Texaro
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Greetings!
I have found a VERY slow leak in a 3/4 line that supplies cold water to two bathrooms in my home. The lines all pass through the cement slab for my Texas, ranch style home.
I'm assuming this line is the feeder since it goes into the header and all the other lines that are soldered to the header are 1/2 (everything is copper).
I haven't found the header that feeds this 3/4 line yet. So far I have only opened the wall behind the wash machine. My next target will be behind the water heater.
All the copper lines are inside a hard plastic pipe (liner?) which goes about 3 inches above the slab. Then I have about 13 inches of copper until I hit the header.
The only way I can tell the 3/4 line is leaking is because the plastic liner on that line is full of water and there is a very minimal wet area where it leaves the slab. We found the leak after there was a wet spot on the carpet by the header. After opening the wall, everything dried out.
Question 1) Is there a universal spot these main headers usally are?
Question 2) Is there an easy way to identify a soft copper line?
Question 3) Once I find the supply, and assuming that it is soft copper, should I be able to solder new pipe to an end of the buried header and pull the old out as I pull the new in?
Question 4) Are there any tools that can help me do this? Special winches, some sort of thingey I can grab the old pipe with to pull on, etc?
I REALLY don't want to climp up into a 4 foot attic during a Texas summer!
I have run hard copper lines and am OK with soldering joints.
Many Thanks for any insights you can share.
Texaro - bkryzer@yahooo.com
I have found a VERY slow leak in a 3/4 line that supplies cold water to two bathrooms in my home. The lines all pass through the cement slab for my Texas, ranch style home.
I'm assuming this line is the feeder since it goes into the header and all the other lines that are soldered to the header are 1/2 (everything is copper).
I haven't found the header that feeds this 3/4 line yet. So far I have only opened the wall behind the wash machine. My next target will be behind the water heater.
All the copper lines are inside a hard plastic pipe (liner?) which goes about 3 inches above the slab. Then I have about 13 inches of copper until I hit the header.
The only way I can tell the 3/4 line is leaking is because the plastic liner on that line is full of water and there is a very minimal wet area where it leaves the slab. We found the leak after there was a wet spot on the carpet by the header. After opening the wall, everything dried out.
Question 1) Is there a universal spot these main headers usally are?
Question 2) Is there an easy way to identify a soft copper line?
Question 3) Once I find the supply, and assuming that it is soft copper, should I be able to solder new pipe to an end of the buried header and pull the old out as I pull the new in?
Question 4) Are there any tools that can help me do this? Special winches, some sort of thingey I can grab the old pipe with to pull on, etc?
I REALLY don't want to climp up into a 4 foot attic during a Texas summer!
I have run hard copper lines and am OK with soldering joints.
Many Thanks for any insights you can share.
Texaro - bkryzer@yahooo.com