Perpetual Ruminations

Leaky Pipes

I went down into the basement, which is more a half basement half old root cellar, to read the water meter for the monthly billing. As I was reading the meter, I thought I could hear water running, so I looked around and yes, there was water running down there. No faucet left on, in fact, there are no faucets in our basement. Instead, I find a leaking pipe, spraying water out under the kitchen.

A while back, I had the same problem, but was able to make a temporary patch with a hose clam and a junk of rubber. This plan worked again, a chunk of rubber and a hose clamp over the leaking pipe seemed to fix the problem.

The pipes are copper, some soldered, some flared fittings, and some are pressure fittings, a little of everything. Also, there are two different sizes of pipe in use; areas of past repairs before I started my own. The leaks are not at areas that are soldered, not at fittings, but in the pipe itself. Apparently, over time, the copper pipes become thinner and develop pinholes in them. I say pipes, but in fact it's copper tubing, but that's beside the point.

The point is, since most of the pipes are old, except for areas that have been repaired, I suspect that more holes are likely to develop. In other words, it's time to tear out the old plumbing and start over with new, from the water meter to the various faucets and fixtures. Not quite the project I had planned to start this fall.