We’ve written before about the problems of the pinhole leak. This is a ubiquitous plumbing aggravation, and it’s not one that can be prevented easily. But it can be repaired easily! It’s not something that you should do yourself, however. Even locating the leaks is tricky unless you’re a licensed plumber, and fixing the leaks takes special tools and training.
To give you an idea of the sort of work that we do regularly as plumbers, we’re going to show you how we combat pinhole leaks.
The 3 Types of Pinhole Leak Repairs
The first way to fix a pinhole leak is the quick-n-effective temporary repair that plumbers do to eliminate the immediate problem. A piece of rubber is placed against the leak, and then a jubilee clip is wrapped around both the rubber piece and the pipe. The jubilee clip is screwed down to secure the rubber stop on the leak. This will hold for a few weeks (the rubber will eventually deteriorate), but it gives time to plan a more extensive repair.
The second level of fix is to cut the pipe in half at the point of the leak. Plumbers use a special pipe slicer that attaches to the pipe and cleanly severs it. Then the plumber puts a compression fitting to draw the two ends together and then screws it down to secure them. The pipe is now linked.
The best permanent repair is to solder the pipe together. This starts with cutting the pipe with the pipe slicer, followed by making sure the pipe is drained of water and cleaned—otherwise the soldering won’t work. Flux is painted onto the ends of the pipe, and they are placed together and firmly soldered with a soldering torch. (This is definitely not work you want to do on your own!)
Ken Neyer Plumbing, Inc. is a full-service plumbing company with the best plumbers and operators to accomplish all your plumbing needs in Downtown Cincinnati, OH and throughout the Cincinnati area.