BobN
New Member
I am not a plumber so please forgive me if this is a naive question. I have an oil burner firing a hot water home heating system (tankless drinking water and baseboard heat). The baseboard convectors are Slant Fin with copper pipes. The system was installed in 1985.
The baseboard pipes rest on steel brackets inside the baseboard. At the point where one copper pipe rests, a pinhole developed, exactly at the point of contact. Expansion/contraction must have caused abrasion at that point. That point is a corner, so perhaps it saw the most expansion and vibration. The pinhole might have been accelerated by intermetalic reaction between the steel bracket and copper pipe. I'm concerned now, because there are dozens of other locations in the house with copper on steel brackets. Perhaps each is a time bomb.
Q: Should the pipe be separated from the bracket by a plastic or rubber block, to allow some motion without abrasion and also to separate dissimilar metals? If so, is there a commercial spacer made for 3/4" pipe and high temperature that I should get and slip over the pipes? Or is this just bad luck?
Yes, my well water is acidic. That can't help. But I do have an acid neutralizer (calcite) and the treated water tests pH 7.2.
This may be unimportant, but the pinhole burst just after a plumber left. He just finished replacing the circulator pump. I wonder if he raised system pressure. I think it was 15 PSI, but can't be sure. Right now (after I fixed the leak) it reads 18 PSI. Is that too high? The safety relief is 30 PSI and is not venting.
Thank you for your help!
The baseboard pipes rest on steel brackets inside the baseboard. At the point where one copper pipe rests, a pinhole developed, exactly at the point of contact. Expansion/contraction must have caused abrasion at that point. That point is a corner, so perhaps it saw the most expansion and vibration. The pinhole might have been accelerated by intermetalic reaction between the steel bracket and copper pipe. I'm concerned now, because there are dozens of other locations in the house with copper on steel brackets. Perhaps each is a time bomb.
Q: Should the pipe be separated from the bracket by a plastic or rubber block, to allow some motion without abrasion and also to separate dissimilar metals? If so, is there a commercial spacer made for 3/4" pipe and high temperature that I should get and slip over the pipes? Or is this just bad luck?
Yes, my well water is acidic. That can't help. But I do have an acid neutralizer (calcite) and the treated water tests pH 7.2.
This may be unimportant, but the pinhole burst just after a plumber left. He just finished replacing the circulator pump. I wonder if he raised system pressure. I think it was 15 PSI, but can't be sure. Right now (after I fixed the leak) it reads 18 PSI. Is that too high? The safety relief is 30 PSI and is not venting.
Thank you for your help!
