Your recent repair? 2013 - 2020

[Texas Proud]

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Originally Posted by John Galt III Getting occasional static on my (gasp) land line phone line. Pick up phone, hear clear loud dial tone, but every 10 seconds or so, you can hear a brief "scritch" of static. During a phone conversation, occasionally get the classic background static. Some phone calls have no static at all. Happens on upstairs and downstairs phones. The house is 30 years old and has original phone lines and outside box. Went out to the grey plastic phone box outside on the wall near the electric meter, opened up the "customer access" door, and found lots of cobwebby junk, dirt, and even a dead vine that had grown into it. Lots of multicolored wires in there, most of them looking very thin and fragile. A couple thick grey wires. Haven't done much to it yet, just cleared out some easily accessible cobweb junk. Still researching online. Closed it up for now. Phone still works. The phone lines here are underground. Never had squirrels in the house but have had mice.

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Originally Posted by Sunset We had a similar issue for a few years, and I eliminated the obvious issues of each phone wire by shaking/pulling/twisting each phone wire (attached to phone) while on the phone to see if I could create the interference. Finally I plugged a phone into the connection where the phone line comes into the house (it should be just inside the house opposite the outside phone box). I found the same interference here, which is important as it means it is outside and is the problem of the phone company. They came, after warning me if the problem was inside the house it was $80/hr to fix. Naturally they found the issue, a few blocks from my house in the phone box where the wires from my house ended. It was mice had chewed the wires inside the box and made a nest.

I had the same problem a number of times....

They came out and replaced some wire in my house... one of my phones had died when the other worked... it was in my house as the wire was under the carpet and years of walking on it caused the problem...

But, it came back... so they came and changed the wire from the box to the back of my garage where the box is located where I am responsible... BTW, the AT&T tower is in my backyard.... so not a long way to go...

HOWEVER, they did not bury the line... so the next year when DW was working in the garden she cut the line!!!.... but, still their problem... they came and replaced it....


Then, a couple of years later it got really bad... and my internet would cut in and out... they had to come out to replace the wire one more time... I looked at the box where their line ends and it looked pretty bad, but they said it was OK....

Within a year got bad static again...

I am now a customer of Comcast....

[braumeister]

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Originally Posted by John Galt III every 10 seconds or so, you can hear a brief "scritch" of static.

Just a wild guess, but maybe it's actually every 12 seconds?

If so, are you near an airport or military installation?

The antenna of a radar installation normally rotates at 5 rpm, so it sweeps across a given azimuth every 12 seconds. If there is a section of phone cable that has a corroded connection or splice, and it feeds into your local underground cable, this could be the cause.

Not a very common situation, but I've seen this occur many times during my military career.

[John Galt III]

Braumeister, Upon further checking, the static is actually pretty sporadic, not every x seconds. I do have a lot of electrical towers and cell phone towers near my house, however. They've been there for years, though, before the static started.

[ls99]

Random static can be dirty or broken insulators on electric power poles. It is a fairly common problem, most noticeable on damp days.

Try taking a portable AM radio, tune between stations and walk up to nearby poles, if noise increases, then you found it. Call power company, they have cars equipped to locate this sort of issue.

ANother problem could be the lightning arrestors in the Telco demark box. Where the phone line connects to the house. They break down after many hits and cause noise. It is then a phone company problem.

[John Galt III]

No poles. Everything underground. There is a big metal dull green box in a nearby neighbor's front yard, with a padlock on it, that I think is a telephone junction. No printing on it, just some worn out unreadable stickers. Another box next to it, with "Television" printed on it. And next to it, a metal placard on the ground with the word "electric". Neighborhood is 30 years old.

[sengsational]

Today I not only replaced a garbage disposal, but also made a video of it.

It's a pretty boring video, so save yourself some time and don't watch it...that's 12 minutes of your life you'll never get back

The old disposal had a plastic housing, which cracked and began to leak. Of course over Thanksgiving when we had people over. Well, not really "people", they were our grown kids

The plumbers putty that I already had wasn't supposed to be used on plastic, and the sink flange on the Waste King was plastic , so even though it was delivered to my door from Amazon, I had to make a hardware store run. I could have used 'tub and tile' silicone, but I didn't want to wait for it to dry, so I got some putty that works for plastic.

And of course the drain out of the disposal was different in several ways...first, it was about 3/4 lower, which meant wrestling the under sink plumbing into a changed configuration (which I didn't show in the video because of all the expletives). Also, the old unit had the typical threaded ring compression connection, whereas the new unit had a gasket, steel plate, and two bolts. Anyway, finally got it to fit together and not drip anywhere.

https://youtu.be/HyawmdCgSOI

[Sunset]

The dishwasher I installed a few months ago started leaking at the right angle connection for the water.
I have tried:
- teflon tape. - still leaked.
- plumbers putty - still leaked but pretty slow
- joint compound true blue - still leaked.

One thing I have not done is put many wrapping of teflon tape around the threads, the time I did it it was 1 layer.

So I figured I'd ask for suggestions in case my many layers of teflon tape does not work.

[Hermit]

Unfortunately, I think you may need to replace the connection. It would help to know if it is metal or plastic and if the original connection was glued, screwed, or clamped together. Maybe a picture?

[Sunset]

I am unable to upload a photo from my phone at this time....

It is a metal angle connecting to a plastic male thread.
The metal one is exactly like this right down to the rubber washer inside :

[Hermit]

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Originally Posted by Sunset I am unable to upload a photo from my phone at this time.... It is a metal angle connecting to a plastic male thread. The metal one is exactly like this right down to the rubber washer inside :

I don't think tape would do it. If tightening the connections doesn't do it, a new compression ring may if it is leaking at the small end. You should be able to get either the plastic or brass compression ring at a hardware store.

