Replacement integrated dishwasher not going all the way back

[Sheepdisease]

I've tried heating it up twice more and it's not budging at all.

Applying flux hasn't made any difference. Even wiggling continuously with grips whilst getting it extremely hot isn't working.

It's heating up to the point that the metal is pliable.

I'm tempted to cut the elbow in half so I have access to the main and can suck the water out, but I am worried that I won't be able to get the remainder of the fitting off without ruining the pipe by bending it.

 

[ShaunCorbs]

Sounds like you’ve way overheated it to the point of brazing it don’t think you will remove the elbow

 

[Sheepdisease]

That's very troubling news. I'm not sure what to do, we've not had water since around 3:00PM yesterday and no one will come to us today.

 

[ShaunCorbs]

If you cut flush with the bottom elbow you will just have enough pipe to put either a coupling or elbow on it

 

[Sheepdisease]

Before you replied I came to the same kind of conclusion. I took an angle grinder to it and starting cutting down the elbow. When I saw this, my heart sunk.

As I cut further down towards the end of the elbow, it's looking better.

Even if there is just enough space, it's a mess. There's a big blob of solder and by this point I am very anxious that I won't get it right and there's literally no margin for error now.

FYI, I stuck the earth sheathing down the pipe and have removed at least 30cm of water. It tasted disgusting, there were traces of flux in it.

How much water needs to be removed? I can't remove everything from the pipe, it's all underground and goes for probably at least 10 meters before reaching the stopcock in the pavement.

 

[ShaunCorbs]

Just use a file and sand paper / Emory cloth to sand it up clean / the Bly copper

You’ve still got a bit of elbow on the pipe btw

A good 8” should be / have no water

 

[Sheepdisease]

Just use a file and sand paper / Emory cloth to sand it up clean / the Bly copper

You’ve still got a bit of elbow on the pipe btw

A good 8” should be / have no water

Thank you for your reply. After I couldn't get at the pipe any more with the angle grinder, I got out my old Dremel. I've checked and you were absolutely right about how much pipe is available. I'm impressed you could eyeball that.

So if I sucked out 30c / 12 inches of water, that should be more than enough.

By this stage I am tempted to go with a compression fitting. I really don't want to, but at the same time I want to get water back in the house.

 

[Sheepdisease]

My concerns are that the problem now will be all the heat will be drawn into the surrounding concrete and/or I'm still going to have problems with moisture somehow.

 

[ShaunCorbs]

Upto you the top layer of concrete will be soft so if you do need a bit you should be able to chip this up easily

That’s upto you tbh also don’t forget to reem the pipe eg internal burr

Also don’t forget to clean the fittings internally so shiny

 

[Sheepdisease]

Upto you the top layer of concrete will be soft so if you do need a bit you should be able to chip this up easily

That’s upto you tbh also don’t forget to reem the pipe eg internal burr

Also don’t forget to clean the fittings internally so shiny

Thank you for all your advice.

I'm going to leave it and let someone else deal with it tomorrow (hopefully). I shook the pipes and strangely I could hear there is still water higher up somehow. I tried blowing and sucking on the end of the pipe and it wouldn't shift.

It's doing my head in.

I'm still left with the question, how the heck can an elbow disintegrate like this? This was a new one yesterday. The pipe was new too.

Is this really what steam can do when heating up the elbow and soldering or is something else the cause?