Hi, I have a leak inside the wall at my bath tub faucet where the copper pipe meets the faucet. The whole unit was replaced before I bought this house so it is not very old, but it is leaking where the pipes are screwed together. Now my problem is that it is a 3 knob faucet w/shower so I can not actually unscrew the connections to fix them, they are just threaded female ends soldered on to a piece of copper pipe. You can tell they screwed them on first and used couplings to join inside the wall with the existing pipe.

Is there anything I can use to stop the leak at the threaded joint? I can tell they taped it well but it does not seem to be doing any good. To re-tape it I would have to cut out the entire faucet which I would rather not do.

I thought about trying to melt the tape away with a torch and just solder those connection to, but I don't know if that would work.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

How to Fix Leaking Pipes | eHow.com Go to that website and look at the many different pages they have on plumbing solutions and good luck hope you find what you need.

Depending on how nasty the job is, you can:

1) Cut the single pipe in two places with a close quarters pipe cutter.
2) You then have to unscrew the fitting
3) Make a new connection with a short piece of pipe and tape the threads
4) Install that short section
5) Place two through couplings on the ends of the two pipes and slde onto the pipes
6) There will be a section of pipe missing - say about 4" or less
6) Cut a piece of pipe to fit
7) Slide the through couplings over the center of the joints and solder

You'll likely need a heat shied when soldering. There are two couplings made. One with a grove down the center which wll prevent the pipe from gong through and the other with the groove which is used to join pipe end to end.

I installed my bathroom fixture when I remodeled with couplings, so it could be removed as a unit.