My Copper Pipes Keep Getting Pinhole Leaks (Keyport, WA)

What usually causes pinhole leaks in copper in Keyport

The most common cause we find in Keyport is water chemistry. Slightly aggressive water dissolves copper from the inside over decades. On small, tightly packed village lots with till on the Keyport Road approaches underneath, that's where we look first.

We also check velocity erosion, because in Keyport it explains a real share of pinhole leaks in copper calls. Undersized hot lines or a recirculation pump wear the pipe at elbows and tees.

And age: copper from the 1960s and 70s has been in service for half a century, and thin spots fail first. Less common on larger parcels along Keyport Road, but we've found it near the Naval Undersea Museum.

First steps on a Keyport property

Village repairs are hand-dug transitions from galvanized or copper to PEX next to foundations that date to the Navy station's early decades.

Before we arrive in Keyport, three things you can do: look at exposed copper in the crawlspace for green-blue staining or earlier patches. Note whether the pinholes are all on the hot side. Do the meter test to catch the current leak if there is one. None of it requires tools, and all of it helps us close and document faster on larger parcels along Keyport Road.

How we fix it

Fixing pinhole leaks in copper here usually ends with whole-house repipe near Keyport Road: close and document with water heater connections and, tie in and test on short runs on the peninsula grid, abandon or remove old lines. One crew, one visit, damp shoreline ground on Liberty Bay put back the way it was.

We've handled pinhole leaks in copper near the Naval Undersea Museum where the cause was 1920s galvanized under village foundations, and near Port Orchard Bay where beach deposits at Virginia Point was hiding a drain failure. Ten minutes up Brownsville Highway; we schedule Keyport so you aren't waiting a whole day.