# Slab leak repair



## Plumbus (Aug 4, 2008)

Seeing slab leak detection being resurrected, made me think of how others repair leaks once found. Since slab leaks are usually at or near the bottom of the line, getting the water out to repair can be a challenge. How do you y'all go about repairing copper lines in slabs? Jet sweat kits, Pro Press or old fashion bread dough come to mind.


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## Debo22 (Feb 15, 2015)

Open faucets, shop vac water out of the line, cut out bad section, and braze in new piece. I don't know if pro press is allowed under slab.


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## Tommy plumber (Feb 19, 2010)

In south Florida the bad line could be left in the slab and a new line run overhead. However, in some areas where I now reside {N. FL} there are tee fittings in the slab. If a plumber re-routes the line overhead, he could be in for a nasty surprise! Like no water to one of the fixtures after he does his re-route. 

One customer recently had Amer. Leak Detection mark the slab where the leak was. He didn't want to hear anything about a spot repair or just re-routing that affected line overhead. He wanted a complete re-pipe.


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## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

Shark bite, obviously.

Usually due to the cost LL's and HO's generally prefer us to run new lines at the top of the wall, then build a chase around it with vents to allow heat flow. We have a carpenter who is amazingly good and charges far too little IMHO.


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## Tommy plumber (Feb 19, 2010)

Debo22 said:


> Open faucets, shop vac water out of the line, cut out bad section, and braze in new piece. I'm don't know if pro press is allowed under slab.












I also use my shop vac when making a spot repair.

I tell customers that they have {3} options: {1} spot repair, {2} re-route the leaking line overhead & {3} a complete re-pipe.


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## Plumbus (Aug 4, 2008)

Debo22 said:


> Open faucets, shop vac water out of the line, cut out bad section, and braze in new piece. I don't know if pro press is allowed under slab.


That works in most cases. How about a Hotel with a 3" water service and a 1 hour window for repair?

I've used a tee with an adapter to drain any residual water and or steam while brazing and screwed in a plug when finished.


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## Tommy plumber (Feb 19, 2010)

Plumbus said:


> That works in most cases. How about a Hotel with a 3" water service and a 1 hour window for repair?
> 
> I've used a tee with an adapter to drain any residual water and or steam while brazing and screwed in a plug when finished.












Why a one-hour window? You tell them how much time the repair takes, it is not the other way around.


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## Debo22 (Feb 15, 2015)

Plumbus said:


> That works in most cases. How about a Hotel with a 3" water service and a 1 hour window for repair?
> 
> I've used a tee with an adapter to drain any residual water and or steam while brazing and screwed in a plug when finished.


The only slab leaks I've done were residential, primarily 3/4" or 1/2".


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## Plumbus (Aug 4, 2008)

Tommy plumber said:


> Why a one-hour window? You tell them how much time the repair takes, it is not the other way around.


Three story hotel with one main shut off.
If I tell the manager I'm going to shut off his water indefinitely, I can expect to get some push back.


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## Tommy plumber (Feb 19, 2010)

Plumbus said:


> Three story hotel with one main shut off.
> If I tell the manager I'm going to shut off his water indefinitely, I can expect to get some push back.


 








Here is what an old-timer plumber told me years ago; if he's doing a repair that he thinks is {1} hour or so, he would tell the customer {8} hours. If he runs into problems, and the repair takes {2} hours, he still looks good. But if he tells them {1} hour and it takes {2} hours, then he doesn't look so good. So he told me that he always over-estimated the time to do a repair.


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## Plumbus (Aug 4, 2008)

Tommy plumber said:


> Here is what an old-timer plumber told me years ago; if he's doing a repair that he thinks is {1} hour or so, he would tell the customer {8} hours. If he runs into problems, and the repair takes {2} hours, he still looks good. But if he tells them {1} hour and it takes {2} hours, then he doesn't look so good. So he told me that he always over-estimated the time to do a repair.


I've used that ploy myself both for shutdowns or when bidding work of unpredictable length. However, I don't think the customer in this situation would have bought an 8 hour shut down. 
As it turned out, the repair was successful and the water was turned back on about 3:30 PM. If he'd had a leak, he would have been eating take out that evening and I would have gotten a call from an irate customer.

Did a shut down on a 10 story condo a few years ago. Had to notify the residents a few days ahead of time and was given a couple hour window. We finished with time to spare. Unfortunately, there was a leak and we had to drain down the system again and fix it. Needless to say, by the time we were done we had over run our window. Oh well. 
In cases like that I refer back to the time I flooded a couple of floors of a hospital due to a freeze plug blowing on a hot line I was capping. 
While the maintenance staff was running around setting sand bags to guide the flow of water and I was envisioning a team of lawyers suing me into the poor house, the GC came up to me and said: Relax. It's not like they are going to cut your arms and legs off." Somehow this reassurance was comforting.


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## Tommy plumber (Feb 19, 2010)

Plumbus said:


> I've used that ploy myself both for shutdowns or when bidding work of unpredictable length. However, I don't think the customer in this situation would have bought an 8 hour shut down.
> As it turned out, the repair was successful and the water was turned back on about 3:30 PM. If he'd had a leak, he would have been eating take out that evening and I would have gotten a call from an irate customer.
> 
> Did a shut down on a 10 story condo a few years ago. Had to notify the residents a few days ahead of time and was given a couple hour window. We finished with time to spare. Unfortunately, there was a leak and we had to drain down the system again and fix it. Needless to say, by the time we were done we had over run our window. Oh well.
> ...


 










The old-timer that told me that story wasn't talking about replacing an angle stop at a residential service call. As you say, he meant on a shut-down of some sort. 

Flooded a few floors in a hospital, yikes! I'd hate to be in your shoes on that one.

Once I was soldering in a mechanical room in an old-age home. I set off the fire sprinkler above my head. Nasty stinky rusty water showering my head. Fire dept. shows up of course. But not too bad.


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## Calrooter (Feb 7, 2017)

Agreed with Debo22, there is no easy way other than shop-vac the water, sometimes I used compress air to blow any residual water inside the lines, old school trick? Bread! but be very careful, or else you will need to go back to clean aerators..
Around here you cannot used mechanical fittings under the slab, so the tee with a plug, the compression fittings or Sharkbites are out of the question.


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