renovating my downstairs bathroom and i put in the new shower valve. it‘s been a month and i‘m getting around to putting in the shower and tub trim kit. i took a look through the hole at the valve and i noticed that green material has accumulated at all four connections where i sweated the copper pipes into the valve. is this a serious problem? what causes it? is it a water leak somehow? do i need to rip it out and have it redone?
It's called copper oxide. It was caused by the flux that was used in the sweating process. The statue of Liberty is green because of the oxide and she'll be around for awhile and so will your plumbing. Don't worry about it, most plumbers wipe the joints after sweating getting rid of some of the flux. Regards, Dale
It's copper oxide. It forms whenever air and water react with copper. It's not a problem itself but may be an indication of condensation or a leak. I would check for leaks, wrap some insulation around the pipes where the problem appears to be located, and not worry about it further.
I have been plumbing for 18 years and this week is the first time I have attended two leaks in copper pipe due to this type of problem. I am not long back from one just now and the whole length of pipe has green spots all along it and when I cut the pipe out to replace it looking down inside the pipe the corrosion was bad and literally bulging all along the insides. I am seriously considering from now on using only plastic pipes because of this.
