Copper Pipe Size?

The cool thing about this is that every fitting is brass NPT. The copper pipes are flared and have brass nuts on them. That makes it very easy to swap out the copper for plastic by introducing NPT-to-plastic brass fittings.

The line I replaced fed the hot water for the shower. It was 3/8" and was reduced to something smaller just before it got to the shower. The fittings I got at Lowe's reduced the 3/8" pipe to 1/4" ID plastic. You can tell by the reduced hot water flow at the shower. So, I'll probably re-do it. But for now it's all sealed up so I'm happy with it.

Tubrojimmy,
My coach had a lot of copper as well and I have replaced most of it with PEX. I did leave copper in several places and used the Shark Bite fittings so I did not have to solder it all up. Thinking back, I think the results would have been exactly the same had I used PEX, but that's what happens after you finish a project! The good news is that the cooper should not have to be addressed again for another 20 or so years.

Yeah it's crazy. That hot water pipe was a lot bigger than it was supposed to be. It was born as 3/8" pipe, but not sure what size it ultimately swelled to.

Got some fittings at Lowe's and replaced the blown out section as well as a section that had been previously repaired with a garden hose. For $10 I replaced a 10-foot section of copper with plastic.

It's all sealed up now and I was able to check out the hot water heater. Everything works like it should now.

Yes, I think the freezing expanded the copper to an over size. You will have to either find where it is not expanded or replace the entire length of the pipe. I used to do plumbing back when copper was commonly used and have seen this many times.

KD4UPL wrote:
Is it soft drawn copper or rigid? The soft drawn (bendable by hand) pipe is normally used for refrigerant lines in HVAC and so is sometimes referred to as "refrigerant". It is slightly different size than the hard drawn pipe. If that's what you have you might have to get fittings at an HVAC specialty supply house.

X2, Uses different fittings.

I would use pex tubing and sharkbite connectors. Go the next size up or down... doubt it will matter much.

Well, it lasted 30 years. Not sure how much longer it would have lasted if it hadn't frozen.

I need to let it dry out, put in a length of plastic, and button it back up.

That is not unique to Copper.. it is called work hardening... can occur in other materials as well... it will eventually fatigue fail........so will fasteners and other "hard" materials

I've heard that copper is not the best thing to use in an RV because it is more prone to cracking due to vibration. The theory is that the more you flex copper, the more rigid it becomes. Eventually it looses its elasticity, and eventually cracks.

I think you're right - might have to replace the whole section. Or a longer section.

Thanks!

EDIT: So I took another look at it. The hot pipe is definitely bigger than the cold pipe. But it's not a 'standard' size bigger - I think it's from freezing.

So, there are brass elbows at each corner of the rig. I can put plastic across the back using the factory elbows and ditch the copper.

Something else for the to-do list!