..how do they do this??

now thats something I want to see...

how in the hell do they pull a vaccuum on a plumbing
system to get glue to suck back into the pipe....



I am SOOOO glad they dont require water tests on my
work in Indiana....

I honestly dont think I could
keep my mouth shut or maintain patience over all this total BS
 
Once they pump it up with air and find the leak, then they use a vacume pump to suck in the glue.
 
here's a vacuum trick Rugged , not for this situation

you water test a new abs d w v with 10 ft head. you have a leak! go up on the roof and put test plugs in all vents. now have a helper pull the lower double mechanicle at the drain. at the same time ,add in glue at the leaky joint. vacuum ,will pull in the glue. :) SON in law GERARD, Cherry valley plumbing and heating taught me this one. bless Him. :)
 
big difference

Lakee911 said:
Oh is that the term, 'Fly by night?' Then what's 'Fly by the seat of your pants? ???
Click to expand...

That is when you ignore common logic and decide to do it the way that seems best. That could be a fly by night job done by a DIY'er.
 
hj said:
That is when you ignore common logic and decide to do it the way that seems best. That could be a fly by night job done by a DIY'er.
Click to expand...

Ok. Thanks.

So, if you had a fly by the seat of your pants fly by night operation, you'd be in real big trouble?

Or could it be turning out the lights and farting until airborne? ;) :D

Jason
 
Back in the day when I did new construction, if we had a leak in the 1st rough after the concrete was poured and we had a failure on the second rough, we'd fill the system up with about 25 pounds of air.

We'd already have the concrete busted out and find the leak. The inspector wouldn't allow fernco's on any repair situation, especially on a new home. So we would grind out the stop in a coupling and use as a slip coupling which seemed to never work sometimes but it's all we had.

Once we have all that air in the system, we'd open up a test gauge and let the air out from the furthest point from the leak and while the air was escaping the system, we'd lather glue all over the leaking joint and the glue would suck right into the leak. It worked for the few times we ran into this situation and thank goodness it held up to the final test.

Otherwise we'd be in deep peril with the ultimatum that no matter what, it is a start over situation.
 
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