Thread: Plumbing question

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OK so this isn't a plumbing forum, but i'm posting in the lounge. This site has a great diversity of knowledge so i feel confident that i can find my answer here.

When plumbing in a hot water heater with PVC / CPVC: every time i put plastic directly to the heater, i have a leak. Can't tighten the fitting without cutting the pipe. I spent an hour on line looking, but couldn't find an answer.

I'm thinking that this time i'll use a steel nipple on the heater, and a coupling to the plastic pipe. This way if I need to tighten a fitting, it's possible.

???

That's exactly what I did when I installed my water heater a year or so ago.

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Pipe all of your connections & valving with copper/brass, then connect to your piping with the appropriate coupling. I wouldn't use steel on water piping. It will corrode & build up deposits from the inside out, especially on the hot water service.

Thank you, I'll go with the copper.

Lots of pipe dope and hand tight plus a quarter turn with channel locks, but I must admit I wouldn't use it on a water heater, you could also sneak a dieelectric union in at the heater to the copper as its steel to copper. I dealt with these issues when I was in hospital maintenance and had exactly the same issues your having tell a expert helped me out, not a fan of pvc male adapters at all...

I did short copper, 3/4 terminating in male threads. I'm not sure about one solder: not enough flux and too much heat. When I put pressure to it I'll be the first to find out.:rolleyes I'm wondering if it's physically possible to get everything I need in the first trip. Aauugh. Didn't pick up a single cpvc T or elbow, and none in my stash. Drat.

Originally Posted by firebird77clone

Aauugh. Didn't pick up a single cpvc T or elbow, and none in my stash. Drat.

Isn't that almost always the way it works??

I didn't realize you were using CPVC. My example is tying into PEX, which uses compression rings. With CPVC you just traded the FNPT steel for a MNPT copper, and I'm not sure what that buys you, other than getting away from the heat a bit....

Well I believe female thread fittings are stronger, particularly the coupling which is quite robust. But I'm wishing I'd gone with steel nipples which would have been much cheaper and easier. Giving that the tank is ten years old or so, the nipple would surely have out lasted the tank.

All done. Thanks to py fittings stash, only three trips to the store. No leaks except where I left the toilet fill line hand tight

This stuff is sure easier when I'm doing it more often.