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kid sinister posted:Have you done the basic "make sure all your traps are full" step yet? A lot of people forget basement floor drains when doing this. Well, I flushed a good bit of water down every drain in the house I could think of and flushed the toilets - all twice - but I'm not really sure what else I could be missing. We're just on a crawlspace here, and it's a tiny, tight little thing at that so I'm not sure where any other drain traps could be. I'm only a first-timer with the whole home owership thing so I'm not really very knowledgeable about this sort of thing 
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Dec 30, 2011 18:26
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tater_salad posted:Question Time : Washers can make funny sounds when draining. It can be just the way the flowing water echoes in the pipe. Mine does it, always has and I've got no drainage issues. Does your toilet run at all? Is the tank filling the bowl?
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Dec 30, 2011 18:26
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Toilet runs fine, fills and flushes fine. Only time there's been an issue is when the tub drained after my sons bath / my wife takes a 40 min shower. Then I may need to wait till they are out for it to flush right. (per my wife, I haven't experienced this first hand) It's definitely gurgling, it hasn't before and it's the kitchen sink that is doing it, not the wash tub the washer drains into. Also What's a good drain cleaner that won't kill my 1 galvanized pipe?
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Dec 30, 2011 18:46
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Chachi posted:Well, I flushed a good bit of water down every drain in the house I could think of and flushed the toilets - all twice - but I'm not really sure what else I could be missing. We're just on a crawlspace here, and it's a tiny, tight little thing at that so I'm not sure where any other drain traps could be. I'm only a first-timer with the whole home owership thing so I'm not really very knowledgeable about this sort of thing Look by your furnace and water heater, there's a drain there.
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Dec 30, 2011 18:55
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kid sinister posted:Look by your furnace and water heater, there's a drain there. Great, both of those are in the crawlspace and I read this response after I was down there looking for the smell. And, wonder of wonders, I've gotten so congested that I can barely smell anything now  I didn't really notice any odors other than an earthy smell while I was down there, although I thought for just a second I smelled something similar to the odor in the house.
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Dec 30, 2011 20:42
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pseudonordic posted:I've got a leaking toilet that I plan to take apart over Christmas break to find the leak. I'm not getting in over my head am I? I have undertaken this today and it's been annoying. Taking it apart was simple enough. I put everything to the side where I could keep it all straight. I got a new set of tank mounting bolts, a new tank-to-bowl gasket, new floor bolts, floor bolt caps, and a new toilet seat. My new issue is that something is leaking slowly. I've double-checked the tank mounting bolts and made sure they're not leaking, so I think it's the new tank-bowl gasket is not keeping a good seal. Can I apply silicone or teflon sealant to both the tank-bowl gasket AND the mounting bolts? Edit: This is what my gasket looks like sitting on the tank. I think it's too small. 
pseudonordic fucked around with this message at 00:34 on Dec 31, 2011 |
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Dec 30, 2011 22:36
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Where is it leaking tank to bowl or outside of the toilet? If it is tank to bowl check the float adjustment it may be too high and dribbling water then refilling
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Dec 31, 2011 00:28
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tater_salad posted:Where is it leaking tank to bowl or outside of the toilet? It's coming from the back of the toilet where the tank and bowl meet. It's dripping from both sides, but mostly from the left side. If I look between the tank and bowl, I can see water. It's either the bolts or the gasket. I'm betting on the gasket. I think I'll have to buy another new one. Edit: This looks more like what I need: http://www.amazon.com/LDR-503-2391-Universal-Gasket/dp/B001DY5LWE It's 2" tall where the current one I have is 11/16". 
pseudonordic fucked around with this message at 00:43 on Dec 31, 2011 |
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Dec 31, 2011 00:35
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pseudonordic posted:It's 2" tall where the current one I have is 11/16". 11/16 installed or uninstalled? They compress. Any time I've had leaking it has been from not tightening the bolts enough.
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Dec 31, 2011 00:56
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Messadiah posted:11/16 installed or uninstalled? They compress. Any time I've had leaking it has been from not tightening the bolts enough. 11/16" uninstalled.
