|
Does this flange need to be screwed down? It is affixed to the pipe. It seems it wasn't screwed down before the toilet came up. There is a screw below one of the screw holes, but there is barely any play in the flange, certainly not enough to push down to where that screw would hold it.
|
#
?
May 13, 2023 22:18
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 16, 2024 05:23 |
|
|
Epitope posted:Does this flange need to be screwed down? Yes.
|
|
#
?
May 13, 2023 22:58
|
|
|
Yes.
|
|
#
?
May 14, 2023 02:21
|
|
|
Balls. Starting to think the plumber was a real knobhead. I think he bent the flange and maybe the pipe. Like, maybe the flange was under that screw before he got here. The flange is clearly bent. He kinda just torqued the potty off, and my immediate-post-rip photo that bolt is missing.
|
|
#
?
May 14, 2023 03:43
|
|
|
For newer flanges the bolts are often just keyed into them, so replacing them is pretty trivial. Hard to tell though all the wax, but bent how exactly? PVC doesn't generally bend, and if it's cast iron...
|
|
#
?
May 14, 2023 04:18
|
|
|
Not very bent. It's brass or something? I spent a good week of mornings working on patching the floor. I hope it's fine E I guess it's kinda hard to see but the left side there the keyway outer edge is slightly elevated, like not enough I thought it was a problem but enough I noted it and wondered about attempting to bend it back down (was thinking nah) E2 and to make what I'm saying more explicit, I can imagine during potty removal the bolt could have been pulled up through that keyway, and bending that outer edge a little in the process. Like, he was ripping to raise it and struggling to get it loose. Epitope fucked around with this message at 05:24 on May 14, 2023 |
|
#
?
May 14, 2023 05:06
|
|
|
As long as a new closet bolt fits and is secure in there I wouldn’t worry about it. The wax or whatever reusable rubber gasket (what I would recommend personally) you use should conform to that change in height just fine. If it ends up being an issue you can probably get a plumber to come and install a retrofit pvc flange but based on what I’m seeing there I’d say that’s probably overkill.
|
|
#
?
May 14, 2023 14:22
|
|
|
stupid puma posted:I wouldn’t worry about it. Music to my ears. It's hard to photo but the slotted screw there is a good 5 mm or so below the flange. If it was holding the flange down last week, hopefully the pipe didn't get bent, or if it did hopefully it's not gonna leak.
|
|
#
?
May 14, 2023 14:54
|
|
|
My pipes just started making this noise a couple of days ago. https://imgur.com/a/92YlHJg Apologies for the quality - I promise it isn't a setup for a jump scare. This is the closet where the shutoff valve and pressure regulator are. It seems to happen when someone has been using water (usually upstairs) and shuts it off. You can hear the water stop flowing in the pipe and then a few seconds of whistling. I checked the pressure with a hose gauge and it seemed normal (~65 psi). I've seen videos with this sound when water is running, but none of the fixes I saw seemed to apply to my situation. Do I have something on the way out, and if so how urgent is it?
|
|
#
?
May 15, 2023 14:21
|
|
|
Does this happen only when using hot water or with cold only? The path I'm going down here is to see if perhaps an expansion tank is involved that could explain a very small water flow for a few seconds after you've turned off the tap. If that's the case or there is some other explanation - could even be bulging washer hoses or something else that is "buffering" water pressure - I'd say the noise itself is a pressure regulator on its way out. Most of them are pretty easy to deal with because you can get a rebuild kit rather than having to replace the whole thing.
|
|
#
?
May 15, 2023 15:05
|
|
|
Motronic posted:Does this happen only when using hot water or with cold only? The path I'm going down here is to see if perhaps an expansion tank is involved that could explain a very small water flow for a few seconds after you've turned off the tap. Thanks, I think it happens with cold only but I'll double check that. I was kind of assuming it might be pressure regulator related, but it's hard to tell with the way the noise travels through the pipes.
|
|
#
?
May 15, 2023 15:30
|
|
|
The Bunk posted:Thanks, I think it happens with cold only but I'll double check that. I was kind of assuming it might be pressure regulator related, but it's hard to tell with the way the noise travels through the pipes. Another thing you can try is to just leave a tap on barely dripping and play around with opening it more and more to see if the noise happens. And grab the regulator when its making noise, you very well may be able to feel it vibrating.
|
|
#
?
May 15, 2023 15:50
|
|
|
If there are gate valves on that line, then the valve is resonating under a particular pressure when reached. You’ll feel it vibrating.
|
|
#
?
May 15, 2023 17:05
|
|
|
Does this thread have opinions on dual flush toilets? We need to replace two toilets in our house, we were looking at dual flush toilets but our plumber says they're extra maintenance and didn't recommend them.
|
|
#
?
