Urgent Plumbing help neded.

[N80]

Helping my daughter and future son-in-law remodel the bathroom in his 50's era house before they get married and move in. I have a day or two off. I need to connect 1/2 galvanized pipe to PEX. There is a brass threaded male end with a PEX nipple. Is it okay to use brass in galvanized? If so, what do I use to join them? Is teflon tape okay? Thanks for quick help.

 

[/pine]

FWIW...lots of brass shower valves etc. connect directly to galv. pipe...I usually use pipe dope but tape should work fine...

 

[GPintheMitten]

Not sure about your specific question but I do know that there are Di - electric unions that isolate dissimilar metals
They are used for transitioning between galvanized and copper. As far as thread sealant I think you could use Teflon tape or pipe dope.

 

[Billrog]

Yes there is and don't worry about the brass to galv. tape or dope will work.If you don't have a crimper sharkbite fittings work very well and can be reused or changed if needed.

 

[N80]

Thanks guys! Another question. I'm going to need to cut some of this galvanized pipe. How do I do it? Got a hacksaw. Got a sawzall that I can get a metal blade for. Tried to cut galvanized with a pipe cutter once and it broke the blade.

 

[GPintheMitten]

Sawzall or hack saw.

 

[ultrarunner]

I use a pipe cutter all the time that is made for galvanized and this also leaves the stub ready for threading.

Use a fine blade if you do go the sawzall route... the less vibration the better.

Worked on one job where the architect specified bronze only for couplings... there have been lots of changes with all the new laws so today's brass and bronze is different as are the lead free solders...

 

[Egon]

Angle grinder with cutoff blade would work. Do have pipe threaders?

 

[EddieWalker]

I'm a huge fan of PEX, but not so much for galvanized pipe in a house. Is the house already run with galvanized pipe? How does it look on the inside? Build up of minerals and nasty stuff inside of the galvanized pipe never ends and in most older homes, it's usually about 90 percent.

When installing anything new to existing pipes in a house, remember that the crud built up in that original pipe will break off and plug up the faucet and shower head.

Yes, you can attach brass to galvanized pipe with Teflon tape and not have any issues.

Be careful of sharkbite. I think there PEX lines are alright, but their brass fittings have given me issues sweating to copper. The Apallo brand at Lowes is much better and now the only brand I use.

I do not trust any slide on plumbing fitting. I keep a few half inch and 3/4 inch slide on cap fittings for temporarily closing off a copper pipe that I'm working on, but that's it. I have no faith in them being left inside a wall for the long term. They do fail from time to time and what you are left with is a nightmare of water running out a pipe full force until you can get it turned off. Then a massive demo job to get to it and then repair everything.

I use PEX for long runs and snaking it through odd angles. I use copper for all my connections to valves and threaded fittings.

Eddie

 

[N80]

Thanks guys.

Under the house was a mix of galvanized and PVC. Galvanized was pretty clean inside. I did not need to thread any of the galvanized. Just had to cut it to get it out and then removed it at an existing joint. Used a Tiger Saw with a cheap but fine toothed metal blade. Went through it like butter. Had a very hard time getting the shower valve body and pipes out of the wall without damaging the sheet rock on the other side (of course it needs an access panel anyway but the kids had just painted that wall and didn't want one yet.) Screwed the brass fitting with a Pex barb into the galvanized joint and then connected it to the Pex. This little house is 60 years old, was not a high quality thing to begin with and has been endlessly bodged over the years. I did use the Sharkbite connectors in the wall. They may in fact fail one day but as it currently stands they are probably the safest connections in the house. Plus, there was so little room it would have been hard to get the crimp. I did crimp where ever I had room to do so. They will probably only be in this house for a few years.

In this area copper has problems with well water. It stains everything greenish blue and unless you have a good filter the sand and sediment in the water will wear it thin. We had three major in-the-wall and in-the ceiling leaks with copper pipes that were around 2o years old. You could literally collapse the pipe between your fingers.

Anyway, I want to thank you guys once again. You always come through for me when I need the right info and need it fast.