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SouthShoreSamurai posted:Quick question about changing the washer in an outdoor hose bib. The one I took out looked like it had beveled edges, the one I put in had a straight edge. It doesn't appear to be leaking at all, is it an issue? That washer was originally flat. It just got a bevel from years of use. And that stuff will work great for your duct.
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Jul 17, 2017 22:52
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SouthShoreSamurai posted:Quick question about changing the washer in an outdoor hose bib. The one I took out looked like it had beveled edges, the one I put in had a straight edge. It doesn't appear to be leaking at all, is it an issue? Reflectix is not real insulation, it is just bubble wrap plus tinfoil. When they say it has an R-Value of 4.2 that's horseshit, it is actually about 1.08 per layer: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/qa-spotlight/bubble-wrap-duct-insulation-good-idea You want something that actually works, get normal fiberglass batts and wrap them around the vent; this guy seems to have some cheap techniques: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5cmAH8ewVw
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Jul 18, 2017 18:53
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Ok, I'll return the stuff I just ordered from Amazon and get some real fiberglass insulation. New question: The bathroom the previous owner installed looks like it is one of those 3-piece put together shower liners. It looks fine, except that it may possibly be missing the sealant? Should there be some caulking in the cracks here? 
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Jul 20, 2017 22:34
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SouthShoreSamurai posted:Ok, I'll return the stuff I just ordered from Amazon and get some real fiberglass insulation. Some don't require it based on their build but it won't hurt if you put a nice bead of caulk in it.
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Jul 21, 2017 01:04
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Hopefully quick question, and maybe this isn't as much of a plumbing question as it is a filter question. I live in a town that has had its aquifers contaminated with PFCs. Our town supply is below EPA limits, and I'm not really all that concerned, but my wife doesn't like the idea of drinking it, so we've been using bottled water for drinking for a while. I have an ice maker in the fridge, but the water for it has been shutoff for about 6 years, mostly because I heard a hissing coming from behind the fridge one day and the small hose had sprung a leak, so I just turned it off and left it at that. I've been thinking about adding a small point of use filter system for the fridge. Since it doesn't have a drinking water tap, I wanted to know if there was anything kind of like a beer tap that I could use for drinking water. There is a small section of counter that I could install the "faucet" on, but it would hopefully just be an on/off with no drain to worry about. If there isn't anything, I'd probably just leave it connected to the fridge for some future where we have an ice/water dispensing fridge. In any case, for filtration, it seems like I can get some "small" canisters (5"x10" nominal), which still seem awfully large for just a fridge. Are there any filter formats that are smaller and possibly less expensive? The town water has lots of sediment, so I'd have at least a sediment filter and then a GAC filter to take care of the PFCs (or do nothing, either way it doesn't matter to me). I was going to install these in the cabinet under the small section of counter that currently holds only plastic bags that we will never use and probably never remember to recycle (unless I explicitly clean it out to put in a filter).
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Jul 21, 2017 03:59
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Mr. Powers posted:... I wanted to know if there was anything kind of like a beer tap that I could use for drinking water. There is a small section of counter that I could install the "faucet" on, but it would hopefully just be an on/off with no drain to worry about. If there isn't anything, I'd probably just leave it connected to the fridge for some future where we have an ice/water dispensing fridge. Try a tap-mounted system: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0009CEKY6
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Jul 21, 2017 04:35
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PainterofCrap posted:Try a tap-mounted system: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0009CEKY6 I didn't really want to deal with this and the unsubstantiated statements from other locals is that filters that small don't get the PFCs.
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Jul 21, 2017 05:56
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Mr. Powers posted:I didn't really want to deal with this and the unsubstantiated statements from other locals is that filters that small don't get the PFCs. Yep, you are going to want to get one of these: Activated Carbon, Reverse Osmosis, or Nanofiltration. Apparently, these systems are not cheap, as they all cost at least two dollar signs according to this PDF: https://www.awwa.org/Portals/0/files/resources/water%20knowledge/rc%20healtheffects/AWWAPFCFactSheetTreatmentandRemoval.pdf
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Jul 21, 2017 12:09
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The Gardenator posted:Yep, you are going to want to get one of these: Activated Carbon, Reverse Osmosis, or Nanofiltration. Apparently, these systems are not cheap, as they all cost at least two dollar signs according to this PDF: RO is not terribly expensive, we have the slightly older model of this: https://www.lowes.com/pd/Whirlpool-...tion/1000065237
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Jul 21, 2017 12:21
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Mr. Powers posted:anything kind of like a beer tap that I could use for drinking water. There is a small section of counter that I could install the "faucet" on, but it would hopefully just be an on/off with no drain to worry about. If you are feeling industrious and creative, yeah you could use beer taps for exactly that. Check home brewing supply stores for various items. Two things I'd be concerned about - With no drain, at least set up some sort of drip catch. If someone opens this without a glass in the way it will dump a lot of water, quickly. Similarly, if you have cats or other counter top cretins - beer taps are pretty easy to toggle open. You'd really want to make sure it could be locked down or closed out. Second, if you are dispensing beer from a keg, the keg is charged at like 10-12 PSI. Do you happen to know what your water pressure is? It is certainly higher than this, and possibly way, way higher. Your filter system will almost certainly create some pressure loss, but this is still an issue. I use Perlick 650SS taps on my keg system, which have an adjustable throttle built in which can cut the flow way down. Still though I don't know if they could handle a direct connection to a water supply.
