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Two questions today: 1) My tub faucet. Not sure of the brand, but it's operated from just a single knob, turning it is both flow control...sort of...and temperature. Turning counter-clockwise turns it on, and the more counter-clockwise you go the hotter it gets...except then at some point going in that direction eventually shuts the faucet off...but it's not at the end of its rotation, I can keep turning it and then it comes back on: https://gfycat.com/illegalembarrassedkusimanse Hard to see, but you can see it better looking at the shadow of the water. I'm only turning the knob counter-clockwise in that video. When it comes back on after coming to nearly off, it's only cold water, and it's full hot water right before it starts to trickle. 2) My hot water...namely, I don't seem to have enough.. I have an electric heater with a 50 gallon tank, both temp dials were set to about 130/135 when I first noticed I didn't have a lot of hot water, I upped them to the max of 150 and it seems to have made no difference. I get maybe 10-12 minutes of hot water in the shower before I notice is starts to cool down, then I have maybe 1-2 minutes of warm water if I turn the hot to full blast before it is basically gone and I have room temp water for a minute or 2 then full cold. From my research, likely factor is one of the heating elements (probably the lower one) is bad/faulty? I was planning to get a gas on-demand heater eventually, so it looks like I'll just have to up the time table on that if fixing this heater costs more than like $50.
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Oct 29, 2019 14:15
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DrBouvenstein posted:I was planning to get a gas on-demand heater eventually, so it looks like I'll just have to up the time table on that if fixing this heater costs more than like $50. How old is the water heater? If it's 10+ years, and especially if it's 15+, my crystal ball sees a replacement in your future. In theory, the elements can be replaced for <$40, but it involves draining the tank and trying to unscrew a likely crusty and rusted element from the tank. Once you do that, there's a strong chance it will leak from the element threads necessitating a replacement anyway. If you're lucky, however, maybe the thermostat(s) are just bad, which is an easy DIY replacement. If you have an electric tank and are trying to move to gas tankless, you're going to be looking at a very large bill to run new gas piping and exhaust/intake pipes.
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Oct 29, 2019 14:56
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B-Nasty posted:If you have an electric tank and are trying to move to gas tankless, you're going to be looking at a very large bill to run new gas piping and exhaust/intake pipes. I called my gas utility and they install lines from the supply pipes along the road to my house for free, so that's covered. I guess the big question is if I can choose where they have it enter the house, since where the current water heater is makes it easier to reconnect the plumbing. At the very least, the current water heater location is along the wall facing the road, roughly halfway along the wall, so even if the gas comes in at one of the corners, it's about as short a stretch of gas pipe needed as I could hope for. And are the exhaust lines that expensive? It's a ranch with the top 12 or so inches of the basement ceiling area above grade, so can't I just vent horizontally out through the rim joist area?
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Oct 29, 2019 15:13
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DrBouvenstein posted:And are the exhaust lines that expensive? It's a ranch with the top 12 or so inches of the basement ceiling area above grade, so can't I just vent horizontally out through the rim joist area? That's likely what will need to be done. I'm just saying, assuming you have a plumber come in to run the gas in the basement (it probably won't enter the house in the right spot) and install the exhaust, you're probably looking at at least $1000-2000 installation on top of the $1000-$2000 for a tankless. This is vs. the $500 and DIY for another 50g electric tank. It would never recoup the cost from an efficiency perspective, but that may not be why you're doing it.
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Oct 29, 2019 15:22
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DrBouvenstein posted:1) My tub faucet. Not sure of the brand, but it's operated from just a single knob, turning it is both flow control...sort of...and temperature. Turning counter-clockwise turns it on, and the more counter-clockwise you go the hotter it gets...except then at some point going in that direction eventually shuts the faucet off...but it's not at the end of its rotation, I can keep turning it and then it comes back on: e: SHUT OFF THE WATER BEFORE PULLING THE CARTRIDGE. Yes, I learned this from experience. Because I'm an idiot. It was kind of funny though. gvibes fucked around with this message at 19:36 on Oct 29, 2019 |
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Oct 29, 2019 16:50
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B-Nasty posted:That's likely what will need to be done. I feel like I can do the exhaust, though I suppose it would be weird to have a plumber over to do the gas line, hookup the water heater, then have him leave before it's really "done" just so I can save another couple hundred. And the tankless models I'm looking at are at the lower end (since I live alone I don't need a huge flow rate) maybe $1000-$1200, and I can get up to $500 back as part of an efficiency program from my gas supplier. So hopefully I could go all in for less than $2000, but I'll research my current tank options first...I feel like it might be the thermostat, because like I said, I set it to 150 for both elements but there's no way it's actually that hot, I haven't checked, but a faucet on full hot doesn't feel any hotter to me than any other place I've been where it's set at 120-125.
