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devicenull posted:Check all your other shutoffs *before* you call the plumber. If they're all poo poo, you're going to get a way better rate doing them all at once. There's basically an $xxx rate to show up, and an $xx rate on top of that to do more work. The home inspection, and just living here for a few weeks, indicate that there's a lot of plumbing issues that seem superficial. Both showerheads drip, as does the exterior spigot, for instance. Most of it is little stuff that can be done by a novice, and I've been planning to.... But if I'm already scheduling with someone, you're right that I should check everything and make a list, and just do it all at once. I'm having the same issues with electrical; everything works, generally, but some of it is just bizarre. I can handle some of it but I know my limits and a lot of this is way over the line. An expert will have the right tools and knowledge to do it all faster and better than I could, so I'm making a list there, too. On the upside, I've lived in this town for long enough to have favorite craftspeople, so I at least don't have to research who to use. Thanks, goons!
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Nov 26, 2023 03:39
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I've got a boiler with a pressure relief 3/4" copper pipe pointing down. Above where the pipe ends, I've got a water pump to take water to a drain, a couple rooms away. What's the easiest way to route the overflow to the pump? I can cut the pipe ~6" above the pump. The pipe is horizontally 3.5" away from (in front of, in the photo) the input hole in the pump. The boiler temp display when it's running is usually ~160 F if that matters. Do I just cut and shark-bite the pipe to 1/2" pex, and the pex will be flexible enough to "S" into the pump? 
epswing fucked around with this message at 06:19 on Nov 26, 2023 |
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Nov 26, 2023 05:37
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epswing posted:I've got a boiler with a pressure relief 3/4" copper pipe pointing down. Above where the pipe ends, I've got a water pump to take water to a drain, a couple rooms away. What's the easiest way to route the overflow to the pump? I can cut the pipe ~6" above the pump. The pipe is horizontally 3.5" away from (in front of, in the photo) the input hole in the pump. The boiler temp display when it's running is usually ~160 F if that matters. Do not do anything to the outlet of your required safety equipment T&P valve, which, if it activates will be to keep your boiler from turning into a bomb. Even if it did start leaking, that's your indication that it needs to be replaced or that you have another plumbing problem like a bad expansion tank. It should not be masked with a condensate pump which it will 100% destroy if it dumps any real volume of boiler-temperature water into. There are extremely specific rules about how T&P valves can be routed and to where to the point that "a few inches from the floor, straight shot" is the most logical way to do it. If you want more than that you put a floor drain directly below it.
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Nov 26, 2023 16:17
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Motronic posted:Do not do anything to the outlet of your required safety equipment T&P valve Admittedly, after posting yesterday I did notice that was the only part of the system with a yellow “this is important” tag on it. Thanks for helping me not blow up my house. My follow-up regardless was going to be asking why the pressure isn’t steady. If I close the domestic water valve that fills the system, the pressure drops (should be around 20 psi, drops to 12). If I keep the domestic valve open, and let the autofill valve take over, the pressure fluctuates slowly between 20 and 28, and the relief pipe barfs enough water daily to have to empty the pot I have under the pipe every couple days. I suspect this time of year is why some broken (or almost broken) component is being exposed. In the transition from fall to winter, the boiler turns on and off a lot, as the day-to-day outdoor temperature swings from -5 to +10 C. After being off for a while, when the boiler turns on is when water exits via the pressure relief pipe. epswing fucked around with this message at 16:51 on Nov 26, 2023 |
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Nov 26, 2023 16:35
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epswing posted:My follow-up regardless was going to be asking why the pressure isn’t steady. If I close the domestic water valve that fills the system, the pressure drops (should be around 20 psi, drops to 12). If I keep the domestic valve open, the pressure fluctuates between 20 and 28, and relief pipe barfs enough water daily to have to empty the pot I have under the pipe every couple days. Your expansion tank is bad. Flick it with your fingers/tap it with the handle of a screwdriver. Does it sound full top to bottom? If so, the air bladder has gone bad and you have essentially no expansion tank anymore, so every time the water gets hot it's too much volume to fit in the system. The pressure rises above the pressure setting of the T&P valve and expels hot water. Then the system cools and it's "low" on water, therefore the pressure is lower the next time it heats. This constant usage of your T&P valve may have also taken that out depending on age and water chemistry. But you should start with a new expansion tank and make sure the air charge is set to the correct pressure for your system pressure (there should be a chart on the tank - it's usually a couple PSI higher than design pressure when cold). This is easily DIY-able, but you're going to lose some water out of your loop and introduce air into it. Sounds like you already know how to fill it. You just unscrew the old tank and put in the new one with teflon tape and pope dope (or at least one of those) and refill. Close off/drain anything you can first to make this a cleaner process.