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Jul 23, 2017 00:13
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Raised by Hamsters posted:I use Perlick 650SS taps on my keg system, which have an adjustable throttle built in which can cut the flow way down. Please tell me about these. My bev line is probably too short, so I get way too much foam to start, then everything is fine (with kegs at storage pressure). I found calculators/charts to add way too many feet of bev line to drop this pressure from the keg to the tap to make it not foam. I'd rather not have a bunch of coiled up bev line or.....as I have now, a pint glass to draw off 1/2 pint of mostly foam and then pour a proper beer. Are these things my solution? Because for $60 this sounds like a deal.
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Jul 23, 2017 17:07
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Should help a lot with that - Not saying everything will be perfect though. I bought these right from the getgo when I switched to kegging, because I didn't want to struggle with exactly that problem. They were like $10 more than the regular Perlicks, so why not? I frequently like to rapid carb new kegs and immediately serve, and they put up with that nonsense pretty well. If you need to throttle them way down, you'll get an OK pour, it's just slow. It's also nice because it's pretty intuitive, so guests can sort it out on their own if it needs a little tweak. They are not particularly hard to disassemble and clean. I imagine there are a few more parts involved but it still isn't much. They are a little fiddly to fit against a shank, depending on the position of the flow control device. That said I've never maintained or set up regular taps, so I don't have the best point of comparison.
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Jul 23, 2017 23:47
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Okay, sweet. Thanks. That sounds like it's worth grabbing one to try out. If they're dealing with forced carb and immediate serving I imagine they'll deal with a storage pressure commercial keg quite well.
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Jul 24, 2017 15:16
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Follow up: JFC Raised by Hamsters, this fixed like everything annoying about my kegorator! Yes I can hear the bubbles coming out when it's turned down but it doesn't matter. Perfect pours from the start. Too slow for a commercial bar, but 100% perfect for a garage. Thanks man, this has improved my quality of my life. Edit: Mmmmmm....garage beer. 
Motronic fucked around with this message at 21:15 on Jul 30, 2017 |
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Jul 30, 2017 21:12
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Motronic posted:Please tell me about these. My bev line is probably too short, so I get way too much foam to start, then everything is fine (with kegs at storage pressure). I found calculators/charts to add way too many feet of bev line to drop this pressure from the keg to the tap to make it not foam. I'd rather not have a bunch of coiled up bev line or.....as I have now, a pint glass to draw off 1/2 pint of mostly foam and then pour a proper beer. I am about to buy one of these. My neighbor's kegerator (ours, really) has had this exact same bullshit foaming issue for many & many a year, We've tried everything (except adding miles of line). If this solves it, we will raise a proper-headed pint to you both.
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Jul 30, 2017 22:21
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I'm no rocket surgeon so all I can say is that this fixed whatever was going on with mine. Best of luck.
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Jul 31, 2017 00:25
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Hahaha, awesome. I feel retroactively vindicated for having bought them in the first place.
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Jul 31, 2017 00:28
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Thanks plumbing thread for finally making me go track down the CO2 leak in my kegerator... turns out that diluted starsan is a better leak detecting fluid then dish soap!
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Jul 31, 2017 02:36
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New toilet time! We have a tiny bathroom with a 10" rough in and a max of 27" length for the toilet from wall to front edge. We need a standard height toilet, not one of the comfort height ones. Are we going to hate the one that seems to fit the dimensions? It's an American Standard Cadet Pro, model number 215DB.004.
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Aug 2, 2017 22:23
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Motronic posted:Follow up: JFC Raised by Hamsters, this fixed like everything annoying about my kegorator! Yes I can hear the bubbles coming out when it's turned down but it doesn't matter. Perfect pours from the start. Too slow for a commercial bar, but 100% perfect for a garage. effika posted:New toilet time!