May 15, 2023 21:28
|
|
|
YorexTheMad posted:Does this thread have opinions on dual flush toilets? We need to replace two toilets in our house, we were looking at dual flush toilets but our plumber says they're extra maintenance and didn't recommend them. I know that in my area it's practically impossible to find something that isn't a dual-flush, and as long as they're installed properly(i.e. you remember to flush the pipes of ochre and such for a minute before hooking it up to the water connection), my experience is that they easily hold out for ten or fifteen years before there are any issues.
|
|
#
?
May 15, 2023 21:32
|
|
|
YorexTheMad posted:Does this thread have opinions on dual flush toilets? We need to replace two toilets in our house, we were looking at dual flush toilets but our plumber says they're extra maintenance and didn't recommend them. 5 years ago I bought the mid line American Standard dual flush at Home Depot for my downstairs powder room. It's totally fine. When it needs parts 10+ years from now I have no doubt they will not be available so I'll replace the entire toilet. Welcome to planned obsolescence: pooping edition. I have tried to fix regular looking toilets that need special freaking hardware too, so this isn't a new thing. Mostly the flapper valves that nothing generic will fit. Sometimes you can find a replacement, sometimes you find a replacement toilet.
|
|
#
?
May 15, 2023 22:10
|
|
|
Motronic posted:5 years ago I bought the mid line American Standard dual flush at Home Depot for my downstairs powder room. It's totally fine. I'm looking at you, Kohler
|
|
#
?
May 16, 2023 01:30
|
|
|
PainterofCrap posted:I'm looking at you, Kohler The current pain in my rear end is the one in my upstairs bathroom and why yes, it is a Kohler. I absolutely hate their plumbing stuff and their small engines are garbage too. A friend of a friend used to work for them in their plumbing division as an engineer. He was all offended about my opinions......until he got another job and was like "yeah, you were right it's a poo poo show in there".
|
|
#
?
May 16, 2023 01:33
|
|
|
I've had to deal with them twice for parts on faucets 10+ years old and both times I was fedexed parts free of charge, no proof of purchase needed. I guess I wish the faucets didn't break in the first place but the customer service is good.
|
|
#
?
May 20, 2023 06:23
|
|
|
Help thread, I'm vexed by a faucet again. This is a utility sink in a garage that's been dripping for a while. I figured getting to the washer would be easy, there is a screw right on top of each handle. But then... Nothing. The handles won't come upwards, they're solid in place when at max open or closed. When partially open they wiggle a fair bit, but I still can't lift them. Attempting to send it resulted in the water pipes at the back moving instead. Is there a trick to this design that I'm missing? If I unscrew it from both pipes would I find something interesting?
|
|
#
?
May 20, 2023 16:46
|
|
|
NZAmoeba posted:Is there a trick to this design that I'm missing? If I unscrew it from both pipes would I find something interesting? Most likely they're just glued in place by years or decades of limescale. You could try adding some dilute citric acid to see if that would loosen that part up(it won't harm chrome or rubber, but will dissolve limescale),.
|
|
#
?
May 20, 2023 16:52
|
|
|
Qwijib0 posted:I've had to deal with them twice for parts on faucets 10+ years old and both times I was fedexed parts free of charge, no proof of purchase needed. It can only be so good when they are doing stupid poo poo like EOLing several mixing bodies and cartridge valves in favor of some new universal style that absolutely doesn't work properly in all of the EOL'd bodies and tends to break within months. I'm literally buying third party mixing bodies at this point because Kohler simply stopped making the ones that work properly for a whole swath of very popular shower valves from 10-ish years ago, well within the reasonable service lifetime of these fixtures. Which are largely needing to be replaced because the mixing bodies are sticking due to any slight bit of hard water. It's absolutely a design flaw. Plumbing should last longer than this. So that's a good reason to not buy rebranded china junk that you can't get parts for but it turns out that's also a good reason not to buy Kohler either. Pretty sad.
|
|
#
?
May 20, 2023 17:46
|
|
|
PurpleXVI posted:Most likely they're just glued in place by years or decades of limescale. You could try adding some dilute citric acid to see if that would loosen that part up(it won't harm chrome or rubber, but will dissolve limescale),. Thanks for the reassurance that I wasn't missing something! I eventually got it off, all it took was wrapping my pipe wrench under the handle, then smacking it repeatedly from underneath with a hammer. My poor faithful pipe wrench did not deserve such treatment. Every time I do a plumbing task, I'm reminded of this meme https://twitter.com/porglezomp/status/1288717139357175808
|
|
#
?
