Plumbers! Need help - Bread isn't doing the trick.

Factual Questions
1

This fixer had a dead (gate) main water shutoff. At least it was broken in the “on position”.

This place was built in 1979 - slap together crap and make a fortune, 1979.
The water comes in via a dark grey plastic - I tried cutting off a slice and using Oatey grey (thinkig Sch 80 PVC). Didn’t work. The problem was that they simply threaded the end of whatever it is, and the thread ended up stripped.
Sch 80 with Oatey Green (ABS to PVC - figured it ought to be one of them.

Anyway, it seems to be holding, so now I have real threads.

Current problem: House will not drain the 1 1/4 copper coming out ends up with a puddle, and the pre-assembled T and (ball) valve variably end up dripping.

Unless there is a very short union, this is either solder, epoxy (yeah, but I’m not proud at this point, or switching to threaded.

We have this mystery 1 1/4 plastic in what appears to be an ABS protective jacket coming out of the ground, going immediately going into 1 1/4 copper, through the shut-off, and into a T - 1 1/14 continues aft into the house, and 3/4 comes forward into steel (which feeds the sprinkler and hose bib.)




  bib 3/4 cu
  /   /         1 1/4 cu   
 /    /            /
/     /           /  |
x-T---T---------| _house
   |     |           |
   |     |           |
   |     X valve
   |     |
   |     I adapter plastic-to cu
   |
   | - steel sprinkler line

Q’s:
Whatever I do, I’d prefer to test before final sweating - I do not have high pressure air available - can wing-nut type test plug hold against household water pressure?

Would it be possible to tap housing of the valve body for some kind of plug? What is the smallest size pipe thread - could I get a plug that size, drill a hole above the ball in the valve, use hole to drain all possible water while sweating joints, then plug hole.

Is there anything which does what bread is supposed to do?

Any goop to smear over tiny holes in the sweated joints which drip - and drip enough that the shower pressure drop is noticeable.

Thanks for reading, and bless for any soultion.

2

I’m using MAP and wasting enough solder to do the job 20 times.

3

Do they make a press on valve or extender (sharkbite?)?

4

I had a strange connection on a modular home. Shark bite, as mentioned above, was the only workaround short of re-plumbing the entire home.

Link

5

You can’t solder a pipe with water in it, or with old solder on the joint, or with any corrosion. Push fit is the way to go.

6

This is outside - in this town all utility access is on the exteriors of houses.
(Burglars love the place). and I haven’t seen sharkbite in 1 1/4. I suspect it does not meet code.

I have been able to open a sweated joint, smooth down the solder (power tools are wonderful things) and re-use them - as these assemblies run $100+ a pop, you can believe I’m gonna recycle. Only thing I couldn’t re-open was a union - it was a tight fit and I suspect solder got into the threads once it was torqued down.

p.s. - as a last kick in the butt: No form of test cap - mechanical or sweat (a very short cap - any real fitting would use much more of the pipe end.
My next guess is to use unions on the 1 1/4’s and stub out the 3/4 until everything else checks out.

I love suppliers with the "We’re out, don’t know when exactly - it won’t bee re-ordered until the order WEIGHT makes it worthwhile.

No unions available today - maybe tomorrow

7

Sharkbite does indeed make 1.25" fittings, here’s a bunch at Home Depot’s website:

http://www.homedepot.com/s/1%25201%252F4%2522%2520sharkbite?NCNI-5

Love those fittings. I had a similar situation (had to put a shutoff valve on a pipe where the old valve wasn’t doing a good job, so there was a constant flow of water even when the old valve was turned all the way “off”. I cut the pipe and inserted a Sharkbite ball valve, works perfectly. No way I could have done that if I had to sweat the copper.

8

Took a long look at the thing - there is a mis-alignment between the (vertical) supply line and the (horizontal) house plumbing - that line don’t go to that point.
The builders got around by threading the pipe so it pointed to the line. A squared thread doesn’t quite get there.
HD carries half-length “connectors” - chopping up the line and using a bunch of not-quire-straight joints might get it there.