broken fitting

Brad White_149

called an inside wrench which cams into the inner pipe walls when torqued externally with a wrench. Available at your plumbing supply house and at Big Box Stores if you must. They come in sizes to fit specific pipe sizes, usually in kits with 3 or 4 of the smaller sizes. May suit you just fine. WD-40 helps too.

Peter_16

Hi all,

I was trying to replace the main vent on my steam system. It was installed on a 1"x1"x1/2" T. The 1/2" tap had a 1/2 x 3/8" bushing. the threads were bad on the busing so I tried to remove it. The bushing broke off right at the the T. So about half of the bushing remains in the T. The T appears to be original, I could not get the 1" side to loosen to remove it. I did not want to risk breaking another fitting. Is there anything I can do fix remove the remaining bushing, or plug to hole and relocate the vent?

Unknown

Thats a tough one. Steam fitting can get as if they are welded at the threads. You can try some heat from a torch on the shoulder of the tee to expand the female threads, then try an easy out tool to remove the broken bushing.


If you could, post a picture of the area and nearby piping. If there is a union nearby it may be easier to undo the 1" piping and replace the tee.

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Weezbo

i swore id never say a word buh...

throw some heat on the end of that wrench.heres why,....you have to overcome work. heat is work. in order to overcome friction you need to apply work...twisting the wrench supplies half of the equasion.......unless you overcome friction no matter how much efforting your doing , you haven't done any work...it may seem ,to You,.. that you have *~/:) buh trust me it needs to move ..First.

so, apply Heat from a torch to the wrench....then take the heat away spray some WD-40 on the bushing,(to help chemically reduce friction and lubricate the surface in the direction of effort...:)

take a hammer hook the wrench back on the bushing and tap it ,(the wrench), three hard rapps with the hammer.....

leave it alone for a while ...go have coffee...

your curiously closer to the telephone....sure you wouldn't might just not want to help some young boy scout out ? A?

if not and for the sake of a guys gotta do what a guys gotta do...:) you head back to the wrench the bushing the torch and WD-40 and Hammer...get you a fairly strong screwdriver because you are now going to send some oblique energy into the rhythm you set up previously...

if you happen to come across a two foot piece of 1 1/2" copper or iron pipe That could come in handy....

the next couple seconds to ....infinity minus-n( e-1!)

(just short of hell freezing over)

you going to get that somnna Beach off:)

just use the formula i gave you and apply some back bone and leverage in the form of heat the cheater bar the big screwdriver and the wrench

Peter_16

Here is a picture

Thanks for the input.

Here is a picture. At this point I do not care if i get the bushing out or just take the entire fitting off.

As you can see in the picture there are two fittings that I could take off. All the piping to them is froze. I sprayed them down with liquid wrench about an hour ago and tried putting a 24" pipe wrench on it. They still will not budge.

I borrowed an "easy out" for piping from a buddy. I have not tried it yet. I thought it might be better if I could get the 1" fitting off.

I do not have any gas for my torch at home to heat them with. I need to wait until my wife gets home from work before I can go out again. Boy she is going to be mad if she finds out I broke the heat on my day off from work.

Let me know if you have any other suggestions.

Thank you,

Peter

Steverino

Yea, not a big deal

Use some heat on that elbow and it may fight, but they never win.:-) Before I seen the pic I was thinking to scroll saw out the bush, but in the current position, not possible. Take your sawsall and cut that nipple to the left if it don't move with heat. I'd re due the immediate set up if you can break the 90 connection.

Mike T.

bob young

easy fix

crack the heel tee with two hammers , the rest will unscrew. replace tee & re-assemble the rest. should not take more than an hour. no big deal . the two existing unions are a BIG plus.

Weezbo

ok buddy We Know You ar going to never hear the end of it )

so, Got a hack saw or sawzall?

no?take the pieces off with the wrench then leaving the reducing 'T' with the busted bushing...latch onto it with a pipe wrench...get that hammer and pipe you found ...put the pipe over the wrench handel and push down on it to 'oh yeah it wont move'..smack the pipe over the handel with the hammer like you mean it leave it alone go get a wire brush and scrup the face of the 90 on your left all the way around and spray some WD40 on the threads where they meet the face...smack that pipe three times bit less than the cheater bar and back about 2 3 inches from the 90...

when you look at the deal now you are looking at 1 reducing t ,one bushing a new vent two nipples a union and a small can of grip or hytec or some teflon tape and some paste...that thing is going back together as we speak visualize it and its Yours

Peter_16

got it off

OK guys,

I got the fitting off. Thanks for all the suggestions and encouragement. After several attempts of WD40, pulling on the wrench, banging with a hammer, and using moderate heat, I finnaly heated the T until it just started to glow. Then when I put the wrench on it, it came off with no problem at all.

Thanks again.

PS my wife was not super mad, but she said once I fixed it I was not allowed to work on the system until after the winter. OH well, at least I am not deep trouble.

-Peter

Weezbo

cool:)

it is all about timing from now on out:) any transfigurations of the near boiler piping you will need to estimate based on the last go round:)

its 30 below at my house 20something below at the jobsite and a whooping -10 within the shop with the boiler firing 24 7 that is just how good turning off the boiler for a day can be:) good luck:)

Steverino

If only....:-)

If only you could have kept the wrenches and torch quiet, she would have never known....:-) Imagine your hero status.....lol

Mike T.