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Oct 29, 2019 17:57
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HycoCam posted:Picture would help. Adding an air admittance valve or a "Studor" valve as they are often called, is not overly difficult. http://imgur.com/a/898YVly I'm assuming the valve goes at a high point post-trap. Not really sure what to do here. I won't be able to check out the basement until closing.
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Oct 29, 2019 18:19
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Mr. Powers posted:http://imgur.com/a/898YVly It is possible to correct both your vent and s-trap issue. Offset the riser back with a couple of 45 degree elbows as soon as the pipe penetrates the base of the cabinet. Stack a sanitary on top of that with a AAV riser on the top and your trap coming into the arm of the tee. If you need a drawing I can hook it up later when not on mobile.
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Oct 29, 2019 18:32
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Bubba has the solution.
HycoCam fucked around with this message at 01:43 on Oct 30, 2019 |
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Oct 29, 2019 18:39
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okay, so it's possible but might get funky. I'm hoping that it's not a bad area underneath and I can move things around a bit. I'll report back in once I own the place.
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Oct 29, 2019 19:42
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 If A is 3" in length you would no longer have a S-trap. The length of B is determined by how far you needed to offset for A to be the minimum 3". Install AAV (studor) as high up inside the cabinet you can while still allowing enough room for it to be un-threaded later for repair or replacement. Excuse the lovely MS Paint BubbaGrace fucked around with this message at 01:16 on Oct 30, 2019 |
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Oct 30, 2019 01:01
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This lovely MS paint is on fact not lovely and clearly illustrates what you're suggesting I do.
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Oct 30, 2019 01:39
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I ordered a bidet from USA to over here in Europe, thinking "whatever it connects to, there's going to be an adapter in the local hardware store". What a fool I was! It comes with fittings marked 3/8" and 7/8", clearly intended for USA market. Over here we use 3/4" and 1/2" mostly in similar connections, sometimes also 10mm for sink connectors. I can't find any suitable adapters and the local hardware shop told me to go find someone with a lathe. Surely there has to be some place online that sells USA-EU pipe adapters? Where should I look? Googling just takes me to forum posts with other people having similar issues. I am also frightened by the fact that there are multiple thread standards and I have no idea which either one I have (the USA nor the EU one) is called, as there seem to be multiple options. What's the thread standard I should be working with when we speak of bathroom fittings?
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Oct 30, 2019 18:33
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So we had a leak. Water was trickling into our sump basin, triggering the sump pump every 9 minutes. This had been ongoing for the last 10 months. I had three "experts" come up with causes and fixes. None worked, I stumbled on the problem by accident. The main water supply line was leaking. On Friday we had it repaired. There was an existing polu well supply line that the copper was run through when the house was converted to city water. The leak was somewhere inside this line, thus the water was directed down to the sump instead of pooling under the house. diggin'  the copper running into the poly line  copper pulled out (it slid right out)  pex ran through from outside  new line in place  installed  The line is repaired, the sump has gone off maybe 4 times since.
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Oct 30, 2019 18:55
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EssOEss posted:I ordered a bidet from USA to over here in Europe, thinking "whatever it connects to, there's going to be an adapter in the local hardware store". What a fool I was! I can't tell you for sure but I'm going to hazard a guess that the bidet is using NPT (US) and your plumbing is using BSP (everywhere else). Both of them come in straight and tapered forms, I'm assuming you've got straight, but you could check with some calipers or some string and a ruler or something. If you need more precise information about what kind of threads you have, you can buy things like this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B071H8GP18/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 You'll probably need two sets. Once you know more precisely what you're after, you can find adapters online if you search long enough. You could also take a punt if you've stared at them long enough and compared photos with enough of a squint to convince yourself you know what you need, in which case skip the pitch gauges. Jaded Burnout fucked around with this message at 19:16 on Oct 30, 2019 |
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Oct 30, 2019 19:12
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Well this sucks. Just test fit my garbage disposal under a new deeper sink and I hadn’t realized it would make the disposal output lower than the drain in the wall. I’m too far along to move the drain, so is my only option getting rid of the disposal? 
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Oct 31, 2019 06:41
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I'm not going to lie, directly burying PEX makes me nervous for some reason, similar to how everyone who uses PEX here in Phoenix seems to route it through attics that hit 140-degs or more during the summer. In the home we bought earlier this year, you can find all of the old poly-B in the attic that seemingly was completely replaced with copper, but they left it (due to the cost?), and looking at old videos that showed it as being somewhat flexible, and seeing the stuff in my attic essentially acting like a more-brittle version of PVC, makes me wonder how well PEX will hold up in certain environments long-term as the plasticizers off-gas.
