On a recent radio broadcast we took a call from a woman with a special plumbing problem. Before we could finish welcoming her onto the air, she began to bark out instructions: "Hold on, I need to get the phone closer to the toilet so that you guys can hear the terrible racket it makes every time I flush." Before we could respond, she did just that. We could sense the suspense as our listeners waited to share in the caller's toilet-tank symphony. The lever dropped and the cycle began, revealing the roaring howl of her troubled flush. After a bit of laughter, we explained to the woman how easy and inexpensive the repair could be. We told her that it would take a 59-cent washer, a screwdriver and about 30 minutes of her time to correct her problem. We told her to shut off the toilet water supply at the wall valve, flush to empty the tank and unscrew the top of the ball-cock valve to expose the culprit - a dried-out noise-making washer. She interrupted, "Wait a second, that's too confusing for me."

The point to our story is simple - even the most basic repair can overwhelm some folks.

How's that for a segue into one of plumbing's more user-friendly connecting devices - the compression fitting. Although it's user-friendly, a less-than-cautious do-it-yourselfer easily could end up with a leaky connection. We like to call this one the "don't-move-it-once-everything-has-been-tightened-or-it-might-leak fitting." We'll tell you why shortly.

The compression fitting is a three-piece assembly that consists of a cap-shaped nut with female threads, a compression ring that looks exactly like a simple wedding ring and a seat section with male threads (usually an integral part of a faucet or fixture of some kind). The cap nut and the seat are screwed together causing the compression ring to squeeze tightly against both, as well as the adjoining pipe. This causes a compressed or compression type watertight connection.

Years ago, water pipes were connected with threaded fittings. However, with the arrival of copper pipe, soldering became the common connecting method. By the way, soldering is not an easy task for even the most astute do-it-yourselfer. In the beginning there must have been quite a bit of resistance to soldering among those who were used to making pipe wrench connections. With the coming of the compression fitting, a simple solder-free pipe-wrench connection again could be made. No wonder they became so popular so quickly. Although compression fittings allow for the instant and easy removal and replacement of most household plumbing connections (without the need for a soldering gun or torch), there are a couple of drawbacks.

Once connected, the pipes traveling into and out of compression fittings must not be disturbed. Often, even the slightest movement can cause an otherwise watertight joint to leak. We've seen more than one novice install a compression fitting. Immediately after tightening the connection, the newcomer, in each case, wiggled the newly connected pipe to be certain that the joint was solid. That usually resulted in the instant creation of a leak. The trick with compression-fitting connections is to leave them alone once the joint has been achieved. Under-sink and other out-of-the-way fixture connections are where such fittings are most secure.

Although we strongly support the use of compression fittings at valves that are directly connected to half- and three-quarter-inch pipe, we take the opposite position on compression fittings used for quarter and eighth-inch tubing, such as water-supply connections between the wall valve (angle stop) and the faucet or toilet. Here we recommend the new high-pressure plastic and metal water-supply lines. They have the same threads used by compression fittings and they don't leak, no matter how much you wiggle them.

Finally, keep in mind that reusing a compression fitting doesn't always work. We frequently succeed at this endeavor, but the folks who make compression fittings say that each connection creates its own concentric shape, and that reusing a compression fitting could result in a leaky connection.

To remove an existing compression fitting, remove the cap nut and then use a fine-tooth hacksaw to cut the compression ring off the pipe. Caution must be used to prevent slicing up the underlying pipe.