1/2" to 5/8"?
#1
09-24-10, 11:16 AM
1/2" to 5/8"?
I have some old copper pipe in my house that according to a guy at Home Depot was 5/8". They dont have any fittings for me there or Lowes and now I dont have water going to my upstairs bathroom. The old shut off valves were spraying water all over the place so I hut to cut them down and re-plum the water to my kitchen.
So I guess my question is do they make such fittings? If so where can I find them? I tried googling but couldnt come up with anything.
So I guess my question is do they make such fittings? If so where can I find them? I tried googling but couldnt come up with anything.
#2
09-24-10, 01:18 PM
Member
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Baltimore County Maryland
Posts: 2,137
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
How are you measuring the copper? plumbing is measured on its" INSIDE diameter the outside of a 1/2 copper line will measure 5/8in., you think this could be the problem? 
#3
09-24-10, 02:01 PM
Could possibly be the problem I suppose. I took a small section of the pipe to Home Depot. They used a pipe cutter to get a clean edge on it and went around trying to find fittings that would work. It was just barely to big to fit in any there. 3 guys ended up trying to help me. The last one said it was common in older homes. My house was built in 1921. I even went to Lowes to try to find a fitting to fit over it or in it. Wasnt happening. If you compare them side by side the metal itself looks thicker than the other. The hole looks the same size.
#4
09-24-10, 04:55 PM
There is a real problem with copper piping sizes because the plumbing trade has given copper sizes based on inside diameter the way steel pipe is sized..
Piping that is made of copper should be correctly called tubing and tubing sizes are based on outside diameter.
There is nothing odd about the size of tubing you have........You only need to find a supplier that speaks the correct language.
What you would call 1/2" copper is 5/8" tubing size and 3/4" copper is actually 7/8" tubing size.
What you likely have is 3/4" tubing size and would measure 3/4" od.
Plumbers call soft rolled copper, tubing, so if you go to a commercial plumbing supply house and tell them you want 3/4" soft copper fittings they should know what you are talking about.
Except, I have seen on more than one occasion, freezing damage where the tubing expanded but didn't break giving a pretty strange measurement!
Piping that is made of copper should be correctly called tubing and tubing sizes are based on outside diameter.
There is nothing odd about the size of tubing you have........You only need to find a supplier that speaks the correct language.
What you would call 1/2" copper is 5/8" tubing size and 3/4" copper is actually 7/8" tubing size.
What you likely have is 3/4" tubing size and would measure 3/4" od.
Plumbers call soft rolled copper, tubing, so if you go to a commercial plumbing supply house and tell them you want 3/4" soft copper fittings they should know what you are talking about.
Except, I have seen on more than one occasion, freezing damage where the tubing expanded but didn't break giving a pretty strange measurement!
#5
09-24-10, 11:55 PM
If you're absolutely sure about those measurements, call a refrigeration supply house. They should have the reducers you need. Plumbers measure ID (most of the time) and reefer guys measure OD (most of the time). I've seen - on more than one occasion - places that were re-piped with reefer tube, probably by a reefer guy doing his own work & using his own pipe.
