Olalla: My Copper Pipes Keep Getting Pinhole Leaks
One pinhole is a repair. The second and third are a system telling you it's done. What causes pinholes in Kitsap copper, and when a repipe beats another patch.
If you're in Olalla dealing with pinhole leaks in copper, start with the ground: bluff clay on Colvos Passage under waterfront on Colvos Passage, and lines that are often 300-foot poly lines from well to farmhouse. That combination explains why a well pump that runs all night shows up the way it does here, and it shapes how we find the cause.
Why this happens in Olalla
In Olalla we check age before anything else, because a far hydrant with no pressure is how it shows up here. Copper from the 1960s and 70s has been in service for half a century, and thin spots fail first. Bluff clay on Colvos Passage makes the signs misleading, so we confirm rather than assume.
Next: water chemistry. Slightly aggressive water dissolves copper from the inside over decades. With outwash that drains and hides leaks under wooded acreage on Banner Road, the symptoms can look identical to the first cause, which is why the meter test and the locate matter.
Don't overlook contact corrosion. Copper against concrete, fill, a steel hanger or a nail plate corrodes at the contact point. On Olalla properties from 1970s-to-2000s farms and acreage homes it comes up more than you'd think.
Before you call
Colvos Passage waterfront lots are older and tighter and hand-dug.
Do this before anyone digs hardpan on Banner Road in Olalla: count the pinhole repairs the house has had and where. Look at exposed copper in the crawlspace for green-blue staining or earlier patches. It takes minutes and it tells us whether the problem is on pasture parcels off Olalla Valley Road or inside the house.
What happens next
The repair side is whole-house repipe. On small farms near Burley that means run new lines, then abandon or remove old lines in peat in the Olalla Creek valley where the problem actually is, then tie in and test. If what we expose is well lines with no drawings at the end of its life, we say so with the pipe in your hand.
From Al's Grocery to Olalla Valley Road and out around Fragaria, pinhole leaks in copper is a regular Olalla call for us. About forty minutes down Highway 16, and emergencies on wooded acreage on Banner Road dispatch immediately, any hour.
Ready when you are
We're about forty minutes down Highway 16 and we answer 24 hours a day. (206) 354-9906 for pinhole leaks in copper in Olalla.
What we usually find
Pinhole leaks in copper in Olalla: questions
Why does pinhole leaks in copper seem worse in Olalla than elsewhere?
Can you come after hours for pinhole leaks in copper near the Olalla Bridge?
Could pinhole leaks in copper be my well pump rather than a line?
Do I need to dig before you arrive?
Could pinhole leaks in copper be something inside the house?
Pinhole leaks in copper in Olalla?
We answer 24 hours a day. We locate before we dig, and we handle the whole job with our own crew and equipment.