stubblyhead posted:

I've got a persistent and very annoying knocking sound coming from my plumbing. It appears to be in the drain lines--if you fill up the kitchen sink or the tub there's no noise when the water is running, but once you empty it there's a loud thunk that repeats every 10 seconds or so. The interval gets farther apart after the drain is opened. It does seem to stop eventually, but even very late at night when no one's used the plumbing for quite a while there's still an occasional sound. Everything is draining well, but it possible this could be due to a partial clog that's not severe enough to block draining entirely? We've lived in the house for around 18 months or so, but it's only been the last couple weeks that this has been happening.

Count Roland posted:

No but its probably similar materials. I need Schedule 80 does it doesn't blow up in my face.

Its actually for an experiment, I want to force CO2 into its supercritical state, then move the fluid over some organic stuff (like oregano or coffee) to extract the oils out. I'll put a hole in both the caps, one for the pressure gauge and one for the fluid output.

Hubis posted:

Since I'm here, on an unrelated note: Right now our washing machine is emptying into the laundry sink through a flex hose clamped to the top of the basin. This is all well and good, but since I foolishly consider myself moderately handy I was wondering: is there any advantage to that over, say, having it drain straight into the main stack that it is sitting literally right in front of (or rather, draining into the same run as the laundry sink)? If I modified the sink run I assume I'd need a separate P-trap for the washing machine. Is there an option to run it into the sink under the drain, a la a kitchen sink/dishwasher/garbage disposal? Since I use that room as a workshop, sometimes I've got things sitting in the basin and it would be cool to not have it fill with water whenever someone wants to do laundry.

ExcessBLarg! posted:

OK, good to know.

What's the consensus on optimal hot water temperature now? I know 120°F is recommended to avoid scaling but there's the whole legionella crap. With the current setup I'm finding water temperatures of 117° at the utility tub closest to the tanks and 113° at our kitchen sink, which is the furthest fixture away from them. Since our dishwasher recommends 120° incoming hot water I figure I'll have to raise the electric tanks 5-10° to get in the 120-125° range and raise the gas accordingly.

Jadunk posted:

Rumor is 140 w/ mixing valve is going to start being manufacturers rec very soon even for regular water heaters. A.O. already recommends the power vent models be run at 140+. (dunno if it's in the install instructions yet but it is one of the things they want us to do when we're working on their water heater warranty poo poo)

Rd Rash 1000cc posted:

It could be welded but you'd have to get someone who is certified to weld pressure vessels. It would me pretty expensive I imagine. Most likely replacing would be the best option. It's a shame it's not just the gasket it's leaking but it really looks like the metal has pit enough to leak.

I wonder if you could just replace the door itself?

rhombus posted:

Moen. After all this headache I was hoping to get the drat handles the wife wants on there, but maybe I should just look at finding replacements for the old plastic crystal knobs.

Parts Kit posted:

Another toilet question - last night mine suddenly started to fill extremely slowly. If I turn off the flow at the wall and turn it back on it starts filling at a normal rate, but with a odd higher pitched sound that is new. I take it the fill valve has gone?

ed: gently caress it, no idea how old that valve is anyways and since it was like $12 for a fancy one I'm just going to go ahead and replace it and see what happens.

angryrobots posted:

Price of scrap copper is also down.

Motronic posted:

Ninja edit for ghetto solution: if you can't find the right parts just get a hose thread cap for the valve. I'd much prefer doing that than trying to remove and replace the entire assembly from the water heater if it's more than a few years old/hard water/poor maintenance/unknown maintenance.

Volume posted:

Thanks for the answers but I'll really not looking to replace the whole spout. I like the spout I have now I just need the little ball on top. I currently got a nut screwed on to to keep it in place.