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Aug 2, 2017 22:41
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Can anyone point me at a good guide (or book) for working with copper piping? The outdoor spigot on the front of my house comes out right up against a deck joist. The spigot itself needs to be replaced anyway, so I figured I'd cut it off inside the basement, run some pipe through the existing hole, and out from under the deck a bit so I can actually reach it. Probably just asking for trouble wrt freezing (I'm in Chicago), but it would be nice to actually have water in the front.
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Aug 3, 2017 20:21
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good jovi posted:Can anyone point me at a good guide (or book) for working with copper piping? The outdoor spigot on the front of my house comes out right up against a deck joist. The spigot itself needs to be replaced anyway, so I figured I'd cut it off inside the basement, run some pipe through the existing hole, and out from under the deck a bit so I can actually reach it. Probably just asking for trouble wrt freezing (I'm in Chicago), but it would be nice to actually have water in the front. Frost proof sillcock Would be a bit of redneck engineering... Not sure how thick your wall is or how far past the wall you would need to go. Don't think an inspector type would be happy with the sillcock not attached to the outside wall of the house, but if you're able to attach to the joist you should be ok...
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Aug 3, 2017 21:04
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HycoCam posted:Frost proof sillcock aha. I didn't realize that the frost-proof ones actually had the valve inside the house. Sounds like I should probably just replace the sillcock and deal with having to crouch under the deck to access it.
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Aug 3, 2017 21:28
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good jovi posted:aha. I didn't realize that the frost-proof ones actually had the valve inside the house. Sounds like I should probably just replace the sillcock and deal with having to crouch under the deck to access it. Well, do that, and then rig a (heavy rubber) hose or PVC line from it out to another sillcock mounted out where you can reach it. Come the cold weather, disconnect the extension & open the remote sillcock to let it air out. Store the connector hose inside for the season. That way, you only have to crawl under there twice a year, and you preserve the frost-free feature.
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Aug 4, 2017 03:17
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hi plumbing thread, welcome to under my sweet-rear end double sink the left sink is draining a little slow (not problematically but it can't keep up with the tap at full blast and it used to). my only experience hauling filth out of drains is bathroom sink traps, which nothing in this photograph looks like, especially since the only connections i could separate without a hacksaw is where it attaches to the sink drains. my questions are: 1) does this basically mean i'm just going to have to shank it repeatedly with a coat hanger and, failing that, call a plumber? 2) is this remotely normal plumbing for a double sink it's hard to see from my crooked rear end picture but the drain from the right sink actually DOES slope down slightly
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Aug 6, 2017 06:08
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SoundMonkey posted:hi plumbing thread, welcome to under my sweet-rear end double sink Where's the trap?
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Aug 6, 2017 18:29
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Put in some Drano foam overnight.
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Aug 7, 2017 00:31
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kid sinister posted:Where's the trap? fine question, isn't it
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Aug 7, 2017 00:46
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If I was to guess it's a drum trap below the cabinet somewhere.
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Aug 7, 2017 00:48
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minivanmegafun posted:If I was to guess it's a drum trap below the cabinet somewhere. i'll go check out the crawlspace later but i've spent a decent amount of time down there and i don't recall seeing anything trap-like. it was done by the PO (as opposed to a plumber, he was a retired industrial electrician) so it's quite possible there just ain't one. also that wouldn't entirely explain why the RIGHT sink is draining fine (and they go into the same drain, as you can see there) draining them both at once is just a recipe but bad times but i knew that the second i looked under the sink
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Aug 7, 2017 00:56
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SoundMonkey posted:i'll go check out the crawlspace later but i've spent a decent amount of time down there and i don't recall seeing anything trap-like. it was done by the PO (as opposed to a plumber, he was a retired industrial electrician) so it's quite possible there just ain't one. Guessing no vent? That would explain why the right sink works (because the left one is acting as a vent). If you block the left sink entirely, does the right sink still work fine?
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Aug 7, 2017 02:15
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devicenull posted:Guessing no vent? That would explain why the right sink works (because the left one is acting as a vent). that is a good question and i will go do science on it
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Aug 7, 2017 04:38
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devicenull posted:Guessing no vent? That would explain why the right sink works (because the left one is acting as a vent). i lined the drain with a plastic bag and then put the drain plug in and held it there, the right sink did drain slower although it still drained. edit: i don't know if that was super extra or not but that drain plug doesn't fit very well SoundMonkey fucked around with this message at 04:46 on Aug 7, 2017 |
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Aug 7, 2017 04:43
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To keep nasty odors and the like out of your drain you need some kind of trap. If there aren't foul smells coming from your drain--there has to be a trap somewhere. But it is always nice to have one under the sink. As this article states--this repair is good for an older home, but doesn't meet standard codes. Standard codes would require a vent as well.The pictures won't link directly.   How your sink should look  Adding a vent and a trap But even if you had a trap--it still wouldn't help you with clearing the connector tube between the two drains. Lowes/Home Depot/Amazon have a bunch of drain snakes in various sizes. One of the smaller snakes will clean that connector tube with minor fuss if you don't want to remove and clean.
