Plumbing Hints and Tips
General hints on blocked pipes, faulty
faucets, taps, drains, and more.
Re: Slow Draining
Sinks -- If your sink drains are chronically slow and you live in
an older house, the problem may be an accumulation of sludge in the
lines. No amount of plunging and chemicals is going to fix this. What's
needed is to climb up onto the roof of your house with a metal snake
(preferably one with a business end looking a bit like a ballpeen
hammer) and ram that snake down each of the drain lines, entering
through the vent stacks, with a fair amount of force. It may require 50
or 100 motions for each stack. A licensed plumber will charge you about
US$250 or, you can venture it yourself. You should also snake out any
drain clean-outs you can find at ground level. -- Mark Gilman
Note: Climbing onto your roof can be very
dangerous, better to get someone else to do it, - preferably someone
with good experience. - ED
Tips on Pipes. If
you have a split pipe, instead of draining down the whole system you
can buy 'pipe freeze', (I know this product is available in the UK but
not sure about anywhere else), It comes with a jacket that you wrap
around the pipe and you spray something very cold into it and it
freezes the pipe for about 30-40 mins. Saving time and money. -- Kevin
Rockell UK
Blocked Tap.
Make sure you turn the water off at source before attempting to clear a
blocked tap by taking it apart. -- Adam Le Gresley
- Adam you sound as if you are talking from experience ? - Ed
Keep the Plug in.
When working above a tank, cistern, sink or a bath remenber to keep the
plug in the outlet or cover it somehow. Everything from swarf to
screwdriver bits can fall down the outlet. Even professionals do it all
the time - Darren Llewellen
Blocked
Sinks. If you are using a plunger, trying to unblock a blocked
sink, cover up the overflow holes with a damp cloth. This helps build
up the pressure. -- Janet Adamson, Washington DC.
Toilets. If
your toilet ball float is leaking and filling with water here is a
useful trick I learnt to tide you over until you can get a new one.
Take off the float (by unscrewing it), empty it, then screw it back on
and wrap it in a plastic bag. -- David Edmunds
Starting Threads on
Pipes - When threading pipes it is sometimes difficult to get
started. You can make it easier by cutting slots in the end and then
cutting off the end later -- Richard Heffer. Camberley UK
Leaky Cistern
- A clever way of checking to see if your cistern is leaking is to put
in some food coloring. -- Anon
Good Practice
- If you are installing tanks and fitting pipes to them be sure to
cover the ends of the pipes with tape to stop pieces of plastic and
swarf from dropping down them, the bits and pieces will block taps
later on and cause all kinds of problems.- Talking from experience -- Richard
Heffer. Camberley UK
Water Hammer
Problem. When we lived in England we had a water hammer
problem. The plumber who came to fix it simply added a pressure
reducing valve and clipped the pipes where they were loose. The whole
job took less than an hour. Steve Sutherland.
Ref 'hammering water
pipes'. This is caused by a pressure build up of water in the
pipes. The simplest solution is to turn down your water pressure at the
stop-cock -- Alan Brighton
Repairs to low pressure water
pipes can be carried out while the water is held back by stuffing bread
up the pipe. It should remain in place long enough for a repair
to be made -- Handy Andy. (Andy Hand-Davis Hedge End,
Southampton England)
Split Pipes.
If your water pipe has split, a temporary fix you can do whilst waiting
for a qualified plumber is to wrap torn strips of fabric very tightly
around the break. Keep a large saucepan or bucket underneath the join
to catch any drips. -- Harry James.
Taps. If you
are removing nice tap fittings (such as gold ones) for maintenance
reasons, use a thick cloth to protect it from the jaws of the wrench,
otherwise you'll get a load of scratches on them. -- Geoff New
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