You are swapping a shutoff valve, a faucet supply line or a radiator valve, the compression nut is off, and the old brass olive sits crushed onto the copper pipe and will not budge. In the US that olive is usually called a compression sleeve or a ferrule; olive is the British name. Two tools are made for getting it off: an olive splitter and an olive puller, which US stores sell as a compression sleeve puller. Which one suits your job depends on how much room you have and how thin your pipe is.
Quick Answer
Use an olive splitter in most cases, because it takes the olive off without cutting the pipe and works close to a wall. An olive puller is fine on a clear pipe end, but go carefully on thin-wall pipe, because cranking the puller down can squash the end. Either way, check that the pipe end is round and free of score marks before the new olive goes on.
Why the Olive Is Stuck
When the nut was tightened, it drove the olive into the angled seat inside the valve and squeezed it into the wall of the copper pipe, which is how a compression fitting seals. So the olive stays clamped on the pipe after the nut comes off.
Treat an olive as single-use. That squeeze shaped it to one joint, so plan to fit a new olive and a new nut rather than reuse it.
What Happens With a Hacksaw or Pliers
The olive is thin and sits tight on the pipe, so once a saw blade cuts through it, the next stroke hits the pipe. Cut a slot in the olive with a hacksaw or a mini hacksaw, and a single slip leaves a score mark in the pipe wall right where the new olive has to seal. When the water goes back on, water seeps past that mark and the fresh joint drips.
Twist the olive off with pliers, and the jaws chew into it and the pipe while the twisting squeezes the pipe out of round. Put a new olive on that chewed, oval pipe and the new joint drips too.
What You Need
Before you start, shut off the water and drain the line. Then have these within reach:
- An olive splitter or an olive puller, sized to the outside diameter of your pipe.
- Calipers or a tape measure to read the outside diameter of the pipe.
- Two adjustable wrenches, one to hold the valve and one to turn the nut.
- Emery cloth to clean the pipe end.
- A deburring tool or a small file to smooth the pipe end.
- A tubing cutter, only if you need to cut the pipe back.
- A new olive and a new compression nut sized to your pipe.
The Olive Splitter
An olive splitter, which some shops call an olive cutter, has two hardened blades. As you squeeze a plier-type splitter or turn the screw on a screw-type splitter, the blades close on opposite sides of the olive until it splits, so you can lift the pieces off the pipe. The pipe stays uncut, and because you are not sawing, you make no metal shavings to drop into the open pipe. The blades reach the olive from the sides, so a splitter needs no room in line with the pipe end.
Splitters fit set pipe sizes, and many are made in metric sizes, so measure the outside diameter of your pipe before buying. US copper pipe goes by a nominal size: the Copper Development Association’s tables list half-inch copper pipe at 5/8 inch across the outside, close to 15 mm but not the same.
If you are buying a splitter, Maun’s olive cutters are a good place to start. Maun’s plier-type olive cutter has a return spring that opens the jaws after each cut, which helps when you have several valves to do. For gaps too tight to open its handles, there is also a screw-type version that you turn with a T-bar. Maun makes both types in metric sizes only (8, 10, 15 and 22 mm for the plier type, 15 and 22 mm for the screw type), so check the fit on US copper first.
How to Use an Olive Splitter
1. Slide the old nut back along the pipe, away from the olive.
2. Set the splitter’s blades across the middle of the olive, one blade on each side.
3. Squeeze the handles or turn the screw a little at a time until the olive splits.
4. Lift the pieces of the olive off the pipe and slide off the old nut.
The Olive Puller
An olive puller is a screw-down tool that grips behind the olive using your old compression nut: you thread the puller into the nut, turn the puller’s screw down against the end of the pipe, and the nut draws the olive off the pipe end in one piece. You need a clear pipe end with room in front of it to turn the screw. On thin-wall copper pipe, cranking the puller down can squeeze the pipe out of round. In the US the thinnest grade is Type M, which has red printing along the pipe.
How to Use an Olive Puller
1. Slide the old nut up against the back of the olive and thread the puller into the nut by hand.
2. Turn the puller’s screw until it presses square on the end of the pipe.
3. Keep turning slowly until the nut draws the olive off the pipe end. On thin-wall pipe, stop if the pipe end starts to squash and switch to a splitter.
4. Unscrew the puller and throw away the old olive and nut.
Choosing Between a Splitter and a Puller
Use a splitter for most jobs, because it leaves the pipe uncut and round and needs no room in line with the pipe end. A puller is fine when the olive sits on a clear pipe end you can get at easily.
If no splitter fits your pipe size, use a puller with care, or cut the pipe back beyond the olive with a tubing cutter and remake the joint. Cutting back is the safer choice on thin-wall Type M pipe, and when there is spare pipe it is often the simplest answer anyway. Leave enough pipe to reach all the way into the new valve.
After the Olive Is Off
1. Wipe the pipe end and look closely for score marks, flat spots or an out-of-round end.
2. If you find damage, cut back past the damage with a tubing cutter if there is pipe to spare, or replace that section of pipe; a new olive will not seal on a damaged end.
3. Clean the pipe end lightly with emery cloth, then deburr the end inside and outside.
4. Slide on the new nut, threads toward the pipe end, then the new olive, which should slide on by hand without catching.
5. Push the pipe all the way into the new valve and thread the nut on by hand.
6. Hold the valve with one wrench and tighten the nut with another to the valve maker’s guidance, not as hard as you can. Crank the nut down and you crush the new olive, and the joint can leak anyway.
7. Turn the water on slowly and watch the nut. If you see a drip, tighten the nut a little more.
A Note on PEX and Plastic Pipe
Everything above is for copper pipe. On PEX or other plastic pipe, a compression joint also needs an insert, a short, stiff tube that pushes into the pipe end so the olive has something firm to squeeze against. None of these tools is for plastic pipe. On PEX, if there is slack, cut the pipe back beyond the old olive and fit a new insert, olive and nut.
FAQ
Can you reuse an old olive?
No. Tightening the nut shapes an olive to one joint, so fit a new olive and a new nut every time you remake the joint.
What is the best way to remove an olive from copper pipe?
Use an olive splitter in most cases: the blades split the olive without cutting the pipe. An olive puller is fine where the pipe end is clear and easy to reach. Never saw the olive or twist it off with pliers.
How do you use an olive puller?
Slide the old nut against the back of the olive, thread the puller into the nut, and turn the puller’s screw down against the pipe end until the nut draws the olive off. Go slowly on thin-wall pipe, and stop if the pipe end starts to squash.
Can you remove a compression olive without cutting the pipe?
Yes. An olive splitter splits the olive and leaves the pipe uncut, and an olive puller draws it off the pipe end whole.
