Anyone out there use Swagelok?

[midnight armadillo]

Is there any reason I can't use a piece of spare copper tubing and some Swagelok fittings to replace a leaky joint in some household copper plumbing? The line carries cold tap water.

[Brother Buzz]

1. Swagelok® is a brand name product and is kinda expensive

You can safely us generic compression fittings and save some dough. Sweat fittings are even cheaper.

Question is, why is the water system leaking in the first place?

I can't speil!

[midnight armadillo]

2. Corrosion

The joint is corroded. The water is acidic (pH ~6.5) and 50 years of tap water has taken its toll.

Yeah, Swagelok is a bit pricey but I've used the stuff for years and years...and I might be able to scrounge a fitting or two from the odds & ends box at work :)

I've never done sweat fittings and just want to get through the repair quickly and move on to other problems!

[Brother Buzz]

3. Scrounged from work sounds like an excellent price to me

:thumbsup:

[PVnRT]

4. There shouldn't be

I used to purchase Swagelok fittings all the time for little fix-it jobs around my last plant. Just make sure you have the right material.

[midnight armadillo]

5. In the end a plumber fixed it

I didn't think I was going to be able to get a plumber in on short notice, but two guys showed up and fixed the leaky pipe the normal way, along with leaking valves on the boiler and various other parts of the house. Waaaay faster than I would have too, and frankly I wouldn't have known what to do with the boiler repairs. Next time though, I'm Swagelok-ing...