Laundry standpipe water supply connection

I have roughed in an Oaty laundry box (all drainpiping installed OK), and have a question about the hot and cold supply connections. The vavles have water-hammer arresters attached to the top of them, and there are 1/2″ threaded connectsions for the water supply. I saw a completed version of one of these down the street for a house that is under construcion, and noticed that the copper tubes are sweated inside the threaded connections rather than screwed on. This seems like a better approach since this connection will not be accessable once the dry wall is put in place. I disconnected the vavle, and it seems like the 1/2″ copper tube does not fit into it, and I guess it must need a 3/8″ tube. Should I get a 1/2″ to 3/8″ and install it this way, or is the threaded version OK?

the bottom of those valves are machined to allow 1/2″ copper to fit right in so they can be soldered. it is possible that your are not machined at all. don’t use any 3/8″ tubing to go inside. solder a couple of 1/2″ copper x female adapters onto 12″ long pieces of tubing. put about 5 wraps of teflon tape on the threads with some pipe dope smeared on that. tighten the adapters onto the shanks. tighten them really well as thet is a running thread not a tapered thread.

new tub drain

we are replacing the tub drain and overflow, this comes with the stopper where all you have to do is turn it to close. my ? is on the drain part it comes with a rubber washer does this go between the metal part of drain 0r underneath the tub on top of the new plastic pipe. drain screws into pvc pipe. thank you again guys

Think of this in a cross sectional manor:
Top of tub: Metal flange layer of silicone
Beneath tub: Rubber gasket Nut that tightens all of this together
Good to have a second person to help with the tightening process.

rebuilding toilets

i am a not a service and repair plumber, so i dont have much experience with repairing fixtures/faucets. i keep getting calls to rebuilt the insides of toilets. ive been talking some of them into new toilets and some i passed on. i am interested in rebuilding them so i have a good question for all you repair plumbers. what rebuild kit is the best? is there a generic rebuild kit that will work with all brand names? ive rebuilt my own mansfield, but with a mansfield kit..i have a job coming up to rebuild an american standard. do i need a a.s. kit? how long does it generally take you?

I find that if I keep Fluidmaster 400-A’s, typical Korky flappers, typical (front mount) toilet handles on the truck, I can repair more than 50% of the toilets I encounter. Then you have all the other ’specialty’ toilet rebuild parts that may be needed. Even if your truck is set up strictly for service/jobbing work, it’s almost impossible to stock everything. Generally, a basic toilet repair takes less than 20-30 minutes although if it takes less, I still charge my minimum one labor hour rate, plus material.

water flow to kitchen faucet

I have only a trickle of water coming from my kitchen sink faucet. It is a Premiere Brand faucet and from the looks of it rather old. It is a one handle faucet. When I position it to both sides, hot/cold, I still only get a trickle of water. It was working fine yesterday. Water flows fine to the dishwasher. I have also tried to turn off the water valves under the sink but I still get a trickle of water. I am afraid to remove the faucet because for some reason, the valves under the sink aren’t turning off the water. My first question is how can I get my faucet to work again? And my second is why can’t I shut the water off under the sink? I live in a condo and turning off the water to the building would be a tremendous hassle. Thanks in advance, Chris

remove and clean the aerator located at the end of the spout where the water comes out

main water supply line question

I have 3/4″ copper main water line coming from the street. Inside my house, the main water line is down-sized to only 1/2″ (so 1/2″ feeds my entire house). My question is, to you get any added benefit from increasing the 1/2″ pipe to say 1″?…even though the town supply line is 3/4″ Thanks

I’ve seen 3/4″ copper water service piping come into the house, then there is a 5/8″ (1/2″) water meter then it gets increased to 3/4″ copper again and all works fine. In your case, in a typically sized home – the water distribution piping, after the water meter should be 3/4″ (or larger, it depends on the amount of fixtures). Here, 1/2″ is only used to pipe in the second to last fixture when installing H & C water lines in let’s say a bathroom group, or when running a line to a hose bibb or similar. Under-sized piping can lead to problems within the system.

