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I’ve had a perpetual puddle in my front yard for the last few months, which after digging down, I discovered was from the main about halfway between the meter and the house. It’s directly under one of the sprinkler system pipes, so it looks like when the previous owner installed the sprinkler system, they clipped the main with the ditch witch or whatever and it has probably been leaking ever since. Despite this, the water bill has never been excessive, so it isn’t a HUGE leak, but I’d still like to get this sorted out. So that all being said, we dug down and found that the main appeared to be blue PVC pipe, not metal. We also know exactly where the leak is so I wouldn’t need any leak detection services. With all this in mind, could anyone give a rough idea on a reasonable fix and/or cost for a plumber to quote me on? I’ve been hearing anything between a few hundred and a few grand, so maybe some seasoned plumbers can give me a better idea.
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Jul 3, 2018 17:23
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SpartanIvy posted:I now have a working water heater! That's the good news.
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Jul 6, 2018 02:20
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GWBBQ posted:I feel so much better about installing my own furnace right now. For real. A different plumber is coming out tomorrow afternoon to fix it. I'll update this thread with how that goes. I've also got a good set of plumbing channel locks coming in the mail so I can fix it myself in case he fucks up too 
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Jul 6, 2018 03:43
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My sillcock is giving me some problems lately, looking for advice/confirmation of my idea of what's wrong. It was working fine until Tuesday/yesterday. We watered our garden Tuesday night and shut it off, thinking all was fine. Last night I go outside and I notice that 3 pinhole leaks formed in our hose (incidentally, this is the third time some pinhole leaks have formed in our hose...not sure if the pressure is too high or the hose is just lovely, it's less than 2 years old.) So I go to shutoff the sillcock assuming it wasn't shut off Tuesday, but it seems like its' already off. I REALLY crank down hard on it, and it finally turns a tiny bit more and is mostly off...if I disconnect the hose a trickle still comes out, but not enough to matter once I get the hose back on, the pinhole leaks barely have anything come out. So is it likely a bad rubber washer on the stem of the sillcock? It's a frost-free one, similar to this: 
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Jul 12, 2018 15:09
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DrBouvenstein posted:My sillcock is giving me some problems lately, looking for advice/confirmation of my idea of what's wrong. It all depends on how it was made. But you should be able to pull off the handle and loosen the packing nut to pull out the stem and inspect it. Turd Herder fucked around with this message at 01:43 on Jul 13, 2018 |
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Jul 13, 2018 01:19
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Anyone have any tips on finding a trim kit for a moen standard valve? Google has been useless, because no matter what terms I use, I just get a ton of moentrol and positemp results. I know I can get the adapter plate to use moentrol trim, but surely there's a few decent standard trim kits out there?
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Jul 13, 2018 03:42
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What specifically do you mean by trim kit? And what kind of valve?
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Jul 13, 2018 21:40
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kid sinister posted:What specifically do you mean by trim kit? And what kind of valve?
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Jul 14, 2018 03:27
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Slugworth posted:Just a handle for a shower (although I also need a shower head, so I wouldn't turn down a kit with both parts). I don't know the exact model number of the valve, but my understanding is Moen has 3 types - Standard, Moentrol, and Posi-Temp, mine being Standard. It's frustrating, because moentrol functions identically to standard, but the two mounting screws for the escutcheon are in different positions. I'll probably just end up getting the adapter plate and a moentrol handle. It's the obvious solution, it just irks me that I can't just find something that fits. You really can't choose too much if you have a shower valve in the wall already. At best you can choose new handles and escutcheons.
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Jul 14, 2018 04:02
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We just got into our house a couple of weeks ago and I've noticed that the basement bin sink (which the washer also drains into) drains really poorly. I basically immediately realized that based on the location of the sink there was no way it was tied into a vent stack and after taking a peek under I also noticed that it has an S trap. The sink itself is basically directly above the drain pipe, which is embedded into the concrete of the basement floor. From what I can tell there needs to be a minimum distance between the P trap and the drain otherwise you're immediately turning down and boom you've got an S trap. What I'd like to do is move the sink a foot or so to allow installation of a proper P trap, and also to install an AAV to allow venting and speed up the draining/reduce gurgling. Does this sound right?
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Jul 16, 2018 02:09
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Slugworth posted:Anyone have any tips on finding a trim kit for a moen standard valve? Google has been useless, because no matter what terms I use, I just get a ton of moentrol and positemp results. I know I can get the adapter plate to use moentrol trim, but surely there's a few decent standard trim kits out there?
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Jul 16, 2018 02:19
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I've got a problem that I've googled around a ton for, but nothing quite fits my specific case, and nothing I've tried works. We have two sinks in the master bathroom, and one in the guest bathroom, which is separated by a bedroom. Every so often, they will smell like sewer gas when we run the water. It isn't all the time, and it isn't the water that smells, it is the drain. We've also never noticed it from the showers or kitchen, but we also don't stick our face near the drain there. I've checked the p-traps and they aren't full of poo poo, and I ran water down the vents on the roof to see if they were blocked but that didn't seem to be the case (but I could be wrong). It was raining a bit last week and that seemed to make the smell much stronger, but we don't have anything in our yard or street that would direct rain into our sewer though, so that may have been a coincidence. My next thought is to check the sewer line cleanout, but is there anything else that I should check? My only other thought is it's maybe caused by our sinks not having stoppers, and somehow the water running straight down fucks with the p trap or something.
