PVC Water Main Supply to Copper Connection
 

Hello everyone! Been digging through the forums for awhile now and decided to join that I have a question about an issue in a home I just bought in Northern California.

The main water supply line from the public utility comes up out of the ground at the corner of the garage using PVC (I assume it's PVC, it's plastic and white piping). At this point there is a connection to copper which goes through a shut off value and into the side of garage into the house. There is a another shut off value in the ground down by the road. Right at the PVC to Copper connection there is a slight leak. We asked the seller to repair the leak, which he did by cutting out the connection and adding another of the same type. I noticed today it's got a slight leak again. He has a threaded male PVC connector going into a threaded female copper connector with some sort of blue sealant or glue.

What is the proper way of repairing this connection so I no longer have an issue with it? There will need to be some sort of transition from the PVC to copper and from reading everything has been recommended with mixed reviews. I don't which way is the correct way.

Thanks for the fantastic site and the help!

Jason

That blue as you call it may be really purple. It's a cleaner and primer. It should only have been used on the PVC slip end of the fitting not the threaded part. The threads needs teflon pipe dope or tape.

Thanks joecaption for the quick reply. Besides not using teflon tape the connection is the correct one? I've seen recommendations of compression fittings rather then a threaded one.

In order to repair I'll need to cut out a section as neither side is going to turn to unscrew and add a new threaded portion with tape and call it good (hopefully)?

Thanks again.

if there is no unions on the copper pipe from the street PVC into YOUR house shutoff "street side"...or on the other side "called the house side"...copper run out to the house....:wink:...the problem? is they are threading the copper FMS X FMPT adapter onto the city PVC and then soldering the copper nipple from YOUR house shutoff ...melting the sealant.need a copper union or cut back the copper adding a slip coupling so you can solder first...:thumbsup:..then thread it onto the PVC MPT from the city into the copper FMPT.anytime you solder near a threaded sealant you have to build a piece of pipe on bench.then screw it into the PVC male or female doesn't matter...then continue soldering away from the sealant

i think this is the type of adapter that you want. one side is slip for pvc and the other side is a compression fitting for the copper. you push in the copper pipe (cut it straight and remove burr), then tighten the nut hand tight for a pressure fit. pretty simple.

http://flexpvc.com/cart/html/images/0606-15.png

That actually looks pretty easy and doable. Now to track one down :)

Thanks

I'd be worried it would blow off

After thinking about it last night, I thought the same. Someone else on a different forum also suggested using a "Sharkbite" connector. Those also look like push on fittings. I don't know what the pressure is of an incoming main water supply, but I'm guessing it's kinda high.

I also seen a few posts not to use a make fitting on the copper side as the female fitting on the PVC side wouldn't have room to contract because of temp change and would end up cracking the fitting.

Attached is a picture of the connection. I'm thinking of keeping the same types of connectors, just doing it better and using teflon tape.

you definitely cannot use threaded fittings to connect copper to pvc. if you are in doubt about the compression fitting (which is specifically designed for this purpose), i'm not sure what to tell you. the compression fitting has a metal ring angled inward that "bites" into the copper line, preventing it from backing out. it essentially is a one way fitting, once you push it in you can't get it back out. take a trip to the store and check them out, when in doubt, take a closer look at one or talk to someone there.

this is not an uncommon thing, tons of homes around here have pvc mains that connect to copper for the rest of the house.

Thanks everyone for the help. I haven't gotten to this project but have plans to complete this coming weekend. All of your points have been very helpful.

First of all you can use a male pvc adapter to connect to a female copper.

Shark bites won't work because they don't fit PVC only CPVC.

Don't use a compression fitting on PVC and especially below ground.

If you have a female copper fitting then get a Sch80 Male adapter. Then get a PVC repair coupling sch40. A repair has no ring and will let the coupling slide completely on a n end of a pipe.

This is the tricky part. Clean and glue the Sch80 male adapter on a piecs of pipe long enough to reach the supply pipe. Clean both ends and the repair coupling and then glue both ends and the repair coupling, very fast slide the reapir coupling on one of the pipe ends and the line up the other end sliding the repair coupling onto it. Put 1/2 of the coupling on each end of the pipe.

Using a Sch80 adapter adds strength so that it wont break under stress.

Good luck.

Maybe make a referance mark on the pipe so youll know the half way point for the repair coupling :)