Called a Plumber

[Al in Ohio]

Just as i was sitting with mom , I hear water falling on the floor. As i race to her bathroom I see the tank is over flowing. I hit the turnoff valve mop upo the spill. Some how the float (some plastic widget) will not shut off the water when the level rises. Do what I do best. "Honey call a plumber". Its Sunday July 4th weekend. I wonder how much they are going to punch me in the throat for? I told the bride if its under $500 we are lucky. The part is probably 20 bucks. hahaha. I called the builder, He said no problem Ill send someone on Wednesday or Thursday , he was on vacation in Pennsylvania. Home adviser to the rescue. Someone will be here sometime tonight. Classic negative cash flow situation.. Imagine if i wasnt there, talk about a mess and damage.

That"s an easy dyi fix. Get a $7 toilet flush replacement kit and read the install guide clearly and you can do it in 45 minutes. It's pretty straight forward. Your local hardware guy can help you select a quality kit.

 

[calmloki]

Here's an obituary of a guy who probably should have called a plumber. It won't be obvious as to why until you read it: Man Who Self-Identified as Bear Found Bear Community Highly Intolerant

Damn bears! They totally lack tolerance!

 

[MRG]

Here's an obituary of a guy who probably should have called a plumber. It won't be obvious as to why until you read it: Man Who Self-Identified as Bear Found Bear Community Highly Intolerant

Wolves are the ancestors of dogs. Imagine if we'd started with bears instead. We'd have some awesome looking pets!

This guy obviously figured that out.

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

That"s an easy dyi fix. Get a $7 toilet flush replacement kit and read the install guide clearly and you can do it in 45 minutes. It's pretty straight forward. Your local hardware guy can help you select a quality kit.

Having seen it done now, and knowing that my cut offs under the bowl are in good condition I will try this repair should it rear its ugly head again. I will do it during the day time, when I know that after I break something i can get an emergency plumber to respond

 

[street]

Good deal.

The last time I called a plumber it cost me 800$. I was mountain goat hunting and my wife needed the problem fixed. The thing about it we can afford to have it done. If I were at home I maybe would of had a plumber come any ways.

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

Good deal.

The last time I called a plumber it cost me 800$. I was mountain goat hunting and my wife needed the problem fixed. The thing about it we can afford to have it done. If I were at home I maybe would of had a plumber come any ways.

+1 So as I was crying about the impending bill , my wife reminded me that if we didnt have the money, then it would be time to cry. Yup, she(as usual) was right.

 

[Breedlove]

Quick tip to those folks running their AC night and day . change the filters and get your wet and dry vac. out and vac. the drain line on the outside of your house . I didn't do this and I just got back and I have an overflowing drain pan .

 

[meierlde]

Quick tip to those folks running their AC night and day . change the filters and get your wet and dry vac. out and vac. the drain line on the outside of your house . I didn't do this and I just got back and I have an overflowing drain pan .

My units have a float valve on the drain pan that cuts the unit off if the level of water in the drain pan gets to high.

 

[Walt34]

Whenever I have to call in someone for repairs I try to watch what they are doing to determine if it is something I can do. I do this carefully since some folks do not like to work when someone is watching intently.

Back when I was doing heating & A/C service work very few minded if the customer watched. What makes 'em irascible is when the customer starts telling them how to do it.

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

This can only happen to me. As Im outside today admiring my 857 sq ft of greenery. My neighbor asks how my 4th went. I tell him is was ok minus explosions that scared my pooch. I went on to regale him about my plumbing job and how I feel I didnt get raked over the coals for once. For an answer I get, "wow wish I was home, I would have fixed that for the price of a beer.". I then go into detail about the 1/16th of an inch allen wrench. He said "Yeah I probably have that too." Anyhow , I still feel like a got a win. I will still call this plumber next time Im in a jam

 

[Sunset]

The problem in New England in the winter is that the water also feeds your furnace. Furnace runs low on water and shuts off = no heat = broken pipes for sure. (and a raft of other problems)

But we always turn off the washing machine valves with each use.

Can you explain this, I thought furnaces ran on natural gas / electricity / oil but not water

 

[Senator]

Can you explain this, I thought furnaces ran on natural gas / electricity / oil but not water

A boiler, or hot water heat with radiators, uses water. My own home has hot water heat. It is still powered by gas, but the heat is distributed with water going through pipes.

 

[Amethyst]

We had an oil furnace with baseboard hot water radiators when I was growing up in northern NJ. I used to love to hear the radiators ping when they heated up - sounded like xylophones. They were very warm, too.

A boiler, or hot water heat with radiators, uses water. My own home has hot water heat. It is still powered by gas, but the heat is distributed with water going through pipes.

 

[marko]

Can you explain this, I thought furnaces ran on natural gas / electricity / oil but not water

As others have mentioned the furnace might run on oil/gas. In the old days they ran on coal or wood. Those fuels heat a boiler which distributes the heat through pipes that run through the house to a set of radiators.

My home still has the old steam radiators and as a poster noted, they deliver a nice, comforting "symphony" of bangs and clicks as they heat up.

They also hiss as they distribute some steam into the room which helps add some humidity to an otherwise dry winter house.

