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mcgreenvegtables posted:I'm a bit confused about needing to drain the system. If water comes out, air has to be entering somewhere else, and this is presumably a closed system if I shut off the supply valve. The only concern is air simultaneously entering and water exiting from the only opening in the system (where I take this apart). It seems like there should be some way for me to prevent that and avoid draining all the radiators in the house (except the one in the basement below this). This is all assuming I can depressurize the system first (according to the meter on the boiler its at 25psi). I mean, a milk jug is a closed system but the milk still comes out; yes, the air will go in the same hole that it comes out wherever you open the system. You reduce the system pressure by draining out the water with the boiler secured off, pumps off, and make-up closed. You must be absolutely certain your boiler does not operate in a low water condition.
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Oct 30, 2018 00:12
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I have a sump pump in an unheated detached structure. Only two sides are below grade, and it has two hopper windows and two glass block windows. The structure was built in 1914. Any time it rains, the pump has to run every few minutes for a day or so afterwards. Longer if it was very heavy rain. It pumps into a line buried between 24” and 36” below grade that drains into one of the downspout crocks at the main structure. I bought the house in 2015, and at the time the pump didn’t work and the PVC running out of the sump was cracked. I finally bought a new pump this year, and fixed the piping so it uses a threaded hose so I can quickly remove the pump if necessary. How do I manage this without either having another pump freeze and crack or letting the structure flood when there is a thaw? I’m in NE Ohio, so it does stay below freezing for weeks at a time sometimes, but it does get into the high 30s regularly during the winter. Should I just pull the pump out when it looks like it’s going to be below freezing for more than a day or two and put it back in in Spring? Should I use some sort of low power submersible heater to keep the water in the sump from freezing?
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Oct 30, 2018 01:09
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Full size cockroaches are coming out of my overflow tub drains. My plan is to cut a section of fiberglass window screen, and install it behind my tub overflow, then trim around overflow cover. Sounds good?
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Nov 2, 2018 04:08
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The Gardenator posted:Full size cockroaches are coming out of my overflow tub drains. My plan is to cut a section of fiberglass window screen, and install it behind my tub overflow, then trim around overflow cover. Sounds good? No, man. Nothing about that sounds good. At no point in your story about large cockroaches coming into your bathtub did I think to myself "sounds good". But your solution seems reasonable enough. I'm surprised they are coming through plumbing though, how is the trap on your tub not stopping them? Do roaches swim?
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Nov 2, 2018 04:28
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If you see one cockroach behind your overflow drain, that means there are thousands of them behind everything. You need to find and eliminate their food source (could even be a neighbor or a city sewer, in which case find out what's attracting them to you), and buy borax by the 50-pound bag from Amazon and put little piles of it in every corner of your house. Every. Corner.
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Nov 2, 2018 04:30
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If they're fullsize roaches, it makes me think they're coming up from the sewer line which is terrifying. If you have a crawlspace under your house I would get your rear end down there and see what the situation looks like around your tubs plumbing. If it was me, and there's no evidence of roach activity outside of the drain pipes in the crawlspace. I would spray some contact poison into the overflow. After that I would fill the tub with the hottest loving water my heater puts out, and let it fill up to the overflow intake and let it flow into it. Then I would pull the plug and let all that scalding water destroy anything living in the pipes, and hopefully flush whatever is in the pipes that they're eating and is drawing them up from the street. After that I would dump more poison in the overflow and down the main drain and let it sit overnight. I don't know that that would work but that's what I would do to start out with. If the problem continues I don't know what to do other than call a plumbing company to scope my pipes and see what the gently caress is going on down there.
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Nov 2, 2018 05:05
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House story, plumbing is original to the 70's or so. I have a cesspool that I have recently surrounded (the loosely lidded hatch) with a bunch of Bayer outdoor granular poison. Guessing that somehow drove the cockroaches to seek a new life. So far, 4 full size roaches this week have come out of the tub. I have some LambdaStar concentrate (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007EC692U) that I periodically dilute for outside insect barrier, but I want to avoid spraying poison where my kids might come into contact with it. I'll spray a bunch into the cesspool and hopefully that will be the end of that.
