Here’s the problem with plumbing….

Before many, many hours (and months) of backbreaking work:

Before plumbing work...

*After* many, many hours (and months) of backbreaking work:

AFTER plumbing work...

Yeah. It’s better. I mean…for starters…it’s not trying kill me anymore (another story involving hot water heaters).

But it doesn’t *look* better.

It’s far from done too.

Sigh.

Today I sledged a 4″ cast-iron sewer stack and the associated drain lines out of the house.

“Sledged” is a term describing swinging a dangerous heavy weapon in the confined spaces of an attic and under the house, dodging the shrapnel and other, less pleasant flying debris, and then hauling a ton or two of shattered cast iron out of said confined and dangerous spaces.

Mass destruction and I didn’t even need power tools!

Later, I did get to use several nailers repairing the hole in the roof that results from a faulty flashing around a cast iron stack over the years. If I’m really, really lucky…that’ll even stop the roof leak!

Tomorrow…beadboard! (I wonder if I can put it up with a sledge hammer…)

CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer

How many things can you spot wrong in this installation? (which is smack in the middle of the master bathroom)

Water heater (old installation)

Let me start…(some of this is not visible in that picture)

• Not enclosed.
• Sitting on carpet.
• The carpet under it was cut to fit around it and has “eared” and curled up to touch the bottom of the heater.
• The gas line to the heater is flared copper.
• The gas line to the heater is too small.
• The stack is single thickness and touches the wood where it passes through the ceiling (in two places)
• The stack is not correctly connected to the heater.
• The stack does not vent outside (it vents into the attic, common practice in the WAY back days)
• The heater itself is 30 years old (serial number code says July, 1980). This is not the first heater located here.
• The T&P line is too small/reduced.

Me and this water heater have had a running battle since we bought the house. I guess it was jealous and knew it was slated for replacement.

The pilot light (actual burner/diffuser) was mounted upside down. This had THREE adverse effects…

• Flame from the pilot was licking the bottom of the heater, rendering it “char paper” hot (remember the cut carpet curled under the heater?)
• The pilot would randomly go out (not really getting the thermocouple)
• When the heater would light, the pilot was way below the burner instead of licking it, so the chamber had to fill with gas before it would catch. Can you say “Whoosh!”

Right after we bought the house I discovered the pilot problem…it had gone out and I pulled the lighting covers and lit it. It looked a little odd, so without replacing the cover I turned the heater on.

WHOOSH!

Yeah. Nearly lost my eyebrows. There were small flames on the controls and the connections on the copper flared line to the heater, as they were all leaking small amounts of gas. Flared copper isn’t used anymore (using a flex line instead) because if the heater wiggles etc, it works the flare joint and eventually it will wear to the point that it leaks. They need periodically checked for tightness.

I shut it down and after several hours work and a couple trips to the hardware store, fixed all.

Later, I figured out it wasn’t vented outside…working outside on the dormer and staring at the roof I had an “aha!” moment…there were no vent stacks. How could that be?

Well, it’s gone now! I literally tossed it off the back porch!

It's gone!

Removing it was fun too…shortly after I connected the drain hose, the drain valve shattered in my hand. Really glad we were taking it out! One fitting on the iron pipe simply snapped when I was moving stuff around as well. A disaster waiting to happen! Fire! Water! Plague! (well, maybe not plague).

Replaced with our new tankless, which is flush mounted in a cabinet in the outside wall. MUCHO space saver and works SO much better.

All the iron plumbing is gone too…replaced with PEX.

The tankless water heater installed

I am REALLY impressed with this system. What a relief it is to have the old stuff gone!

CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer

Looking back over the last couple weeks, it occurs to me just how blessed I am.

My Dad just celebrated his 80th birthday. It is therefore, somewhat humbling and downright impressive that he can work circles around me.

When my best laid plumbing plans devolved into the fact that we were going to have to do a LOT more work than expected (as all plumbing plans do), Dad just kept right on working.

We needed a ditch, he grabbed a shovel and started making one.

Yep, he’s a “do-er”. Many people in the world aren’t, yet he is…and STILL is, even at 80. It’s where I get some of what drives me, methinks.

Limber ol' cuss

Digging in the new water line.

Dad, working under the sink

Anyway, my Dad, at 80 years of age, climbing around under my house working on my plumbing and helping me dig a ditch…(really, he dug the ditch and I helped).