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Aug 7, 2017 21:44
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HycoCam posted:To keep nasty odors and the like out of your drain you need some kind of trap. If there aren't foul smells coming from your drain--there has to be a trap somewhere. But it is always nice to have one under the sink. As this article states--this repair is good for an older home, but doesn't meet standard codes. Standard codes would require a vent as well.The pictures won't link directly. yeah if i was going to do something i'd want to actually do it good and add some venting. i guess the only question now is "will this get bad enough to care about before the rest of the kitchen reno", and i guess we'll find out. thanks for the link, even with adding the vent it doesn't look like a godawful task. gonna go on a mystical journey in the crawlspace tomorrow, i realized i had the house layout flipped in my head and i was looking in the wrong god drat place (most of the plumbing is up between the floor joists so you can't just shine a flashlight around under the house and see what's up.)
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Aug 8, 2017 03:12
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SoundMonkey posted:gonna go on a mystical journey in the crawlspace tomorrow It's been a week. I think he's dead. Lowtax, we need a new mod plz tia.
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Aug 14, 2017 23:23
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kid sinister posted:It's been a week. I think he's dead. Lowtax, we need a new mod plz tia. turns out it's all super tedious and i'm just going to blast it with drain cleaner and then install a trap where i can reach it
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Aug 15, 2017 10:26
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I've got an outdoor drain that's driving me crazy. The house is built into a hill, and drain is at the bottom of the stairs that lead to the basement. It drains to a sump a dozen yards away at the bottom of the hill, a good 5 feet below the drain. But the design of the actual drain doesn't make much sense to me. It's a round metal drain, I think a foot in diameter. There is a 4 inch pipe at the center, and the remaining 8 inches form a 4-inch ring around the pipe, another 3 or 4 inches deep. As best I can guess, this is a mini sump to catch debris from clogging the drain proper. The drain cover only has holes around the outer ring, but it isn't flat. It's mushroom-shaped, with what looks like a 4-inch inner-diameter pipe descending from it to cover the drainpipe.  As best I can squint, there's only a quarter-inch gap between this pipe and the actual drainpipe. This is the only route for water to drain: through the holes to the outer ring, filling the sump, overflowing the sump, through a quarter-inch gap between the drainpipe and the lid, and down the drainpipe. When it rains heavily, the drain pretty much does nothing. The rainwater fills the outer ring sump, then quickly overflows the drain, tops the inch-and-a-half step up to the basement, and the basement floods. If I remove the mushroom-shaped drain cover, or even offset it by a quarter inch, the drain works fine, and nothing floods. When I contacted the previous owners, they said a contractor picked it out and installed it and it's always worked that way. I'm considering taking the cover to my workbench to remove part or all of the pipe attached to it. Is there a better way to handle this? Am I missing some other important detail? edit: I'll add pictures when I am back in front of it again, which will be at least a few hours. edit 2: picture. I just want to lop that thing right off. hey girl you up fucked around with this message at 18:37 on Aug 18, 2017 |
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Aug 18, 2017 15:12
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I'd modify it if cleaning that little sump is infrequent enough.
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Aug 18, 2017 21:08
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hey girl you up posted:But the design of the actual drain doesn't make much sense to me. It's a round metal drain, I think a foot in diameter. There is a 4 inch pipe at the center, and the remaining 8 inches form a 4-inch ring around the pipe, another 3 or 4 inches deep. As best I can guess, this is a mini sump to catch debris from clogging the drain proper. The drain cover only has holes around the outer ring, but it isn't flat. It's mushroom-shaped, with what looks like a 4-inch inner-diameter pipe descending from it to cover the drainpipe. It's a trap! And it looks like the flow rate of that floor drain trap is insufficient for its location and purpose: hey girl you up posted:When it rains heavily, the drain pretty much does nothing. The rainwater fills the outer ring sump, then quickly overflows the drain, tops the inch-and-a-half step up to the basement, and the basement floods. If I remove the mushroom-shaped drain cover, or even offset it by a quarter inch, the drain works fine, and nothing floods. Yes, removing the pipe attached to the drain cover (and perhaps drilling some holes into the middle part of the cover while you're at it) should improve the flow, but it also removes the trap functionality, so any bad smells from the real sump would no longer be prevented from coming back up the drain. But since you said it's an outdoor drain, this might not be an issue for you.
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Aug 20, 2017 14:30
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