Plumbing....

Man, I hate doing plumbing.

So we're all set for the new washer and dryer to show up on Tuesday. The washer died last Tuesday, and we figured we might as well get a new dryer now as well. But they aren't showing up till this upcoming Tuesday.

Since the water heater was tucked in between the washer and dryer, and no way to get to it without moving the dryer anyway, we figured now would be the time to replace that old water heater. So we yanked out the dryer and put it out on the porch, out of the way, and got ourselves the new water heater today figuring we would have this all done and out of the way before the appliances showed up.

Connie and I almost had the new water heater installed, and I thought we were into the "smooth sailing" zone. Just had to remove the three rubber washers in the ends of the water lines, hook them up, hook up the power wires, fill the tank and turn on the circuit breaker, and DONE. But those darn washers were like they were welded into the ends of those lines. I had to literally break one out and chip the pieces out of the end. Come to find out, by doing that, and flexing on the pipe, the spiral copper water line cracked in a couple of places.

Damn... And they were soldered onto the pipes coming through the wall into the laundry room. Things were looking pretty grim with the water heater problem, being as this is Friday, and not having any washing machine to wash clothes till Tuesday. That would mean no showers and maybe running out of clean clothes as well. Well, that ended the DIY part of this. Time to call in a an expert. Soldering copper pipes is out of my pay grade. The guy came out here, got it all hooked up, and replaced those soldered pipes with screw on ones by soldering ends on the pipes coming out of the walls. So if by chance I have to do this again, then no sweat. Come to find out that those water lines get thin over the years just from water erosion, so probably a real good idea to replace them now anyway. The water heater and lines were 20 years old, which the guy said is kind of stretching it for an electric water heater. But it ran fine, though, except for some very loud popping coming from the heating elements every now and again.

Well, I guess I did save a few bucks, anyway. Even paying the plumber an hour of emergency service time, it was still cheaper than getting a water heater from Lowe's or Home Depot and having them do the entire install.

Sounds like a major PITA. But, when its all done, no more worries! Hopefully anyway...

My house is a plumbing nightmare! Virtually every pipe connected to a faucet leaks. Bathtub. Outside tap. Kitchen sink. Washer. I broke the shower last year and that ended up costing $800 by the time all was said and done. Ants ate my well last summer, too. I've rebuilt the toilet in the guest bathroom twice and the master bathroom once. I replaced the master bath sinks by myself, but fixing the majority of the stuff is out of my realm.

So, living in a mobile home, I worry about pipes freezing. They don't seem to be protected like pipes up north. So if it is forecast to get below freezing, I leave the kitchen faucet dripping, which keeps the well running intermittently, which keeps everything from freezing. When we had the last cold spell, on the second night I forgot about the faucet. Got home, wanted to take a bath, and the water pressure was REALLY low. I looked at all the connections I could find- ice maker, washer, all sinks, etc. Nothing. Looked outside. Out at the well, water comes out full blast from the sand filter, so the well is okay. It's getting dark, so I figure I get to have fun Saturday looking under the house.

At work the next day at work I ask a DIY-y friend, and he says, did you check your sand filter? Yeah- There wasn't much sand in it. He says you need to change that every four to six months. So mine is either from last summer or the summer before. I get home, and look, and there is like half an inch of algae covering the entire thing! It even made me cringe a little, on account of the obvious neglect. Rinsed it off, water pressure is restored- I am SO happy that was all it was!

I hate plumbing, but I love water!

I don't mind plumbing at all, I actually did it as a part time job when I was in high school. I graduated high school with my apprenticeship in plumbing. I really wish I had stuck with it.. working new construction pays really well.

Ah, Connie told me today what the problem was yesterday. Nothing we did, except picking the wrong day to do it. We should have known better than to do something like that on Friday the Thirteenth.........

I like electricity much better! And landscape construction projects.

So....that's what I have to look forward to when I move into a house. Eeek.....maybe this apartment life ain't so bad.

Originally Posted by El Jefe

So....that's what I have to look forward to when I move into a house. Eeek.....maybe this apartment life ain't so bad.

Yeah man. Make sure you have a fairly comprehensive tool collection on hand. Things WILL break. Sometimes you will think that EVERYTHING is breaking all at once.

I can see why old folks move into apartments or assisted living communities. They've lived in the home they have owned for 30 or 40 years, and suddenly the upkeep has gotten away from them, and WAY over what they can do themselves, or pay someone else to do for them.

If you buy a used house, check into the ages of all the appliances. They DON'T last forever, and if you barely scraped by to make the down payment and meet the monthly mortgage, stuff like this could put a real crimp in your financial well being. Heck we had to replace our entire heating and AC system just over a year ago. I can tell you that THAT was not cheap at all....

I may be not so normal but I like to do this kind of stuff. I have purchased a couple places over the years that needed help to be nice. The last one had a hot water heating system in it and no way to put forced air in. So rebuilt the new furnace/washer room and put the new boiler in and soldered the lines. My ex's step dad was helping with the copper lines and we spent more time intitially redoing his so called perfection work with them. Scuff the copper, add the flux heat the solder and have at. The one thing you always want to check on a used house if it is old is what type of electrical wiring is in it. Some still have the old cloth/paper covered stuff in them. Scares me badly. The house I had in Illinois had it and I wound up rewiring the house.
Nanci for you water lines they make grey foam covers for them and they work well. But the biggest thing is your underpinning. Up here it is all switched out to the insulated metal panels. My snake building is made of them and has held temps at 82 to 84 all winter with not that much electric use. So this summer my project is to add onto the building and put a deep sink in it and hook up the ac.