[Sunset]

Its leaking at the large end, where it attaches to the inlet selonoid. The small end of the pipe in the photo is not leaking.

[John Galt III]

Sengsational, Congratulations on being inventive and resourceful. Good job of adapting to new circumstances!

[Hermit]

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Originally Posted by Sunset Its leaking at the large end, where it attaches to the inlet selonoid. The small end of the pipe in the photo is not leaking.

That looks like a regular hose bib connection. Did you replace the washer and tighten it down snugly perhaps with a pair of pliers? Not too tight, especially if the threaded connection is plastic.

[samclem]

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Originally Posted by Sunset Its leaking at the large end, where it attaches to the inlet selonoid. The small end of the pipe in the photo is not leaking.

I would try taking it apart and putting 2-3 layers of Teflon tape around the male threads. Then, have a look at the rubber washer to make sure it didn't get put in crooked and damaged the last time. Then, make sure the washer is fully seated and reassemble, with some firm tightening (with channel locks, etc). The Teflon tape isn't being used in this case to seal up the threads, but mainly to provide a slippery surface for allow the metal female threads to more smoothly slip over the male threads on the dishwasher and allow you to get it tightened down well while using less torque (and less chance of snapping the plastic part of the DW).

But, a question before you try the above: Did the fitting you are using come with the dishwasher? If you bought it, is there any chance you got the wrong kind? 3/4" GHT ("Garden Hose Thread") fittings have 11.5 threads per inch and are non-tapered. 3/4" NPT ("National Pipe Thread") fittings have 14 threads per inch and are tapered (the fluid is blocked by the threads as they mesh together, and the sealant/tape. No washer is needed/used). The picture you posted looks like a GHT fitting. If you were supposed to use an NPT fitting (because the male fitting on the DW is NPT), the GHT won't work (though it might feel like it was tightened down). A mistake like this would match the symptoms you describe--it "kinda works", but you can't get it to stop leaking. If that's the problem, you won't want to "make it work" with a bunch of tape or sealant--since the threads aren't really made for each other and are just jammed together in one small spot, the parts could eventually pop apart and make one heck of an expensive mess.

Edited to add: I don't know what thread spec (NPT or GT, etc) are usually used for DW connections.

[ERD50]

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Originally Posted by Sunset I am unable to upload a photo from my phone at this time.... It is a metal angle connecting to a plastic male thread. The metal one is exactly like this right down to the rubber washer inside :

The large connector in the picture looks like a Female Garden Hose Thread. If the plastic pipe it is connecting to is a standard pipe thread (Male NPT), that's your problem.

Garden Hose thread is not tapered, it relies on the rubber gasket/washer to seal to the face of the male Garden Hose connector. The threads do not seal, even with lots of teflon tape. But pipe has a tapered thread, and a few turns of teflon tape will jam into the threads as it is tightened.

Garden hose into tapered thread will leak. Before I learned this, I once added a good amount of epoxy to the threads, and that worked. But those will never come apart - I do not recommend that.

Garden thread to Garden thread, Tapered thread to Tapered thread. Never mix the two.

edit - cross posted with samclem, I didn't refresh before I posted - and I can add, the pipe going to my dishwasher is standard NPT.

-ERD50

[Senator]

Does installing a furnace last week count? I saved ~$1,200 and spent 5-6 hours.

[Senator]

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Originally Posted by Sunset I am unable to upload a photo from my phone at this time.... It is a metal angle connecting to a plastic male thread. The metal one is exactly like this right down to the rubber washer inside :

Most of the dishwasher I have installed used the garden hose adapter and a 3/8 flexible supply line. Never a leak. Skip any compression lines or copper lines.

[NW-Bound]

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Originally Posted by Sunset I am unable to upload a photo from my phone at this time.... It is a metal angle connecting to a plastic male thread. The metal one is exactly like this right down to the rubber washer inside :

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Originally Posted by Hermit That looks like a regular hose bib connection. Did you replace the washer and tighten it down snugly perhaps with a pair of pliers? Not too tight, especially if the threaded connection is plastic.

A similar situation exists at the connection of the supply line to the toilet filler valve stem which is plastic. Overtightening causes stress in the plastic stem. Subsequent fracture causes a flooding disaster.

That was exactly what happened at my niece's house. They were away for a short trip, and came back to find the interior of their house all destroyed, along with much furnishing. And it was a single story. I can't imagine the damage with an upstairs flood.

A good washer is needed. There is no need to apply a lot of pressure to tighten the knurled knob. If the washer is good, hand tightening is sufficient.

[Tom52]

The three duplex electrical receptacles in my attached garage were well worn and a plug would often not make contact after 43 years in service. It was time to change them out. To keep up to code I changed out all three with tamper resistant receptacles. It was a bit of a pain because the electrician who originally wired the house/garage did not believe in wasting any wire. The leads were barely long enough to get them wired up. If we decide to stay in the house long term I will likely re-wire the entire garage but that would require removing all of the wall covering so it would be major work and expense.

[sengsational]

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Originally Posted by ERD50 Garden Hose thread is not tapered, it relies on the rubber gasket/washer to seal to the face of the male Garden Hose connector. The threads do not seal, even with lots of teflon tape. But pipe has a tapered thread, and a few turns of teflon tape will jam into the threads as it is tightened.

Yep, there are two places where a connection is made...both non-metal, so no teflon tape required.

One is the gasket/washer. Sometimes yanking the hose around while tightening is required to compress the washer. That's why I sometimes use a pliers on the knurled connection (even though, as NW says, you shouldn't need to).

The second place where the connection is made is on the nylon compression fitting. Those are susceptible to "smoothness issues"; the less smooth, the harder they need to be tightened. The red arrow surfaces are what you check. Nicks are bad.