Unsweating 1 side of tee

Hello all. I'm rebuilding my shower and am planning on moving the location of my shower valve. I have 2 tees that are inline with the supply lines (3/4") and branch to the shower valve via 1/2 lines. I need to unsweat the current 1/2 pipe in each tee in order to relocate the shower valve. Can this be done without compromising the 2 other joints on the tee? I'm a little hesitant about doing this because the tees are in tight quarters.

Thanks, Stan

tee

Yes, but even if the other two sides "come loose" all you have to do is add new solder after reheating them.

Hey Stan,

If the pipe you are trying to pull out of the tee can be pulled out freely, and is not configured tightly where you would have to bend pipes to get it out, you shouldn’t have too much of a problem. First think that my give you problems is if there is any trace of water still in the pipes. You may have to cut the pipe (you are trying to remove from the tee) back about 3â€, so you can see if any steam is coming out as you heat the tee up, and so you can twist the pipe free from the tee. As far as keeping the other joints from also coming apart as you heat up the tee, you can put a channel lock pliers on the other side of the tee, as a, “heat sinkâ€. Don’t clamp the pliers down on the tee, but just screw them down so they just are held on the tee. Even if the other sections do become loose, its really not a big deal. If they do, just sand down the pipes on the out side of the tee, (while they are still in the tee) and brush a little bit of flux at the joint, and the melt some solder on them again, just as a precaution.

Good luck,
Mike

Tie a wet rag around the other sensitive joints. You'll be fine.

Come to think of it, would it be simpler to cut the 1/2" section after the tee and reroute from there?

Glad the light turned on

I thought of that, but out of the tee there is a 45 elbow and the 1/2" pipe branches to the right and thru a 2x4 stud. I need it to branch to the left. If I just cut and re-route it, it will have to make a u-turn back thru the stud. I think this would look pretty funky (even though it won't ever been seen by anyone).

Sounds like unsweating shouldn't pose a problem. Thanks for your help