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Nov 2, 2018 07:59
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I have found the one DIY activity I am apparently not good at, and it is plumbing. Tonight I was redoing the piping from my water heater to my shower valve, and the PEX part went easily enough, uponor is easy as hell to work with. However, the connection to the valve goes 1/2" uponor pipe-> 1/2" threaded fitting->threaded part of union-> top part of union that is mated to it. I ordered a new union piece and used 3 layers of teflon on the 1/2" uponor fitting before cranking it down as hard as I could onto the union piece. Then I connected everything and of course it had a very slow drip that I am 95% certain is from the threads between the fitting and the union bottom piece. I've tried tightening it more, and undoing, re-tefloning, and retightening it 3 or 4 different times now, each time with similar or worse results. So my question is, what can I do? At this point I'm ready to call the plumber out that redid my cold plumbing. He was able to reuse the old parts and get the pex to connect to that just fine somehow, so he could presumably do it again. I'm just afraid it's going to cost a butt load for literally twisting two pieces together. I just don't understand why connecting two threaded fittings is so loving hard.
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Nov 7, 2018 07:01
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I usually use 2-3 layers of teflon tape and liquid teflon. That might work if it is an issue with the threads. E: https://www.homedepot.com/p/RectorSeal-T-Plus-2-in-4-oz-Teflon-Pipe-Thread-Sealant-23631/100201204
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Nov 7, 2018 08:40
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SpartanIvy posted:I have found the one DIY activity I am apparently not good at, and it is plumbing. Threaded copper and brass fittings deform a little when you tighten them down, particularly if you have brass threaded on steel. If this fitting is old and has been tightened down and removed more than a few times, try replacing it with a new one. Note that you almost always have to replace both sides of a union to get a reliable seal.
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Nov 7, 2018 14:07
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You definitely want to use some pipe dope in addition to the PTFE tape. Put a decent gob all around the threads of the male piece. It's hard to know what you mean by cranking down as hard as you can. Is it possible you created a hairline crack in (probably) the female piece? They should be really tight, but you don't want to really crank on them with a ton of leverage. Could also just be bad fitting threads - they're made in bulk in China - it happens.
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Nov 7, 2018 14:59
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I'm fairly certain I haven't cracked anything but I have shaved some brass off. Not off of threaded or unioning surfaces though! I am also using all new parts where possible. The one part I can't reasonably replace is the shower valve itself, but I'm fairly certain that tapered union connection is working fine, and that it's the thread that's the issue. I'll pick up some pipe dope today and give it another try or two before admitting defeat. I also noticed that whatever tape the plumber used on the cold side is blue, where as my Teflon is white. It also appears to be thicker stuff. Anyone know what product that is?
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Nov 7, 2018 15:32
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SpartanIvy posted:I'll pick up some pipe dope today and give it another try or two before admitting defeat. I also noticed that whatever tape the plumber used on the cold side is blue, where as my Teflon is white. It also appears to be thicker stuff. Anyone know what product that is? Probably: https://www.supplyhouse.com/Blue-Monster-70885-TFE-Blue-Monster-1-2-PTFE-Thread-Seal-Tape That stuff is much thicker than the paper thin, regular PTFE tape. I usually don't bother, because you can just do like 5-6 wraps of regular for the same effect.
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Nov 7, 2018 16:22
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Ran into a plumber today at the supply store I was buying my parts at and he reiterated the tape+dope method you all suggested so hopefully tonight I will have some success with it. The shop was also out of 3/4" to 1/2" reducers so I'm going to have to slightly redo some of my pex to use a 3/4x1/2x1/2 tee 
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Nov 7, 2018 20:17
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Thanks for everyone's help. I got it all sealed up now. Better Tape+Dope was the key. I actually had to cut off the entire assembly from the PEX and use my other set of parts because I tightened it down so hard last night I couldn't get them apart and more or less destroyed the things trying. Luckily when I order parts I always order a couple extras for when I gently caress it up! Here's the final product. The red side was my doing.  Still need to insulate and strap it up in the crawlspace.
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Nov 8, 2018 04:20
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You might want to mix up some 10:1 bleach solution in a spray bottle and hit the back of your drywall to arrest that mold (or give it a good load of Lysol spray).
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Nov 8, 2018 05:17
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That's actually not mold but cricket poop, or mouse poop. I originally thought mouse because the house did have a prior rodent infestation but I found online where someone pointed out identical spots in their crawlspace caused by crickets. Regardless I will be hitting it with bleach, but I don't think it's going to be getting any worse on it's own.
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Nov 8, 2018 05:32
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Bought a new house with well and septic instead of city water, a first for me. I'm seeing very inconsistent pressure at the various faucets in the house, both in terms of some being weak overall and in all of them exhibiting surging where pressure varies significantly if left running. The house for whatever reason appears to have no pressure tank for the plumbing, am I correct in thinking that's both the cause and solution to the problem? Any reason why a house couldn't or shouldn't have one?