May 24, 2023 04:37
|
|
|
NZAmoeba posted:all it took was ... smacking it repeatedly from underneath with a hammer. Yeah, that's the other secret of plumbing. Half the time, the answer really is just violence. The important part is knowing when violence solves the problem and when it gives you a bigger problem.
|
|
#
?
May 24, 2023 10:51
|
|
|
I posted in one of the house threads but getting to the business end of solving this: I have a ~800 gpd water leak somewhere between my water meter on the street and the 1/4 turn ball valve that pops out of the ground and supplies water to my house. I confirmed that all of the exterior hose connections are supplied by the line with the 1/4 ball valve and that it holds. Can't get water out of any of my known hoses, faucets, etc with it closed yet the leak detection spinner on the meter continues to spin. The meter is on the street (red circle), 40 feet from the 1/4 ball valve (red star). No wetness found anywhere in the yard and nothing in the house/basement/crawlspace.  I've read a bit about plumbers using acoustic sensors to find the leak location. Has anyone ever seen those in action? Is there any other way to find this thing aside from "start digging"?
|
|
#
?
May 31, 2023 13:09
|
|
|
My suggestion would really just be "start digging." In part because the optimal solution would be to replace the whole run from the meter to the interior valve, if possible, to avoid having any fresh connections out there that would be potential weak spots for future leaks. But also because if there's a leak there, a section that has no business having a leak unless some clueless digger dings it with a shovel or backhoe, then I'd be worried about how well the rest of that section has been installed.
|
|
#
?
May 31, 2023 13:25
|
|
|
How deep is the water line, what is it make of, do you have any irrigation lines between the meter and said shut off? But yeah I've heard acustic ones work (I recall my dad using a stethoscope back in the day....dunno how effective that is however.) Also can do thermal imaging to look for cold spots in the yard. If you have a plumbing probe or just a metal rod of some kind, can go poking around to look for soft spots. Also be sure to call your local utility marking service prior to any digging.
|
|
#
?
May 31, 2023 13:42
|
|
|
spf3million posted:I posted in one of the house threads but getting to the business end of solving this: I have a ~800 gpd water leak somewhere between my water meter on the street and the 1/4 turn ball valve that pops out of the ground and supplies water to my house. Yes. They work. Should get them within a couple feet at worst.
|
|
#
?
May 31, 2023 15:47
|
|
|
Hi Thread! I moved into a new (very old) house 8 days ago, and I'm a first time homeowner. Plumbing has become the most urgent issue. There was a shower temperature question that got answered about 10 pages back, so thank you for saving me some time with that. Drainage is the main issue. The house sat unoccupied for much of the winter before we moved in, in case that's a relevant factor. 1) First time we ran the dishwasher it backed up into the kitchen sink. It was late at night, and the next day the sink was pretty much totally backed up. Plunging the sink fixed the issue, but I'm running the dishwasher again and it is leaking onto the floor, which makes me think there is some sort of blockage somewhere else down the line. I just checked it after the load was done (not immediately) and there isn't any standing water left in there. 2) The upstairs sink drains incredibly slowly. It's not fully clogged, but it's got some blockage somewhere. Looks like this:  3) I'm pretty sure the washing machine also has some sort of blockage issue, because it is leaving some things in at the end of the wash (dog hair, lint) that should be rinsed out but seem to be sitting in with the clothing as the washer slowly drains. here's a some photos of the setup behind the washing machine. The wider hose with the ridges is the washing machine output, the smaller one is drainage from the dehumidifier.  which goes down to here:  which is connected to the pipe that goes down to the basement floor (in the photo above) but also sticks out the wall behind into this:  We've run some vinegar through all the affected areas, but with limited success. What's my next step? Should I snake the upstairs sink? Take it apart and get the accordion part out so I can properly wash it out? disassemble and clean out all the air traps? Google is directing me towards Muriatic Acid- would that be a good option for just flushing out the lines? How would that work for the dishwasher? Thanks, and I apologize if some of these are dumb questions. I've done some youtubing to see what some of these fixes look like, but I figured some expert advice would help before I embark on a project pointed at the wrong solution.
|
|
#
?
Jun 3, 2023 22:08
|
|
|
Holy poo poo that accordian. Okay, first thing first, do not keep dumping things down the drains. Especially not muriatic acid. Remove the traps, clean the traps (including that accordian thing, which you need to replace as soon as you get everything else working) and then see if your sinks drain properly. If they are still a bit slow there are a couple ways to approach this, but I have some questions: is EVERY drain slow? (same question after you clean out traps) and are you on public sewer or a septic system? (please say public sewer, I don't want to be the one that has to tell you how much it could cost otherwise)
|
|
#
?
