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bk2drvr

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Water man knocked on my door tonight said I have a leak at the supply to my house. I’d like to DIY this. What is the best and easiest way to tackle this? It’s leaking at the copper to PVC connection, copper is female to male threaded coupler. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!
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LuauLounge

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Unless you have exceptional PVC plumbing skills, call someone who does. There is not enough PVC on your side to work with if you don't get it right the first time.
 

Bobby V

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Dig out the PVC on your side of the meter until you can cut the pipe and install new fittings so you can re-connect to the meter it would be my guess.
 

lbhsbz

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Dig down a bit and chop the PVC off about 3" or so below the existing elbow. Disassemble the union and remove the bad shit. Glue up your new pipe assembly, glue the coupler and reassemble the union.

When dealing with close quarters like this, I have a set of PVC fittings that I've ground oversized that I use to dry fit everything and get all the lengths just right without having to fight to disassemble my mockup and break more shit in the process.
 

bk2drvr

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Dig out the PVC on your side of the meter until you can cut the pipe and install new fittings so you can re-connect to the meter it would be my guess.

This is what I was thinking. Does using a union help me here so that I don’t have to flex the pipe to make the connection?
 

SoCalDave

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This is what I was thinking. Does using a union help me here so that I don’t have to flex the pipe to make the connection?
Yes, just don't get any glue on the face or threads of the union.
 

bk2drvr

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Thanks guys! if I run into trouble I’ll hit you back up.
 

bk2drvr

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should I use pipe dope for the threads when I make up the threaded coupler to copper female connection? Or something else?
 

Bobby V

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good catch. There was pressure in the line. When I open a valve on the house it quickly disappears.
The valve may not be holding. Open the meter lid and see if the red tattle tail arrow is spinning. That means water is getting Past the valve,
 

bk2drvr

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The valve may not be holding. Open the meter lid and see if the red tattle tail arrow is spinning. That means water is getting Past the valve,

I’ll check this tomorrow. Thanks!
 

bk2drvr

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Unless you have exceptional PVC plumbing skills, call someone who does. There is not enough PVC on your side to work with if you don't get it right the first time.

thanks, I get it. I’ve worked with PVC quite a bit so I’m not too concerned. I wanted to get multiple opinions here to see if there was anything I didn’t think of. If I go the pvc union route it’s even safer as I will have a couple of chances to screw up, just dig deeper and assemble a new one. Fingers crossed it goes right the first time.
 

TomD

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How come there is no lock/wire on that meter???? You flip the meter every few days?? :) Cut back on the water bill?? LOL :)
 

HOOTER SLED-

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The valve may not be holding. Open the meter lid and see if the red tattle tail arrow is spinning. That means water is getting Past the valve,
Lol....he better hope the valve is not bypassing....will make for a messy repair if so. Especially if it's bypassing alot. 😲
 

FreeBird236

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Make sure the threads on the male meter spud are not eaten away from the water leaking under pressure. Turn off your house valve so all the house water won't drain back into your work area. This might be easier if you remove the entire meter box. If the ball valve is leaking the curb stop on the other side of the meter can be turned off, the water dept. is supposed to do that however;). As was already stated you only need Teflon tape. I would completely remake that PVC portion and decide which area I want to make the final connection. Give yourself some room so you can move the PVC enough to line up and make the connection.
 

Justfishing

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What is the blue that can be seen coming off the elbow. Also the piece that is leaking. Is that a threaded coupler.

Is that pvc or cpvc? If it cpvc be sure to have the right glue.

I assume there is a curb stop before the meter. Seems like a simple fix though it may require a little digging after the elbow.
 

Mandelon

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If you copy what is there you should be fine. Don't be shy with the teflon tape.

As a general note be sure you put plastic male part into a female metal part, and not metal into plastic. I think you just need to dig down and back far enough so you have room to work.
 

bk2drvr

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What is the blue that can be seen coming off the elbow. Also the piece that is leaking. Is that a threaded coupler.

Is that pvc or cpvc? If it cpvc be sure to have the right glue.

I assume there is a curb stop before the meter. Seems like a simple fix though it may require a little digging after the elbow.

Yes it’s a threaded coupler and the blue is glue that was originally used. Curb stop is there as well. Thanks for the tip on pvc type.
 

bk2drvr

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Make sure the threads on the male meter spud are not eaten away from the water leaking under pressure. Turn off your house valve so all the house water won't drain back into your work area. This might be easier if you remove the entire meter box. If the ball valve is leaking the curb stop on the other side of the meter can be turned off, the water dept. is supposed to do that however;). As was already stated you only need Teflon tape. I would completely remake that PVC portion and decide which area I want to make the final connection. Give yourself some room so you can move the PVC enough to line up and make the connection.

thanks for all the tips. I'm diving into this now.
 