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Dec 31, 2011 01:04
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Rd Rash 1000cc posted:PVC is not allowed in doors. Who ever did it was a hack. Cpvc is allowed but it gets brittle also. I wouldnt put that poo poo in anywhere. Copper is way to expensive to keep plumbing with that.(it is still used in commercial applicaitons, and it looks great but 1 inch copper is almost $3 a foot.) Find a company that will run pex. Pex-A is the best type of pex, it takes expansion fittings. Uponor is one brand of pex-a. Don't let them throw pex b or c in your house. I hate that stuff in my opinion. If they use crimp system it can restrict the flow of the pipe becuase the fittings slide into the pipe and you slide a crimp ring around it. OK, you quoted Chachi twice and this doesn't seem to pertain to their post so I'm gonna assume it's aimed at mine. Yeah, the PVC isn't good but the house is really old and it looks like a lot of the plumbing was installed by someone's cousin. Most of it isn't actually in the house, it's under the house except where it comes up through the floor for the fixtures. The last guy who came out was from a well-reviewed but small company (and was the owner) but, like I said, I wasn't that impressed with him. I'm gonna call another company next week. Any opinions on whether it's ok to route the water supply line around the bathroom instead of under it? It'd really make the replacement easier but I was worried about the additional 90 degree turns.
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Dec 31, 2011 03:43
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t_violet posted:OK, you quoted Chachi twice and this doesn't seem to pertain to their post so I'm gonna assume it's aimed at mine. Yeah, the PVC isn't good but the house is really old and it looks like a lot of the plumbing was installed by someone's cousin. Most of it isn't actually in the house, it's under the house except where it comes up through the floor for the fixtures. pseudonordic posted:11/16" uninstalled. The tank shouldnt rock after its installed. The porcelain of the bowl and tank should be touching when its tight enough.
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Dec 31, 2011 04:31
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Rd Rash 1000cc posted:Ya sorry I messed up on who i was quoting . That answer was for your post. Ask the plumber himself depending on freeing conditions running on an outside wall may be more of a hazard.So the best option may be to run under the house. Is the crawl space that shallow? If you want to save money dig it out yourself. Give a 4 foot path under the toilet, tub and lav and it will make there job quicker and easier. Cool, thanks for the replies. I'm in Texas so the frost line is actually like 0" so no worries there. The crawl space is about 8" so it'd tough for even skinny guys. Hmmm, maybe I will look at trenching it myself and just getting the plumber to install. It'd make things easier when I do decide to redo the bathroom.
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Dec 31, 2011 04:59
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t_violet posted:Cool, thanks for the replies. I'm in Texas so the frost line is actually like 0" so no worries there. The crawl space is about 8" so it'd tough for even skinny guys. Hmmm, maybe I will look at trenching it myself and just getting the plumber to install. It'd make things easier when I do decide to redo the bathroom. You may get away with running on the outside wall if frost line is shallow (or non existent technically). But I'd talk to a plumber and most places give free quotes and ask him what option would be the best. You could even call them up and just describe your situation and say would you have a shallow crawl space. Is it recommended to run plumbing in an exterior wall for a bathroom? Then tell them the other option would be a crawl space that you would excavate if they chose that option.
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Dec 31, 2011 05:33
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Rd Rash 1000cc posted:The tank shouldnt rock after its installed. The porcelain of the bowl and tank should be touching when its tight enough. When I place the tank on the bowl, I thread the wing nuts on the bottoms and tighten until it doesn't have any wiggle left in it but there's still enough play in the wing nuts that I can tighten or loosen them by hand. Maybe it's not tight enough? I just don't want to crack the porcelain.  All the youtube video and eHow instructional videos I've looked at show gaskets that cover the threading of the flapper valve as well as the giant plastic nut on the threading itself. It appears to cover it from the bottom of the tank down to the end of the threads. The gasket I have at the moment just covers the threads and that's it. pseudonordic fucked around with this message at 07:30 on Dec 31, 2011 |
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Dec 31, 2011 07:09
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I picked up a different gasket this morning, here's a comparison shot: Bad gasket  Good gasket (I hope)  Edit: Seems to be working just fine with the new gasket. Hooray! Thanks for putting up with me! pseudonordic fucked around with this message at 18:19 on Dec 31, 2011 |
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Dec 31, 2011 17:43
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You wont snap the porcelain, specially if you are only doing it finger tight with the wing nuts.
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Dec 31, 2011 19:28
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Ok I think that I have my answer to my issues and am looking for confirmation? I looked at my cleanout near the sewer and it's quite full of water, flushing makes the water in the vertical cleanout rise and fall while draining. So I looked at my other peephole for my sump that runs on the other side of the house and same thing, the water level is like 18" from ground level. I looked a the storm drain at the corner of my property and same thing. Is my towns sewer currently full of water because it's super wet around here? Should I call them and tell them to take care of it? Do I just wait For this poo poo weather to stop? Should I still have the plumbers next door come and run the rooter from cleanout to sewer?
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Dec 31, 2011 20:09
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tater_salad posted:Ok I think that I have my answer to my issues and am looking for confirmation? There shouldnt be standing water in your sewer at all. Most likely you have a clog in it.
