Tractors, Mowers, Chippers, Trailers, Chainsaws, Generators, Boat Engines, Flood Control, & Census.

The ol GT500 is on burning duty today. Got a foot of rain this week and a 70* day so it’s a perfect burn day to clean up about 4 tree’s worth

 

Hot glued the hooks on Saturday, put them a little higher than I originally planned so the binder won’t interfere with the front tire.

 

Last 2 days got 1.8in of much needed rain at the farm.

 

Too much flux is a common reason for leaks. If you clean the pipe and fitting well, you can flux both and then wipe the flux off with a clean rag. What little remains in the pores of the copper is enough to solder with.

I agree with the flex pipes but not the shark bites.

I'm a plumber and I would never use a crimped joint or shark bite in my own house. Granted, soldering is very easy for me but since I'm not getting paid hourly to do work on my own house that doesn't apply. It's simply a better joint. The real reason all these new joints have been developed is so that the work can be done by unskilled labor. Tract home projects are being done with 40 laborers making minimum wage supervised by one licensed plumber

I'm assuming you cut through copper with your sawzall? If you ever have to do that again, a crescent wrench adjusted big enough to fit around the pipe can be used to hammer the compression nut off. Lots of times there isn't enough pipe coming through the wall or floor to cut off.
Fixture stops are almost always compression joints. They may exist, but I've never seen a soldered fixture stop. That said they are exposed and not sealed behind drywall or beneath flooring. That's also the case with a water heater I guess so have at it

 

As you mentioned space, there were a couple of lines for toilets coming up through the floor that didn't leave me enough room for the cutter, so those were cut with the saw. For most of the copper lines, I do have a pipe cutter which I used where there was room. You do lose more pipe using a cutter but it does create a much better edge to work with, and they are a fairly inexpensive tool to own.

I was looking at my hot water heater this morning, trying to evaluate how much longer I can wait to replace it. I'm hoping to make it until next month, but the leak seems to be getting bigger. I tried turning the water off at the valve, but like almost every other valve that came with this house, it won't close all the way. I got it rigged up with a rag to drip into a bucket now instead of onto my garage floor. But now I am also going to have to cut the pipe back to put in a new shutoff valve.

The joys of home ownership...

 

I'm guessing your problem valve is a gate valve?

I hate those with a passion because of the exact failure you're describing.
When you replace it, do yourself a favor and replace it with a quarter turn ball valve.

The next owner will thank you.

 

Here’s our water heater at work, I’ve been here 27 years and it was here before me. It’s got it all

 

At least it's a Rheem!

 

Buddy has a woodland for his JD 2032r. I’ll forward any questions you have

 

Most of the valves I replaced were gate valves, and I put quarter-turn valves in their place. This hot water tank, oddly enough, has a quarter-turn valve already, but it is not shutting the water off all the way either. And after having it "turned off" overnight, it looks as though the inlet line is wet and possibly leaking from the back side of the valve maybe, IDK. Either way I need it to last until the weekend before I will be able to replace it.

 

What sort of service interval is common for hot water tanks? I have a crusty tank in the attic that is from 1998. I know it is just begging for a disaster so I am planning to replace ASAP.

The one downstairs is much newer, but in the 10 years I've lived there, I haven't serviced either tank at all aside from occasional draining.

 

Holy moly at those solder joints! I hadn't soldered in a while and mine look slightly better than that

 

Yeah they are ugly for sure but they've been that way for a long time! Yours look great!

 

The two fittings where the Pex adapts to the copper were mine. It was the first time I used the lead free solder and it flowed a little bit much and when I wiped it, made a mess

After some more practice I did a pretty good job on the pop off valve line, of course on something that isn't critical




Although I'm eventually ripping out all the copper water lines and replacing everything with Pex. Everything is 1/2" and I want to upgrade all the main runs with 3/4"...

 

apparently every couple of years replace the anode, and every 6 months or so drain and flush the tank. I lose track of time really easily and only end up flushing once a year or so if im lucky. I had never replaced the anode on mine, and Im not sure if the previous owner had replaced it either. judging by how tough it was to get out of the threads, im going to say he never replaced it. ill be doing it every couple of years if I get a new one just in case. straightforward maintenance that lets you see the health of the tank. I could still see sediment in the bottom with my inspection camera but couldn't get it out. it wasn't much though.

 

Also, just as an update, I still haven't replaced the burned up well pump yet. its on "the list"

 

How have you been getting water into your house this whole time?

 

lol the pump only feeds our sprinkler system and outside faucets away from the house. its not our source of water.

 

Once you get yours fixed come on over and look at mine