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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? Drill pilot holes and run the screw through it before mounting so it is basically pre-threaded. That should make starting the screws gentle enough that the silicone can hold it in place.
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Dec 10, 2023 03:18
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did pilot holes, didn't run screws through first, that's smart. I actually have a whole tube of construction adhesive but I don't wanna cut open a fresh tube to get two dabs. I did realize I have some two-part epoxy though. Although that will take a long time to hold. Anyway I'll figure something out.
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Dec 10, 2023 03:29
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Leperflesh posted:i will hide my sins with silicone sealant
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Dec 10, 2023 04:08
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You can just put a half inch plug in there and use nothing but shower until the proper renovation or repairs are done. Cover the hole with watertight aluminum tape or something. Just clean all the soap scum from the tiles first As for the new plumbing setup, I recommend a single hand diverter with built-in shut offs right on the body, since you don't seem to have other access.
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Dec 10, 2023 08:12
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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. I ended up replacing the tank with another of the same model (HGT-60). System pressure has been steady, no T&P valve dumps for a few days now, so I'm happy about that. My autofill valve is set to 15 psi, so I set the air pressure of the new expansion tank to the same value. My question now is, when I tap the tank, why do both the top and bottom sound hollow/pingy? I'm expecting the top half to contain water. Does it take some time to 'charge' the top half (exchange the air with water)? What I did to replace the tank: * Cut power to boiler * Closed ball valves before autofill and after expansion tank (I have domestic -> ball valve -> backflow preventer -> autofill valve -> expansion tank -> ball valve -> rest of boiler system) * Spun the old tank off (heavy mother, 8 gal, completely full) * Applied orange thread tape and spun the new tank on * Opened ball valves * Tested the boiler T&P valve by opening it for 5 seconds, seemed to work (dumped water as expected), the autofill brought the system back up to ~15 psi * Turned on boiler
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Dec 10, 2023 18:55
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epswing posted:I ended up replacing the tank with another of the same model (HGT-60). System pressure has been steady, no T&P valve dumps for a few days now, so I'm happy about that. My autofill valve is set to 15 psi, so I set the air pressure of the new expansion tank to the same value. My question now is, when I tap the tank, why do both the top and bottom sound hollow/pingy? I'm expecting the top half to contain water. Does it take some time to 'charge' the top half (exchange the air with water)? The point of the tank is that if and when the volume of water increases (because it's being heated) it buffers in the tank instead of puking out of your T&P. Regular size expansion tanks are HUGELY oversized for a typical household system so they'll barely fill and even then only occasionally. It's doing it's job. Be happy and move on.
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Dec 10, 2023 19:21
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I want to thank everyone who told me to get an expert to look at my sink and shutoffs. You were right. Everything is broken. I was quoted $212 each to replace the shut-off valves ($180 with a membership plan, which I am abso-loving-lutely signing up for). Four are "shark bite", though I don't know what that means. Very brief Googling indicates that, with my skill level, these are not something I can do myself. I have two toilets, two bathroom sinks, and the kitchen; 8 in all. The external lawn faucet has a leak that is not super important to fix except that, the way it is installed, in freezing weather it will create stalagmites of ice that will seal off the outlet, back up into the pipe, and burst into my crawl space. I live in the midwest. We freeze here. That's about $430 to fix. The kitchen sink is flat-out cheaper to replace than repair, so I didn't really get the details on the problem. I'm fairly confident I can replace a faucet; the quote for the plumber to do it is $300 if I provide my own faucet. I'm not picky about what it looks like, so I think Facebook Marketplace can hook me up with that for cheap. Does this quote include the two shut-offs that need to be replaced? Unclear, but I will ask. The whole-house shutoff handle snapped when the guy turned it. But that's apparently OK for now. And, all of this - including an earlier issue I had with the furnace condensate tube - could have been avoided if I had a water softener. That's not an up-sell from the plumber; that's a question I asked and he confirmed. I kind of like the capacitive style, because they're cheap and I can install them myself, but I'll pay more upfront to have this whole thing be not-an-issue later. My immediate plan is to replace the exterior spigot, the kitchen sink, and the two toilet valves. I feel like those are priorities in terms of water bills, not busting pipes, and avoiding sewage issues. So, I have three questions - Am I being over-charged by a large enough amount that it's worth getting another quote; do y'all have a recommendation for a water softener, and are my priorities in order? Hungry Squirrel fucked around with this message at 19:03 on Dec 11, 2023 |