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Nov 8, 2018 06:22
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Elem7 posted:Bought a new house with well and septic instead of city water, a first for me. I'm seeing very inconsistent pressure at the various faucets in the house, both in terms of some being weak overall and in all of them exhibiting surging where pressure varies significantly if left running. The house for whatever reason appears to have no pressure tank for the plumbing, am I correct in thinking that's both the cause and solution to the problem? Any reason why a house couldn't or shouldn't have one? There absolutely should be an expansion tank - I've never seen a well without one because it just beats the poo poo out of the pump otherwise. Where is you well pump? Is it in the well or in the basement (jet pump)? Have you found the pressure relay that turns the pump on and off? That's typically bolted to the pump if it's a jet or mounted on the pressure tank if it's a submersible pump. Did you have this place inspected before buying? I don't see how that could have not ended up as a material defect on any reasonable home inspection.
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Nov 8, 2018 16:14
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E: I can’t read.
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Nov 8, 2018 16:14
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Well, I guess it's not 100% correct to say there's no pressure tank at all, inside the house is a pump which claims to have its own internal small pressure tank, it's a big pump but it's nothing like the size of the pressure tank I'd expect to see normally. Your comment made me take a closer look, it's a Grundfos MQ series and a quick glance online tells me it probably shouldn't be behaving this way and it's a common malfunction. Guess I'll roll the dice on the home warranty before doing anything else to see if its covered.
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Nov 9, 2018 05:13
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Elem7 posted:Well, I guess it's not 100% correct to say there's no pressure tank at all, inside the house is a pump which claims to have its own internal small pressure tank, it's a big pump but it's nothing like the size of the pressure tank I'd expect to see normally. Okay, so you have a jet pump. Even if you get the home warranty to repair this it's going to be with the same poo poo - and it sounds like your nbot-a-pressure-tank-pressure-tank has filed. You should probably think about plumbing in a properly sized pressure tank and potentially just getting a submersible pump. Jet pumps are pretty awful as far as water volume produced.
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Nov 9, 2018 16:17
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I don't know if this is the right thread but figured I'd ask anyway. I recently moved into a new home and bought a new refrigerator as the owners took theirs with them. When the delivery guys/installers came in, they said they couldn't "per their job description" connect the water line to the refrigerator because it was a copper pipe that was up too high, so they couldn't bend it or cut it to reach the water line input on the refrigerator. The guy told me "off the record" that I could most likely connect the end of the copper pipe with the stainless steel cord that came with it, but I figured I'd check and see people smarter than me's thoughts. I have this refrigerator. Here are some poorly taken pictures of the copper connector and the cord I got.  
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Nov 12, 2018 22:28
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Where is the shut off for that copper supply line?
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Nov 12, 2018 22:49
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Just run that stainless line from the valve the copper is connected to all the way to the fridge. Discard the copper line altogether. I can kinda understand why the installers won't mess with those copper lines. Too much bending/abuse can easily cause pinhole leaks or weaken it to the point where it randomly, catastrophically fails. The installers' insurance was probably tired of paying for flood damage. That's one of the most common causes of household floods.
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Nov 12, 2018 22:58
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angryrobots posted:Where is the shut off for that copper supply line? B-Nasty posted:Just run that stainless line from the valve the copper is connected to all the way to the fridge. Discard the copper line altogether. Looks like if I want to replace it I'm going to have to get a much longer line. I wasn't sure where the shutoff was so I followed it down in the basement and it's pretty long. Shutoff is right next to the light bulb, fridge is right above the back wall. Copper is actually run along the side too through some insulation.  
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Nov 12, 2018 23:04
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Medullah posted:Looks like if I want to replace it I'm going to have to get a much longer line. I wasn't sure where the shutoff was so I followed it down in the basement and it's pretty long. Shutoff is right next to the light bulb, fridge is right above the back wall. Copper is actually run along the side too through some insulation. Yeah, I figured that might be the case. Those shorter lines are usually only good for when the valve is in a outlet box right behind the fridge. If you have to go into the basement, like I do, you can buy longer lengths on Amazon for pretty cheap. Remember if you measure the length you need (you can use a piece of string) to leave 2-3 extra feet that you can loop up behind the fridge. This will allow you to roll the fridge out to clean underneath (but who actually cleans under there)
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Nov 13, 2018 00:22
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B-Nasty posted:Yeah, I figured that might be the case. Those shorter lines are usually only good for when the valve is in a outlet box right behind the fridge. If you have to go into the basement, like I do, you can buy longer lengths on Amazon for pretty cheap. Any recommendations for hose type?
