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

What usually causes pinhole leaks in copper in Poulsbo

Start with velocity erosion. Undersized hot lines or a recirculation pump wear the pipe at elbows and tees. Around Front Street and Noll Road the housing dates from a Scandinavian-era core ringed by 1970s-to-now construction, which makes this the likeliest answer to pinhole leaks in copper.

Then contact corrosion. Copper against concrete, fill, a steel hanger or a nail plate corrodes at the contact point. We've seen it near Noll Road more than once, usually on long HDPE pulls to Big Valley acreage.

And water chemistry: slightly aggressive water dissolves copper from the inside over decades. Less common on acreage along Big Valley Road, but we've found it near Viking Avenue.

First steps on a Poulsbo property

Out Big Valley Road it's long HDPE pulls to acreage homes on wells or PUD meters.

First steps for pinhole leaks in copper near Fish Park: look at exposed copper in the crawlspace for green-blue staining or earlier patches. Count the pinhole repairs the house has had and where. Note whether the pinholes are all on the hot side. Then call; the rest is a locate through bay-side outwash that drains instantly, not guesswork.

How we fix it

When it's the buried line, the fix in Poulsbo is whole-house repipe: we abandon or remove old lines, plan the openings through hardpan on Finn Hill and Viking Way at the marked spot on subdivision lots off Viking Avenue, and close and document. Quarter-turn fixture shutoffs and the mini excavator ride on the first trip so it's finished the same visit.

Viking Avenue, Fish Park, Finn Hill: near any of them, pinhole leaks in copper gets the same crew and the same equipment. Under twenty minutes up Highway 3, day or night, with the mini excavator on the trailer for shared easement lines in the old core.