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Dec 31, 2011 21:28
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Man, I totally respect you real plumbers out there. I installed a new hot water tank in my basement a week ago and I'm still getting over the molten solder burns I got, hah. That'll teach me to wear gloves next time! At least it works fine and there's no leaks!
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Jan 1, 2012 00:21
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Hey, since we all love photos, here's a pic of the ghetto plumbing I need to replace:
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Jan 1, 2012 01:14
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t_violet posted:Hey, since we all love photos, here's a pic of the ghetto plumbing I need to replace: Oh poo poo is that a shark bite fitting on PVC. How the gently caress is that working?
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Jan 1, 2012 20:14
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Rd Rash 1000cc posted:Oh poo poo is that a shark bite fitting on PVC. How the gently caress is that working? That's from the handyman guy who came out on a Saturday to fix the part that burst last winter. He wasn't a real plumber. I got another guy coming out tomorrow, we'll see what he thinks. Edit: Luckily, it's been in the 70s here so freezing hasn't been an issue much this winter so far.
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Jan 1, 2012 21:30
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t_violet posted:That's from the handyman guy who came out on a Saturday to fix the part that burst last winter. He wasn't a real plumber. I got another guy coming out tomorrow, we'll see what he thinks. Ya that's really ghetto. I didn't even think shark bites would fit on pvc. Unless that is CPVC and they used primer on it.
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Jan 1, 2012 22:20
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I give up. I have no idea where this odor is coming from, can't find my house's clean outs, can't figure out if the place was even built with clean outs, and can't find any evidence of leaks. I just don't have the know-how to get any further with this problem. I'm sick of leaving the heat off and freezing or turning it on and smelling stank (not to mention wondering what damage is being done while I blunder around on my own). Any tips on how to find a trustworthy professional plumber?
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Jan 2, 2012 01:09
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Chachi posted:I give up. I have no idea where this odor is coming from, can't find my house's clean outs, can't figure out if the place was even built with clean outs, and can't find any evidence of leaks. I just don't have the know-how to get any further with this problem. I'm sick of leaving the heat off and freezing or turning it on and smelling stank (not to mention wondering what damage is being done while I blunder around on my own). Any tips on how to find a trustworthy professional plumber? I struggle with this too. I've used recommendations from friends before but you really have to factor in how knowledgeable they are. The guy coming out tomorrow I found on Service Magic and he has lots of good reviews. It's tough, Yelp is pretty easily gamed and I don't think a lot of the reviewers know much about what they're reviewing. From what I've read on the internet, Angie's List charges the contractors a lot of $$ for their listings and a lot of service people hate it, saying it's full of lowest bidder, inexperienced people. Service Magic is at least free for the user though the service providers have to pay for the referrals. I don't want to lowball anyone, I just want good work at a fair price done right the first time.
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Jan 2, 2012 02:25
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We just bought a new house and our downstairs toilet drains kinda slow. We figured we would replace the toilet with the same brand from our old house which is also a littler taller. I turned off the water and flushed the toilet, but the water is not draining from the bowl. The tank obviously is empty and doesn't refill, but the bowl fills up with water and then drains back to it's previous height. Is this common? Our old house would drain completely I think, but the other toilets in the house do the same thing as well. Do I need to siphon out the water from the bowl instead? EDIT: Nevermind, poking around a bit more I guess I just have to take the water out myself. No big deal. FCKGW fucked around with this message at 01:43 on Jan 3, 2012 |
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Jan 3, 2012 01:34
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FCKGW posted:We just bought a new house and our downstairs toilet drains kinda slow. We figured we would replace the toilet with the same brand from our old house which is also a littler taller. Ya its most likely the toilet, I'd suggest a Cadet 3 with comfort height and elongated bowl. (its basically an ADA toilet ) edit: Its made by american standard. You can buy it at lowe's or home depot. Turd Herder fucked around with this message at 03:03 on Jan 3, 2012 |
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Jan 3, 2012 02:51
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Christ almighty. So I got a plumbing service out to the house, and under the crawlspace the plumber found an open black plastic pipe leading out of the front wall towards the septic tank. The odor seemed to be emanating from that pipe, so he plugged it and said things would probably improve after the house had a few days to air out. I noticed a pretty immediate improvement, but this evening when I went outside to drop something in the mailbox I noticed a really foul septic smell hanging over the front yard. Have I just dropped $125 on making my problem worse? What the heck do I do?
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Jan 5, 2012 00:15
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Chachi posted:Christ almighty. Call the guy back and say its not coming out from my yard. Well give it a day to make sure you really are smelling it. But if he didnt fix it comepletely you may get out of this bill.