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Oct 31, 2019 07:31
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Faustian Bargain posted:Well this sucks. Just test fit my garbage disposal under a new deeper sink and I hadn’t realized it would make the disposal output lower than the drain in the wall. I’m too far along to move the drain, so is my only option getting rid of the disposal? What's that lower (plugged) hole in the wall for?
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Oct 31, 2019 14:35
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PainterofCrap posted:What's that lower (plugged) hole in the wall for?
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Oct 31, 2019 14:57
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SourKraut posted:I'm not going to lie, directly burying PEX makes me nervous for some reason, similar to how everyone who uses PEX here in Phoenix seems to route it through attics that hit 140-degs or more during the summer. I'm not too worried, most new construction her runs the pex right off the main and they pour concrete right over it. If we have an issue down the road at least we know exactly where it is.
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Oct 31, 2019 15:16
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Faustian Bargain posted:It’s just access to the same drain line, but I don’t want to rip up the wall to bring the drain down. Is there any reason you can't tie the trap into that lower one, and bung the upper one?
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Oct 31, 2019 15:37
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PainterofCrap posted:Is there any reason you can't tie the trap into that lower one, and bung the upper one?
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Oct 31, 2019 15:47
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Tearing up a wall in a cabinet is a pretty sweet place to need to tear out a wall though. All the damage will be hidden and you can just throw up some plywood on it instead of sheetrock.
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Oct 31, 2019 16:03
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DrBouvenstein posted:water heater stuff Well I just remembered my water heater is actually leased from the electric company (I've only been here a month and a half and only just got my second electric bill, cut me some slack), so I'll just call them ans see if they can check/service it for cheap/free first before I go down any sort of on demand/gas installation route.
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Oct 31, 2019 18:10
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Faustian Bargain posted:I don't know. I'm going to talk to my wife and see if she wants to have no disposal or call in the pros. I don't want to tear up the wall for this. Maybe I'm missing something...but if the lower pipe will work - then you don't have to tear up anything. You can remove the bung/cap, thread in a piece of PVC & tie the trap to it. It should lower the trap enough to use the disposal unit you have there. Then, cap off the upper one.
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Oct 31, 2019 22:42
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He's right. This is like $20 in parts too.
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Nov 1, 2019 00:00
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I gave up and I'm having someone come out to mess with it. Maybe that will be the solution! Thanks all.
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Nov 1, 2019 16:11
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gvibes posted:That seems like a bad valve/cartridge. You can get replacement ones, but you need to figure out valve what you have. The most common brands seem to be Moen and Delta. You probably need to start by pulling the knob off, seeing what the valve looks like, and comparing to pictures online. It's a Delta, but it's also old, so who knows its a valve I can still get. Might just replace the tub faucet and handle since I don't like this style anyway. I like having separate controls for flow and temp, not just "always on full blast" with temp control. I'll see if it does what my sink did when I shut off the water...it still flowed cold water out the entire time. Even after I had the faucet open for several minutes to try and relieve all the pressure. Good thing it was a press-fitting and not one I had to solder. I suspect it was back pressure from the water heater, since I don't have a cold water expansion tank. This time, I'll shut off the water coming in from the mains (since the shower doesn't have any dedicated shut offs,) as well as the cold water inlet to the water heater to see if that helps.
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Nov 1, 2019 16:47
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DrBouvenstein posted:It's a Delta, but it's also old, so who knows its a valve I can still get. Might just replace the tub faucet and handle since I don't like this style anyway. I like having separate controls for flow and temp, not just "always on full blast" with temp control. If you change your mind, you can just call Delta and they’ll send you a new cartridge for free, no matter how old, as long as you pinky swear you’re the original owner of the fixture. edit: oops. That’s a Moen thing. No idea if Delta has the same policy. eddiewalker fucked around with this message at 19:00 on Nov 1, 2019 |
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Nov 1, 2019 18:17
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I am having trouble dismanling the inflow to my toilet tank. Behold this CAD diagram. The inflow adapter or whatever it is called is screwed in with a nut on the bottom, which I could easily unscrew... had the installer not also screwed an L-shaped piece of pipe into the adapter, which is firmly stuck so when I turn anything, the whole assembly spins around. I cannot get any proper grip on the top part sticking into the tank because it is slippery plastic and my pipe wrench can't really bite (also the angles are quite poor from the top). What should I try? Edit: of course, no more than a minute after posting I finally manage to get a grip on the thing and it starts turning. Edit 2: gently caress, it's turning but not at the right place. The adapter's insides are turning with the outside (the part I am gripping from the tank) staying put. Edit 3: I was afraid the bolts or rather "rusts" holding the tank would be a problem but no - came right off and now I have full access to everything. I guess I should have started from this. EssOEss fucked around with this message at 10:28 on Nov 3, 2019 |
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Nov 3, 2019 10:01
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Another DIY success story.
