Buy a reamer and use it

[ICE]

How many inspectors make the plumber remove a fitting to see if the pipe was reamed?

I have been finding the problem with regularity.

Sometimes the look of the work makes me wonder and sometimes it is the look of the workmen.

The copper in the picture came from a commercial job that had to be redone.

The work and the workman were not a trigger but I was there as the plumber made up a joint and he did not ream the pipe.

I am beginning to think that cutting out a fitting should be a routine part of a plumbing inspection.

Last week I had a residential re-pipe that didn't look bad at all. I asked the plumber if he reamed the pipe and he said yes so I asked him to show me the reamer that he used. He searched his truck for five minutes before I told him to cut out a fitting. The pipe was not reamed and he didn't find a reamer before I departed.

 

[Gregg Harris]

How many inspectors make the plumber remove a fitting to see if the pipe was reamed? I have been finding the problem with regularity.

Sometimes the look of the work makes me wonder and sometimes it is the look of the workmen.

The copper in the picture came from a commercial job that had to be redone.

The work and the workman were not a trigger but I was there as the plumber made up a joint and he did not ream the pipe.

I am beginning to think that cutting out a fitting should be a routine part of a plumbing inspection.

Last week I had a residential re-pipe that didn't look bad at all. I asked the plumber if he reamed the pipe and he said yes so I asked him to show me the reamer that he used. He searched his truck for five minutes before I told him to cut out a fitting. The pipe was not reamed and he didn't find a reamer before I departed.

Reaming the copper tubing is also a required process for refrigeration, and can have a large effect on creating noise especially with soft tubing out of round inserted inside a fitting, from whistling to vibration in the refrigerant circuit.

Most of your copper cutters will have a reamer built into them that you pull out like a folding pocket knife.

 

[pyrguy]

But that takes time!!!! Time is money.

Never enough money or time to do it right the first time but always enough to fix it.