1" Rolled copper tubing leak underground patching?

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Rapidrob

Active Member
Joined
Jun 17, 2019
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Location
Albuquerque
My water main is 1" Rolled Copper Tubing that is 125 yards long. I noticed my water bill was higher than normal and knew I had a leak somewhere in the run of tubing. I live in the desert so normally any water leaks will be shown by green plants growing very happily. This is not the case.
After two months of leaking I noticed the basement wall was wet through a small crack in the foundation. This has never happened in 31 years.
I assumed the leak was on the outside wall of the basement foundation and did an educated guess as to where it may be. As it turned out I was only a few feet off from the leak as a trickle of water was slowly flowing to the right of my hole in the ground.. The main shut off is 125 yards away and I have the tools to do so. Not a fun job when in you 70's.
My question is that the 1" rolled copper tubing is not the same size (OD and ID) as "normal" copper pipe is. When I uncover the leak, I'm not sure what will be needed to repair the leak? Once the leak is uncovered I'm sure it will be impressive and I will have to shut off the main. If the repair parts are not common, I'll be out of water until I can order them which will take several days to show up. I have soldering skills and have done repairs in the past on normal copper tubing pipe. I just installed two Ball Valves in the water main inside of the house. I can now isolate the outside water line for draining as the line is lower than my basement sink. I'm not sure if I can drain the line before the leak running the 125 yards to the water meter/shut-off. There is a slight uphill to my home.
Thank you for any helpful info.
 
Rolled copper soft tube tends to not be round enough to allow fittings to work properly...so, we have in our arsenal "shaping" tools for copper. Though, the tools are for standard sized copper tubing, 1" or 1-1/4" etc. The O.D. of tubing is uniform whether L or K type copper tube.
Most good plumbers these days have ProPress or "press" fittings and without fully draining whatsoever.
Note: soft copper tube is not suitable for press fittings over 1-1/4"
 
The water line is 3 feet down
I'll look into press fittings.
I plan on uncovering the leaking tubing today and see what I'm up against.
Thank you for the info.
 
Press fittings require a press tool, which costs thousands,so you’d have to hire
 
Have you looked into a "Dresser" repair clamp? Get the real Dresser, not the fake China look-alike. That is nice; they will let you use the copper clamp tool.
 
I spent 8 hours digging the hole to the leak. The pipe is 4 feet underground and not copper. Somewhere a transition took place and the water line is 2.1" Black ABS plastic pipe. There was a large rock on the pipe and a 3/4" crack on its top surface.
The "trench" is only 1 foot wide and I cannot get to the pipe to clear and cut out the bad section and replace it.
I tried a Garlock rubber wrap and two radiator hose clamps but it did not work.
My neighbor has a small excavator and perhaps I can have him dig out the earth next to the pipe where I can get to it and do the repair.
My water pressure seems excessive. I'm going to contact my water company and have them check the pressure.
leak.jpg
 
Thank you! I'm not a plumber.
How do you repair poly pipe? I'm not seeing too many 2" fittings anywhere.
 
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My neighbor showed up today with his mini excavator. We were able to widen the trench by three feet giving me more room to work on the leaking Polly pipe. He removed a 10" section and we found the pipe is very thick, 1/4". A professional plumber showed up as a courtesy to my neighbor and he told me how to repair the pipe. and where to buy the parts....next week! Only one store in Albuquerque sells Polly pipe this large and has the proper compression fittings to make the permanent repairs.
So now I have a new problem. I need water. I drove the 50 miles into town and found a vinyl +braided with nylon threads heavy duty tubing a Home Depot and bought 6 radiator clamps. It is rated at 70 PSI.
The vinyl tubing is 2" I.D. The Polly is 2.12" O.D. I headed the vinyl tubing in boiling water and was able to do a tight slip fit of four inches on either side of the cut Polly pipe ends. I use three radiator clamps per end and went to my water meter.
I was really P'O'd when I found my water meter has a pressure regulator rated at 15-150 PSI. The darned adjustment screw was almost fully screwed into the regulator! Not having a pressure gauge to connect to a faucet, I backed off the pressure to the lowest pressure adjustment and had my wife turn on a faucet once I opened the water main valve. There is a new water tank on top of my mountain,200 feet higher than my house. High water pressure has been a problem in the past.
I increased the PSI out to where we could take a shower, and I guess it is 40-50 PSI max. A marked difference from what it had been.
The vinyl hose blew off after one hour. And it filled the trench almost full by the time I could get to the water main 125 yards away and turn off the water. As I went back to the trench to pump out the water, The water level dropped to fully empty in a matter of seconds! A great sound like a tub draining could be heard! Darned if a 4" hole opened up at the base of the house foundation. The water did not go into my basement.
I will drop in a bore scope in the AM and see where all the water went.
There may be a small cavern under my house? I live on a limestone mountain.
I will see if I can make a "brace" to prevent any movement of the vinyl hose as well as lowering the PSI again.
If you have any ideas on how to stop the vinyl hose from blowing off without damaging the Polly pipe, I'd love to read them.
 
Seems your weak link was that vinyl hose? Is there a farm supply or a true plumbing warehouse nearby?
 
I got up at dawn this morning and pondered what to do to prevent the hose from blowing off again.
1. Reduce water PSI.
2. Make a device where the hose cannot move to blow off.
Water pressure reduced to approx 25 PSI.
I pounded in a 3 foot steel stake just behind the pipe end where the hose blows off and installed a fourth radiator clamp holding a length of bailing wire preventing any movement of the hose end. Time will tell.
 
Here is an update. I was able to find parts at a commercial plumbing supply. Brass compression/thread fittings and schedule 80 repair section. The cut polly pipe was cold and hard to bend to join the two ends together to afford the repair. I had to ask for help to bend the pipe and my neighbor helped out.
We got it done last night and I turned on the water. I knew from the start there was a problem with water pressure.
I backed off the pressure regulator at the meter only to find out the pressure was still excessive, I shut the water off for the night.
This morning I drove to the water company and informed them what had happened and what I did to fix the leak.
I got lectured too and I was never to touch the meter let alone open it. I responded with my qualifications and requested a tech show up to "check" my water pressure. I could see in their eyes I hit a nerve. I was given a pressure gauge with a hose bib and I checked the pressure at home. It was 122 PSI. I called the lecturer back and said I have backed the regulator valves stem out to the the lowest setting and the gauge was showing 87 PSI. The regulator is shot.
The water company sent out a tech in ten minutes. We met at my water meter and he replaced the regulator. He and I had a nice long talk and he realized I was not the enemy. He check out my repair of the water main, and said he would have done the same thing. He asked me if I wanted a job!leak1.jpg20240930_173653.jpg20240930_184550.jpg
I have water. The pressure is 70 PSI. My upstairs shower looks normal, even after the substantial pressure difference.
 
Great saga and kudos to you for persisting. Thanks for the excellent narrative description.
Home ownership can be expensive. You saved yourself a bundle.
Why is the pipe 3' deep?
 
Here is an update on the whole job. Unbeknownst to me, when I pay the Water Bill, I'm also paying a small fee for water insurance. It does not show up on the bill as any of the many codes they use to squeeze more money out of you.
While there was no damage to my home (legalese) they will refund the difference of my normal use water charges for the last four months where the water usage started to "go off the grid" on the bill. From 3,500 gallons to over 50,000 gallons a month. Nothing else is covered. That being said, there should be several hundred bucks refunded for leaked water, now I wonder if there is hidden insurance for my Propane leak that the Gas company just admitted too?( see my post)
 
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