How to Get Plumbing Joints Apart

Rather than hiring a plumber, save money by detaching plumbing joints yourself.

When your home's plumbing system was installed, the plumber connected each pipe either by soldering them together or sealing them to one another using metal nuts. If you need to repair a leak, manually dislodge drain clogs or remove a fixture, such as a sink, you must separate some of your home's plumbing joints. The method you must use when taking plumbing joints apart will vary depending on what method the builder used to connect the pipes.

Things You'll Need

• Multi-groove pliers
• Protective tinted goggles
• Channel locks
• Acetylene torch

Instructions

Metal Nuts

1. Turn off the hot and cold water supply. While each individual's plumbing system varies, hot and cold water valves are often located beneath your kitchen or bathroom sink.

2. Locate the nuts that fasten the pipe you need to remove in place. Adjust your multi-groove pliers to fit around the nuts.

3. Grip each nut with the multi-groove pliers. Twist each nut counter-clockwise to loosen the pipe.

4. Remove the pipe.

Soldered Pipes

1. Turn off the water supply. Turn both cold and hot water nozzles all the way on. Let any remaining water in the pipes flow out of the faucet. Water in the pipes prevents them from getting hot enough to break the soldering holding them together.

2. Put on protective tinted goggles. The goggles prevent small pieces of metal from hitting your eyes while the tint protects your corneas. An acetylene torch burns very brightly and can burn your corneas if you do not wear tinted protective lenses.

3. Fit the pipe you want to remove with a set of channel locks. The channel locks provide you with a way to pull apart the plumbing joints after weakening the fitting.

4. Turn on and light the acetylene torch.

5. Move the torch flame slowly back and forth around the soldered area until the original soldering material liquefies.

6. Pull the pipe free with the channel locks.

Tips & Warnings

• PVC plumbing pipes are held together with strong adhesive rather than nuts and soldering material. You cannot break the adhesive's bond with the pipes. If you need to remove a PVC pipe, you must cut it away from the rest of the pipes.

• Don't attempt to remove a soldered metal pipe with your hands. The heat from the torch travels up the pipe – making it very hot to the touch. Channel locks allow you to grip the pipe without touching the surface and inadvertently burning yourself.

References

• Ron Hazelton: How to Replace a Bathroom Sink
• This Old House: Ungluing PVC
• Pro Handyman: How to Remove a Soldered Copper Fitting
• IronWorking.com: Burning and Cutting Information

Resources

• Repair Home: Taking Apart and Installing Traps
• Roto Rooter: Plumbing Basics