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Nov 26, 2023 16:41
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Motronic posted:Your expansion tank is bad. Flick it with your fingers/tap it with the handle of a screwdriver. Does it sound full top to bottom? If so, the air bladder has gone bad and you have essentially no expansion tank anymore, so every time the water gets hot it's too much volume to fit in the system. Sounds uniformly dull/dead when tapped top and bottom, so it does sound full of water. I depressed the stem of the air valve and expected water to shoot out, but none did, so I guess the bladder has not failed? I checked the air pressure and it read zero. Just for fun I pumped in some air with a bike pump, and the pressure gauge on the boiler rose from 20 to 25 psi, and over the next minute dropped back to 20. Air's getting in and back out, so I'm guessing the air valve is shot? I wonder if it's worth just replacing the expansion tank's valve stem?
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Nov 26, 2023 18:53
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epswing posted:Sounds uniformly dull/dead when tapped top and bottom, so it does sound full of water. I depressed the stem of the air valve and expected water to shoot out, but none did, so I guess the bladder has not failed? I checked the air pressure and it read zero. Just for fun I pumped in some air with a bike pump, and the pressure gauge on the boiler rose from 20 to 25 psi, and over the next minute dropped back to 20. Air's getting in and back out, so I'm guessing the air valve is shot? I wonder if it's worth just replacing the expansion tank's valve stem? Yeah, very well could be just a bad shrader valve if it's acting that way. It's certainly worth a try to replace. Trying to put air in with a bad bladder sounds like bubbles.
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Nov 26, 2023 18:56
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Situation: replacing an older Delta Monitor shower cartridge (it came with the house and there's no model # on it) because it perpetually drips. I've never done it before but I've done enough basic plumbing and water piping work, and I have appropriate basic tools for the task. Approach: Open it up, remove cartridge, take it to a plumbing speciality shop, let them look at it to give me the replacement part and install it. I've watched a few videos, including the videos about how to gently caress it up and how to avoid those specific fuckups. The immediate problem: the loving set screw on the handle is seized solid with calcium (moderate to extremely hard water in my area: limestone strata) and it's stripped round. On top of that, the channel for the set screw is so deep that I can only get the tiniest, flimsiest tools into it. How to? All of the videos I've found for removing seized set screws are in machine shop + vise contexts and in much more robust pieces. Follow-up question #1: does this problem of hard calcium buildup imply any other stumbling blocks that might be extreme in the next steps of the process? I see that sometimes the big threaded ring that holds the cartridge in can also be difficult. Follow-up question #2: if the cartridge still functions, merely leaks, can this be fixed instead by just replacing seals? or am I better off just replacing the whole stupid thing while I'm in there?
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Nov 30, 2023 18:23
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Just drilled it out
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Nov 30, 2023 19:50
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repair successful have a good day everybody
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Nov 30, 2023 22:07
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Nice, good job. It feels good to successfully DIY it.
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Nov 30, 2023 22:39
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Illuminado posted:Nice, good job. It feels good to successfully DIY it. today the big TIL is that if you have delta fixtures an actual plumbing supply place will just replace the cartridges for free under the lifetime warranty. They're going to be seeing more of me.
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Nov 30, 2023 23:07
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CommonShore posted:today the big TIL is that if you have delta fixtures an actual plumbing supply place will just replace the cartridges for free under the lifetime warranty. They're going to be seeing more of me. Had this happen with a 30 yo Moen. Went in trying to buy and they were like "nah its free."
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Dec 1, 2023 00:17
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Keyser_Soze posted:I got a Ruud 50G heat pump water heater last year in my garage while I was getting Solar and a garage subpanel installed and it's been great so far and in my mild Sacramento, CA area climate only takes $6-$10 per month to run. The great thing is the City offered some huge rebates to get one installed and I didn't have to do any paperwork at all. Dumping the old janky vent stack and sealing up the roof was a bonus. I got back 50% of my front hall closet when I ripped out the flue from the old oil boiler. Of course, now I have to fix all the dry wall in there, but I'm excited to have a full closet. The downside to an all electrified house in a cold climate is that in the winter time I have to turn the heat pump water heater to straight electric mode, or else I'm just stealing heat from the rest of the house.