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Dec 11, 2023 18:57
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I don't know what a membership plan is with a plumber but if you save the cost of sign up for this call out just make sure you get it in writing how you cancel. Then put it on your calendar. Those prices all seem in line, but if you can swing it don't scrimp on the fixture. Go get a moen ($400-600) and cry once. If you cannot then glacier bays finest or something stolen on Facebook marketplace is fine hut know you're going to be needing to replace it in 5 years. Maybe less, maybe more. Sometimes they last forever. Consider a whole home repipe to be in your future, which will unfortunately include reworking a lot of what you are paying for, but right now you're going to be in a MUCH better place - being able to confidently turn off your water is worth it.
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Dec 11, 2023 19:33
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Oh Sweet Monkey Jesus, thinking about a whole-house repipe actually gave me chest pains. I'm gonna let future-me have that heart attack. The quote for the softener install - labor only - just came back as $1,400. That can't be right, can it? Wirecutter indicates that some more basic models can be user-installed. If it can be done by a dumbass homeowner, there is no way in hell that cost is right. Maybe the quote included a builder-grade unit, too?
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Dec 11, 2023 19:42
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A number of the bigger plumbing companies around me do a %off or wave call out fees if you sign up for their "membership" which often has free call outs and a %discount on services for like $100something a year. I've generally found smaller shops will do the work for less. Even considering the discount, and you don't have to forget to cancel it. (Assume they hope you forget) But those prices don't seem crazy, if you lack soldering skills etc, of all of those the kitchen faucet is without a doubt the easiest and least skill required job. Do you have another way to shut off the water with the main shut off unusable? Like the meter, etc? I wouldn't want to not have a way to shut off water to the house at all, and be at the mercy of the city or whomever. E: Yeah whole house repipe is rough...just did it a few months ago, (up thread has some of their best work) but it was either that or play wack a mole with slab leaks and other issues, at least it's one and done. (Much better water pressure too!) Rakeris fucked around with this message at 19:52 on Dec 11, 2023 |
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Dec 11, 2023 19:47
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I hate the world we live in where plumbers want to be subscription services now.
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Dec 11, 2023 19:53
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there I fixed it This looks weird with the hot and cold labels on the round thing but gently caress it it fit. I had purchased a new spout and cut a half inch off the back to account for the shorter pipe, and it turns out that the roundel thingy is actually recessed by a quarter inch so I had to go buy another new spout and take just a quarter inch off the back so that was another $20 wasted. I had thought that the silicone wouldn't be strong enough to hold the little bits of wood in place well enough to screw into, but after curing overnight it actually was just stiff enough for the screws to bite so I wound up not needing to epoxy it. Since I had the oscillating tool and silicone out anyway I went ahead and carved away grout around the tub to tile interface and re-caulked that too.  Still looks old and poo poo but at least it doesn't leak any more. I mean, probably. Maybe it's spraying gallons of water into the wall now. I don't care. If I can't see it it's not happening, right?
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Dec 11, 2023 19:55
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Leperflesh posted:If I can't see it it's not happening, right? We can't just keep changing the thread title every 2 days.
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Dec 11, 2023 19:57
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I have guys coming next week to bolt the sill to the foundation for earthquake upgrade and they'll be spending a couple days in the crawlspace so I'll actually run the shower for a bit and ask them to tell me if they see water pouring out the wall. Just in case. I could go down and look myself but the crawlspace is very short and it's cold and my back and knees aren't what they used to be. 
