Can this leaking fitting be rescued?

ac30boy

I just added a washing machine dual cutoff valve. The supply connections accept threaded or sweat connections - I chose to sweat them. After pressurizing the system I noticed a small drip. Upon closer inspection I realized that it wasn't a connection leaking, there's some invisible pinhole along the male thread of the fitting that's leaking. I have attached a jpeg image of the issue and circled the area. Btw - it takes about 10+ seconds for the droplet to become large enough for it to drop into a cup I put underneath to catch.

Ok - here are my questions to the community (in order of least to most effort):

1. Do you think this may seal itself in a few days and not require repair/replacement?

2. If that doesn't happen could I simply drain the water, dry the fitting, and try to sweat a layer of solder over the thread to try to seal the leak?

3. Should I just bite the bullet and replace the fitting?

All advice welcome!

Regards,
Tom

Attached Images

 

wombosi

hey , that's a bummer dude.
if it were me i wouldn't hesitate to replace it. just unsweat the old one, clean off the old sotter, sweat another one back on. done.

ac30boy

Thanks, Schmolze - that's the usually the best advice - I'll have to dig up my receipt because the fitting is specific to the unit I bought from a plumbing supply shop.

At least there's the Super Bowl tomorrow - beer/pizza helps minimize my plumbing problems!

Termite

Strange...

Definately replace.

wombosi

dude, you have no idea what i've just been through in plumbing my bathroom. finally stopped the leaks after hte fourth attempt.
pulled apart the entire sink today, retaped everything, pipe doped, cranked everything down as hard as i could. moved the cold pipe a bit so a could get a wrench better on the shutoff valve. NO leaks!

the bathtub was insane.

learned a lot very quickly. plumbing is really rewarding when it works, but also very frustrating.

good luck dude.

buletbob

If your saying the fitting has a small hole in it and its not a bad solder joint then the fitting is defective and needs to be replaced, why take a chance. BOB

ac30boy

Buletbob, the fitting is a casting with a thread so you can either make a threaded connection or sweat the fitting (my choice). Oddly, I have to assume a manufacturing defect - the very bottom thread (shown in the picture) is where the pinhole is - I can actually see the air bubbles swirling as the bubble grows. That's the first time I've encountered something like this on a plumbing project!

buletbob

if its a casting defect and if you chose to screw a female fitting over it you most likely snap that threaded neck right off at the problem area being its a casting defect. its hard to say when you cant personally inspect it your self. if it was mine I would replace it. you might get away with soldering it to stop the leak, but that isn,t something I would rely on. The choice would be yours being you have a better view of the fitting .

ac30boy

Would you believe it's stopped leaking?!

I'm going to buy a replacement fitting as a backup and replace it if acts up again. But for now, I have other projects waiting for my attention. Many thanks to all who responded.

Regards,
Tom