GobiasIndustries posted:

Kitchen sink in my rental apartment had been having flow problems from the faucet (slow pouring, draining has bee fantastic). I went to wash my lunch dishes and the stream dried up. While I had the taps on trying to figure out what was going on, my downstairs neighbor called and said her kitchen ceiling was dripping. I'd checked the faucet last week when I noticed the flow was slow and there weren't any buildups on the filter, and the guy that showed up after I called my rental company said 'the whole thing's gotta go' and showed me some broken parts he pulled out of the faucet. He left and said I should be OK to use the thing, and now the flow is absolutely perfect on both hot+cold and apart from the spray nozzle leaking when I turn either hot/cold on (and the spray nozzle not shutting off the main faucet when in operation), it works perfectly.


tl;dr my sink seems to be working mostly fine after the repair guy showed up but he's scheduled a full faucet (and/or sink) replacement for monday, why is it necessary?

Combat Pretzel posted:

Yeah, closed circuit.

The only waste water that'll happen is what'll go through the relief valve when it reaches maximum pressure. As said, the system found a balance of 0.8bar cold and 3.0bar when the whole circuit is under temperature.

What I'm mainly interested in is where the efficiency losses are supposed to come from. Would the pressure difference of 2.2bar during different times of operation influence the capability of carrying thermal energy? If so, why, anyway?

Motronic posted:

Follow up: JFC Raised by Hamsters, this fixed like everything annoying about my kegorator! Yes I can hear the bubbles coming out when it's turned down but it doesn't matter. Perfect pours from the start. Too slow for a commercial bar, but 100% perfect for a garage.

Thanks man, this has improved my quality of my life.

Edit:

Mmmmmm....garage beer.

effika posted:

New toilet time!

We have a tiny bathroom with a 10" rough in and a max of 27" length for the toilet from wall to front edge. We need a standard height toilet, not one of the comfort height ones.

Are we going to hate the one that seems to fit the dimensions? It's an American Standard Cadet Pro, model number 215DB.004.

hey girl you up posted:

I have been looking for an excuse to buy an angle grinder.

But I have other stuff I should buy first.

GWBBQ posted:

Weil McClain Gold Oil boiler, ~19 years old, had a small drip starting a few months ago and it recently got worse. There's a small hairline crack at the top of the wet part.


I can't afford to replace it and won't be able to anytime soon. Is there and hope of repairing it myself or having someone repair it?

edit: After looking it up, I spent half an hour sanding it down to the bare metal, cleaned it, and put JB Weld on it. It's setting and appears to have wicked into the crack a little bit, so hopefully it will hold.

Rubiks Pubes posted:

Buying a house and home inspector noted no expansion tank on the water heater and no tube on the pressure relief valve. Are either of these things DIY’able repairs?

W. D. Basterd posted:

Advice?

Jaded Burnout posted:

Here you go:




It's probably the same here, and I don't mind doing things like individual traps per fixture even if they turn out to technically not be needed, but don't worry about this being up to local code since it's a temporary fitting and will be entirely thrown away and redone by a proper plumber when I put the real kitchen in. As long as it's safe and functional I'm happy, if that happens to match IPC I don't mind.

chutwig posted:

I could use some suggestions for how to thaw out the hot water supply line going to my kitchen sink/dishwasher.

Bad Munki posted:

Finally, the shower I’ve been unironically dreaming of.



Screw my water bill, I want it in my life.

spog posted:

Yes. It's called a 'carwash'

metallicaeg posted:

Toilet question:

For a few weeks now it seems I've been needing to flush twice to actually get the bowl to empty. First attempt kinda takes out half the contents but the other half just sits and spins. After the tank fills attempt number 2 fully empties.

It doesn't overflow on the first flush, and the water level in the bowl doesn't even rise noticeably at all.
On the second flush, it's swift and normal, which seems to indicate I don't have a clog.

I don't get what could be making the first flush nearly useless with a second one a minute later acting normal.

Josh Lyman posted:

toilet is hooked up to hot water

spog posted:

CaladSigilon posted:

No joy. I did notice something while doing so, though, and that is that running the sink in the room with the problem makes the pipe banging much less audible. The sink water is pulsing though.

