3/4" Sched40 under slab repair

[dianedebuda]

This is a water supply line that suddenly started to leak after 3 yr at a 45 connector. Thought it was a crack at first & tried WaterWeld (epoxy), but access is extremely limited because of angle, rock, sidewalk, slabs & other pipes - couldn't get fingers around pipe. Multiple layers of WaterWeld since I thought continued leak was because I wasn't getting it pressed in good enough to seal. Today used demo hammer to remove as much rock as possible at under-slab-hole entrance & under pipe for better access. Still quite limited (coffee can size at 45 degrees to length of pipe) under 5 ft wide sidewalk & below other pipes, but now can at least get fingers around pipe. When tried to chip off excess WaterWeld with screwdriver, 45 degree connector came off pipe. Was able to completely remove connector & "destination side" pipe so now just have "source side" pipe with a mound of WaterWeld on it.

Ideally, I'd like to just cut off 4" inches to get a clean end & glue on a new connector, but cutting access is really tough and visibility is extremely limited. Can barely get fingers around top and back of pipe and don't have 90 degree access, so can't use a normal cutting tool like hacksaw, ratchet cutter, tube cutter or even cable (wire) saw. An internal pvc cutter might work, but all I've been able to find is too big - min for 1-1/4" pipe. An inside coupling would work too if I could find 3/4". Can't find a plug that'd fit inside the pipe to just seal it up. (Other end of pipe is part of manifold under slab, so can't just cut & cap there.)

I've enlarged the access hole about as large as I can get it. Breaking the sidewalk wouldn't help much because of all of the other pipes above & to the back side of the problem pipe. The front side of the hole is at the corner of a garage pad which I'm not willing to break. The only other thing I can think of is using a mini wheel on a Dremel, but have real concerns about getting a good, square cut. Sure wish I'd hadn't put all that WaterWeld on.

Any one have any ideas or sources for 3/4 inside couplings/plugs?

Thanks,
Diane

 

[Caduceus]

This link is from another member's previous post. I copied it so that maybe you could find somebody locally or order what you need.
We do what we can to help and I'm sure there is a good solution, but in some cases we are limited to what we can advise without being there and seeing it on site. Sometimes just getting a hint as to what direction to take is also a great help.

Interlock INT-234 - 3/4 Inch SNAPPER Coupling Plastic Pipe Repair Kit for sprinkler and irrigation systems.

Landscape supply houses carry a lot of unique fittings for irrigation systems that plumbing supply houses don't. Another great resource.

 

[havasu]

You can purchase a similar product at Lowe's and Home Depot.

 

[dianedebuda]

Thank you for your responses, but sadly that solution isn't for this problem. I'd already been to Ewing Irrigation as well as HD/Lowes and several of the larger/specialty plumbing supply houses before posting. And hunted on the web. Tried not to post a problem that had already had solutions.

Obviously my description wasn't too clear; after the digging & cleaning attempt, I ended up with only one end of the pipe with a formerly glued end & a mound of WaterWeld. (I dug up the rest of the line that ran along the edge of the sidewalk to a standalone hose bib & was able to completely remove it) Yesterday I managed to clean off the WaterWeld (apparently it never made a good bond) and the old glue area (surface felt pretty clean & smooth), slightly sanded the area with emory cloth and then primed/glued the bell end of a short piece of 3/4 pvc to the damaged end. Know that reglueing doesn't have good chance, but thought with a new bell end that's longer than standard couplers, I'd give it a shot. Hoping that the additional bond area that extends far beyond what was originally glued on the damaged pipe will be enough for success. Will try it out later today. If it doesn't work, I'm not much worse off than I was before the attempt. Keeping fingers crossed. This whole thing is like building a ship in a bottle.

Thanks again for looking and attempting to help. Will post status later.

 

[dianedebuda]

A couple of days in use & the repair glue job seems to be holding. Will wait a week before repacking in sand again. Hopefully the cause of the original failure was stress from the rocks that have now been removed. Crossing fingers that I won't have to repost about this. Thanks for looking.

 

[havasu]

Sounds like you got away with a somewhat easy repair. If you want more amusement, take a read of my own problem with a Schedule 40 PVC leak under my slab!

http://www.plumbingforums.com/forum/f13/pvc-under-slab-454/

 

[dianedebuda]

Oh, I'm easily amused & I had already viewed your post. A real pain to have to break & repour that much.

In my case, we debated a long time before pouring the 5 & 7 ft sidewalks over the pvc. Aesthetics won out over plumbing repair possibilities. At least we did bury all of the pvc in a layer of masonry sand. Except for a shut off valve & a T, all other joints were supposed to be accessible by digging under the edge or via access grates. The concrete contractor botched part of the job, so about half of the walks had to be broken out & repoured by another contractor - not only costly, but a real pain when you're using integrally colored concrete & the orig contractor had forgotten to add one of the bags of color to the pour mix. Anyhow, the 2nd pour had to be extended a bit from the orig plan. The under-slab T & valve were not covered in the first pour (an access rectangle was left open), but it looked weird, so we had it covered during the 2nd pour. In theory at least, if there's a leak, we should be able break just the "cover" concrete without major damage to the rest of the walk to look for the problem. Whether it could be repaired is another story. In hindsight, I didn't clear enough when I used a demo hammer to break some limestone rocks (larger than a trio of basketballs) in the pipe routing in this leak spot & the leaking pipe was laced through an existing pipe incorrectly. But it was summer with 100+ temps and I had spent a couple of weeks with the sledge & pick...