Sealing a Copper Pipe

emc2

Hi Guys,

Hoping you can help. In my hotpress one of the pipes is getting a green build up around a joint. I have had a look and the join seems to be tight I am just looking to get a sealant to be sure. Any suggestions?

DublinDilbert

emc2 wrote: »

Hi Guys,

Hoping you can help. In my hotpress one of the pipes is getting a green build up around a joint. I have had a look and the join seems to be tight I am just looking to get a sealant to be sure. Any suggestions?

What sort of joint is it? Compression / Solder?

Can you see even a tiny bead of water coming from it? Wrap some tissue paper around the pipe for a few days and see. Was it an old leak that someone has fixed already?

I assume its a compression fitting, When you say it seems tight, have you tried to nip it shut a little bit more with the correct tools?

If its a compression fitting and its not sealing correctly there might be an issue with the olive inside the fitting or the pipe slightly out of shape. I would drain the pipe, take the joint apart wrap the pipe/olive in PTFE tape then reassemble and see if it does the job.

emc2

DublinDilbert wrote: »

What sort of joint is it? Compression / Solder?

Can you see even a tiny bead of water coming from it? Wrap some tissue paper around the pipe for a few days and see. Was it an old leak that someone has fixed already?

I assume its a compression fitting, When you say it seems tight, have you tried to nip it shut a little bit more with the correct tools?

If its a compression fitting and its not sealing correctly there might be an issue with the olive inside the fitting or the pipe slightly out of shape. I would drain the pipe, take the joint apart wrap the pipe/olive in PTFE tape then reassemble and see if it does the job.

Hi it's a pipe going into the side/back of the boiler. It's in a bit of an awkward positions so I have tried to tighten it with the correct tools but it didn't really move. It's not an old leak.
I don't think I'd be able to "drain the pipe, take the joint apart wrap the pipe/olive in PTFE tape then reassemble and see if it does the job".

Joey the lips

The green build up sounds like oxidation. The question as to weather its happening from flax on the solderjoint or moisture getting through.

Can you wipe off the green and then wrap a tissue around the joint and see does it get wet overnight,.

drBill

Not trying to scare you but I'd advise making sure you know where all your shutoff valves are first - usually there are a couple of pipes leading from the attic tank which feed into the cylinder or the surrounding pipework, and these have valves on them. Just to be safe lest you break the pipe or make the leak worse while working on it.

I'll always remember a neighbour of mine trying to remedy a small drip from the side of their cylinder and when he took a wrench to the pipe it suddenly separated from the cylinder, emptying the contents of the cylinder and attic tank into the hotpress and ceiling space below! (Although that was an extreme case, and turned out to be due to the fact that he himself had done a of botch job and used some sort of adhesive to attach the pipe to the cylinder years previously, and subsequently forgotten about how fragile it really was.)

Sparkpea

drBill is correct about the water supply etc.

Joey is correct about the oxidation probably or the flux eating into the copper.

The one thing I wouldn't do is touch/clean it. At least not until you post a pic showing us how green or bad looking it is, if its a wee bit then probably no big deal but if its a cluster and you wipe it you may just rub a hole in it - then its panic stations.

emc2

emc2 wrote: »

Hi Guys,

Hoping you can help. In my hotpress one of the pipes is getting a green build up around a joint. I have had a look and the join seems to be tight I am just looking to get a sealant to be sure. Any suggestions?

Fernox lsx, but if it ain't broke don't fix it:)