leaking joint possibly due to movement?

yuletak · 08-04-2010, 01:47 AM

Hi, I tried a search on this, but wasn't able to find anything that suited.

Here's my situation. From the meter to the house, I've got PVC pipe which is then connected to a copper pipe. Just recently, it sprung a leak from where a male PVC adapter into the female copper end goes in. So I cut it off, used another adapter, cemented a small length of piping to that, and connected it to the original PVC pipe w/ a compression coupling. There's going to be some movement naturally w/ variations in temp and humidity in the soil. Another possible cause could be from the fact that over the soil, we have laid some bricks which allows us to park a car over the area. The weight of the car (over one tire) possibly could've caused the leak.

So my question is, is it a good idea to somehow at least try to restrict the movement of the pipe in a vertical plane due the weight of the car?

TIA.

**Mr_David** · 08-04-2010, 10:42 PM

PVC to copper transition is a very common failure.
I only use compression coupling for a temporary repair.
You could extend the copper to move the PVC connection away from the area of concern. Or in case it in concrete.

yuletak · 08-04-2010, 11:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kilroy

PVC to copper transition is a very common failure.
I only use compression coupling for a temporary repair.
You could extend the copper to move the PVC connection away from the area of concern. Or in case it in concrete.

So instead of the coupling, what else can I use? The pipes are already in the ground, so it's difficult to position them a bit to get the joint over two openings. All the joints I've been able to find have a stop in the middle, so I can't move the joint farther onto the open end of the pipes.

As for the possible movement, could I put some bricks under the existing joints or is there a typical way of restricting vertical movement of horizontally laid pipes?

Thx.

**phishfood** · 08-05-2010, 01:13 AM

Generally, when you are trying to restrict movement of a pipe joint in an undergrpund situation, the common method is to dig out around the joint and pour concrete around it. 15 or 20 pounds of concrete around it would probably be sufficient for what you are trying to do.

If it were me, I would do as Kilroy suggested and extend the copper so that the transition is out of the parking area, but that might not be something that you want to tackle.

**Mr_David** · 08-05-2010, 02:50 PM

To make a glued joint repair on a straight line I use four 90 fittings then bury it in concrete. wrap it with some plastic or tape before you pour in the concrete. I also use SCH 80 PVC. It's gray. Reccommend using primer and gray medium body glue and let it sit 24 hrs for best results. hot shot and blue glue will work but I've repaired a lot of popped glue joints made with blue glue.

**Chris** · 08-05-2010, 06:35 PM

I don't recommend blue glue at all with SCH 80 I have had to tear out to many new parking lots and sidewalks do to it failing down the road. A year ago it cost me 8 grand to fix a leak in a SCH 80 90 bend that was blue glued together.

yuletak · 08-06-2010, 02:14 AM

Thx for all the responses. Yeah, prob not going to go the extend the copper route.

I've got sched 40 pipes.

If I pour concrete, IF it somehow leaks again in the future, it would be a pretty big pain to get to, no?

For now, I was thinking I'd put some bricks under the joint to spread out the pressure from above ground.
At worst I could just dig it up again and repatch it.

**Chris** · 08-16-2010, 11:56 PM

Did you do you a repair like this?

**havasu** · 08-17-2010, 12:23 AM

Quick detour....I'm impressed with the drawing! What are you using?