Blocking water from above?

OldSkool

I'm beginning a re-pipe of a boiler (home heating and indirect water heater) next week.  At the point where the new stuff starts is a 1 1/4" 45 Elbow that will stay, I will be adding another 45 el and a ball valve (and purge point) just after the existing el.  I expect that I will have water dripping for days, and would just like to block off the water from above.   Lately I've used a nifty tool to block off beyond a joint in this kind of situation (and used hotdog buns in the old days).  The problem in this case are the two 45's, I don't have a straight shot for the shaft of the Jet-Swet.  Any ideas? Does someone make a flexible shaft Jet-Swet like tool?  

Jetfan1

valve?

Why don't you install the valve now, if not in permanant place, could be temporary.

Jetfan1

valve?

Why don't you install the valve now, if not in permanant place, could be temporary.

Jetfan1

valve?

Why don't you install the valve now, if not in permanant place, could be temporary.

Ron Jr._3

It'll stop dripping

eventually . After draining a system there are some pesky pipes that drip for a while on us , but it usually stops after 1/2 hour or so . Any way you can cut the 45 out and install the ball valve in it's place ? 

OldSkool

Thanks for the ideas

Thanks for the ideas Ron and Jetfan.  Just the way the remaining plumbing is set up, there is a whole bunch of zone returns right behind the existing 45, and the 45 is there because there is a major support (unistrut) in the way.  A long time ago I had a call back because of a leak in a similar joint just behind a new ball valve that I put in.  The residual flux in the void held just long enough for me to check everything out, leave and turn in for the nite. The memory of midnite and water spraying all over the short cycling space heater is still fresh many years later.

  

I did perhaps find a solution, won't know until I get it in and use it.  Pasco had in their catalog a jet-swet like affair that is actuated by a cable (rather than a straight shaft).  Pasco says it will flex enough to even get behind a 90!  Their part number for the 1-1/4" that I need is 51125.  There were none available here in Colorado Springs so I looked and finally found one on-line (at KSCdirect).  We'll see if it will perhaps actually do the job when it finally comes in.  

Robert O'Brien

Propress!

Haven't given water a second thought!

icesailor

Leaks:

On that "tool", my old auto shop always said "You can't buy a mechanic in a can". That comment has served me well for over 50 years.

If in the past, if you soldered that fitting and it later leaked because the solder didn't fill the void, and there was paste/flux in the space, you didn't get the fitting hot enough. Usually from poor soldering practices. If you heat the fitting properly FROM THE BACK TO THE FACE, and you can't wipe the solder around the fitting with a rag, the fitting was not hot enough. The only other way it can leak is that while the solder on is a molten state, the fitting moves, the solder may be just setting and it leaves a crack. If the solder is molten, it is shiny and the joint will shine. Hold the fitting together in place and watch for the instant when the solder turns dull. Hold it for a few seconds longer and it will be properly sealed. Large fittings with high mass are the biggest problem like copper ball valves. You need to solder both sides. If you only solder one side, then come back later to do the other side, you may have two unsoldered joints. When I have to come back to a fitting or valve, I usually put a short copper nipple in it. Then use a coupling later. Then, I know that the valve is tight and so is the coupling.

If you are using a Propane or MAPP gas flame thrower, get a Air/Acetylene torch with a B-tank so you can get behind the fitting. Save the flame thrower for long crawls where you don't want to drag a torch. It is very easy to overheat a fitting with a Turbo Torch flame thrower. It isn't how fast you get it hot, it's that you get it properly hot.

IMO.