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Jul 16, 2018 17:58
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P-traps dry out. For guest sinks, I put a few drops of an oil, sometimes a citrus oil, down between uses to slow it down. This only helps one half of the equation, but still.
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Jul 16, 2018 18:03
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Metal Geir Skogul posted:P-traps dry out. For guest sinks, I put a few drops of an oil, sometimes a citrus oil, down between uses to slow it down. This only helps one half of the equation, but still. We use both sinks daily, so it isn't a matter of the p traps emptying out.
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Jul 16, 2018 19:17
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Edit: nevermind. Somehow I misread that this was a basement bath.
angryrobots fucked around with this message at 20:42 on Jul 16, 2018 |
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Jul 16, 2018 20:40
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Hey Turd Herder, I got a tip for the OP. 10. Any leak you fix will pay for itself eventually.
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Jul 22, 2018 06:49
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Done
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Jul 22, 2018 14:16
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I read it as: Any leak you fix yourself you'll pay for, eventually. Whoops.
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Jul 22, 2018 23:04
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Friend posted:I've got a problem that I've googled around a ton for, but nothing quite fits my specific case, and nothing I've tried works. It's could be the overflow on the sink itself that stinks. It's something many people overlook when searching for odors. The overflow is the hole(s) located in the actual sink itself near the rim of the bowl. Pour some bleach down there and rinse it out good and see if your smell if gone.
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Jul 23, 2018 05:05
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I ran bleach through and that seems to have made a difference, hopefully that's all it was and it doesn't come back. Thanks!
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Jul 23, 2018 16:22
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Hi all! My wife and I bought a house, our first, about two months ago. For the first month and a half or so, we had no issues, but the past 3 weeks have changed that. All of the plumbing in my house flows down to the basement to a large main line that grades down towards the street. Immediately before that main line is a laundry drain stack, and immediately before that stack is where the laundry sink drains into the main line. Three weeks ago, as my wife was taking a shower (shortly after I did the same), I hear the sound of flowing water in the basement from my kitchen. I come downstairs to find the laundry drain stack overflowing. Water is also pouring out of the joint between the p-trap and the stack. The laundry sink is also pretty full of water, but doesn't seem to overflow (I assumed the water flowed out of the stack at a quick enough pace that the sink doesn't overflow). I call a plumber, he comes out, augers the line, says he found some roots but not a whole lot. He also mentions that I don't have a cleanout that he could locate. Oddly enough, my neighbors on both sides appear to have city cleanouts, but not me. He had to run the auger through the laundry drain. He mentioned it would be about $500 to put in. About a week goes by. I notice a few small leaks, but nothing big. This was stupid of me to disregard, because the problem came right back in full force, exact same scenario. I call the plumber again, he comes back out, augers even further than before. This time, he finds more roots, but also mentions that, in his opinion, he had actually augered into the city lines, and that this should technically fall under the city's responsibility. He also strongly suggested installing a cleanout, which my wife and I consider, but having just moved in and not having alot of surplus cash, we opt to hold off for the time being. This time around, we last about two weeks. Wife's in the shower, I hear the water, I come downstairs. Lo and behold, same problem. The cleanout is starting to look unavoidable, but can roots really grow back that quickly? In all cases, the water eventually subsides, albeit very slowly. I used some ZEP Root Kill today, but perhaps I should have waited until the water was flowing a little bit better, I'm not sure. I'll definitely be contacting the city, but I'd prefer to not to call the plumber back so quickly if at all possible. I realize this is a pretty hard question answer without seeing this in person, but is it common for city lines to be affected by tree roots? As info, the street is lined with crepe myrtles that I'm 90% sure are owned by the city. Further info about the house - It's located in Norfolk, VA (basically a swamp) and was built in 1929. There are polybutylene pipes in the house, but plumber told me that is not a factor in this specific issue.
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Jul 24, 2018 00:17
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Ahh poo poo. On Monday I found a bulging section of baseboard right by a column in the finished basement. Found water saturated in the insulation right by the floor. Opened up the ceiling right by the column to find where the leak was coming from. I knew there was a pipe in the column and sure enough, that's the source of the leak: the PVC is the waste water from the kitchen, and it joins into an older iron pipe that was probably part of a bathroom that used to be on this side of the house a few decades ago (since removed), now being used for the kitchen.  But look at the picture. Everything that I know of tells me that a pipe should be fed INTO the next pipe section, not fit over top of it. To me, it looks like the PVC collar section has been leaking, probably from water sitting on the cut end of the iron. But this is the absolute wrong way to do it, right? Why, other than laziness, would these pipes be mated like this? Am I on the right track here? Hazed_blue fucked around with this message at 00:57 on Jul 24, 2018 |
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Jul 24, 2018 00:55
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Is the bottom white part iron? It all looks like PVC to me, and it also looks like it's reducing in size from the black to the white section, which is where I would expect the issue to come from. Wastewater from the sink is probably backing up there as the water tries to compact down into the new pipe size, and it's giving it time/pressure to leak out the the threads.
