plumbing help

[randy in central missouri]

heres the deal.

i am adding a second bathroom, and adding all new plumbing. i am using white pvc pipe. basically i am adding it in a hall way that i inclosed. so i just extended the pipes and added on. well its all ridged pipe. i have a small leak. when the toilet is flushed, two drops of water come out of the one of the joints. do i have to take all this apart. or can i caulk or epoxy it, like you would to seal a tub or what ever. advise please

[Wanda]

Originally Posted by randy in central missouri

heres the deal.

i am adding a second bathroom, and adding all new plumbing. i am using white pvc pipe. basically i am adding it in a hall way that i inclosed. so i just extended the pipes and added on. well its all ridged pipe. i have a small leak. when the toilet is flushed, two drops of water come out of the one of the joints. do i have to take all this apart. or can i caulk or epoxy it, like you would to seal a tub or what ever. advise please

RANDY
If it is pvc or cpvc just use solvent and glue like you did the first time only externaly work into the ''seam'' and your good to go If you ''find'' a pvc pressure water line with a screw or nail,they even make a patch kit that comes with a piece of pvc bandage Pvc is easy to work and forgiving just remember you are just melting it back so it isnt a structural repair
Mike

[ckncrazy]

I agree with Wanda. Just make sure you dry and clean it well.

JAKE

[mikell]

Use a little sandpaper to rough it up a bit and a hair dryer to dry it before the re-glue.


mikell

[randy in central missouri]

its pvc, its a drain pipe. how do i get it out with out breaking it to reglue it?

[Oxankle]

Randy, Wanda was not talking about taking it apart. Just dry it, sand it with some fine sandpaper, warm it a bit, then work some glue back into the leak. The PVC glue just melts the PVC together. There will be no pressure on your patch, so you do not have to have an enormously strong joint at the patch point. Use a toothpick or something like that to work the glue back into the joint. Next time you make up a joint don't be stingy with the glue. If you are in doubt of your ability to perfectly dry the joint before glueing, use the "Wet or Dry cemnt sold for PVC. It will tolerate some dampness.
Ox

[fordy]

If you heat with propane you need to utilize "black pipe", not PVC. I'm not sure about Natural gas...it may require something different than black pipe.......fordy..

[randy in central missouri]

i have propane, why do i need to use black pipe?

[fordy]

There is some kind of chemical reaction between the galvanizing on galvanized pipe and propane. I believe you can use either copper or black pipe. I have copper running from my tank outside , underground to my home then the plumber switched over to black pipe for the various distribution lines inside of my home , ........fordy...

[bare]

This is starting to get funny. He's plumbing a bathroom Fordy and unless he has a propane fired toilet, I don't think he has to worry about using black pipe.

If it were me doing the job, I'd take the joint back out and glue it properly. That's only because I know me and from experience would know that I'd forgotten to glue that joint in the first place. I'm always dry-fitting and have to be really careful not to overlook gluing a joint. Little drips cause big damage.

[Beeman]

To do the job proprly remove leaking parts and redo.

Hot water feed lines should not be "white" PVC, they should be CPVC which has a yellowish tint to it. The PVC will break down chemically to hot water.

[fordy]

His question to me concerned the fact that he did have propane , not about his PVC leak. Not being a plumber I simply related what I knew......donot use galvanized pipe or PVC with propane for a distribution system....fordy