Your recent repair? - 2021 to ?

[Sunset]

Quote:

Originally Posted by travelover I'm a little slow this AM. Why does the HVAC make the kitchen rain?

I'm guessing it's because they are in the attic of the house.

[Walt34]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sunset I'm guessing it's because they are in the attic of the house.

Yup, that's it.

A plumber once explained to me everything there was to know about plumbing in one sentence:

"Hot on the left, cold on the right, and "stuff" don't flow uphill."

[NW-Bound]

Not a repair, but a home improvement: I bought a toilet at Costco yesterday, and installed it today.

All the talk about water shortages in the West made me feel guilty about still having the original toilets in this 36-year-old home. They use perhaps 4-5 gal per flush. The new ones of course use much less, from 1.28 to 1.6 gal per flush.

So, one down, and two more toilets to change out.

[zinger1457]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW-Bound Not a repair, but a home improvement: I bought a toilet at Costco yesterday, and installed it today. All the talk about water shortages in the West made me feel guilty about still having the original toilets in this 36-year-old home. They use perhaps 4-5 gal per flush. The new ones of course use much less, from 1.28 to 1.6 gal per flush. So, one down, and two more toilets to change out.

Check with your local city/county, many are offering rebates to get rid of your old toilets. I replaced two of my toilets last year and got $100 for each of them from the county.

[NW-Bound]

Quote:

Originally Posted by zinger1457 Check with your local city/county, many are offering rebates to get rid of your old toilets. I replaced two of my toilets last year and got $100 for each of them from the county.

Thanks! Will do.

PS. The local government considered a $75 rebate last year, but decided against it. So, no money for me.

[MC Rider]

Water heater started leaking from the drain valve, late night of course. The thing is not even a year and a half old. Why the drain valve is made of plastic who knows. Piece of junk. The company that installed it was not much help beyond saying turn off the water valve on it. Ended up replacing it with a brass valve. It was easy to do and cheap.

[mountainsoft]

We had to use the shower in our guest bath a couple days ago and realized there was a low flow of water coming out of the shower head. I soaked it in vinegar and cleaned it as best as possible but still no flow. So I decided to replace the Moen 1222 shower cartridge ($55 yikes).

I have replaced these in our other showers a few times, but have never replaced the one in the guest bath. I thought it would be a quick 15 minute job but it turned into a 2 hour nightmare. The cartridge was really stuck in the valve body. The little plastic removal tool broke. So I switched to a combination of needle nose pliers, vice grips, and other tools but the cartridge just fell apart. No matter what I did it wouldn't come out. I kept breaking pieces off inside the valve body, being careful not to scratch the brass valve. Eventually I had to partially cut through the remaining plastic with a hacksaw blade in order to break out the final remaining pieces. One cartridge = 100 small pieces and a big mess.

Once I finally got it out I polished up the inside of the valve body with 1000 grit sandpaper, lubed everything up with plumbers grease and installed the new valve body. Everything went together fine, no leaks.

Unfortunately, the shower head still has very low flow. Grrr... So, I have a new shower head on order.

Our fixtures are all "antique brass" which apparently is "soooo... 1990's" and is almost impossible to find today. It's also hard to find a regular shower head and not one of those dinner plate sized rain showers. Sheesh.

[zinger1457]

^^^ They do sell a metal cartridge removal tool, I ended up buying one years ago when I tried to remove a Moen cartridge that wouldn't budge, think I paid around $12 for it, came out easily with the tool. I have used it a couple times since so it was worth it.

[mountainsoft]

Quote:

Originally Posted by zinger1457 They do sell a metal cartridge removal tool, I ended up buying one years ago when I tried to remove a Moen cartridge that wouldn't budge, think I paid around $12 for it, came out easily with the tool. I have used it a couple times since so it was worth it.

Yeah, that tool costs around $25 now, but I don't think it would have helped much. That tool basically threads into the stem and pulls against the valve body.

Unfortunately, my stem pulled out of the cartridge (broke off about halfway inside the cartridge) leaving all the bits and pieces inside the valve body. Even when there was nothing left of the cartridge except the outer plastic shell, it refused to come out in one piece.

[John Galt III]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MC Rider Water heater started leaking from the drain valve, late night of course. The thing is not even a year and a half old. Why the drain valve is made of plastic who knows. Piece of junk. The company that installed it was not much help beyond saying turn off the water valve on it. Ended up replacing it with a brass valve. It was easy to do and cheap.

I have the same problem with my water heater. It leaked from day 1, but only when it is refilling. The heating up and expanding of the fresh water must be causing the leak. Also a dumb plastic valve. I had convinced myself to replace it with a metal valve sometime, but I think I will leave the dumb plastic valve in since it is acting as a sort of pressure release valve. Less pressure, less chance for a leak in other places to start. It stops leaking after an hour or so. I just keep a bucket under it, and it just evaporates. Once in a while I dump it out, anyway. Water heaters (some?) now come with an expansion tank, but this one doesn't have one. I think the purpose of the expansion tank is to make the heater last longer. Plus allows them to use thinner and cheaper metal? Just guessing.