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Dec 1, 2023 20:19
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Squashy Nipples posted:The downside to an all electrified house in a cold climate is that in the winter time I have to turn the heat pump water heater to straight electric mode, or else I'm just stealing heat from the rest of the house. If you're heating your house with a heat pump it is more efficient to leave the heat pump water heater in heat pump mode. Electric resistance heating is terribly wasteful.
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Dec 1, 2023 20:23
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Motronic posted:If you're heating your house with a heat pump it is more efficient to leave the heat pump water heater in heat pump mode. Electric resistance heating is terribly wasteful. That was my first thought, but then I got into a Thermodynamic theory death spiral... if the house is a closed system, and electricity is the only heat source, it seems wasteful to add heat to the house, just so another electric appliance can remove it to heat water. Entropy has to catch up at some point, right? You make a good point about the source of heat being more efficient (the house HP vs the water heater electric elements), but the other problem I run into in winter time is that the HPHWH makes the basement too cold.
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Dec 1, 2023 21:00
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Squashy Nipples posted:the other problem I run into in winter time is that the HPHWH makes the basement too cold. And that's a good enough reason. It's not going to be a really huge difference unless you're using an incredibly large amount of hot water all the time. I don't have a lot of experience with different brands/models of heat pump hot water heaters, but it seems to me that they should have some provisions to duct to the outside, but that brings in its own challenges I suppose with static pressure if you're only ducting one side and running at very low or high temperatures that impact efficiency.
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Dec 1, 2023 21:11
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Motronic posted:I don't have a lot of experience with different brands/models of heat pump hot water heaters, but it seems to me that they should have some provisions to duct to the outside, but that brings in its own challenges I suppose with static pressure if you're only ducting one side and running at very low or high temperatures that impact efficiency.  Mine, A Ruud, does. (not my water heater above) There was a DOE study, that I can't find right now, that made the savings marginal in my region. (Very cold winters) So we just deal with a chilly basement but it's not really all that far off how the basement feels in the summer. Our main issue now is we have a woodstove for backup heat but it's so nice feeling that we run it all the time so the basement gets kind of extra chilly.
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Dec 1, 2023 22:19
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does anyone know how to adjust water pressure regulators of this type? our water pressure is a bit low and i noticed the gauge is reading 10 when i suppose by default this should be set at 15, so i was considering raising it maybe even to just 11 to be on the safe side/save money. but instructions on this particular type/style/brand or whatever aren't super clearly documented from what i can find o.O to the best of my understanding, what i'm supposed to do is: 1. use the thumb wing (right-most side of the photo subject) to rotate CCW, removing the smooth/unridged gold-colored 'cover' 2. use wrench to gently loosen the gray/silver lock-nut (which is touching the Watts info label) 3. with the lock-nut loosened and 'cover' removed, gently tighten the uncovered gold-colored, ridged 'stem' inward (CW?) no more than 1/4 turn at a time 4. re-tighten lock-nut with wrench 5. re-cover, use thumb wing to secure in place 6. wait several minutes, check pressure 7. repeat if needed is the above safe/correct? if not, what should i do differently? can get some more pics if that would be helpful thanks in advance!
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Dec 1, 2023 23:25
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I don't know that you need to loosen the packing/lock nut, but sure...if it doens't move otherwise that's reasonable. And most PRVs are "tighten for more pressure" so that's reasonable.....just go slow and make sure it works. What is this for? What gauge are you talking about? 15 PSI sounds like a hydronic heating loop. Most people keep the autofill turned off (because if the loop leaks it will just continuously flood out your house) so if it's off and your pressure is "low" it could be that the loop isn't full/isn't hot/water feed turned off. Basically, be more concerned about WHY you think this needs doing and how whatever this system is works rather than how to do it for now. Perhaps it needs doing, perhaps something else needs doing, perhaps nothing needs doing.
