More off topic plumbing questions haha.

DustyRusty

Well-known member

Equipment
2020 BX23S, BX2822 Snowblower, Curtis Deluxe Cab,
Nov 8, 2015
6,237
4,810
113
North East CT
Plumbing is a thing I hated all my life but I had the bad luck to get plumbing problems in all of the houses I lived in during my life.
My home plumbing is fine, no problems for over 35 years, but my personal plumbing is giving me problems now that it is 80 years old. My personal plumber has done some modifications to the original installation, and now it works well. I just dread the day that it needs repairs again.
 

Magicman

Well-known member
Lifetime Member

Equipment
M4900 Utility Special 4WD e/w FEL & 1530 John Deere "Traveling Man"
Oct 8, 2019
5,467
7,457
113
81
Brookhaven, MS
knotholesawmill.com
Your plumbing reminds me of:

Aging:
Eventually you will reach a point
When you stop lying about your age
And start bragging about it.
 

bmblank

Well-known member

Equipment
2020 L3901HST, LA525 Loader, 66" Q/A Bucket, PFL2042 Forks, Meteor SB68PT Blower
Mar 4, 2015
661
291
63
Cadillac, MI
My home plumbing is fine, no problems for over 35 years, but my personal plumbing is giving me problems now that it is 80 years old. My personal plumber has done some modifications to the original installation, and now it works well. I just dread the day that it needs repairs again.
You can probably get the home plumbing fixed for a little bit cheaper. Though, when you schedule the personal plumbing, it's a good thing you don't have to wait around the house for him to come around "some time between 10:00 and 4:00."
 

fried1765

Well-known member

Equipment
Kubota L48 TLB, Ford 1920 FEL, Ford 8N, SCAG Liberty Z, Gravely Pro.
Nov 14, 2019
7,842
5,065
113
Eastham, Ma
You can probably get the home plumbing fixed for a little bit cheaper. Though, when you schedule the personal plumbing, it's a good thing you don't have to wait around the house for him to come around "some time between 10:00 and 4:00."
No!
"you don't have to wait around the house"
You have to drive to, and wait around his office instead.
 

WFM

Well-known member
Premium Member

Equipment
L3800
Apr 5, 2013
1,336
663
113
Porter Maine
When I installed a compressed-air distribution system in my hangar I was planning on copper lines until I noticed one of the long-respected automotive shops used common 3/4” PVC. I asked the owner of that shop how that worked out for them and how often they’d had to make repairs to it. (I had researched this topic and PVC pipe was specifically forbidden for such systems by respected engineering firms due to physical damaga hazards.)
The shop replied they’d installed the system in 1979 and the only modifications they’d made was when they extended the system into the newer repair-bays in 1985. They’d never had a failure.
What really surprised me was they are running their system at 160 psi. :oops:
I only wanted 125 psi.... so I created my system using the same 3/4” pvc and glue. I have almost 225 feet of pipe and almost 40 fittings and 6 manifolds. I completed the system in April 2000 and have never in these 20 years had a failure. (DAMN that went by fast!). Common 3/4” sched. 40 PVC is rated at 480 psi and I feel that running at 1/4 of that rating is sufficiently safe in a private non-commercial operation. YMMV
When I worked at a big fabrication shop the air lines where all black iron pipe. Several years ago I had the plumber here working at my house. He was running Pex I think its called. I told him in my shop I wanted more air line ports to hook into and he said the Pex for air was fine at a local lumber mill he had run thousands of feet of Pex for air lines. So he did it here and its worked fine.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user

GeoHorn

Well-known member
Lifetime Member

Equipment
M4700DT, LA1002FEL, Ferguson5-8B Compactor-Roller, 10KDumpTrailer, RTV-X900
May 18, 2018
6,034
3,308
113
Texas
No!
"you don't have to wait around the house"
You have to drive to, and wait around his office instead.
AND…. schedule the repair 3 months in advance! (Regular inspections are helpful in that regard, however.….and saved my entire system from failure!).
 

Henro

Well-known member

Equipment
B2910, BX2200, KX41-2V mini Ex., Beer fridge
May 24, 2019
5,765
2,948
113
North of Pittsburgh PA
Since this forum is for off-topic questions, I want to talk about the lack of plumbers in the USA
If that is the case, it is probably due to their rates being so high, that anyone that can do the job themselves just does it...
 

Biker1mike

Well-known member

Equipment
B6200, Kubota 2030 Front Blade, King Cutter 60" finishing deck
Jan 11, 2022
1,177
1,278
113
Gallatin, NY USA
A master plumber can make serious good money. My plumbing contact said his issue is finding kids to start at the bottom. While starting pay is not bad, it is hard work that requires a lot of practice to get good. As the low person you can expect to lift toilets , tubs, and heavy tools of the trade.
He said his plumber helpers quit long before they good at it.
 

ctfjr

Well-known member
Lifetime Member

Equipment
L3800HST
Dec 7, 2009
1,875
2,277
113
central ct
A master plumber can make serious good money. My plumbing contact said his issue is finding kids to start at the bottom. While starting pay is not bad, it is hard work that requires a lot of practice to get good. As the low person you can expect to lift toilets , tubs, and heavy tools of the trade.
He said his plumber helpers quit long before they good at it.
The distributor that I work for sells to 100's of plumbers. This is an old story. The all complain about finding 'good' guys, have been for decades.
 

DustyRusty

Well-known member

Equipment
2020 BX23S, BX2822 Snowblower, Curtis Deluxe Cab,
Nov 8, 2015
6,237
4,810
113
North East CT
Before I was a plumber, I was an MD. Plumbing pays a lot better than Medicare ever did, and I pay a tenth of the cost of liability insurance as an MD. ;)
 

Daylight

Well-known member

Equipment
BX231, Ortolan T10
Feb 25, 2021
363
517
93
6860
I had an LED system installed last year, and am I glad I did! The LEDs use a lot less power than the bulbs and are guaranteed to last a minimum of five years before needing replacement (and with our limited use they'll probably die of old age rather than wear...). Moreover, they only switch on when there's water flowing, and barely produce any heat.


Not cheap, but worth it imho, especially given today's electricity prices and the cost of replacement bulbs.


Not really anything too crazy but I installed a UV system and when theres no water flowing for a while the casing of the unit will get pretty warm/hot. Is there risk of cracking the glass sleeve from the sudden temp drop of cold water? I know my aunt has the same setup but the use water all the time day and night with the number of people in the house so it's a non issue. Should I add a little bleed line that's just always flowing a dribble of water into a drain maybe? Or does the lamp getting hot and then suddenly cold not matter?
That's really my only remaining issue, everything works great and I have around 5-7Gpm at a wide open valve so lots of water that's clean in the end. It's limited by the wrong type of valve by the pressure tank which I'll swap out, they used a tap valve so it's a bit small. Idk I like to talk about this kinda stuff, learning new things is always fun.
Oh one last thing, a half to 2/3 size water heater would only be enough for one shower in a row I am assuming?
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user