Edit: When I went and took a shower this morning, I realized the banging was completely gone! Maybe the invocation ritual human sacrifice fix took time to work.

Thanks so much!

SpartanIvy posted:

I now have a working water heater! That's the good news.

Bad news is this is the plumbing that ~$650 for 3 hours of work gets you. I raised questions about the black pipe and galvanized to brass connection when I saw it and was brushed off. I'll point it out the inspector when they come and see what they think.



E: turns out brass is fine to connect to zinc and copper, you just can't connect galvanized pipe straight to copper I guess.

Slugworth posted:

Anyone have any tips on finding a trim kit for a moen standard valve? Google has been useless, because no matter what terms I use, I just get a ton of moentrol and positemp results. I know I can get the adapter plate to use moentrol trim, but surely there's a few decent standard trim kits out there?

Naffer posted:

I was thinking about something this morning.
How many of you replace galvanized nipples with brass nipples in houses with copper pipe?

I recently replaced the nipples on my supply in a bathroom. The old ones were galvanized and in rough shape. I replaced them with galvanized nipples, but on reflection I wonder whether I just made the same mistake that the last plumbers made. Should I have sprung for brass nipples so I'm not kicking the can down the road to save $5? Is it worth pulling them back apart now or are galvanized nipples still the standard in homes with copper supply pipe.

Trimson Grondag 3 posted:

yeah if you live in a wine producing country an $8 bottle of wine is vastly better than cooking wine and will improve your food (probably even if you don't live in a wine country).

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.

Google keeps directing my search results to single bangs at turning on/off hot water, which I haven't noticed. This a constant boom-boom-boom with an awful sound and the water visibly not flowing smoothly when it happens.

Where should I start to fix this?

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.

BubbaGrace posted:

If your T&P is popping like that you have a problem. The only reason that thing would trip like that is thermal expansion. At this point I would call a plumber. Without being there I can't give you any more answers and sleep at night.

Bigass Moth posted:

Imgur album:
https://imgur.com/a/vXZ4uwO







I am replacing the disposal with a much smaller unit. The new disposal comes with a plug, but can be hardwired. Is it a better idea to hardwire it or should I install a GFCI under the sink next to the disposal control switch?

You can see the great craftsmanship of whoever did this piping, as it is crooked and flows uphill slightly from the P to the wall. The zip ties are a nice touch - I guess it doesn't hurt, but I doubt this is how it's supposed to be done correctly.

The only problem I've had is when filling the second basin (with no disposal) and then draining the water it will overflow at the connector above the P.

The little black box hanging off of the junction in the back controls the lights below the counters. I'm guessing this probably isn't right either? The kitchen was redone by the previous owners in the late 2000s.

Like I said, ideally I'd like to get the pipes behind the disposal if possible, but if not it's not a big deal since there's still plenty of usable room.

some_admin posted:

pony heater and circulator pump question time

9 years old, and i have a pinhole leak in copper before pump


Better to go ahead and replace pump & pony tank or just try to solder pinhole?

(I'm going for pinhole repair, going to be hard to find pump on short notice it seems.)

real question, am I going to be out of luck trying to sweat a new pump on here? I only have straight propane, i have MAP/Pro but I am out of oxygen.

Motronic posted:

I was under the impression those wouldn't work on domestic water pressure, but I guess they do.

PainterofCrap posted:

That floor drain, most likely, is not connected to anything either - probably terminates out in the yard somewhere, in a buried French drain.

stupid puma posted:

This is what I’m starting to think more and more. I have no idea why they wouldn’t have just tied the floor drain to the main line but it was the 50s, so who knows.

Guy Axlerod posted:

Delta said that my current faucet is discontinued, and they could replace it with a different model that looks to be cheaper and only vaguely similar.

borkencode posted:

I’m trying to replace a faucet, but removing the current one has me stumped.