How many 80 year olds are that capable?

My Dad is. And I am blessed to have the chance to work beside him.

Just thought it needed saying.

CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer

Plumbing…phase two and seven-eighths.

This weekend was a biggie…me and my Dad spent last weekend unrolling, insulating, and hanging PEX pipe under the house to each bathroom and the kitchen. Thirteen different runs…probably around 350 feet of 1/2″ PEX pipe.

The idea was that THIS weekend, we would cut the old plumbing at the main line into the house, hook up the PEX manifold to that, and then spend the rest of the day cutting the old pipe out, snaking the new PEX through the floor, and hooking up each tap.

The main line to the street…was to be another project for another day.

That WAS the plan…of course, since it was plumbing…you can probably guess how well that went.

The PEX manifold and sediment filters

That manifold is in our mud/utility room and will be covered by a bead-board cabinet door. It’s sort of like a breaker box for fresh water. The idea with PEX is that each tap gets its own line back to the manifold. That makes for no joints or connections under the house or in the walls and even pressure distribution throughout. All the valves are on the manifold and if you want to turn something off, you just go there and turn the valve.

That’s the controls for our new tank-less water-heater on the wall above the light switches. More about that later.

The first hitch in the plan was when I found major problem in the sewer line to one of the bathrooms. The house has been empty or lightly used for years…now that there are people in it, marginal things are going to go wrong. This line is not only marginal, it’s downright wrong…and out of the about 47 things that could go wrong, 45 of them went in the last week. It’s out of service. Another project for another weekend.

The second hitch was when I went to cut loose the old system from the main line and discovered…well…more than one main line. When rooting about trying to puzzle out where they all went, I scratched what I think actually WAS the main line with a crowbar and it started bleeding (rust and water).

Oh boy. The main line was so rotted out there was no way to connect to it.

Sigh.

The project just grew in scope. Off to the hardware store (10 minutes till close) to pick up 100 feet of 3/4 pex and some fittings. Ditches to dig! Yeah!

My Dad, by the way, worked circles around me. He just turned 80 a few days ago and the guy just doesn’t slow down or quit! This would not have happened this weekend without his substantial help. Thanks again!

An all day thing….at 10:39 pm we finally have enough stuff hooked up to where we can (hopefully) fire the new tank-less water heater and take showers. That would be good as crawling around under houses is a VERY dirty business.

The tank-less water heater. Blessed blessed water heater. The controls are the geek factor…it will run without them…but if they are installed you can turn it off, adjust the peak temperature, and view data like the flow-rate, incoming and outgoing temperatures. It also tells you when it’s burning, which is important…as the heater itself is flush mounted in a cabinet in the outside wall, and you cannot hear it run.

The tank-less water heater mounted...there is a nice cover-door for that cabinet

We got the manifold hooked up, hooked up the bathroom and kitchen, and pushed the “on” button on the controls.

The we opened a faucet.

Error code 11…which is hot water-heater-ese for, “Turn on the gas stupid.”

Turned the gas on, and opened a faucet. Presto! Hot water! Cool! ur…Hot!

Showers all around! Plenty of water!

The old water heater has been trying to kill me since we got the house (that’s another story)…so this was a big…HUGE…event!

I REALLY like how this works. The water is hot, quick to the taps (the PEX manifold with independent home runs for every tap helps with that), and efficient. No pilot light, and only burns when water is flowing.

Sounds easy, yes? I left out a bunch of work I’m sure…and there’s the bad bronze fitting (brand new!) on the bathtub leaking through the pores that cost me another hour’s work

Oh, and there’s the carnage of the old plumbing system scattered in pieces everywhere (can you say, Saw-Zall! Woohoo!) There’s galvanized iron, NOT galvanized iron, CPVC, PVC, black poly pipe and hose clamps, PVC compression couplings, bronze compression couplings, rubber/tin clamp on leak covers, and more exotic materials as well.

More stories later…leaks all around in the old stuff…glad it’s gone.

Added a new faucet in the bathroom sink AND clawfoot tub (now complete with shower).

All the old is gone. The new is working.

Oh…and the crappy kitchen layout that we will change when we remodel the kitchen…means…

This is the first time I’ve ever had to open a window to work on the plumbing…

The first time I've ever had to open a window to work on the plumbing...

A shower! A shower! Woohoo!

CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer