My Copper Pipes Keep Getting Pinhole Leaks (Port Townsend, WA)

What usually causes pinhole leaks in copper in Port Townsend

The most common cause we find in Port Townsend is water chemistry. Slightly aggressive water dissolves copper from the inside over decades. On acreage toward Cape George with outwash sand under the historic districts underneath, that's where we look first.

We also check velocity erosion, because in Port Townsend 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 small Victorian lots in Uptown, but we've found it near Sheridan Street.

First steps on a Port Townsend property

Hand-dug transitions from 1920s to 50s galvanized to PEX next to brick and stone foundations in the historic districts, with the garden left as we found it.

Before we arrive in Port Townsend, three things you can do: do the meter test to catch the current leak if there is one. Note whether the pinholes are all on the hot side. Look at exposed copper in the crawlspace for green-blue staining or earlier patches. None of it requires tools, and all of it helps us survey faster on small Victorian lots in Uptown.

How we fix it

Fixing pinhole leaks in copper here usually ends with whole-house repipe near Point Hudson: survey with pEX-A tubing, hot and, run new lines on mid-century grid lots on Sheridan Street, close and document. One crew, one visit, sandy bluffs above the Strait put back the way it was.

We've handled pinhole leaks in copper near Sheridan Street where the cause was 1920s galvanized under Uptown gardens, and near Kah Tai Lagoon where clay seams in the uplands was hiding a drain failure. A dedicated trip across the Hood Canal Bridge; we schedule Port Townsend so you aren't waiting a whole day.