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Dec 1, 2023 23:33
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Motronic posted:I don't know that you need to loosen the packing/lock nut, but sure...if it doens't move otherwise that's reasonable. And most PRVs are "tighten for more pressure" so that's reasonable.....just go slow and make sure it works. got it, all makes sense. there's a gauge a bit further "upstream" on that pipe (further away from the electric hot water heater that this is feeding into, so far as i can tell) with a needle nice and stable right at 10 PSI. we did notice the faucets/showers (esp higher up) are a bit weak, but yeah i'm not very familiar with this stuff and wasn't aware that the gauge pressure may increase when something is running hot water. i'll definitely give it a check before making any changes/might decide against it depending on what happens. thanks a ton for the guidance!
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Dec 2, 2023 00:01
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Soap Scum posted:got it, all makes sense. there's a gauge a bit further "upstream" on that pipe (further away from the electric hot water heater that this is feeding into, so far as i can tell) with a needle nice and stable right at 10 PSI. we did notice the faucets/showers (esp higher up) are a bit weak, but yeah i'm not very familiar with this stuff and wasn't aware that the gauge pressure may increase when something is running hot water. i'll definitely give it a check before making any changes/might decide against it depending on what happens. thanks a ton for the guidance! Your domestic water pressure is not 10, nor 15. You are looking at the wrong thing, attached to a different system. Domestic (i.e. the stuff that comes out of your faucets, not the stuff that heats your home) water pressure is more like 30-60 PSI. I did not mean that the gauge pressure could be higher when someone is running water. I was talking about thing that may happen in a hydronic heating loop, not your domestic water. It's time to back away and re-evaluate. Don't touch that thing please. Now we're at questions like "do you have a well or are you on city water" and "how old is your water heater and when is the last time it was serviced".
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Dec 2, 2023 00:13
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Squashy Nipples posted:I got back 50% of my front hall closet when I ripped out the flue from the old oil boiler. Of course, now I have to fix all the dry wall in there, but I'm excited to have a full closet. I can't think of a way where this would wind up costing more to run in hp+hp vs hp+resistance. You're increasing the demand on your home get pump, and as you said the basement gets extra chilly, but it must cost more to run in resistance mode. Duct it into your forced air?  (Or just duct it up into the house?)
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Dec 3, 2023 02:44
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Hello gentlefolks please help me unfuck this in the minimally invasive way       This last photo is my phone stuck into the wall pointing up. The blurry foreground is the copper pipe descending from what I think we call the mixing valve or T or whatever, it's where the hot and cold come in and mix and either come down to the faucet, or if the faucet stopper is set, rise up to the showerhead.  So, what we have here is in 1958 the original construction just went ahead and tiled flush with a galvanized steel pipe, which connects to what I think is a brass or bronze elbow fitting, which is soldered to definitely a short segment of copper pipe, which is then fit in some manner to the mixing point. Obviously the remnants of the galvanized pipe gotta go. What I am wondering if there is any chance at all that the elbow and stuff above it is still useable. If it isn't, I'm going to have to rip open either the tile or the bathroom wall on the other side (which means ripping out the bathroom sink, too). The whole bathroom is likely to be renovated within the next 2 years, so a temporary fix is acceptable. Aesthetics are also not important. I intend to get a fix that gets the shower and tub working again, cover the new hole with a rondel or something behind a new faucet, and call it done. But if I cannot get the old rusty poo poo pipe out of the elbow or if I have to cut the elbow off, sweating a new elbow onto that slightly bent old copper pipe sounds dicey and if that don't work it's demo time which I really want to avoid. What do you think? e. the blackened wood doesn't look like water damage, I think it's where the plumber in '58 sweat pipes together with a torch and scorched the wood. Leperflesh fucked around with this message at 20:45 on Dec 9, 2023 |
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Dec 9, 2023 20:43
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How badly do you want to not do that shower surround right now and what's on the other side of that wall. You need access below the tub line near as I can tell because even if you manage to somehow cut and splice that via your existing access you're gonna snap something elsewhere.
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Dec 9, 2023 20:55
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Why would I need access below the tub line? I'm not following. The other side of this wall is the bathroom vanity. It's a little stub wall. To access it I'll have to rip out the vanity. But there's nothing below the faucet that I'm concerned with - yet - the faucet pipe goes upward to the mixer and the hot and cold are fed by pipes from the crawlspace, but I don't think I'll need to touch those at all Leperflesh fucked around with this message at 21:19 on Dec 9, 2023 |
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Dec 9, 2023 21:17
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Leperflesh posted:Why would I need access below the tub line? I'm not following. I might be mis-understanding the direction of the pictures but I would be very wary of doing any work without at least a plan for how you're going to get at the pipes going both up and down from the tub spout. 70 year old galvanized pipe is generally more rust than pipe and loving with it is fraught.