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Nov 13, 2018 00:35
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Why not just attach the copper line to the fridge?
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Nov 13, 2018 00:57
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SpartanIvy posted:Why not just attach the copper line to the fridge? It needs to be moved or cut in order to reach the waterline input, and can't be bent. That's how this started, the install guys not able to attach the copper line.
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Nov 13, 2018 01:21
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They were not willing, not necessarily not able. Cutting copper is easy and takes only like a $5 tool.
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Nov 13, 2018 01:45
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I would not attach the copper to the fridge, because it's asking for a flood. Personally I would cut it shorter and install a shut off valve behind the fridge (strapped to the wall), and install a flexible stainless ice maker supply line from there. But I am not a professional plumber and defer to anyone who is.
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Nov 13, 2018 02:18
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Don't people do the spiral of copper behind the fridge so you can pull it out? Or was that wrong?
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Nov 13, 2018 02:34
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metallicaeg posted:I have an issue with my hot water pipes banging around. Only happens in the shower, and only when the faucet is on like a 70/30 hot/cold split - 100% hot it doesn't, 50/50 it doesn't, but right around that 70/30 area it keeps banging around like the pipes are going to break themselves apart. Can't duplicate it with either the bathroom or kitchen sinks. mcgreenvegtables posted:I'm a bit confused about needing to drain the system. If water comes out, air has to be entering somewhere else Queen Combat posted:If you see one cockroach behind your overflow drain, that means there are thousands of them behind everything. You need to find and eliminate their food source (could even be a neighbor or a city sewer, in which case find out what's attracting them to you), and buy borax by the 50-pound bag from Amazon and put little piles of it in every corner of your house. Every. Corner.
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Dec 1, 2018 02:17
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metallicaeg posted:I have an issue with my hot water pipes banging around. Only happens in the shower, and only when the faucet is on like a 70/30 hot/cold split - 100% hot it doesn't, 50/50 it doesn't, but right around that 70/30 area it keeps banging around like the pipes are going to break themselves apart. Can't duplicate it with either the bathroom or kitchen sinks. Could be a couple of things. #1 Water hammer: This would be more common on an older style shower valve. How many handles does your tub and shower valve have? Most modern single handle valves are pressure balancing to prevent this. If you have an older 2 or 3 handle tube and shower valve what you would want to have installed are called water hammer arrestors. Some jurisdictions use air chambers which have been proven to be worthless over time. #2 If you do have a modern single handle pressure balancing shower valve than it could be caused by thermal expansion on a closed loop system. Do you have a re-circulation pump tied in to your water heater? If not there still may be a checkvalve located elsewhere requiring the installation of an expansion tank at the water heater if you do not already have one. My first guess is the more plausible of the two.
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Dec 1, 2018 09:07
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I'm assuming this Kohler is new enough to have a cartridge..... Before I go tearing it apart and replacing it, does it sounds like this will fix my issue: when you turn it on all the way hot, wait for hot water and then try to adjust it down a bit it just doesn't change temperature. I have to turn it off or almost all the way off before I can make any adjustments up near the top of the range. If it turn it on halfway or so and wait for hot water it works fine.
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Dec 1, 2018 22:41
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Based on the info you just gave it sound's like the cartridge isn't mixing properly. Change the cartridge in that shower valve. You can get one for $30-60 depending which series that is. Put a rag down in the tub over the drain before doing anything, don't ask plumbers will know what I'm talking about. Anyway, there is a hex set screw on the handle to remove it. Remove the face plate second. Take a picture of the existing internals before removing anything, some aren't as obvious to put together as others. Pull the cartridge out and take it to home depot or preferably a plumbing supply store in your area who carries Kohler. Also check for any rubber seats or orings in the valve. Some cartridges do not come with them and will need to be purchased separately. Oh, and make sure the water is off to the shower valve before doing any of this.
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Dec 5, 2018 07:01
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Sweet, thanks. I wasn't too worried about the swapping it out part, just more "does this even make sense as the problem?"
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Dec 5, 2018 15:18
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Motronic posted:Sweet, thanks. I wasn't too worried about the swapping it out part, just more "does this even make sense as the problem?" Yup no problem. Replacing it should correct your mixing problem and the water hammer as those cartridges have a balancing spool in them.
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Dec 5, 2018 17:01
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Put in the drain plug, then cloth oer top of drain, but yeah, what he said.
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Dec 5, 2018 19:24
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