extract broken off thread from brass T

[Anonymous]

My 70 yr old threaded 1/2″ brass pipe started dripping at a joint & upon removing a union, it completely broke off leaving the thread inside the T.
It’s in an impossible area to do much with except try to get it out & screw in a male 90% to reroute it. This because it’s running right under the tile floor of the bathroom above the with only 1″ clearance above..no room to rethread any pipe.

I have 2 questions:
1. It the best way to coax it out with two careful close hacksaw cuts just to the point of the thread and pry that section up & out followed by the remainder. I’ve done this in the past, but is there an easier way?

2. If I wind up having cut the pipe off leaving no male thread & no clearance to rethread, do they make a copper sweat that would fit snuggly over the 1/2 brass which could be soldered to the brass pipe with the other end a male thread that I could then attach a union?

Thanks in advance

Regards, Ron

PS: haven’t been to this great site in a while, but I notice when doing a search, I’m getting masterplumbers.com for each topic, rather than the subject itself so the only way is to go to each link where I find it has nothing to do with my search words. It didn’t used to work this way…I used to get subject headings for each item returned by the search

[bungieParticipant]

Rigid tools sell a remover that fits into the thread and you can then unscrew it. Your local plumbing suppliers should have one.

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DISCLAIMER

All advice is given with-out seeing the job, and hence all advice MUST be taken as advice with limited knowledge on the exact situation. NO responsibility can or will be taken. And yes, I am a licensed Plumber and Drainer with my own business in Brisbane Australia.
Try visiting ….
http://www.internut.com.au … http://www.prostate-healthcare.com … http://www.ebookmegastore.com

[SylvanLMPParticipant]

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In reply to message posted by cove3:
My 70 yr old threaded 1/2″ brass pipe started dripping at a joint & upon removing a union, it completely broke off leaving the thread inside the T.
It’s in an impossible area to do much with except try to get it out & screw in a male 90% to reroute it. This because it’s running right under the tile floor of the bathroom above the with only 1″ clearance above..no room to rethread any pipe.

I have 2 questions:
1. It the best way to coax it out with two careful close hacksaw cuts just to the point of the thread and pry that section up & out followed by the remainder. I’ve done this in the past, but is there an easier way?

2. If I wind up having cut the pipe off leaving no male thread & no clearance to rethread, do they make a copper sweat that would fit snuggly over the 1/2 brass which could be soldered to the brass pipe with the other end a male thread that I could then attach a union?

Thanks in advance

Regards, Ron

PS: haven’t been to this great site in a while, but I notice when doing a search, I’m getting masterplumbers.com for each topic, rather than the subject itself so the only way is to go to each link where I find it has nothing to do with my search words. It didn’t used to work this way…I used to get subject headings for each item returned by the search

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Hey Ron,

No problem, PIECE of Cake EASY FIX, childs play.

You can do any of the following

1- Use the hack saw blade as you did before carefully cutting to the point of touching the existing threads BUT not scoring them.

Then take an old screw driver or really sharp chisel and cut out the existing threads. cut in two places remove the section inbetween and then cave in the threads.

2- Do like a HANDYMAN non knowing semi skilled wana be cheating Butt crack wanker and use an “extractor” or as the bums and non trainables say “easy out” which is not fool proof as you can snap off the fitting completly if your not careful

3- Cut out the existing fitting if you mess up using the extractor (easy out) and buy a 1/2″ TP fitting either female TP or male TP adapter

If you do not know what a TP fitting is please feel free to send me an E mail and ILL be more then happy to explain how to make a joint stronger then the origional.

Many times the older buildings I work in have Yellow brass piping as opposed to Red Brass and because of the 40% zinc this piping becomes brittle from dezincification especially on hot water supply piping.

Thus the threads so break off and I am left with a bare pipe which I must either braze or solder a fitting to.

[bungieParticipant]

Didnt you get any this morning Sylvan ??? Or just that time of the month ??

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DISCLAIMER

All advice is given with-out seeing the job, and hence all advice MUST be taken as advice with limited knowledge on the exact situation. NO responsibility can or will be taken. And yes, I am a licensed Plumber and Drainer with my own business in Brisbane Australia.
Try visiting ….
http://www.internut.com.au … http://www.prostate-healthcare.com … http://www.ebookmegastore.com

[SylvanLMPParticipant]

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In reply to message posted by bungie:
Didnt you get any this morning Sylvan ??? Or just that time of the month ??

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Bungie please forgive me I thought that there was some talented folks from Oz my mistake mate.

You I guess did NOT read the original post which states BRASS PIPING

Now possibly in your part of the world Brass is NOT made with copper BUT in my part of the globe we use up to 85% copper in “Brass piping”

Now thinking like a typical wankee from Oz one would never think that copper being a soft metal compared to ferrous metals and thus using an “Extractor” the thingy you said Rigid makes with other thingys we happen to call by the tools proper name.

The soft metal threads most of the time do compress even more so using this type of removal tool PLUS one would have to use extreme care not to split the tee or cause more problems on the “run” of the tee if this break occured on the bull.

Now you could have thought like we PROFESSIONAL plumbers do in the civilized part of the world and suggested a REAL plumbers trick of turning the dies inside the stock BACKWARDS to make ONE thread. BUT why give away all our trade secretes HUH?

This way you do not have to go through the “follower” of the stock.

Being a “mechanic” and highly skilled plumber we know these things and do not resort to handyman tools.

I think you blokes should stay with plastic piping systems as much as possible as it takes NO SKILL to be a plastic specialist.

I am opening a school for plumbers on line to explain the practical side of plumbing as every plumber does know the codes and why and hows in book knowledge so I am going to train folks in practical applications.

You know Mate it really gets very lonely at the top.. Having more practical skills then code I still am learning and blokes like you confuse us blokes who want to learn the proper terminology of tools and equipment.

Have a great one mate and please keep the fan mail coming.

[bungieParticipant]

The latter it would appear.

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DISCLAIMER

All advice is given with-out seeing the job, and hence all advice MUST be taken as advice with limited knowledge on the exact situation. NO responsibility can or will be taken. And yes, I am a licensed Plumber and Drainer with my own business in Brisbane Australia.
Try visiting ….
http://www.internut.com.au … http://www.prostate-healthcare.com … http://www.ebookmegastore.com

[cove3Participant]

Thanks for all the great help. Leak is finally fixed and my experience might help others.

I ground out enough of the tile floor underlay just above the pipe to get room to get a vice grip around the fitting. In trying to cut out the broken off male thread inside the T, I misjudged badly and cut through the inside of the T thread in two spots…what I thought I was seeing as the male thread was really two threads joining. Dumb thing not to have practiced on a scrap first

I got Hercules Blue; their tech support at their web site said to let it set up for 20 mins and then overnight & it might hold the cut threads. It didn’t. I didn’t want to take off the T as it had another run coming in which I would have had to grind off first and then rerout assuming I could get the T unscrewed without opening up a leak further down the line

As a last resort, I wrapped many thicknesses of Teflon on the male and upon screwing it in found that it would hold the water in spite of the cuts

Another thing I found in trying to follow up on Sylvan’s suggestion for a TP fitting for a cut 3/4″ brass pipe was that nobody carried it; it has to be brazed, not soldered which I assume is the reason why. However, they showed me a metal Dresser Coupling which in effect is a compression fitting for 3/4″ threaded brass pipe which doesn’t need the threads, so if I ever have to cut into a pipe and can’t for whatever reason rethread it, this seems like a good solution. The hardware store also sells a cheaper plastic one, but I’m not sure if it would work on hot water plus it was a lot bulkier

Again, thanks

Regards, Ron

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