Jun 3, 2023 22:24
|
|
|
Motronic posted:Holy poo poo that accordian. Not every drain. Bathroom 1 (where the slow sink is) shower is fine, bathroom 2 shower and sink are fine. Public sewer. I'll replace the accordion ASAP. road potato fucked around with this message at 22:42 on Jun 3, 2023 |
|
#
?
Jun 3, 2023 22:38
|
|
|
road potato posted:Not every drain. Bathroom 1 (where the slow sink is) shower is fine, bathroom 2 shower and sink are fine. Okay, awesome. I don't have to give you real bad news then. If the house has sat and these drains were already slow (they were) then you could be dealing with a lot of dried up buildup. Address the traps and then try a full sink full of hot water. Just put that plunger in and fill it up. Once it's all the way full let 'er rip. Might need to do that a couple of times. If that doesn't work I'd go with snaking past the trap on each one. You don't have to go crazy, just get a 10-15 foot manual thing like this: https://www.homedepot.com/p/THEWORKS-1-4-in-x-15-ft-Encased-Drain-Cleaner-PL171215/306536274 and go easy. Looks like a decent amount of your plumbing is pretty modern PVC but I don't want to suggest anything that might make bigger issues, so just go slow, make sure you can pull it back out and see if you can make progress. That's the safe way to start, and hopefully that takes care of all of your problems. Note: when I say addressing the traps I also mean addressing everything before it. Bathroom sink drain mechanisms get nauseatingly nasty sometimes, especially when the user has long hair. So if that's not draining immediately from the sink to your bucket under there when the trap it out you're gonna have to take it apart and clean that too. Sorry. It's gonna be gross.
|
|
#
?
Jun 3, 2023 22:46
|
|
|
Motronic posted:Okay, awesome. I don't have to give you real bad news then. Awesome, thank you. I appreciate the help. what is the go-to recommendation for re-sealing the trap on basement washing machine drain? The other stuff all has screws, that's just PVC linked up to other PVC with the purple stuff around it.
|
|
#
?
Jun 4, 2023 00:28
|
|
|
road potato posted:what is the go-to recommendation for re-sealing the trap on basement washing machine drain? The other stuff all has screws, that's just PVC linked up to other PVC with the purple stuff around it. There is no "re sealing" solvent welded pipe. You cut it out and replace it. Not clear on this from your post but to make sure I think you're saying it's not leaking but you need to clean the trap. First step would be just to snake it if that's the case. Not nearly as convenient but better than cutting up PVC.
|
|
#
?
Jun 4, 2023 00:38
|
|
|
No leaks, just slow drainage. I'll snake it and see what happens.
|
|
#
?
Jun 4, 2023 02:03
|
|
|
I've genuinely never encountered a plumbing obstruction that was sorted out or even slightly relieved by the use of any kind of liquid drain cleaner. It's always required taking a trap apart or a physical pokey proddy thing of some sort to alleviate.
|
|
#
?
Jun 4, 2023 11:48
|
|
|
Those enzymatic buildup removers can help out a ton for bathroom and shower drains that are still slow after you've cleaned the parts leading to the trap. They work best over the course of a week or two.
|
|
#
?
Jun 4, 2023 12:41
|
|
|
road potato posted:No leaks, just slow drainage. I'll snake it and see what happens. Sounds like you're on the path. Just to share my experience, we had a similar situation after moving in (had been vacant a spell, I think that can be meaningful for drains). I spent a fair amount of time and effort with snaking etc and was unable to get it all. The plumber (er, drain guy? Not sure if that's different) with the motorized snake got it done very fast
|
|
#
?
Jun 4, 2023 13:15
|
|
|
PurpleXVI posted:I've genuinely never encountered a plumbing obstruction that was sorted out or even slightly relieved by the use of any kind of liquid drain cleaner. It's always required taking a trap apart or a physical pokey proddy thing of some sort to alleviate. Because you can, and do, take a trap apart. The vast majority of folks that own their homes are mystified by the mechanicals in a home. One of the reasons plumbers can charge obscene money to replace the wax ring is because removing the toilet is traumatic to these folks. They see a toilet as an organic part of the structure. So they pour things down the drain to eat at the bolus that you & I would simply remove. How many of you even have drain cleaner in your home? PainterofCrap fucked around with this message at 15:01 on Jun 4, 2023 |
|
#
?
Jun 4, 2023 14:58
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 16, 2024 05:23 |
|
|
I have to wonder if part of that comes down to being told "don't touch that, you'll break it." to the point that it completely sunk in.
|
|
#
?
Jun 4, 2023 15:02
|
|