NicPaus

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Hard to see the threads on the brass. Most likely over tightened and the female PVC cracked. I would use a brass coupling and Male pvc. To much teflon is not always good especially if female PVC. I always use teflon first then tplus2 pipe dope on top.
 

bk2drvr

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Hard to see the threads on the brass. Most likely over tightened and the female PVC cracked. I would use a brass coupling and Male pvc. To much teflon is not always good especially if female PVC. I always use teflon first then tplus2 pipe dope on top.

the brass is female and pvc is male. i got a late start on this project and just got done. I will wait for pvc glue to cure for a couple hours and see how I did.
It went fairly smooth. Upon removing the assembly the threaded coupler where the leak was broke off when I tried to unscrew it. Got the PVC out and the brass threads looked good. I cleaned up the threads but the new threaded adapter was a bitch to screw in. I expected it to go in further/smoother but I think it’s okay. I’ve got about 4 full threads in without over tightening. Also had to hunt down the rubber meter washers, not a HD or Lowe’s part. Will turn water on in an hour from now.
 

Deja_Vu

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Nice work! Feels good when you get the job done right yourself

For Tapered Pipe threads I usually use the Teflon pipe dope in a tube. For straight threads I usually put 3-4 wraps of Teflon tape.
 

Bobby V

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the brass is female and pvc is male. i got a late start on this project and just got done. I will wait for pvc glue to cure for a couple hours and see how I did.
It went fairly smooth. Upon removing the assembly the threaded coupler where the leak was broke off when I tried to unscrew it. Got the PVC out and the brass threads looked good. I cleaned up the threads but the new threaded adapter was a bitch to screw in. I expected it to go in further/smoother but I think it’s okay. I’ve got about 4 full threads in without over tightening. Also had to hunt down the rubber meter washers, not a HD or Lowe’s part. Will turn water on in an hour from now.
Well its been a hour. :p
 

SoCalDave

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Didn't go back and read recent post but just hope you used primer on any of the joints that you applied glue to.
Primer is the key to a good glue weld.
 

HOOTER SLED-

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Hope it worked....I imagine a plumber would be like 500 bucks to do that....lol
 

bk2drvr

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Haha... I do con calls with Taiwan this time of night so I'm lagging on my response.

It was a success! No leaks and water is restored to the house. I let the PVC glue set for two hours before applying PSI. I did use primer on all joints. I ended up just duplicating what was done before instead of doing the union. All in about $11.00. I had to buy new glue and primer otherwise I would have squeezed in under $5. Thanks for all the tips guys.
 

NicPaus

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If the supply houses are closed. Ace usually has the brass water meter fitting and rubber gasket. Not sure I have seen one that was female. But that works best for going to PVC. Never done a new main with pvc myself. Screenshot_20200219-211236_Samsung Internet.jpg
 

bk2drvr

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If the supply houses are closed. Ace usually has the brass water meter fitting and rubber gasket. Not sure I have seen one that was female. But that works best for going to PVC. Never done a new main with pvc myself. View attachment 847022

Ya that adapter looks like it would better, being a thread attachment on both end. I don’t think I can use that though with my valve. I’ll keep it in mind for future projects.
 

Bobby V

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I've been there a couple times, seems like fun now.😁
Yep. I have been on many underground fire main breaks. Worst one was when the 8" pipe had a softball size hole in the bottom of the pipe. We threw a ladder down in the hole and it disappeared. 😳 That repair took a while to fix. 💲💲💲💲
 

FreeBird236

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Yep. I have been on many underground fire main breaks. Worst one was when the 8" pipe had a softball size hole in the bottom of the pipe. We threw a ladder down in the hole and it disappeared. 😳 That repair took a while to fix. 💲💲💲💲
Lost a few shovels and a 12' 4" pump hose once. On a small service line leak lost my favorite Crescent wrench, 4 years later found it when I came back to fix the leak on the poly where I crimped it for the first leak.😁
 

Boat 405

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Just another suggestion if you used a female PVC and male copper adapter. Put a hose clamp around the plastic. It's easy to over tighen the pvc and it will crack over time. If you use a hose clamp around the pvc initially it will help in the long run to prevent from leaking or cracking.
 
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