Hot Water Heat and Pump

[andy867]

Hey everyone, so being new to the forums, I am in desperate need of some know-how. I am currently servicing my Rheem Hot Water Heater and also am installing the Watts Instant Hot Water Re-Circulating System. I have already knocked out the servicing of the hot water heat (flushed it and ridded it of the mineral/sediment buildup). So while the tank is empty, I am wanting to install the pump. I am to where I need to disconnect the hot water from the tank at the hot water discharge. Now the problem is that the way the plumbing is run into the room is through the wall and bends down by an elbow piece. Due to this configuration, I am am needing to remove the whole pipe assembly from the elbow piece to the water heater discharge. Unfortunately it would seem that the person who put this in place never bothered to keep the area clean, and they used about a whole roll of Teflon Tape. I managed to get the part of that actually connects to the water heater but the piece that connects to the elbow does NOT want to come off. I have tried using 2 Slip-joints (since there is an additional piece that connects the assembly to the elbow that seems to rotate freely.)

Attached is a picture of the piece that I need to remove (all of it and below)

Any help to remove it would be much appreciated

 

[Caduceus]

I hope that I'm interpreting this picture correctly. You may need a little tool from HoDepot. Where the copper pipe goes into the fitting there is a plastic ring. It's similar to a chinese finger trap. Push the fitting with force towards the 90 elbow and at the same time press the ring back towards the fitting. This should break the compression and just pull the fitting off away from the 90elbow.
Good luck with the Watts system.

 

[LiQuId]

Sweat off the 90. Cut the ring on the pex pipe and slide off..
many ways to do this .

 

[DFWPlumber]

You can get a lot of help in the web. Dont worry. Just do a research about it and dont hesitate to ask to professionals. There are online services available for free. Just check.

 

[tempritespokane]

Sweat off the 90. Cut the ring on the pex pipe and slide off..
many ways to do this .

That is what I would do.