[John Galt III]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MC Rider Water heater started leaking from the drain valve, late night of course. The thing is not even a year and a half old. Why the drain valve is made of plastic who knows. Piece of junk. The company that installed it was not much help beyond saying turn off the water valve on it. Ended up replacing it with a brass valve. It was easy to do and cheap.

MC Rider, did you have to drain the tank? Or were you able to just shut off the incoming water, and remove the plastic valve without much water flowing out? Thx.

[ERD50]

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Galt III ... Water heaters (some?) now come with an expansion tank, but this one doesn't have one. I think the purpose of the expansion tank is to make the heater last longer. Plus allows them to use thinner and cheaper metal? Just guessing.

I'm not familiar with any built in expansion tanks, but it's a simple add on.

You just tap into the line, and the tank has enough air (preferably in a bladder so the air doesn't get absorbed by the water over time) to absorb the pressure changes.

Most (many?) municipalities require a check valve on the water supply coming into your home. So when your tank fills with cold water, and heats it, it expands, and with no place to go, the pressure can build up very high.

-ERD50

[MC Rider]

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Galt III MC Rider, did you have to drain the tank? Or were you able to just shut off the incoming water, and remove the plastic valve without much water flowing out? Thx.

The instructions said to drain the tank to replace the drain valve. I maybe could have skipped draining it. While trying to open the plastic valve to drain the whole thing came off and very little water escaped. I put it back on and attached the hose. Water still did not want to drain more than a tiny bit until I opened the pressure relief valve up top. Then it took over half an hour to drain. And yes, I did open a hot water faucet inside the house.

[MC Rider]

For todays fun replaced a Ball Rod Assembly, which lifts the drain plug in a bath sink when you move the lever. The end that goes into the drain and lifts the plug had rusted completely away. $16 seemed steep for a small part. And it's a real pita working on stuff under the sink. But I guess a plumber or handyman would probably charge $100 or more just to show up.

[finnski1]

Yesterday repaired leaking bath faucet. New cartridge did the trick. $16.98.
Also rebuilt the microwave cabinet assembly in the camper which took a beating on our just completed 8800 mile road trip. Two repairs in one day, so I took today off.

[MC Rider]

New cartridge did the trick. $16.98

Not bad. We have a $55 shower cartridge above and I paid about $40 for a kitchen faucet cartridge recently.

[NW-Bound]

Quote:

Originally Posted by finnski1 ... Two repairs in one day, so I took today off.

Some retirees would take the rest of the year off.

I would not be so lucky.

[euro]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MC Rider For todays fun replaced a Ball Rod Assembly, which lifts the drain plug in a bath sink when you move the lever. The end that goes into the drain and lifts the plug had rusted completely away. $16 seemed steep for a small part. And it's a real pita working on stuff under the sink. But I guess a plumber or handyman would probably charge $100 or more just to show up.

As an easy alternative, I recommend these bathroom sink pop up stoppers: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1





Just drop it in and done. $7-13 on Amazon

[Ronstar]

Not really a repair. More like a replacement. Had a leaking hose bib outside faucet. DW wanted a new one. I could have repaired the old one, but DW insisted on a new one. So I cut the pipe, and hammered the old one out of the brick wall. Installed the new one, hydraulic cemented it into the brick and connected it into the plumbing.

[jazz4cash]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mountainsoft We had to use the shower in our guest bath a couple days ago and realized there was a low flow of water coming out of the shower head. I soaked it in vinegar and cleaned it as best as possible but still no flow. So I decided to replace the Moen 1222 shower cartridge ($55 yikes). I have replaced these in our other showers a few times, but have never replaced the one in the guest bath. I thought it would be a quick 15 minute job but it turned into a 2 hour nightmare. The cartridge was really stuck in the valve body. The little plastic removal tool broke. So I switched to a combination of needle nose pliers, vice grips, and other tools but the cartridge just fell apart. No matter what I did it wouldn't come out. I kept breaking pieces off inside the valve body, being careful not to scratch the brass valve. Eventually I had to partially cut through the remaining plastic with a hacksaw blade in order to break out the final remaining pieces. One cartridge = 100 small pieces and a big mess. Once I finally got it out I polished up the inside of the valve body with 1000 grit sandpaper, lubed everything up with plumbers grease and installed the new valve body. Everything went together fine, no leaks. Unfortunately, the shower head still has very low flow. Grrr... So, I have a new shower head on order. Our fixtures are all "antique brass" which apparently is "soooo... 1990's" and is almost impossible to find today. It's also hard to find a regular shower head and not one of those dinner plate sized rain showers. Sheesh.

Most of the popular plumbing fixture manufacturers offer free lifetime warranty on parts, including Moen I think. I’ve received several free replacement cartridges from Delta. One time I couldn’t find my model of kitchen faucet and I sent a pic which they used to identify the correct part.

My shower cartridge was stuck also and I found tips on line suggesting white vinegar to free it up. I built a reservoir with duct tape and plastic wrap to soak the old fixture and it worked.