Quote:
Originally Posted by kerry
In your original scenario, why couldn't you have removed the elbow as opposed to removing the nipple?
I've got a couple of rentals with old plumbing like that. No shut off valves and old pipes. What I've done in the past is to bring a sawzall, cut the galvanized back from the faucet, unscrew the cut pipe put in a nipple and install a shut off for the faucet so I can turn on the water to the rest of the building when I mess with the faucet replacement. May not have been possible in this case but I'm always thinking of ways to save my ass if I start digging into that old plumbing and I have to shut off the water to the whole building.
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This kitchen has a tile backsplash, and I had about 1 inch worth of corroded nipple sticking out from it. The elbow was about an inch back from the tile face. I was having a hard enough time getting a purchase with a vise grip -- not enough for a pipe wrench to grab. If I owned the building, I'd give serious thought to putting shut off valves in, but that would be a big job as well -- would have to cut out the lathe and plaster below the sink. But getting the elbow out w/o serious demolition to the tile and wall wasn't going to happen.
Hey, BC. I heated the thing up numerous times. Later it occured to me that heating it big time then quenching the nipple with cold water might make the nipple contract a bit, relative to the elbow, which is also going to get hot. Didn't think of it soon enough. At any rate, heat didn't do it.
I was getting desperate so I broke out the tile around the nipple so I could get a wrench on it. Still no go.
When my buddy's boss showed up, he used MAPP gas on it, got it really hot, still no go. He leaned on it with the easy out with some serious muscle -- no go. I was thinking the nipple was rusted to the elbow. But when we got it out, looked clean. Just in there for 30 to 50 years (or more) I'm guessing.
Replacing the tile was sort of a pain, but oh well -- I'm getting paid for it -- not like I wanted to break it out.
The thing I still don't get: the galvy nipple doesn't have any galvanizing left where the threads are cut, both ends. Both ends are in contact with water 24/7. In all the cases where I've seen this, the end at the fixture is in much worse shape than the end in the elbow.