Tracyton: My Copper Pipes Keep Getting Pinhole Leaks

Why this happens in Tracyton

The most common cause we find in Tracyton is water chemistry. Slightly aggressive water dissolves copper from the inside over decades. On mid-size lots on the Tracyton Boulevard grid with seeps and springs in the Dyes Inlet bluff underneath, that's where we look first.

We also check velocity erosion, because in Tracyton 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.

Don't overlook age. Copper from the 1960s and 70s has been in service for half a century, and thin spots fail first. On Tracyton properties from 1950s-to-1980s ranch homes and waterfront cabins it comes up more than you'd think.

Before you call

Silverdale Water District serves most of it, which means a meter at the road and a quick handoff.

Before we arrive in Tracyton, 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 tie in and test faster on bluff parcels with natural seeps.

What happens next

Fixing pinhole leaks in copper here usually ends with whole-house repipe near Olympic High School: tie in and test with new main shutoff and, run new lines on sloped waterfront lots on the inlet, survey. One crew, one visit, dense hardpan on the plateau put back the way it was.

We've handled pinhole leaks in copper near Tracyton Beach Road where the cause was galvanized on the older waterfront cabins, and near Riddell Road where till under the Riddell Road grid was hiding a drain failure. Minutes from our base; we schedule Tracyton so you aren't waiting a whole day.