Clamping black poly water supply line

I went there this morning, dug up the soggy spot and found the leak. The supply line was 1" black poly pipe---the kind that comes in coils, and not the heaviest grade either. I cut the line at the leak, inserted a metal burr and clamped it with two hose clamps. I left it like that so that the woman could make sure it didn't leak for a few hours before refilling the hole and putting the pieces of turf back in place.

When I came in this evening there was a message saying that the repair had leaked---about a teaspoonful in several hours. Here's my question: will I improve the situation if I move the hose clamps out of the way and heat the ends of the pipe that overlap the burr with a heat gun before reclamping? I think I have a pretty good feel for how much I can tighten a hose clamp before it strips out, so just putting some more torque on the clamps probably won't do the trick. If the heat idea is a no-go, should I add another hose clamp to each end? Do something else? All ideas from your experience are welcome.

Thanks, Stan

I also took a heat gun (unfortunately Russ's suggestion to use hot water arrived too late to help me this time) but an employee of the local water department who arrived on the scene shortly after I did suggested that I not use it if I hadn't done it before. He said that he always uses heat but that that type of poly goes from soft to crispy unexpectedly. I agreed that the risk/reward factor didn't support on-the-job-training on a correction that I personally wouldn't even have bothered with (the seepage had amounted to about 1 teaspoon of water in 23 hours---and seepage, in my experience, is often self-correcting from the minerals in the water.)

The woman was very aware that I had probably saved her about $350, not to mention the high likelihood that a plumber would have tried to frighten her into replacing the whole supply line (and very possibly viewed it as simply being "proactive" or, "better safe than sorry." That's an especially easy position to take when somebody else's money is involved.) No offence intended to any good and honest plumbers who might read this. There are certainly many decent, honest, reliable plumbers, mechanics, and even lawyers. There are also many who aren't. I speak from experience.

Thanks again, Stan

I don't have a lot of experience with black plastic pipe, but I did install a large amount of it a few years ago. The plumbing supply house where I bought the pipe sold me some special splices that I used to join the coils of pipe to each other. The splices consisted of two large nuts, two rubber compression rings, and a center piece that joined the two pieces of pipe together. When the nuts were tightened onto the center piece, the rubber compression rings were compressed, and a water tight seal was made.

If you have a good plumbing supply house near by, you might ask them what they recommend for joining rolls of black plastic line.

Good luck,

Tom in TN

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