I've been occupied with summer projects, some planned, like a new fence, painting and some, as the above photos indicate, unplanned. On Wednesday, I go down to my basement in the morning and hear the dreaded, drip, drip. I look over to the middle of my basement and discover a large pool of water and water dribbling from the ceiling. Damn, this pisses me off. What a mess, just what I needed with so much other stuff going on. At least the water missed some paper items stored in boxes AND the smoke detector right next to it.
So after getting ready for no water, I shut off the water main and start draining the system, which takes a looooooooooong time. You can't solder the repair with any water in the pipes. I then have to cut out some of the ceiling foil and then cut out a 6 foot section of wet, soggy insulation, getting a bath in the process. I'm expecting a leaking fitting, but what I see is a small pinhole, in the middle of the 1/2 inch line, with another in the making right next to it. WTF! I guess I should be thankful. At least a pinhole only leaks a small amount of water initially and it was probably doing it all night by my estimation, since I didn't see anything the previous evening.
So I'm thinking, why is this happening? My house is only 19 years old. I thought copper pipe lasted longer than that! So I do some Googling. It turns out that pinholes are a common problem with many possible, but so far unproven, causes. Some say cavitation, some say soft water, hard water, too much flux etc., etc. Unfortunately, this pipe is also the thinnest available, type M, which is usually what cheap plumbers like to install in residential homes. My bad, I should have specced type L copper at least when I had the house built. Didn't even think about it at the time. Since this line goes to an outside faucet, my thinking is cavitation damage, because I think a 1/2 inch line is too small for the high flow rate. Also, too much flux is a possibility, which my plumber must have slathered on like mayonnaise judging from the appearance of his soldering at the joints. I'm also suspicious of bad copper pipe, but no manufacturer will admit to impurities in their products. It does say 'Made in Mexico' on some sections, but that's no proof.
So now I'm wondering about the integrity of the rest of my plumbing. Most of it is hidden in ceiling insulation, and the one section now visible is showing some of little dreaded green spots ON THE OUTSIDE of the pipe, which indicates more holes are forming and starting to ooze. Crap! I may have to replace all my home plumbing now. I'm not even considering PEX yet. Plastic has had a bad reputation.
