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How expensive is water? The water will get hot eventually, but you may waste a fair number of gallons. The 60 gal tub is actually not the problem -- you can turn on the hot full bore and it will all even out in the end. BUT I bet there is a shower. And someone will drain 20 gallons of water...

Main stack is vented into the attic. The attic space is well vented. The house is occupied sparsly. I think if it were used 24x7 might have to fix that. It has a septic tank, but no field -- open end into a pit that stays dry. Even then, no odors. This is a place where there are always...

Ok, I penciled this out to ask a question. First off -- no codes apply where this is going. No inspectors. Its in wild and wooly western KS, rural etc. BUT -- I'd still like to do things sorta right! I have understood I need a 3" main in the crawlspace, but planning on 2" in the wall. The...

That a pretty old frost free sill cock by the way. Before backflow preventers were required. A shot from the front might help. But unless its a known name brand, parts are hit/miss. But often plumbing houses or even a decent Lowes (they vary, ones in old parts of town have a wall of seals...

Can you shut off the faucet independent of the rest of the house from the inside? Or get at the line and cut it and install a ball valve on the inside? (Sharkbite and minimal clearance pipe cutters are wonderful things) A large part of the "risk" you are taking in trying to repair that valve...

Are you trying to save a few bucks by shutting off your gas over the summer months? The described setup will work I think -- but if a hose breaks and floods the basement, your homeowners policy might deny the claim. If its a one off deal, OK, but if you are contemplating this hack on a yearly...

Key is using pex with an oxygen barrier, which the Wirsbo has. One warning -- pex expands a LOT more than steel or copper. If you have bends or tight spots where you go through wood, you could get more popping and expansion sounds when the temp is changing (ie, when you call for heat). If...

I have a perfect spot for a utility room sink (left side), washer (middle) and dryer to the right. I'll be bringing over 3" schedule 40 pipe under the floor in a crawl space. Pex lines for hot cold. Crawl space is not heated and could possibly freeze even when the rooms above it are heated...

Probably was never bedded/supported in the first place. fiberglass got hard and failed. Usually the tub will start to "move" and the tub will separate from the upper panels. But its possible the installer drilled and screwed the tub in place, or the sealant was applied such that it held rim...

No place I am aware of offers 2" trap assemblies, at least for residential. Its all 1 1/4 for lavatories and 1 1/2 for kitchen. Now for the actual permanent plumbing, I could imagine some requiring 2" for the stuff in the wall, under the floor etc. But if your lateral is a minimum of 3"...

Strikes me that this defect is below water contact. Plumbers putty and a proper drain installation should mean a long life.

I am not so sure that appearance on the cast tub is not on purpose based on your pics. To produce a perfect cast tub, you need to smooth the surface before the porcelain is sprayed on and then baked. But that requires a lot of effort. So make the tub irregular and then its a "feature" and...

Since the water alarm is mentioned in the last post, I'll chime in with this idea. I bought a Honeywell water alarm that reports both temperature and rapid rises in humidity. But instead of mounting both in the basement, I mounted the control unit (which measures ambient temp) upstairs, inside...

How about you tell us what exactly is no longer working with the current setup? And can you explain your "push pull" statement? Does the valve turn in one direction to adjust the temperature? Does turning the valve clockwise shut the water off? Or do you pull the handle out from the wall to...

I think another aspect is your water quality. If it municipal, then its not likely to have acidity or other issues. But if you have your own well, bets are off. And another aspect is -- what is the price of a failure (leak). My house is 60 years old and I am not going to replace lines in the...

Cary, you are fabulous source of information, but it was from you that I originally got the idea to lower the inducer below the pump inlet to get at a few more inches of water, before we suck air. Top post is from November. Anyone have a favorite pump other than Grundfos? So I can get away...

Hmmm. --- we don't have any sand and for that matter, I don't think there is any *new* silt or clay that gets into the well. Its just what got in there with the semi-failed well drilling event. So in my case, I don't want to get too close to the bottom and I don't want to induce too much...

Basements of any sort can be problematic in Maine as often they are building over a granite rock. But its a good suggestion -- if there were even a corner of the house where there is a deeper layer of glacial till/soil/etc that would be a great place to put a deeper "cellar" or partial...

I've been looking for the best pump for a long term solution. SP Grundfos comes up. But it also has the classic three stainless straps down the sides to the inlet and the pump at the bottom. Can that be made to work with a flow inducer/[pump sleeve? Seems it would be hard to seal the top...

Is there are reason to NOT do the 5"? I have the 5" pipe (it can be done for $20 for a piece via Amazon) and the adaptor I got locally, in KC. I have visions of the 4" having issues with vibrations or harmonics since it is so close to the pump. I already have the 5" stuff.