How I saved my partner & I money & time fixing our irrigation pipe

This is a clear departure from what I usually write, I know. But you will be pleasantly surprised by the clear change in subject matter.

Our house is only ten years old, and already, we are experiencing plumbing issues. The water in this part of Arizona is unbelievably rich in minerals and lime. Pipes, faucets, shower heads, and anything else plumbing related lasts for about a year and a half without a water softener before stuff starts clogging and breaking. Valves are especially vulnerable, especially the cheap kind with the plastic handles.

We constantly fiddle with the irrigation adjusting watering heads, even replacing them when they are jammed or extremely clogged. One of the solenoids which controls the irrigation needs replacing, and our main line is slowly leaking. One of our irrigation heads broke off at the joint inside an L-bracket within the treaded hole on top. Lovely.

The plumbing under our kitchen sink failed twice. The second time we had a plumber come out. He charged us $250 to remove the faucet and replace the angle stop valves. He then said it will be another $150 for a new faucet. We declined, and he left taking the nut to our expensive faucet with him. Now even if we fixed our expensive faucet, there was no way to fix it to the sink. Thanks Mr. Plumber. We shelled out another $200+ dollars for a similar faucet.

With all this occurring, I was fed up. I looked on YouTube, such a reliable source, for the information I sought. There were videos on how to remove PVC pipe from within a valve or another pipe to reuse again. It was such a simple solution.

From this, I was at least able to remove the piece of plastic pipe stuck in the fitting within the PVC L-bracket.

I used our trusty torch. No, seriously. I busted out the torch, set it on the lowest setting without blowing out the flame, and set it on the plastic pieces for about half a minute, maybe less. With a razor knife, I pried the piece up. It twisted off like a rubber gasket leaving the threads intact and unmolested. From that point on, it was an easy fix. We screwed on a new piece of pipe with an irrigation head.

That was it! It was simple. It was clean. It was fun! Hopefully, you too will be able to use this skill to save money, and save yourself from calling a ripoff of a plumber. Cheers!