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Dec 11, 2023 20:02
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Leperflesh posted:I have guys coming next week to bolt the sill to the foundation for earthquake upgrade and they'll be spending a couple days in the crawlspace so I'll actually run the shower for a bit and ask them to tell me if they see water pouring out the wall. Just in case. I could go down and look myself but the crawlspace is very short and it's cold and my back and knees aren't what they used to be. Are you having Brace-and-Bolt pay for this? If not, see if you can.
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Dec 11, 2023 21:45
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Rakeris posted:A number of the bigger plumbing companies around me do a %off or wave call out fees if you sign up for their "membership" which often has free call outs and a %discount on services for like $100something a year. I imagine it's 100% "stickyness" so you have an incentive to not call another plumber if they're busy that day/week/month. I can't imagine they aren't just marking up their bills to cover any potential revenue loss over a competitor.
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Dec 11, 2023 21:46
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Leperflesh posted:there I fixed it I know you're done so I can't help you but in general, I think it's very interesting that you cut the back of the spout off. It's been a few years but as I recall most of these just grip onto a pipe using a set screw. I would probably have gotten a threaded male and soldered that onto a copper pipe and cut that to length. Or if you wanted to stick with that one that was threaded... two male fittings and a section of copper pipe.
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Dec 11, 2023 21:58
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Hungry Squirrel posted:
Your furnace condensate comes from the combustion gases, or from the air if it's actually a/c condensate. A water softener doesn't change that.
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Dec 11, 2023 22:25
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That's fair. I'm grumpy about this whole thing and blaming all my current problems on sediment. Allergies? Sediment. Funny smell? Sediment. Climate change? Sediment.
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Dec 11, 2023 23:56
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Rakeris posted:
Yeah seriously, this this this. To even do the work the whole house will have to be shut off. Plumber can probably do it from the city valve or maybe they have to call the city themselves to do it, but once its shut off, this should be number fuckin one on the list. Doesn't matter how many new shut off valves you have at your sinks, toilets etc, if something starts leaking in between the main valve and them, you're hosed.
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Dec 12, 2023 00:04
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H110Hawk posted:Are you having Brace-and-Bolt pay for this? If not, see if you can. Yup! I got into the program this year, belatedly (I was initially wait-listed). It doesn't pay the full price, it's just a subsidy, but I was bracing (heh) for a huge price but it turns out I don't have a cripple wall to brace, so I only need the basic bolt package. It's gonna be $1500 total, and there's a place on my earthquake insurance to mark that I have it bolted (and another correction to make because the insurance thinks I have a cripple wall) so I believe I'll be getting a small discount on my insurance going forward. In addition to, hopefully, not dying in an earthquake. I'm 1/4 mile from the concord fault line. StormDrain posted:I know you're done so I can't help you but in general, I think it's very interesting that you cut the back of the spout off. It's been a few years but as I recall most of these just grip onto a pipe using a set screw. I would probably have gotten a threaded male and soldered that onto a copper pipe and cut that to length. Or if you wanted to stick with that one that was threaded... two male fittings and a section of copper pipe. The cheapo spout from home depot just has a plastic threaded bit right near the spout opening, the rest of the body is just an empty shell. I could have tried cobbling together fittings but instead I just cut a bit off the back with a hacksaw and then cleaned it on the benchtop disk sander. And then threw that one away and got another one and just ground a quarter inch off with 80 grit, which took about five seconds lol. The metal is very thin. I was looking at all the name brand spouts and they all had different fittings at different lengths and I didn't want to gently caress with any of that because I was sure it would not line up quite right and I couldn't think of an easy way to, say, add 1/2 an inch of depth with a coupling off the shelf from home depot.