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Jan 5, 2012 03:08
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Rd Rash 1000cc posted:Call the guy back and say its not coming out from my yard. Well give it a day to make sure you really are smelling it. But if he didnt fix it comepletely you may get out of this bill. I went out and checked a couple of more times last night, but the wind had changed and a light breeze was coming from across the street and I didn't smell anything. I took some trash out this morning and walked around a little and didn't catch a whiff of the stink, although again there was a little bit of air movement. I went downwind of my drainfield and still didn't detect anything, so I'll just keep checking over the course of the day. EDIT: Well, what the hell. Got home a little after 6PM last night and the septic reek was back, but it was gone in a couple of minutes. Thinking about it, I think that was around the same time of day I first noticed it before. On a completely different note, ever since that pipe was capped I've noticed a funky odor from the water coming out of the shower in the master bathroom. There isn't much of a stink if you sniff the head while the water's running, but it leaves a smell when it evaporates. Chachi fucked around with this message at 16:31 on Jan 6, 2012 |
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Jan 5, 2012 19:13
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How do I unhook my kitchen sprayer hose from this diverting valve without breaking the valve itself? There are no external indicators on disassembling it and I don't want to shell out for a faucet right now. It is a no name brand faucet, at least as far as I can tell. Goddamn cheap faucet the previous owner installed. Sprayer hose is torn at the crimp in the handle. I've temporarily solved the problem with locking pliers on the hose, but will need my sprayer back and I don't want to shell out a $100+ for a faucet right now.
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Jan 7, 2012 00:56
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Spongebob Tampax posted:How do I unhook my kitchen sprayer hose from this diverting valve without breaking the valve itself? There are no external indicators on disassembling it and I don't want to shell out for a faucet right now. It is a no name brand faucet, at least as far as I can tell. Looks similar to a shark bite fitting. See the brass Pieces and the grayish ring around it. With with pressure removed. you should be able to push it in and then pull the brass fitting out.
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Jan 7, 2012 04:16
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I'll give that a try tomorrow when I have the energy to empty out my cabinet again. Thank you.
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Jan 7, 2012 06:47
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Spongebob Tampax posted:I'll give that a try tomorrow when I have the energy to empty out my cabinet again. Thank you. Actually here is a youtube video. I called it the wrong name. Its pronounced John Guest. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Avzf-jsHyM Turd Herder fucked around with this message at 07:00 on Jan 7, 2012 |
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Jan 7, 2012 06:54
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I'm sure someone must've asked this already, but how do I stop this awful noise coming from my bathroom sink? Every time we turn on the hot water, the pipes make this loud "honking" noise and vibrate. I opened up the hot water valve a bit more, and although that helped a little, the problem remains until you turn the knob juuuuuust right. What else can I do? Is it possible there's air in the pipes? Here is a videoooo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuUK-mVg3uM&feature=youtube_gdata_player vvvv Edit: do what now? I will look into that, thanks. foxatee fucked around with this message at 00:02 on Jan 9, 2012 |
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Jan 8, 2012 15:02
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foxatee posted:I'm sure someone must've asked this already, but how do I stop this awful noise coming from my bathroom sink? Every time we turn on the hot water, the pipes make this loud "honking" noise and vibrate. I opened up the hot water valve a bit more, and although that helped a little, the problem remains until you turn the knob juuuuuust right. What else can I do? Is it possible there's air in the pipes? Its water hammer. You can install a tee with a capped line vertical near the fixture or you can buy a hammer arrestor. Open the inlet on the water heater all the way.
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Jan 8, 2012 22:39
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Just a couple of quick questions: 1) My house has copper plumbing, and when the washer gets water I hear the clank noise of the pipes moving slightly. Is this normal? My plumbing is underneath the house (crawl space). It's not very loud, but my house is relatively quiet most of the time so it just sounds concerning. Is this something I should be worried about? I understand that some pipes need "movement," but the clank is strange as I don't hear these sorts of things at other people's houses. 2) My dishwasher will leak every few months even though I never use it. I have a split kitchen sink (two drain pipes), with the left side having the garbage disposal. The dishwasher is on the right side of the sink, and has an air hose connected to the garbage disposal. The air hose is >32" above the floor. Not sure if this is due to the lack of an air gap or what. The leak is underneath the dishwasher, and when I see it, it's always after I wake up in the mornings, not once do I remember seeing it during the day.
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Jan 10, 2012 23:24
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How do I get these two white fuckers apart? http://imgur.com/uJ8yh One of them is leaking
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Jan 11, 2012 00:15
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Bank posted:Just a couple of quick questions: 1: read above about water hammer arrestors. 2: Could be the water line under it leaking. n8r posted:How do I get these two white fuckers apart? Turn off water and relieve pressure. Then search youtube on how to remove a John Guest fitting.
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Jan 11, 2012 04:34
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