The pipe behind the water heater broke during some very cold days. I don’t know how long the water was flooding out before I realize that stream was running out of the storage room. It took several weeks to fix it. I first considered looking for a plumber. But everyone seems to be so busy. I posted a request for a quote online but only a couple came back and didn’t actually give a quote. I called the company “custom services“. It seemed to have good reviews. But it said it will be two weeks before they have any available slot and it will $75 just for looking and won’t give a quote.
As I searched online. I just realized that it may not be so difficult to fix it. I thought it would be hard since I don’t know how to solder. I haven’t heard of Sharkbite and push-to-connect before. It seems easy enough. Originally I was thinking to replace the broken segment with a PEX pipe since it seems to be flexible to connect. I checked the local stores and I need to wait for weeks to get this pipe unless I want to buy 100 feet for it. Eventually, I settle back to copper pipe, it is a bit costly but it is not so bad since I only need a short segment and I probably can reuse it in the future. While getting the materials online, I came across of this Kibosh pipe repair. Even though I still waited almost a week to get it, it still worth it. It temporarily fixed the problem. At least the water is not leaking. As even I turned off the valve, apparently the valve is broken as well and water still gushing out.
After I gathered the pipe and other tools, I tried to look for my old pipe cutter. I delayed a couple of days for that as I don’t want to buy something I already had. Eventually, I found it and along it found some stapler nails and a couple of scissors as well. ^^
As I got serious on the fix. I realize that I probably will have a hard time cutting and deburring the pipe as the water heater is blocking the way. It is very heavy as it is filled. So I would need to drain it first. But as the valve is leaking. So the tank got filled back up quickly while I tried to drain it. And as it was halfway drained, I got delusional that the tank could fall and crush me if I am not careful. So I went to buy two concrete blocks just to make sure it is stable.
When I tried to continue to work on that the other day, I found that it drained much more slowly. Moreover, it is still leaking water even I turn off the heater valve. So it came to me that I better turn off the mainline. Otherwise, I can be badly stuck if things don’t go as expected. I had two water meter keys, probably bought both from ACE. It worked before but it doesn’t work anymore. Probably the meter valve getting too slippery and does not get the grip. Also, the keys are too wide in any case. I tried to modify the key by first wrapping the key with electrical black tape. It didn’t work as it is too soft and tore as I turned. Next, I tried to wrap some wooden sticks (from popsicles) with electrical tape on the key. It is still too soft and broke as I turned. I decided to get another key. This time I make sure the key will work. My original keys are one inch apart. If they only have something like that, I probably have to give up and call the city to turn it off for me. Luckily, they have something with a narrower key and it worked.
After I turned off the mainline, I started draining the tank. It took a very long time, almost an hour to drain because negative air pressure building up inside the tank. Instead of connecting to the water outlet and let the drain (which almost no water out at all), I just hand-fed a tube into the outlet. I call let it loose a bit with a small gap to allow air in and so can drain way faster. After I drained probably 20 gallons (I filled several 5-gallon water bottles), the tank is light enough that I could move it a bit.
I thought cutting the pipe was the hard part. But it turns out to be a real breeze compared with everything else. I didn’t imagine that the hardest part is actually push-to-connect. I am thinking the online videos are faked. I need to lean my entire body weight to push the fitting all the way in. I am not strong but still, I am about 130 pounds at least. So I am guessing that I need 100 pounds or so to push the fitting into the pipe. Luckily, since everything is vertical, I can really leverage my weight to push it in. If the pipe is horizontally oriented, I don’t think I could do it.
Eventually, that is how much I spent on this project
| Where | Item | Cost (with tax) |
| Amazon | Kibosh pipe repair | 39.76 |
| Amazon | Sharkbite deburring tool | 11.07 |
| Lowes | Deburring tool (pipe interior) | 9.2 |
| Lowes | Sharkbite push-to-connect (x 2) | 19.06 |
| Lowes | Copper pipe (5 feet) | 13.98 |
| Lowes | Concrete block x 2 | 5.21 |
| Homedepot | Water meter key | 16.26 |
Total is $114.54. However, if I exclude the water meter key, concrete block, and the Kibosh temp pipe repair, it is $53.31. It was not bad at all.
Update:
The water heater is “working”. But water is leaking somewhere that the pan slowly accumulated water. I hope I didn’t break anything when I moved the heater. It would be really fragile if that is the case. I guess the most likely culprit is the drain plug. But I couldn’t spot any apparent leak from there. I tried to tighten it a bit more and see if still get the leak tomorrow.