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Dec 12, 2023 01:23
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Rakeris posted:
As the kids say: idk lol The tech this morning forgot to turn the water heater valve back on, so I got home after the school run and had no output from any hot water faucet in the house. That's fine; a quick call to the office got my guy on the line, and it took no more than two minutes to talk me through where that valve is. My point is that I can turn off the hot water at the heater, at least. I asked before the guy left this morning what I can do in case of emergency. As best I can tell, there are two water related valves in the utility room. The one in front is busted, but I can shut the water off via the one in back, he says. I have not tested to see if I can physically get that to turn. I'm a little afraid to, honestly. Will it work? Will it break? It's a surprise for future-me! I'm going to have the critical repairs done, but I cannot scrape enough coins out of the couch cushions to afford it until after the new year, so we're all just going to limp along until then.
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Dec 12, 2023 01:35
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Leperflesh posted:Yup! I got into the program this year, belatedly (I was initially wait-listed). It doesn't pay the full price, it's just a subsidy, but I was bracing (heh) for a huge price but it turns out I don't have a cripple wall to brace, so I only need the basic bolt package. It's gonna be $1500 total, and there's a place on my earthquake insurance to mark that I have it bolted (and another correction to make because the insurance thinks I have a cripple wall) so I believe I'll be getting a small discount on my insurance going forward. Congrats. Ours was about $1500 as well post subsidy. Pro tip don't be home it's loud and stinks to high heaven due to the epoxy they use in the bolts.
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Dec 12, 2023 01:37
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Hungry Squirrel posted:I kind of like the capacitive style, because they're cheap and I can install them myself, but I'll pay more upfront to have this whole thing be not-an-issue later. These are kinda fake science, I would not plan on putting one in.
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Dec 12, 2023 03:27
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H110Hawk posted:Congrats. Ours was about $1500 as well post subsidy. Pro tip don't be home it's loud and stinks to high heaven due to the epoxy they use in the bolts. Uh well poo poo, I work from home, and I have cats, I don't want them getting gassed
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Dec 12, 2023 05:13
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devicenull posted:These are kinda fake science, I would not plan on putting one in. I'd wondered. People on Reddit get shouty when discussing it, so it was hard to tell. I just bought a water hardness tester. There is clearly gunk in the water, but I don't have any other hard water symptoms - my soaps are sudsy, my skin and hair are fine, my electric kettle has no more residue than expected. I feel like I need to know more about the actual problem before I can fix it.
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Dec 12, 2023 20:14
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Hungry Squirrel posted:I just bought a water hardness tester. There is clearly gunk in the water, but I don't have any other hard water symptoms - my soaps are sudsy, my skin and hair are fine, my electric kettle has no more residue than expected. I feel like I need to know more about the actual problem before I can fix it. Yes, you do. You should contact your county ag extension and ask them about water testing. And if you're not on a well there's probably no reason to get your water tested as they or your water provider will have tests on record. It sounds like you have a particulate problem, not a dissolved solids problem. One is mitigated with filtering, the other with a softener. There is a huge difference.
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Dec 12, 2023 20:21
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Motronic posted:Yes, you do. You should contact your county ag extension and ask them about water testing. And if you're not on a well there's probably no reason to get your water tested as they or your water provider will have tests on record. No sarcasm, this is the quality content I come here for. I fully admit that I am ignorant of most things related to this, and I know only what I can learn from Google. I had no idea that particulate and dissolved solids were different. Before I ask my next set of stupid questions, I'll do some research!
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Dec 12, 2023 22:27
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One is grit and one is part of the chemical formula basically. You don't know until you know. Look up the most recent epa water quality report for your supplier. It's probably all the information you need to know.