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Dec 9, 2023 21:27
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there are no pipes going down from the tub spout. The last pic I took is of a pipe going up. The only galvanized is the pipe that has sheared off, the rest is copper. This is consistent with what I've found throughout the house: copper runs in the walls, then joins (with no accounting for dielectric issues lol) to steel when penetrating a wall. Also of course the cold water runs were used as electric grounds for the handful of grounded outlets in the house. e. this diagram may help, or perhaps muddy things further  e. here is a contextual photo. I invite you to ignore the obvious horrible water damage at the base of this stub wall, because we are 89% sure it's from the (badly installed in the first place) glass sliding door frame leaking, plus some owner using normal drywall on that bit instead of something more water resistant, and I am going to just loving ignore it until we're ready to rip out the whole bathroom  As you can see, we can maybe access part of the back of the shower by ripping out the vanity. Where I have depicted a stud, is the back end of that wall - the other side of that stud is behind another wall, in the master bathroom, with another vanity attached to it. Leperflesh fucked around with this message at 21:48 on Dec 9, 2023 |
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Dec 9, 2023 21:32
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My wife is ready to rip it out to the studs but my mother in law will be staying with us for at least 4 more weeks, and if this can be made functional for another few months that would be very convenient as we have not yet finished the exterior house repair projects, one of which is actively causing water damage to the wall of the garage so it's higher priority.
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Dec 9, 2023 21:50
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With the judicious application of liquid wrench and then a very focused little butane torch to heat the fitting, I managed to get the steel pipe out! The threads actually look very good.  Dirty, but I see bright brass with no obvious damage  I'm going to proceed on the belief that this is all going to be Just Fine
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Dec 9, 2023 22:28
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drat, goon speed! That does look promising. Clean up the threads as best you can and go for it.
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Dec 9, 2023 22:33
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I'm sure it is fine to stuff a battery terminal cleaner into there and twist it around. A little battery terminal corrosion dust in the shower water never hurt anyone
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Dec 9, 2023 22:38
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Leperflesh posted:I'm sure it is fine to stuff a battery terminal cleaner into there and twist it around. A little battery terminal corrosion dust in the shower water never hurt anyone Take off the shower head and just blast it out with water.
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Dec 9, 2023 22:41
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drat. At least you have a brass elbow to do that job. I had the same problem, minus the destroyed tile. On mine, the horizontal pipe, vertical pipe and the elbow were steel. Luckily the wall on the other side was a closet, so a giant access panel saved my butt. There are 3 ways to attach a spout. With a drop elbow like that, it pretty much forces you to do the short or long pipe spout method, depending on the elbow's width.
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Dec 9, 2023 22:46
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well I got a 6" nipple and it looks like the right length would be 6 1/2" which home depot aint got, although grainger can ship me one for a mere $15 plus $10 shipping OR I could cut a half inch off the rear end end of this cheapo faucet so uh, I'mma do that i will hide my sins with silicone sealant
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Dec 10, 2023 00:04
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Leperflesh posted:i will hide my sins with silicone sealant Mods!!!! Thread title!
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Dec 10, 2023 00:06
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Motronic posted:Mods!!!! Thread title! 
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Dec 10, 2023 00:38
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This is supposed to sort of grip the wall from behind, so the screws through the rondel (that is supposed to be for a hot/cold water handle but I'm misusing it) can screw into something and pull tight. Like... do you call this a furring strip? Anyway how do you get it to hold still till you screw into it? I am trying dabs of silicone but I expect that to not work.
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Dec 10, 2023 02:51
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Plumbing: I will hide my sins with silicone sealant
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Dec 10, 2023 03:06
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Motronic posted:Mods!!!! Thread title! ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Leperflesh posted:This is supposed to sort of grip the wall from behind, so the screws through the rondel (that is supposed to be for a hot/cold water handle but I'm misusing it) can screw into something and pull tight. Like... do you call this a furring strip? Try construction adhesive. kid sinister fucked around with this message at 03:14 on Dec 10, 2023 |
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Dec 10, 2023 03:09
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