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Nov 3, 2019 10:35
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It looks like a trailer hitch with a pair of rubber testicles underneath.
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Nov 3, 2019 14:35
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no ring
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Nov 3, 2019 17:19
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But is he pissing on the ceiling or what
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Nov 4, 2019 06:53
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If I ever decide to get out of my career I am loving going to tradeschool for plumbing, because it's just insanity around here: I have a few basic things I need done, and the time estimates I've gotten so far (from people who even return calls) range from "4 weeks" to "next march". So, this morning I got to learn about shower valve pressure switches.  This was a very generic American Standard and I am optimistic I will have no trouble getting a replacement for everything not pictured at Home Depot today. Given that I more or less had to shred the old cartridge to get it free, I'm banking on that, since otherwise I can't turn water to the bathroom back on. loving sick of the "hot water only" special shower, though. The other thing I need to do is replace the anode rod on my boiler fired water tank (can taste sulphur suddenly; old rod has probably completely disintegrated). I was able to get the replacement part and drain the tank easily enough after powering down the boiler, but the old rod is really on there, and I don't (yet) own an impact wrench. The unit is a Buderus S-120. I don't really want to have another month of ongoing tank degradation, but I have this sinking feeling that if I start wrenching on that rod, I need to be prepared to possibly completely replace the tank once I open it up. Am I making this into a bigger deal than it needs to be? The tank is 20 years old, so replacing it would be annoying but not totally unexpected
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Nov 4, 2019 14:37
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Tim Raines IRL posted:I don't really want to have another month of ongoing tank degradation, but I have this sinking feeling that if I start wrenching on that rod, I need to be prepared to possibly completely replace the tank once I open it up. Am I making this into a bigger deal than it needs to be? The tank is 20 years old, so replacing it would be annoying but not totally unexpected Nope, you're pretty much dead on. Trying to remove an anode rod for the first time on a decade+ water heater/tank has a high likelihood of going poorly. BTW, impact wrenches are generally a bad idea for this case, even though I've done it. You're better off getting a big rear end cheater bar for your wrench and taking it slow. Have a backup plan, because there's a good chance a new one will leak around the threads if you are actually able to do the replacement.
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Nov 4, 2019 15:06
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Tim Raines IRL posted:If I ever decide to get out of my career I am loving going to tradeschool for plumbing, because it's just insanity around here: I have a few basic things I need done, and the time estimates I've gotten so far (from people who even return calls) range from "4 weeks" to "next march". If you own you own home: Go ahead and try fixing it yourself. Trade school (can be fabulous, and fabulously expensive in the US) formalizes the process and teaches you how to do everytrhing right in an orderly process. 1) leave yourself plenty of time 2) Shut off the water supply first 3) have buckets/trays/bath towels on hand 4) Talk to people you know/the forums/Use YouTube. Don't be afraid to make mistakes or screw things up. Everything is repairable. When we bought our house in 1992, I knew very little about plumbing, electric, etc. However, we sunk every dime we had into getting the place, so I was poor, desperate & willing. I have never hired a plumber or electrician. I have made tons of mistakes - I've had to go back & re-do some really cringe-y poo poo. BUT I was willing (read: desperate), had friends (some with actual useful knowledge) and, above all was not afraid (though it took my wife a few years to get on board, especially with electrical work).
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Nov 4, 2019 15:28
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DrBouvenstein posted:Well I just remembered my water heater is actually leased from the electric company (I've only been here a month and a half and only just got my second electric bill, cut me some slack), so I'll just call them ans see if they can check/service it for cheap/free first before I go down any sort of on demand/gas installation route. Well, I called the electric company and it is NOT leased, so I guess the seller just checked the wrong box on the SPIR. But, I found out this house was part of a program called Power Miser that the company used to do that helped offload power to non-peak times, and my water heater is on one of these old systems. It's getting taken out tomorrow, and we'll see if it helps at all after that. I suspect it won't, though, because no matter the time of day I've taken a shower it's ten minutes of hot water and that's it. Especially since in theory off-peak time would be, like, overnight...so my 50 gallon tank should have plenty of piping hot water for my morning shower, not only 10 minutes worth.
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Nov 4, 2019 17:13
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any thoughts on the best sump pump battery backup system out there?
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Nov 4, 2019 17:46
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brugroffil posted:any thoughts on the best sump pump battery backup system out there? None. Battery backup are trash. Get a water powered.
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Nov 4, 2019 17:54
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