Shower Hot Water Flow

When I turn on the shower, as I turn the single knob toward hot, the water completely stops flowing when I get to about 80% full hot. When I turn it back to off there is a clicking sound that I can feel when know is at about 50%.

Sounds like moen posi-temp.Between the handle and the wall plate does the sleeve coming out of the wall look round with a square notch at the top?If so after you remove handle and handle holder from stem .Turn the stem on to the middle position and tap the stem gently like trying to tap the brass straight back into wall with wrench this could free the spool.GoodLuck.

clogged toilet

My son flushed the top half of a plastic easter egg down the toilet. We tried using a manual hand snake to get it out, and it didnt work. Is there anything else we can do to get it out other than taking out the toilet? What do you sugggest?

A pro-grade auger with a retriever head like the one pictured below may do the trick but hard plastic items are usually quite difficult for them.

As suggested a wet dry vac is usually a good choice in removing large items such as this. If not the toilet will probably have to be removed from the floor and a fun acrobatic exercise will ensue. At that point you probably want a pro!

Wierd water leak

I have a customer who says he has a leak, down thru the cavity for the stack, every fall for a couple of days when he turns his hydronic heating system on. House is two storeys + basement and the water ends up on the basement bathroom ceiling. Expansion tank is in the basement and there is no expansion tank upstairs. I was working is the house last week and there were no leaks while I was there.

The system, (forced HW?) is closed and if it were the heating system leaking, it would/should leak constantly since it’s under pressure at all times. I’d look elsewhere for the source of the water into the basement ceiling. Sounds more like it’s Plumbing related and a pure coincidence that it happens only when he fires up the heat.

Sump Pump Noise

Good evening everyone. I recently had a back-up sump installed into my current system. My original Zoeller pump worked semi quietly (other than the check valve)for the past two years. After the install of the back up it has grown louder and louder. It sounds kind of like an old time dryer buzzer and comes and goes. I have read about “not being primed” and was wondering if this is the problem or if I should head to the store this weekend because it is on it’s last leg. Any answers or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for all of the useful info over the past few months.

pull the pumps and fire them up dry to see if the noise is motor impeller related.Some times it as simple as the pump not sitting on all feet in pit bottom.Good Luck.

Water pressure question

installed a water softener system including two sediment filters in parallel. To monitor water pressure I installed 2 pressure gauges. One before the filters. The second on the outlet line of the water softener. One thing I have noticed is that the outlet pressures is typically 5-9 psi higher than the inlet. Why would that be?

Defective gauge. There are different quality gauges and the accuracy has a +- tolerance. If you have a “Grade D” 100 PSI. gauge there may be 5 PSI. allowed maybe one reads 5 PSI. high and the other reads 5 PSI. low you’ll see a 10 psi difference. If you switch the gauges the readings may be more in line with what you would expect. Really just use them as a referrence. Gauge Accuracy Gauge accuracy and grade are categorized by ASME (ANSI) standard B40.1. Gauges that are “Not Graded” do not meet one of the ASME (ANSI) B40.1 guidelines. For example, a gauge with ±1.5% full-scale accuracy falls between grades A and 1A, so it is listed as “Not Graded.” Accuracy Grade ±5% Full Scale D ±2% Mid Scale; ±3% Rest of Scale B ±1% Mid Scale; ±2% Rest of Scale A ±1% Full Scale 1A ±0.5% Full Scale 2A ±0.25% Full Scale 3A NIST Certificates Many gauges are available with a certificate of calibration traceable to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). This certificate shows you that your gauge has been tested against a gauge certified by NIST and proven to fall within a required tolerance. Certificates have a calibration date and a put-to-service date. Gauges must be calibrated again after a set period of time from the put-to-service date, not the calibration date; they do not begin to fall out of calibration until they are actually put in service. A 3A gauge with NIST certification will cost about $350-400… Do you want that degree of accuracy?