Plumbing problems may seem like a complicated area that you’d rather not touch particularly if you have never done any home plumbing repairs before in your life. However, there are simple fix-it guides that can walk you through the whole process of troubleshooting small plumbing problems at home.
While the easiest thing would be to call in someone who really knows what he’s doing, this will also be more costly. If the plumbing issue is not a complicated one like moving your plumbing system to another location or installing a new plumbing system; you can try a few do-it-yourself techniques to remedy the situation.
Home Plumbing: Leaking Pipes
Before you begin working on your leaking pipes, it is important that you turn off the water supply, either one that directly supplies water to the specific pipe or if this is not possible, your main water supply.
Next, drain the water from the pipes and then proceed with the repair.
There are several methods that you can do to fix your leaking pipe. Below are two of the easiest ones and the repair can last much longer.
Compression Repair Coupling
1. Cut off the damaged part of the pipe with the use of a hacksaw or tube cutter. Make sure that you do not cut more than the length of your compression repair tube.
You do not have to cut the ends so perfectly straight since both ends will still fit into your repair tube.
2. Once you have taken out the damaged part, slip the nuts that came with your compression repair tube into each end of the pipe and the slip the olives next. Make sure that they are facing the right direction so you can screw the nuts into the tube.
3. Once the nuts and olives are in place, slide the compression tube between each end of the pipe and then screw the nuts tightly into the tube. Make sure that the nuts are screwed tightly.
4. Turn on your water supply and check if the repaired part is still leaking. If it is, you just need to screw it more tightly.
Push Fit
1. Remove the damaged part of the pipe with a pipeslice if you are working on a copper pipe or the proper pipe cutter if you are working on a pipe made of plastic. It is not recommended that you use a hacksaw as this can damage the sealing rings of the push fit fittings.
2. After you have taken out the damaged part, slide one end of your push fit pipe into one end of your pipe and then do the same to the other end of the pipe you are working on.
The pipe ends will need to be pushed approximately twenty millimeters into each side of the push fit pipe or until you have secured it so tightly that you cannot remove the push fit pipe by hand.
3. Turn on your water supply to check if there are still leaks. If there are, you may need to push the pipes further down the push fit pipe.
