How-To
Replacing Copper Pipe with No Wiggle Room
Using couplings without internal stops.
Sometimes you have to replace a section of copper pipe in a run where there isn’t any play. I encountered this when an old, obsolete saddle trap was leaking and needed to be replaced with a new piece of pipe. In these situations, you want to use couplings without internal stops. These couplings allow you to slide the new piece of pipe into place.
As shown in the drawing, I cut the new section so that it fit right up against the existing pipe ends, and I put marks on the existing pipe to show how far down to slide the couplings. Then I slid the couplings over the new section, using the marks to tell me where to stop.
— Nick Fera, Brielle, N.J.
Hi. I am the author. Indeed, it is "saddle tap" not "saddle trap". That was a misprint.
"old, obsolete saddle trap was leaking"
Did the author intend "tap" rather than "trap"? I'm not a plumber but have never heard of a "saddle trap".
If it was an error, it made it all the way into the March 2017 issue.