Re- gluing ? re-melting PVC w/ PVC solvent

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Pitterpat

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Can you re-glue or Re-solvent or reuse a PVC fitting that has come loose? Or is it better to cut it all out and start over w/ new fittings (45, straight PVC)?
 
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Jadnashua

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If it came loose, then maybe they just forgot to add the glue after they dry-fit...happens. If you can get it out, then wipe it off, prime it and the mating piece, add the glue, and slap it together. Should work.
 

Jadnashua

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Well, it is possible that there wasn't much solvent left in the stuff when attached (it turns to a gell, sort of), or they didn't use the primer and the pipe was dirty. In any case, if it came apart, I'd wipe it off, reprime, and (using a fresh can of solvent) reglue it.
 

hj

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PVC

Either there was little or no glue on the joint, or their was a problem with the pipe or fitting not being the correct size so the glue was the only thing holding them together. Even a halfway properly done joint will not "just come apart".
 
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Kordts

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They both think they can plumb. I have seen cases where pipe or bushings won't stay in the hub, they just keep pushing out. The only times I have seen old joints pull apart was when there pipe was in a bind, or the pipe was cut too short, and it was pulled into the hub. After several years, especially if it is a line that drains that hot water, the joint separates.
 
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Gary Swart

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There are just a few reasons a PVC joint can fail. Most of them have been mentioned, but here's my list of what could happen.
1. Insufficient or fault cement/primer.
2. Failure to fully insert the pipe into the fitting because of a bind.
3. Not holding the pipe and fitting together until the push-out ceases.
4. Not applying cement/primer to the inside of the fitting as well as the pipe.

I can imagine how it two pipe sizes could have been mixed up, but perhaps it's possible.

Just a closing note. When we respond to posts, we are usually writing off the top of our heads and seldom proof read. Often poor choices of wording may be the result. Don't take things in these replies too literally or personally.
 

Leejosepho

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Even a halfway properly done joint will not "just come apart".

I guess there isn't much difference between handymen or handywomen. They both think they can plumb.

Why is it that some people think it is their to take a swipe at anybody they think they are superior to?

When we respond to posts, we are usually writing off the top of our heads and seldom proof read. Often poor choices of wording may be the result. Don't take things in these replies too literally or personally.

One of the more difficult situations for any professional is to have to work on something after somebody else has already tried, and it is easy to imagine that same kind of challenge occasionally popping up here at the end of a day.

Keep doing your thing there, pitterpat, and keep asking questions and listening to answers even if they might sound a bit gruff now and then. PVC is quite forgiving, and "just comes apart" is something it nearly never does. And for those of us who think we can plumb, well, that is one of the things we must learn.

Were you dealing with a pressure line or a drain line?
 

Pitterpat

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Drain line. Re-did it today. It'sin a tough spot in a hole in the floor. It will not be used for the next 2 wks because I have the sink and vanity out that drained into that line. New vanity will not be put in until the 15th at the earliest (Special order), so I will have plenty of time to test the line b/4 it gets covered up.

Thanks, Pat
 

Leejosepho

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pitterpat said:
Drain line. Re-did it today. It'sin a tough spot in a hole in the floor ...

I have had some tough ones where the parts will all fit once they are together, but getting them into place can be difficult at times. One thing that is always important is to twist/turn the pipe or fitting once the connection has been made and fully seated. What that does it to help spread the cement all the way around and evenly inside the connection, especially if a piece had to be "angled in" just a bit.

Also, I usually try to assemble "against the flow" or toward the fixture in certain situations. For example, I will try to have a hub looking up at me through a hole so I can drop a pipe down into it rather than placing a coupling on a pipe and sticking the coupling down through a hole while hoping to hit the outgoing pipe squarely. That also helps with the cement dauber in low-clearance situations.
 

Artmg

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Pat I agree with your comment to goofy. I felt it necessary to ream him out this morning when he made an obnoxious comment to me dealing with my thread on using 3/4 or 1/2" copper. I'm new to this site but have read many of the comments and his are by far the most useless. Most everyone on this list seems ready to answer questions and are very helpful. They take time to ask questions so that they understand the situation. He just spits out stupidity it must be he doesn't have a life and hangs around these groups because he feels important more like impotant. What's that saying about no such thing as a stupid question...there are however stupid answers and goofy has a PhD is stupid. How about a new name for him... Dr. Goofy.
 

Solsacre

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can't we all just get along?


I've only had PVC "come apart" a couple of times.... It has been joints that won't glued.

