The Power of the Mind

You may recall that a while back my dad and I replaced all (most) of the old galvanized water pipes in my house with brand new PEX tubing. The PEX and all of it’s connection points have been rock solid.

The problem is that somewhere you still have to tie back in to the old work in the house. This can either be copper or more shitty old galvanized pipe. I have one hot and one cold water line that go up to my second floor. We decided not to run PEX up through the walls and just connect to the galvanized.

Yesterday the connection on the hot side started to leak between the galvanized pipe and the brass PEX fitting. I immediately started to get nervous. I hated the idea of having to break further into the galvanized and potential create more leaks or fuck something up in the walls higher up. I had no choice though. The one fantastic thing about PEX is that it has a manifold system rather than a branch and tee system like most copper installations. This means that you have single lines of PEX running from hot and cold manifolds that each have shutoff valves on them. So I just shut off this small branch and still had water to the rest of the house.

I ran to Lowes and grabbed a few supplies I thought I’d need. It was about 8:30pm.

My first plan was to take apart the union that was left and replace the old pipe nipple on the union with a new one. The whole assembly was up near the ceiling between to joists so it was a bitch to get wrenches on. I was able to get the union off and replaced the nipple and PEX fitting. I redid the PEX to the manifold and crimped and tightened everything. Moment of truth, turned on the water. Nothing leaked at first, but then the union started to drip as well as both of the pipe connections.

I started to get worried again. So much so that I started feeling nauseated. I didn’t want to have to call a plumber and pay big coin to fix something I should be able to. (I am my father’s son after all). My stomach started to burn. I turned off the branch and all of a sudden I heard a loud but muffled explosion. I yelled, “What the hell was that”. I thought a PEX pipe had burst somewhere. I didn’t hear water rushing anywhere.

My dumbass cats had knocked over a florescent bulb package that I had leaned against our fridge downstairs while I worked on the plumbing. I had enough at that point, there was glass all over the floor, my plumbing was fucked. I just needed to relax. My wife said she would clean up the glass

I went up stairs and dry heaved a few times and then managed to get a few teaspoons of nervous stomach acid out.

I left a message with my boss at 3:00 AM telling him I wouldn’t be in the next day. I was sick, I was throwing up, and my stomach was in turmoil. I was sick, although it was completely self-induced. No virus, no parasites, no bacteria.

I headed to Lowes the next day and scratched my head as to how to really fix this thing. The problem with pipe thread is that you need to get it really fucking tight. The threads are tapered like an Aztec pyramid, and as you tighten the joint it makes a seal along with the pipe dope you put in, but that’s mostly just to lubricate as you tighten. I couldn’t get the torque I need with the location of the joint. I needed to get more clever than the pipe.

I found a couple options. A swivel PEX fitting with a rubber seal, and your basic braided stainless hose, also with rubber seals. With a rubber seal you no longer rely on the pipe threads for the sealing, the rubber does the job.

First I had to take the union completely off. It wasn’t easy. While I was loosening it I called it a dirty whore and a bitch. You have to show plumbing joints who’s boss while you work on them. It finally let go. I got everything hooked up and opened the branch to main.

It seemed OK. I let it sit for a bit, and a tiny bit of water had formed around the connection. I went back throughout the day and it looked like about a drop every two hours was coming out of it. That should take care of itself with corrosion and sediment deposit. I’ll have to keep an eye on it.

My stomach feels better today.