Mt husband and I replaced a leaking faucet. We opened the drains to drain the water out of the system. We got all the solders done but one. There is water in the line and we can't get it out. We have tried numerous times to solder the pipe but it has a pinhole leak.
Any ideas where the water is coming from?? Help...

If there is the slightest moisture in and around the pipe where you are sweating it, the solder won't take. Get a stick with a rag and place it into the pipe to dry it out. Or get a compressor and take a valve that blows air and blow the air out.

Are the piple 3/4 or 1/2?

Hi Dee1959:

In this case, I would have you shut the water to the entire house, and open all faucets including the outside faucet... ok?

Then I would have you try to solder the defective joint again...

If that doesn't work and you still find that water is present then you may need to go BELOW this joint by a foot or so and start to BOIL the water out of the line (shutoffs open, faucet open). Here, you heat the copper pipe and look at faucet spout and should see some steam coming out the spout... you can't OVERHEAT the line so you dry up BELOW the joint and end up unsoldering the joint below that, but need to heat it so you get a few inches of water removed so you can solder the joint.

If this fails to work after this then most likely the joint has gone bad and will need to be cut out and then redone following the rules I just outlined... ok?

That's how to do it... OPEN ALL faucets in house, drain to BELOW the faucet in question... boil water out if necessary, and /or replace leaking part if needed. That should get you up and running.

Let me know how it goes... or if you have any more questions!

MARK

Can you describe the piping that you can't drain, such as " a pipe coming out of the basement floor below all faucets".