Here's the problem: That steam release slowly lowers the amount of water in the boiler. If the boiler were to completely run out of water a switch shuts off the boiler so that it doesn't burn out. To fix that an automatic water sensor replaces the lost water very similar to the way a toilet replaces water in its tank.

If I were to shut off the water main when going away, the furnace could run out of water, shutting down the furnace and the inside of my house would drop to the outside temperature...if it's zero degrees, my pipes would burst but I wouldn't know it until I came back and turned the water back on.

If I drained the water from the entire house, that would work but I'd have more problems with my walls and other items in my house left at zero degrees for several weeks/months while I'm away.

The best solution is to keep the furnace on, keep the water on, set the thermostat at 50 degrees and have someone monitor the house every few days. I also have a remote sensing temp monitor along with several video cameras.

Hope this is helpful but it probably falls into the TMI category!

 

[braumeister]

Back when I was doing heating & A/C service work very few minded if the customer watched. What makes 'em irascible is when the customer starts telling them how to do it.

Pretty standard, I think.

 

[kaneohe]

Best 200 bucks I ever spent was for a plumber. I was just trying to replace a bathroom faucet myself . Easy enough but I couldn't get the nuts that hold the faucet down loose. No problem......I would just put some liquid wrench penetrant,tap it to help it penetrate. Still no go. No problem......I would do this weekly and wear it down. After 1 yr of this, I finally gave up and called a plumber.

Big strapping muscular guy.....he groaned and grunted but could not get the nuts loose. He finally ended up using a torch and a hacksaw to cut those things loose. Money well spent!

 

[Senator]

I do virtually 100% of my plumbing work on my rentals and rehabs.

I have changed many toilets (after cutting the soil pipe and replacing the flange), faucets, water heaters, etc. I do my own HVAC work when I have time. I have run black pipe or copper gas lines for dryers, dryer vent pipes after cutting open the ceiling, etc. I did a whole house plumbing job where I removed all the iron pipe and installed PEX. It's much better and safer now.

I just repaired a main gas line where it was kinked. I shut the gas off, cut the copper line, put a flange in the pipe and added a new valve (rather than a union). And a leak test.

None of it is hard, you just have to get after it. And have the right tools. Having the right tools are most of the job. Modern day plumbing is more like tinker toys. Just remove and replace.

Plumbers are not rocket scientists. They just have the advantage of a few mistakes under their belt.

I did have a toilet that stumped me recently, but did get it figured out. The toilet was running on a regular basis. Every few minutes it would need to refill. I had already replaced the fill valve and flapper on that toilet less than six months previously. I thought it was the over flow pipe, so I removed the tank, and replaced it. The over flow pipe was cracked at the base, so it seemed like a likely solution. It did not fix the leak.

It turned out the bowl fill line, the small hose that sends water to the bowl when the tank is flushed, was inserted too deep into the tank overflow tube. From there, once the tank was filled, the water would siphon down into the bowl. Not fast, but fast enough. Adding a anti-siphon clip solved the issue. I had never seen this issue. A plumber would have spotted it right away, maybe...

 

[sengsational]

That siphon problem you diagnosed..that's a sneaky one!

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

I will add this tidbit to my plumbing repertoire. Leaky toilet? "Did you check the small hose that sends water to the bowl when the tank is flushed?" You did? OK call a plumber hahaha

 

[Livefree]

I was at my Rental house yesterday doing maintenance, and did my usual check of plumbing in the basement. I found the 4" cast iron waste pipe which has rust on the bottom, was starting to weep a little. I taped up a 4 foot section and called the plumber. I will pick up 20' of PVC and he will address next week. Could have been a real disaster if that let go!

 

[pacergal]

Waiting for a plumber to come as we speak. 60 year old drain pipe can't handle the new washing machine. The water comes out with such force, it won't drain fast enough down the pipe--what a mess that was! DH does not feel like opening up the wall nor crawling under the house. Will gladly pay the price. We had the same company out a few years ago to totally replumb the house, DH says they asked at the time if we wanted this pipe replaced--he told them no If I would have been there, the answer would have been different!!

 

[Senator]

Waiting for a plumber to come as we speak. 60 year old drain pipe can't handle the new washing machine. The water comes out with such force, it won't drain fast enough down the pipe--what a mess that was! DH does not feel like opening up the wall nor crawling under the house. Will gladly pay the price. We had the same company out a few years ago to totally replumb the house, DH says they asked at the time if we wanted this pipe replaced--he told them no If I would have been there, the answer would have been different!!

It probably just needs a drain cleaner run through it. All it takes, by code, is a 2" drain line.

 

[Koolau]

One of the reasons I would never buy a place without TWO full baths is that it gives you some breathing room if something breaks in one bath room. I recall in our first house, we replaced a shower and did not complete the flooring, trim, painting, etc. for 2 years - not until we were about to sell - because we had another perfectly good bathroom to use (actually the unfinished one "worked" fine, it just looked unfinished.)

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

I have 4 bathrooms for 3 people. One on each level. This was a demand must have when we had this place built. I lived thru the 3 people with 1 bathroom apt for long time.