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ex-Khobar Andy · 01-17-2009, 05:37 PM

I need to re-do some 20 year old plumbing which has bent and twisted over the years due to exposure to heat. It's still intact -- the joints are fine -- but it's unsightly. It's all glued -- no threaded joint that I can see. Plan A is to find a straight piece and cut it off there and glue the new plumbing on with a collar (might be wrong terminology) and proceed from there. Plan B would be to unglue the old pipework -- is this possible and how would I go about it? Thanks for your help.

Bondo · 01-17-2009, 06:18 PM

Quote:

Plan B would be to unglue the old pipework -- is this possible

Ayuh,...

No Plan B,.... Cut it out,+ Replace it with New....

biggles · 01-17-2009, 08:27 PM

if you just want to straighten it out get slip couplings and some 90s elbows .every place you hacksaw a coupling goes

...it you need to turn it.......if you need to shorten it up......cut in tees.grab a spare lenght when getting the fittings/glue at HD

DUDE! · 01-18-2009, 08:54 AM

I hope you meant its not eye pleasing in general, and not actually warped from heat, that would be some serious heat.

downunder · 01-18-2009, 07:10 PM

Somewhere you will need to push and pull on the final connection. If HD doesn't have them, go to a plumbing store and ask for an EZ Span. They extend several inches from a closed position and tighten up on an o-ring.

I do a lot of repair on irrigation and drain lines and I used to hate working on the middle of a line with a passion. A "T" in the middle of a line is even more trouble and now they make one for that also.

Got to wonder how you got to this problem in the first place. Maybe I've just never heard of PVC getting hot and twisted.

WaldenL · 01-18-2009, 10:26 PM

Unglues just fine... With a saw! :-) PVC glue actually melts the PVC so the joint is basically part of the pipe. Just cut out the parts you don't like and rerun. Just don't do anything silly like run a drain uphill . But I've got to agree with others, melted from heat? Where is it? IN the furnace?

ex-Khobar Andy · 01-20-2009, 06:56 PM

Thanks for your help -- yes, some serious heat. This is not a home application but an industrial one -- used as a pressure equalization pipe for some high pressure steam venting.

DUDE! · 01-20-2009, 07:10 PM

we had a boiler problem at work, overheated the water, most of the joints of the pvc drain pipe in the kitchen came undone. Didn't realize it at the time, couldn't understand why the dip in the line and the leaks, at least no one got hurt.

RBCC · 11-05-2009, 03:21 AM

I have a 1/2" pvc coupler and a 1/2" pvc pipe GLUED together how do I unglue them? without cutting the fitting off and leaving the straight pipe?? John

log_doc_rob · 11-05-2009, 06:59 AM

Please read the previous 8 posts.....you cannot unglue PVC pipe. Cut and replace it.

gjp31254 · 11-05-2009, 09:08 PM

I have had good luck with heat, lots of heat. Start with some dry pine with a hard wood like oak on top. With the fire well lit, swist on the pipe until it is free.

Water Guy · 11-06-2009, 01:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ex-Khobar Andy

Thanks for your help -- yes, some serious heat. This is not a home application but an industrial one -- used as a pressure equalization pipe for some high pressure steam venting.

First of all, most of us are responding to a problem/thread that was brought up 10 months ago.

But for others that are reading this, if you are not going to fix the problem, you will eventually just have to do the fix again. The pipe is melting for a reason - It was not designed for this purpose. PVC pipe is not designed for heat. I would not want to be in any structure with any plastic pipe holding high pressure steam. Fixing the "unsightly" bent pipe will only result in having to fix it again in the future. This is a life threatening situation. This is something that I would get a professional opinion on. High pressure steam in an industrial application should be treated with a lot of respect.

Know your limits people.

**Scuba_Dave** · 11-06-2009, 03:17 PM

2 different questions by 2 different people
This is why you don't piggyback a question on an older thread
---people tend to read & respond to the original question