HX Pinhole Leak

[Tennman]

Finally system refilled after underground pex redo and total redo of first season leaky boiler room fittings (wrong pipe sealant). Found a pinhole leak in the HX manifold. Do I have to drain the HX or get all water out to repair this? Should I get my heating contractor come and solder this? Have a small torch for starting boiler fires but have never soldered any copper fittings. Sure don't want to do more damage to this important joint. Thanks

 

[goosegunner]

Finally system refilled after underground pex redo and total redo of first season leaky boiler room fittings (wrong pipe sealant). Found a pinhole leak in the HX manifold. Do I have to drain the HX or get all water out to repair this? Should I get my heating contractor come and solder this? Have a small torch for starting boiler fires but have never soldered any copper fittings. Sure don't want to do more damage to this important joint. Thanks

Yes you have to remove water to solder. You will not be able to heat enough to melt the solder with water in the pipe.

So are you talking a joint or a hole in pipe?

Hopefully you installed plenty of valves and unions to make this a easy job.

gg

 

[ewdudley]

Finally system refilled after underground pex redo and total redo of first season leaky boiler room fittings (wrong pipe sealant)....

What was the wrong sealant? Do you know of any reasons why it should or should not have worked? I sure would appreciate any information you could share with us.

Cheers --ewd

 

[Gooserider]

What sort of HX are we talking about, and where is the joint that is leaking? I would tend towards saying that if you don't have a good bit of experience w/ soldering on a piece like this it might be worth hiring a pro, as a finned HX is going to have lots of potential leaking points if you get the heat in the wrong place, and would be easy to ruin...

If it is a water/ air HX, and the leak is in the finned section you might try talking to an automotive radiator shop, if not the original manufacturer....

Gooserider

 

[Tennman]

Sorry for slow reply, lots of projects at the moment, some planned and others unplanned. This pin hole leak is where the large copper tube butts into the HX return manifold. This is a factory solder joint that for some reason decided leak. I may have inadvertently caused the stress during the whole process of disassembly/assembly during my underground repair. Fortunately the tiny leak is external and easily accessible.... whew! Since I don't think it was there prior to my re-do it's probably related to torquing unions etc. I think I agree to go with a pro. If I screwed up that monster HX and had to remove and ship it somewhere I'd be sick. Thanks Yeah lots of unions and cutoff valves EVERYWHERE.