How To Repair a Broken PVC Water Main - DIY!

"The simplest solution is not always the best, and "haste makes waste" aptly describe the first two attempts to repair the broken 3/4" PVC water main pipe leading to our house. In retrospect, I should have done this repair myself! That said, I learned a lot from the mistakes made by Joe, an independent contractor who did many of our home improvements. And Joe quickly responded to my call for help when I broke the water main pipe, and when mistakes were made, he followed through with fixing it right. I hope that you find this video both entertaining and informative, and that you will now know what not to do should you need to repair a PVC water pipe.

[Jazziegirltoo]

THANKS!! THIS is EXACTLY what I needed!!! I've done it B4, but needed a brush up! This was perfect!! With the reminder to let the coupler set up!! Great that you showed how sometimes something does go wrong.

[Hajjat]

This is very useful! I just moved to a new house and discovered that the main sprinkler pipe to backyard is broken. When I turned on the sprinkler on for a few minutes it gushed out about 280 gallons of water (I installed a meter sensor which shows consumption minutes by minute)!! I was shocked. Time to repair it.

[DanielKing]

The drying time for that glue is 2 hours to 2:30 hours NOT 15 minutes.

[purplepill]

Proper way to glue PVC (or CPVC):
1) Clean with rag - this removes any dirt or oil.
2) Use cleaner (optional - but this will remove any paint etchings by the manufacturer and let the primer/glue do a better job. You're a DIY, take the extra step. Lazy handymen (Joe) and lazy plumbers skip this for profit - which is stupid cause it literally takes extra 5s and $7 to buy the whole bottle).
3) Use primer and cement (aka glue)
4) Turn 1/4 when connecting and hold for 30s (Joe forgot to hold).
5) Wait for cement's recommendation before turning on water.

[condor]

Only good solution here is to use couplers and not compression couplers they have rubber parts that wear out. Get enough room in the pipe you can bend enough to get a normal coupler on it securely

[ronharris]

Joe's gonna be back about another 50 more times.

[VisionsTruth]

Those compression fittings aren't meant for continuous pressure either. They have rubber gaskets that will wear out and need to be replaced. Better to dig further back to get a longer piece so you can bend it and use couplers.

[paulmayfield]

Well you are supposed to prime and glue both sides. I would guess you will be back to fix it in no time if you use a repair coupling like that, just because it’s 4” long doesn’t mean to take out 3” you still want them close together. Also when you put it together on the side of the ditch will come loose you barely put it on that side the dirt when settles will pull it right off. If you had the full length in there it would have a better chance. Now what I would use for a underground fitting for that is use a Ford coupling. It’s the same as the repair coupling except it’s brass and has a set screw on both ides to keep it from blowing apart. About 30 bucks or so a fitting but better then digging it back up

[JoelBlauvelt]

4 90's & a piece of pipe. no reduction in ID of piping you get with that flex coupler.

[blazezoolander]

I always open a few taps first so the pipe fix is not getting 100% pressure when i turn the water back on.

[jswarpaint]

The constant 15 min. cure time in this video may be bogus. - - On the cement I use - it reads 15 min. for "good handling strength" and 2 hours !!! cure time BEFORE !!! Pressure testing at 60 degrees F or above 60 degrees if below 60 allow MORE TIME !!! Pressure testing means allowing WATER to be in the pipes which causes water pressure to be present. Furthermore, your suppose to when you put the pieces together after Priming AND Gluing when you put them together you need to turn it 1/4 turn AND hold it firmly for 30 seconds. (so then after doing this you wait 15 min. minimal before you even touch it ) Then wait 2 hours minimal before running water through it assuming its 60 degrees or higher. ALL OF THIS INFO IS WRITTEN PLAINLY ON THE CANS OF CEMENT AND PRIMER !!!!

[StoicMotivation]

❤ ❤ Great ! thank you for sharing. Hope to accompany you in the future🙏🙏🙏🙏

[Hever]

You suppose to put plenty of glue on both fittings that's why you had a leak!

[GueroZargoza]

I'm in the process of fixing my main water line, I went to home depot to buy the flexible PVC coupling, and on the label it states, not to be use in continues water pressure line. Moving to option #2. thanks

[stumpy]

Why not use 2 compression couplings.

Dont put primer on the coupling side it softens the pipe and will eat the rubber.

[petemarron]

Cool vid, I've had good luck with medium gray cement, two hour set up time

[jvazquez]

Aren't you supposed to put the blue glue on both pieces?

[Wildcat]

The title should have been, "How to repeatedly repair a PVC pipe break." I don't think those couplings are for use in inaccessible locations such as underground, in walls, in, or under slabs.

[crazyperson]

My pvc 160 psi rated main burst from cold weather so it has a Crack. I cut out the damaged part and it was so small so I only installed a pvc compression coupling and I see no leaks anymore. So is this a permanent fix? Am I good?

[projectfreedom]

mine has this rubber that is running into the pvc pipe to the rainbird system. I leaked right at the compression fitting on the rubber side of the hose. I already replaced the entire front yard with new hose that did last 10 years in Arizona. There is a section though that runs under the concrete that turns into pvc