Today on Repairs101 we’re going to take care of something that I’ve been putting
off for a long time. You might remember from an earlier video of mine this leaky elbow
here. And we’re going to change this leaking elbow here that I discovered way back in one
of the very first videos I made. I never seem to run out of things to fix around here.
So I’ve already turned off the water and I’ve let the system drain by opening a faucet
at the lowest point and letting all the water run out through that and then to speed that
up, of course, I went up to the highest point and opened a valve up there to let the air
chase all the water out. The challenge here, as I see it, is that this
elbow is of course attached to this pipe that is going straight up and that is inaccessible.
And this end of this pipe coming this way is tied into this tee which makes it also
inaccessible. You’ll see that when I unscrew this end of this pipe, this end of this pipe
get driven deeper into this valve. And therein lies your problem in reassembly. The real
problem of course is figuring out exactly how to put this back together again. Taking
it apart is easy, I’m just going to cut it with my reciprocating saw right here. If
I can I’m going to rebuild this valve right here and if I can’t I have a replacement
for it. I got some of these great “SharkBite”
quick connectors. I got something called “SharkBites”. Definitely worth the price for the time you
save in making connections. I got them at “Home Depot” and they go together real
quick so we’re going to use those. Be sure to wear hearing protection and eye
protection as I’m doing. [Sawing] [Pops] Oh yeah. There it goes. [Bangs] Whoo!
Alright, there we go. That’s tricky. OK I got it.
[Torching] [Groans] Oh man that was hard.
Yeah I used to have this foreman who would say “It doesn’t matter how strong you
are, it’s all in the funny noises you make”. Alright, I got it. [Sizzles] It’s still
very hot. You can almost hear it sizzle – well I can hear it sizzling, I don’t know if
you can hear it sizzling. There you go. Stem valve, just like the ones
in my earlier video and there you go, we’ll just change the bushing on that real quick
and I can put those back in service. OK here’s what a really bad looking valve bushing looks
like, it’s completely dried out and it’s going to take quite a bit of digging to remove
it. Take it apart, clean it out, put in a new bushing and reuse it. New valve like this
is about seven or eight dollars Canadian. One of these valve bushings is only a few
cents. I’m just going to drop that in there. Then spin the pipe out.
Clean up these threads. Make sure you’re wearing your eye protection when you do this
kind of work. Now this is the point in the repair where
a lot of guys will reach for their Teflon tape or silicone tape. I was trained not to
use this stuff. As far as sealing pipes go I use pipe sealant. Here’s “Oatey” brand,
and that’s what I use is “pipe-dope”; “pipe joint compound”. Now the reason
is because mechanics have to consider that in fuel systems, the Teflon tape breaks down
and it enters the fuel system and then it can get into things like the fuel injectors
and plug them up and cost you a lot of money. I’m just going to slip in the SharkBite
now, got the threads on that all doped up, there we go. There we go.
Cut your pipes using a pipe cutter like this one, don’t kid yourself about a hacksaw.
You’re not going to be able to cut them square using a hacksaw. This is the only tool
for the job. There we go. After you’ve cut it you want
to ream the burrs out of the end, that’s what that little triangle sticking out of
your pipe-cutter is for. It’s to ream the burrs out. So you want to do that. Make sure
it’s nice and smooth and clean. OK I’ll just clean up the end with some sandpaper.
Make sure it’s nice. Nice and clean and ready to go into those Shark-Bites. That one’s
good, this one… I’ll give it a reaming. And we’re nice and clean, ready to go in.
So the last stage is make the connection between the two. Now you’re going to make a one
inch deep connection into these Shark Bites until you hear a click and there it is right
there. Now this side. OK bam, that one’s done too. And that’s what it looks like.
Pretty good, eh? Pretty quick, pretty easy, pretty good.
No leaks. I like that part.