These pipes feed a utility sink I have in a small 8x10 room behind my 220 gallon saltwater aquarium. Originally I was careless about the water evaporation. Now it's all better. But this is what the pipes look like. Are these gonna corrode and need to be replaced? Or can I clean them somehow?
First, SharkBite's are a mechanical fitting, anything mechanical has the potential to fail. Everybody has different level of confidence.
Personally I would never use them, sweating copper is so simple why pay 10X the cost of a simple fitting, plus I would never pur anything like that behind a wall.
That is corrosion. It's hard to tell from the picture how bad it is.
If it's just surface corrosion you can wire brush it or lightly sand it to see better.
Corrosion is caused by wet conditions, whereas oxidation occurs when air reacts with the material.
Copper oxidizes which forms the green coating you are seeing which in turn protects the metal. Metal can both oxidize and corrode but moisture is everywhere so we can say it's mostly corrosion.
The pipes are fine as long as you like the patina look, think statue of Liberty!
It's hard to tell from the pictures but they look pitted to me and depending on if it's the type "L" or "M" . IIRC one of them is considered thin wall and have a tendency to leak.
Since you said it was a "saltwater" aquarium, that explains the exterior corrosion. Copper is very susceptible to saltwater corrosion, so its very possible that the pipes have been worn thin by the corrosion in a few spots. This isn't just your typical green copper patina on the outside of the pipe or it would be perfectly smooth and shiny when you rub it with emery cloth. If it is pitted, the copper is thinner anywhere it is pitted.
I know you said you used a wire brush. But if you haven't cleaned it with emery cloth or fine sandpaper, try that and see what it looks like.
So yeah, if it's pitted, it might be wise to replace it or someday it could spring a leak that might go unnoticed until you have a mess on your hands.
Ok thanks! Yep it does seem pitted throughout without using an emery cloth or sandpaper. Ill try sandpaper tonight. But sounds like to be safe it should cut out the section that was exposed and replace. Is copper the way to go or some sort of cpvc or pex in this Situation?
I typically keep using copper if the rest is copper. You could switch to pex but horizontal pieces like that would need to be supported by being anchored to the wall, or to a board that has been fastened to the wall.
If you don't know how to sweat copper you could use sharkbite push to connect fittings. You can also use them to go from copper to pex.
These pipes feed a utility sink I have in a small 8x10 room behind my 220 gallon saltwater aquarium. Originally I was careless about the water evaporation
.
The evaporation won’t be corrosive. The salt is left behind.
Ok. I've decided to cut out the pipe and replace it just to be safe. The new run will be behind a wall and protected from any saltwater. So I'm wondering if I should use a sharkbite (never tried before) instead of sweating on a new copper run. I've sweated copper pipes a few times before but where I'm cutting it out is also behind a wall. So will need to cut out drywall.
First, SharkBite's are a mechanical fitting, anything mechanical has the potential to fail. Everybody has different level of confidence.
Personally I would never use them, sweating copper is so simple why pay 10X the cost of a simple fitting, plus I would never pur anything like that behind a wall.
I agree with Marq. Although they are acceptable for behind wallboard, I think it's risk that need not be taken. And I also agree that what's the point of putting them behind a wall unless you just want it to look neater.
Edit...And keep in mind that soldering copper is not all that hard. And don't let a messy job deter you. It's OK to have extra solder spill over onto the pipe. The big caution is do not get a "cold" solder. That's usually from trying to cooler the joint with a fan or a wet rag. Let cool naturally.
Oops. I had no idea there was all of these posts last week! Good feedback. First keeping it behind the wall was simply for neatness. But I can tell that's not worth it here. Also I have sweated pipes before with no issues. Ok then I'll ditch the expensive sharkbites, solder on all copper. And keep it in front of the wall! I'll also have to use those techniques listed to keep it from burning the wall. Have plenty of tile around too :-) thanks all!
[color=#000000]This shower valve is stuck from not being used for the better part of last year. I thought to pull out the cartridge, apply silicone grease, re-install or replace if needed. There's hasn't been any leaks tho'. I have replaced moens 1222 etc but this looks different. There's no ID markings. I see similarities to Delta on UTube, but I am not sure. The handle turns just a wee bit, but it does slip and I will need to replace it anyway. I used a crescent wrench to rock it back and forth gently, but it's still about the same and I don't want to create bigger issues. Can the pros confirm from their experience if this is a delta and any tips or UT links on it's removal. Thanks.[/color]
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What do I need to do with this? It's not in use and it broke off at the ground level so now I have a rusted pipe protuding from the ground. The old tank is still in the ground
02-02-22, 05:32 PM
