Turned water faucet wrong way. Did soldered pipes hold up ???

1278 Views 5 Replies 5 Participants Last post by steve3847, Jan 8, 2016

steve3847

Discussion Starter · Jan 5, 2016 (Edited)

I was washing my car outside after Christmas. I accidentally turned the water faucet the wrong way a few times in a clockwise direction trying to turn the water on. I thought the water faucet was stuck then realized I was going in wrong direction. I gripped the water faucet once or twice with wash cloth applying some force. Lucky my fingers and hand were a bit stiff and didn't grip faucet with too much force possibly. In a few days I'm going to go into crawlspace and check the soldered areas on the water valve in the crawlspace and on the water line in the picture. It's not so much the water faucet outside but what's in the picture showing the pipe in the crawlspace. Hopefully it's not leaking or won't break. I can always webcam this if nothing is wrong. Afraid it could leak or break. Plumber will charge a little bit more having to crawl into crawlspace say 80 feet total to do any work.

See less See more

Save

1 - 6 of 6 Posts

rjniles

· #2 · Jan 5, 2016

I seriously doubt you could damage a solder joint with the force of your hand. Unless you are superman.

Save

Reactions: 1

Nestor_Kelebay

· #3 · Jan 5, 2016 (Edited)

If you know where your water meter is, mark it's needle position with a felt pen on the glass dial before you go to work. When you come back home, check to see if the dial needle has moved at all. That will tell you whether or not you have a leak. This presumes there isn't anything else in your house that might use water while you're away, like an ice maker in your fridge door.

I tend to agree with RJNiles' post. Unless you actually twisted that faucet hard enough to cause the whole faucet body to rotate, then I doubt you did any harm. Your second picture shows the hydrant on the outside of your house in the correct position. If that photo was taken after you tried to wash your car, then I expect you simply twisted the piping a bit, but it simply sprung back into position after you let go of the faucet handle.

See less See more

Save

Reactions: 1

Syberia

· #4 · Jan 5, 2016

I'm sure you didn't damage it. I've cranked the hell out of one with a pipe wrench trying to attach a union without it leaking, and didn't damage the soldered copper line.

Save

Reactions: 1

dougp23

· #5 · Jan 6, 2016

Syberia said:
I'm sure you didn't damage it. I've cranked the hell out of one with a pipe wrench trying to attach a union without it leaking, and didn't damage the soldered copper line.

Same. I actually was trying to remove an outside sillcock on a home, someone told me it was a "screw on" type. Having limited plumbing experience, I cranked the hell out of that thing with a huge pipe wrench, finally tearing the copper . The solder joint remained intact! But the force it took to do the damage is not something you could do with just your hand. I would guess you are fine and the real plumbers here concur.

Save

Reactions: 1

steve3847

Discussion Starter · #6 · Jan 8, 2016

Check this in March

Think I will check this in March. I can see it from air vent with Moto X for now. To get a few inches from it will have to wait. Just too cold in January and February. :cool2:

Save

1 - 6 of 6 Posts

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.

Turned water faucet wrong way. Did soldered pipes hold up ???

steve3847

Attachments

rjniles

Nestor_Kelebay

Syberia

dougp23

steve3847

Top Contributors this Month