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Jul 24, 2018 01:55
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Hazed_blue posted:Ahh poo poo. Who the hell put pvc glue on that abs?
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Jul 24, 2018 01:59
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Clearly he needs a dieplastic union. Those dissimilar plastics are corroding.
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Jul 24, 2018 02:16
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George Zimmer posted:Hi all! Do you have orangeburg drainlines? You might need to have the line dug up and replaced. Did the previous owner disclose anything about it?
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Jul 24, 2018 12:21
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glynnenstein posted:Do you have orangeburg drainlines? You might need to have the line dug up and replaced. Did the previous owner disclose anything about it? I don't believe so, the main line (which is visible in my basement) is cast iron I'm pretty sure. I'll post a photo later. No indication of plumbing issues were disclosed by the previous owners besides the polybutylene pipes that the home inspection listed. For what it's worth, I showered last night and my wife this morning and nothing happened  EDIT: here's the pipe, it is cast iron black in parts where the paint is chipped and also feels like metal: EDIT AGAIN: not sure if this is relevant, but we are experiencing heavy rains that have lasted almost a week (and are expected to last beyond that). The city does flood easily as well.  
George Zimmer fucked around with this message at 14:37 on Jul 25, 2018 |
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Jul 24, 2018 14:59
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SpartanIvy posted:Clearly he needs a dieplastic union. Those dissimilar plastics are corroding. Haha I will ask an apprentice to go find one.
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Jul 25, 2018 14:19
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You could always pick up one of those $20 USB endoscopes, fees it down the pipes through a drain line and see if you can find anything wrong yourself. They're waterproof so you could even leave it in and then plug it into your phone next time it floods to May find exactly where the problem is.
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Jul 25, 2018 18:14
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SpartanIvy posted:you could even leave it in and then plug it into your phone next time it floods to May find exactly where the problem is. Worst live stream ever
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Jul 25, 2018 18:29
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Bad Munki posted:Worst live stream ever It's my first Let's Plumb 
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Jul 25, 2018 19:30
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I pulled a dead rat out of a shower drain yesterday. Well half of one.
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Jul 25, 2018 19:38
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Kind of plumbing tangential, but I had someone staying at my place and they dropped... Something in the tub and the enamel chipped a spot about the size of a brad nail head. I'm not concerned about the chip itself, I don't really care about the look - but will having a chip in the enamel cause damage to the underlying tub material? The chip is on the bottom of the tub so it will definitely see regular water. I see there are repair kits for enamel - the tub is plain white, but the spot is so small that I wouldn't bother unless over time it could cause issuea for the tub
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Jul 29, 2018 05:17
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Sounds like the chip isn't through the gel-coat. So you don't need to patch it. But if/when you want to sell your house do you think the blemish will show up on an inspection report/be one of the requested repairs? If so, you might as well spend the $10 to $30 now on the patch kit and enjoy your repair.
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Jul 30, 2018 20:16
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HycoCam posted:Sounds like the chip isn't through the gel-coat. So you don't need to patch it. But if/when you want to sell your house do you think the blemish will show up on an inspection report/be one of the requested repairs? If so, you might as well spend the $10 to $30 now on the patch kit and enjoy your repair. Naw, I rent. I would only care if it could cause damage to the tub over time or cause water damage under the tub Sounds like I don't have to worry about it
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Jul 30, 2018 21:40
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The Slack Lagoon posted:Naw, I rent. I would only care if it could cause damage to the tub over time or cause water damage under the tub Other than your security deposit.
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Jul 30, 2018 21:55
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Yesterday, I noticed some corrosion on my water heater's mixing valve. Is this anything I need to be concerned about?
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Jul 31, 2018 19:00
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Hey plumbing thread. I'm looking to get a utility sink installed in my garage. There currently are no visible hookups or water lines in the garage, but the front wall of the garage is shared on the other side by a 1/2 bathroom which obviously does have lines running to it. Any rough estimates on how difficult/expensive it would be to tap into the existing water lines and drainage to get a sink installed?
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Jul 31, 2018 21:06
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DrBouvenstein posted:Yesterday, I noticed some corrosion on my water heater's mixing valve. Looks like somebod had flux on their hands when they assembled that pipe. I've seen it before, when they actually leak...plumbers are grabbing & installing copper sections, get acid on them, and 25-years later, it eats through the copper. Or guys who forget to shine their joints. Sand it off with emery paper. It'll be fine, then
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Aug 1, 2018 00:14
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Scarf posted:Hey plumbing thread. Is the sink in the bathroom on the same shared wall? If not, is this house on a slab or is there access via above or below?
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Aug 1, 2018 02:22
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