I have also seen PVC glued together with ABS glue.... It sounds like you've been doing this a while and would notice if the glue was black and not the right kind... but it still needs thrown out there....

as for reusing fittings, if there in good shape than do it... there are "drill" bits that will take the pipe and leave the hub.... when you have to use it it's a lifesaver.


good luck

dances-with-pumps
 
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Kordts

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Pat,
I thought I gave some helpful answers to your question. My snide comments were directed at your proudly advertising the fact that your a handyman, but you are doing plumbing. One of the biggest problems I face as a legit plumbing contractor is unlicensed handymen doing plumbing work. As a matter of fact most of them advertise something like this, "why pay for expensive plumbers? call Joe's, $40.00 an hour." Hell, I can't start for my van for $40.00. So, I got an ax to grind against unlicensed people performing plumbing for money. If this is a project for your own home, my apologies, but your little slogan ya got there led me to think otherwise. I proudly drop a dime to the state plumbing inspector for my area when I see handymen advertise they do plumbing, because it's a crime in my state. So that's why I get pissy and act like a jerk.
 

hj

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license

Here too. In fact a handyman/handywoman is not allowed to do any project that exceeds $700.00 for ENTIRE job including all trades. The comment that this pipe is for a sink drain, AND is in the floor, raises a red flag that it might be an "S" trap situation which is illegal in every state and code that I know of, although Australia seems to love them.
 

Plumb or Die

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Yeah, when somebody's out there charging people for a service that they can't provide without going to the internet, well that's just wrong. And gives the real professionals a bad name. Let's all go buy some old Time/Life books at a yard sale and call ourselves electricians!:D But the stories about unscrupulous contractors getting sued does make great reading in the newspapers.
 

Geniescience

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True but Pat is a tile expert who has to do a LITTLE plumbing

all true.

I remember pitterpat from another forum, and let's give her a break. She is a tile person and non-plumbing handym'n. Today, this job, this project, is perhaps --and she is honest enough to know -- perhaps too complicated to do alone. So Kudos to her for coming to TerryLove. It started as a question, a reasonable question. At some point anyone can find the job is suddenly "more than you bargained for". It happens all the time.

david
 

Randyj

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I've been out a few days but am back around, in and out now.... come back to this particular conversation which is quite odd. I'm a plumber having to take on handyman work to make ends meet because all the contractors around here hire unlicensed plumbers who don't know diddly. I like tile work too but the illegals really cut my throat on new work. All of it pushes me into a corner of having to do remodeling and light repair work. I'd love to have 2 or 3 big jobs a year so I'd know when or where I was going to work for a couple of weeks at a time. I kinda feel that the local developers just turn their nose up at me because they know they can hire some "good ol' boy to come in for about $15 an hour and plumb a $500k house. I was offered a job at $450 per fixture and lost it...in the big city the same job would be priced out at $800 per fixture. And people wonder why I'm willing to drive 125 miles and stay in a motel to take on 3 jobs at a time to get a good week's work. I'd love it if I could just do plumbing and nothing but plumbing all the time...but thank God I very rarely have to work after dark or out in the cold, mud, and rain. In all the areas of Alabama where there are inspectors anyone can fix plumbing legally but can not break open a water line or install new plumbing without a license and permit. It has nothing to do with the price of the job. Supposedly, if a job is over $10k it has to go thru a general contractor....don't know if that's true or not but I was told that today.
 

mike08201

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Just yesterday, the fella at the plumbing supply store (Grant Supply) told me that ABS is superior to PVC since PVC joints will come apart if that are hit and no cleaner was used.
 

Jimbo

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My experience does not support the last comment by mike08. I feel ABS joints are much more susceptible to a "dry joint" condition, where poor solvent penetration makes a joint which can be twisted or banged out.With either type of pipe, insufficient cement, old cement which has started to gel, or cold temp. can cause problems.
 

Dunbar Plumbing

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No one mentioned

that the piping "could" of been used shortly after the joint was made and contaminated the solvent weld joint.

I had this happen to a SCH40 glue joint on a trap under a kitchen sink years ago. It took 3 years for the glue to break down.

Trap started leaking on the glue side opposite of the union joint, customer caught it in time.

On the premace of those who do plumbing that are not licensed:


I understand that there are companies/handymen that do this all the time as part of a whole job randition to minimize costs/create job security/avoid numerous subcontractors in what sometimes be remedial jobs. I don't even bother ranting and raving over this factoid because no matter how much you do, someone is at the big box store doing unlicensed work. Can't stop it.

There are "some" however that you can tell by their line of questioning in response given that they need to walk away from the situation.

I personally don't think the plumbing industry could handle the demand if all of a sudden DIY'rs and these companies unlicensed stopped doing plumbing repairs and some limited new plumbing work.

I do have a huge beef with dumbasses that don't ask questions and don't know their codes in their area and go out, screw up someone's plumbing system for a reduced price and call it good.

There are those out there that take stride in doing it right that are not qualified plumbers.


In the end there is a great deal of truth to the next statement; it all eventually comes back full circle to the licensed plumber. Eventually someone goes beyond the unknown, can't get the system to work right anymore and then they call in the big dogs.

I couldn't tell you how many DIY'r or handymen hack jobs I've approached and worked on and had to rip it all out to do it over.

Job security for sure.

That's why I have no trouble helping others for free on the internet; they are at least trying to educate themselves to do it right, and that counts a great deal for their integrity to handle the task at hand.
 
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