Plumbing - Part 3, Copper and Galvanized

You will be unlikely to deal a whole lot with  galvanized pipe. Generally, these are the bigger metal pipes running to your house. At some point, they tie into the meter that measures your water usage. On the street side of the meter, they belong to the water company. Don't even think of touching them. On your side of that meter, they are yours, but, they seldom, very seldom leak. On rare occasions, they may leak at a coupling. If so, try tightening it. If that doesn't work, you just take it all apart and replace it. Almost always, this is a threaded coupling. When you get ready to tighten it, first, paint the threads with pipe dope, just not too heavily and/or use plumbers tape. I like to use both. This will be difficult. You have to be careful you don't cross thread the fitting or, you will have to throw it out and star all over. You will definitely need a pipe wrench. Unless you have some time to spare and a lot of patience call a plumber.

Here and there, especially in older homes, you will have smaller galvanized pipes that other pipes thread onto. For example, an outside pipe that hoses and/or faucets hook to. Use the same procedures as above, and you will have no problems.

Copper pipe is common and fairly easy to repair. The procedure is just the same as PVC, with 2 exceptions. One, you will need a pipe cutter. You just set it, turn it, and you have a nice clean cut. You can use a hacksaw, but it's a bit more work. Also, copper is fairly soft and you run the risk of bending or crimping it. Then you have more work. The tubing cutter is cheap, so buy one. The second difference from PVC is that you solder copper, not glue it. Make sure you have smooth edges. Use a small torch (you can but them at any hardware store). Remember, the hottest pert of the flame is the outer edge. You want that edge near the pipe and be careful. You want the pipe hot, not melted. When it's hot, you touch the solder to the pipe and move it around the pipe until your connection is sealed. You want a seal, but you don't want to gob the solder on. You absolutely must wait until the pipe is completely dry before you solder. There are  copper compression fittings and sometimes you can use them; just be careful tightening them because, again, copper  is soft and you don't want to crimp it

If you have never soldered, I would recommend you get some pipe and fittings and play with it until you get the hang of it. Also, be careful doing this in tight areas or you run the risk of setting something on fire. Also, if you use gas anywhere in your house, make very sure you have no gas leaks before you start using torches. As always, if you are uncomfortable or uncertain about any of this, call a plumber.