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Dec 12, 2023 23:09
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i have a leak near my outdoor spigot and i want to fix the leak and possibly add a shut off valve to my system? here's a pic of where i believe the leak is happening:  i have no idea why the home builder routed this poo poo the way they did but it was so poorly done the copper portion was outside of the wall and wrapped with foam to keep it from freezing (although we dont really get that bad of weather here in the PNW) i have a mapp torch and can heat this poo poo up enough to resolder the leaking spot but i think it would be good to add a shut off valve inside the house just in case...any suggestions? And maybe redo the portion that was sticking out of the wall? Seems stupid OBAMNA PHONE fucked around with this message at 18:31 on Dec 17, 2023 |
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Dec 17, 2023 08:03
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I’ve got a two handle faucet in the kitchen. The left side is leaking (see image). Ive turned off the water on that side but it leaks when I turn the water on from the right side faucet. I’ve only ever done faucets where there’s a set screw or the cap on top pops off. It’s a nice faucet that I’m trying not to ruin. Can someone point me in the right direction to open it up?  
Proust Malone fucked around with this message at 16:42 on Dec 17, 2023 |
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Dec 17, 2023 16:39
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Proust Malone posted:I’ve got a two handle faucet in the kitchen. The left side is leaking (see image). Ive turned off the water on that side but it leaks when I turn the water on from the right side faucet. Make/model? Anything to go on?
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Dec 17, 2023 17:54
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H110Hawk posted:Make/model? Anything to go on? Sorry no. I bought it with the house and the kitchen was redone in 2007. Closet I have found so far is this maybe? https://www.build.com/elements-of-design-es2135x/s500609?uid=149923&searchId=2XownSfKCE
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Dec 17, 2023 19:24
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Proust Malone posted:I’ve got a two handle faucet in the kitchen. The left side is leaking (see image). Ive turned off the water on that side but it leaks when I turn the water on from the right side faucet. I'd try unscrewing the knurled part on top, if that doesn't work maybe put a wrench on where there's flats & it meets the body of the faucet?
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Dec 17, 2023 19:44
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The cap unscrewed to reveal a flat cap with a hole. The collar at the base loosened and the collar slips up.   I stuck an Allen wrench down that hole but didn’t feel anything sit in a socket or turn 
Proust Malone fucked around with this message at 20:25 on Dec 17, 2023 |
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Dec 17, 2023 20:06
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Put your phone in selfie mode and stick it behind the main parts and look very closely. The make might be behind it but it looks like you're making progress. Also check under the sink on the hoses. Sometimes the connectors will say it.
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Dec 17, 2023 21:01
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OBAMNA PHONE posted:i have a leak near my outdoor spigot and i want to fix the leak and possibly add a shut off valve to my system? That looks like a frost free sillcock. The shut off is back where the pipe threads in. It shouldn't be freezing and cracking. The idea is that with the shut off so far back, all the water left inside after it's shut off will drain out via gravity. I'd say to replace the entire sillcock. You may have just got a dud. They come in several lengths. You may want to take the old one with you when shopping to compare. Edit: remember to mount the new one pointed down slightly so that it will actually gravity drain. kid sinister fucked around with this message at 21:50 on Dec 17, 2023 |
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Dec 17, 2023 21:46
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Proust Malone posted:The cap unscrewed to reveal a flat cap with a hole. The collar at the base loosened and the collar slips up. I love this escape-room-via-forums thing! Try a skinny phillips screw driver down the hole? I feel like that's probably just going to take the handle itself off, and won't help with the valve. Is that another set of flats revealed below the collar? Looks like the entire valve stem might unscrew there.
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Dec 17, 2023 22:54
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We are in the process of evaluating a bid to repair some water damage and replace our shower unit. When asked how we could reduce cost to bring it within our budget, they offered a few options. One was to source the plumbing fixtures ourselves(showerhead, shower wand, wand mount/w attachment) and that we could look at big box stores or a local plumbing fixture store. I'd like to ask the thread if there is a consensus decent online place to shop for items like this?
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Dec 18, 2023 18:57
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You'll get better fixtures at a local plumbing supply. More metal, well built.
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Dec 18, 2023 20:40
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