Soldering Copper Pipes With Water in Them (7 Solutions) | GOT2LEARN

Learned the bread plug "hack" while I was moonlighting as a plumber's assistant nearly 20 years ago. You have to use plain white bread; the cheaper the better, and no crusts. Any other bread can swell or deposit "chunks" of grain in the water lines potentially leading to another leak or rupture. Cheap white bread tends to almost instantly dissolve when pressure is reestablished due to the high sugar content and more fragile gluten structure.

This guy kicks ass. He makes great videos that are very well done and very educational. He's a wonderful member of the YouTube community!

Caution - Many years back I tried this method and it worked. There was one major issue “All my fixtures got blocked once the water was turned on”. It took hours to clean out everything. Toilets, faucets, shower, etc. I opened the utility tub faucet first thinking ahead to dispose of the bread. It didn’t work and bread still clogged my system. I would say be careful where this method is used. If the pipe being repaired is in the beginning of your water source it could clog up other fixtures. If the repair is at the end of the water source and effects one or two fixtures go for it. I had to learn the hard way. Just sharing my experience.

Any time I have to do some plumbing at home, I end up watching some of your videos before I start. Thanks for putting them up!

I’ve used the the dissolvable plugs that look like a real big gel pill. They come in the various copper pipe sizes with the insertion tool. The pipe has to be burr free as per the instructions and they are way better at holding back the endless trickle than bread. When done just add a little heat where they are and whoosh they are gone. They eventually totally dissolve and do not plug your fixtures.

I like to create a temporary dam. For instance, in your mock up wall in the video, cut and drain as much as you can. On the side the water is coming from, go back a couple of studs and use a long flat screw driver as a wedge to raise the pipe to the top of the hole, creating a peak to block water from flowing toward your patch. If the line is on the bottom of a joist, again go back and use the handle of the screw driver to now create a dip to hold the water. Sometimes with this you have to remove a clamp. You should be ready with everything fluxed as you will have a small window to sweat. Another good idea is solder all joints that do not have water flowing on them, then go back and sweat a coupling away from those, such as the tee in the video. The idea is that it's much easier and cheaper to solder a coupling and if you have to cut something out because it didn't take then all you lose is a coupling.

Brilliant - I wish there was Youtube 20 years ago, when I had this happen.

We had a leak and needed to replace a valve. Husband went to store and got the stuff to solder it when he got back I asked did you pick up bread. He looked at me like i was stupid. After 30 minutes of getting frustrated i told him to move and shoved a wad of bread in the pipe. Wahala had it done in a minute.

You missed the freezing kit, the main way i used to do it. Great to see the other ways too.

I helped a plumber change the main shut off valve at a friends house a couple of years back. The city came and shut off the water at the street, but it turned out that the city valve was not shutting off the water 100%, some was passing. Instead of using a compression fitting, "we" used a length of 1/4 inch copper pipe and threaded that through the new ball valve. The pipe was prepped, and then the old valve was cut off. The 1/4 inch copper pipe was inserted into the prepped pipe, and the other end held in the nozzle of a running shop vac. The 1/4 inch copper with the vac kept the water back far enough to give enough time to dry everything out, and to prep and solder the valve on. Then the 1/4 inch copper was pulled out, and the ball valve closed.

A plumber asked a woman for a piece of bread, she brought him a sandwich instead, said a piece of bread wasn't enough to eat.

As a plumber in the UK we use propane and MAP gas which burns at a higher temperature. I have successfully souldered "Yorkshire" fittings with a ring of soulder already in the fitting many times with water in the pipe using MAP gas. Good trick with the bread though!

Very helpful. Was able to solve the water problem and successfully complete my DIY plumbing job. Thanks.

Thank you so much for the trick of using bread,after 2 tries and trips to town for more parts because of dripping water it worked..again thank you...😊

Thanks for the video. I admire your clear concise and rhythmic explanations. I can tell you spent time gathering all of your thoughts and conveying them For the video.

Ive used the bread technique a few times over the years when ive had to and its always worked

I'm really impressed. I am the Chairman of maintenance at my condo building and over the last 5 years I initiated a replacement cut off taps that began leaking behind the vanities in bathrooms and on the ground floors (we're only 3 stories) I would be waiting hours for the cold water to drain. I have used the vac but still would get water that wouldn't stop. Incredible advice!

Great tips and tricks, delivered quickly and clearly. Terrific channel. As I mentioned in a comment on another of your videos, fixing my neighbor's main waterline 3/4" copper on a steep hill, the main turned off still allowed some water to flow. My neighbor daisy chained three plastic drinking straws and sucked out about a foot of water. It was flowing slow enough that this gave us the time to solder the repair. Tip for the straws. We didn't have a knife with us. Cut a taper on one end of two of the straws (scissors would be best for this), then they'll slide together easily. Of course a small diameter hose would also work. This is a variation on the shop vac, but I don't think it would work very well on a horizontal pipe. And yes I've successfully soldered slightly wet pipes, not damp but drip drip. In 50 years I've been able to do this only a couple times as a hail Mary before doing something more difficult. Don't count on it, 95% of the time you'll just be making more work for yourself. The heat absorbing pad? I've got one of these that's about 40 years old, still good. Excellent for fire safety. And Fire Safety is critical - you will set fire to something. Plywood is worse than 2x4s as it's drier. And if the fire dies out, still wet it.

This is the most educating & professional channel on plumbing I've found. Great job brother! 🇨🇦 🎯 🇨🇦

The bread trick is great. It can hold a surprising amount of pressure. On several occasions, I waited for the break-thru to occur and heard the rush of water take place. It is sometimes fumbly to push the bread in. I think it swells up when it gets wet. I have needed to use up to 3 full pieces on some 3/4" copper where water was not stopping. I always use MAPP gas to get done quickly. Take the aerator out on downstream faucets you want to use for flushing the bread out. Also, It smells like toast. Good tip.