Hi Plumbers,

I found that my water pressure from the utility is 100psi, code here is 80psi. So I got some quotes for a pressure reducer valve.

Every quote I got doesn't include an expansion tank. I have a large tank water heater with no expansion tank preinstalled, and the plumbers keep on coming back without including the expansion tank, then I come back and say it should get an expansion tank, and they come back offering to install one as well, but always with weird excuses like:

1. That's not really required for code, but we'll do it (yes it is!)
2. The water heater should've had one (no! only required when the pressure doesn't have anywhere to go... like back to the utility mains)!

What's going on here? Why are the pros doing that?

(local code: Seattle, WA, Cascadia)

The new aerator is 1.5gal/minute. I have no idea what the old one was. When I remove it, flow at the sprayer is much greater. I don't understand how the aerator restricts flow to the sprayer. Is there any way to improve this? 1.5gal was the highest they had at the hardware store

It steadily has dropped for a year or more and I can't take it anymore. If I replace will they fix? I pulled it off and even with the water off there is still water coming out of the pipe at a slow, slow drip pace. Is it the water shut off that needs help? Would of course prefer the cheaper fix but if a new head isn't going to stop the leak it'd be good to know.

TIA

You know the temperature thing you turn round from like 0 to 5 depending on how hot you want it to be? Well I think, in trying to turn it off I may have turned it too far. As the it just keeps turning but in a jerky movement and the number doesn’t change if that makes sense? Like there’s a little plastic arrow that points up at the setting it’s on, so that you know what setting it’s on. But now it’s like the whole thing is turning rather than just the plastic cover with the numbers on.

So I think (well I’m hoping cos the opposite would be worse) that it’s now turned completely off and there is no way to turn it on. But because the whole thing is turning and the numbers don’t change up or down regardless of which way you turn it, it’s possible it could be on any one of the 0-5 settings but only stuck as showing on 0.

Hopefully this is the right place to post this and someone has some idea…?

Cheers!

Until we have our old steel pipes replaced, we're dealing with rust that apparently gets caught in our faucet cartridges, thereby causing drips. We've had to replace them regularly. It seems like such a waste to throw out the entire cartridge when just the ceramic pieces and a washer cause the problem.

So rebuild kits aren't available anywhere? I've searched with all the keywords I can think of.

You can hear the flush in the beginning, and a few seconds later a loud knock under the sink area. If I understand, water hammer is from the incoming water stopping suddenly and moving the pipes, but this is definitely elsewhere along the outflow.

Worth mentioning this only happens with solid waste and liquid doesn't do it. Kinda sounds like the outflow pipes are knocking against something when there's bulk in there.

Does this sound kind something to be remedied? Thanks for your help!

Why would this happen? Should I try replacing the wire nut and turning it back on or is there something deeper going on? Thanks for any tips!

Since we moved in we've noticed a sewer smell from time to time. I had a plumber come and identify this laundry discharge pipe not having a trap as the culprit. He ended up ghosting me so I cut more into the wall and found this black thing I couldn't identify until now (I think). I guess it's a drum trap after doing some more googling. If it's working as designed I guess it's supposed to hold water in and not let sewer gas through? but we definitely have a problem with the smell coming from this laundry room. Is this maybe not to culprit and I could leave it alone? I'm considering cutting it out and just connecting PVC the whole way through. Any recommendations or thoughts would be much appreciated.

And here's after I replaced most of it, only thing I didn't replace was from the coupling back to the meter

https://imgur.com/a/axAU8up

Just figured I'd add some content here so I'm just going through old photos/videos.

This is just what our builders are having us use to convert from the pex underground to the main for the house. So if it's breaks the only way shutting off the water is the curb. So shitty.

Mine just exploded and poured about 10 gallons of water under my cabinets. Looking for recommendations for a new one that is reliable.

I've spent 20 years doing high-end resi now I'm trying commercial. Hit me with your best tips brothers and sisters.

I live in Europe. And for me interested which material use in other parts of world for plumbing. For example in new build houses for both types water used plastic pipe. but for heat used cooper pipe. which material used in your region?

Should i be concerned about the blue/green water stains around pipes? If so, should i be replacing the pipe or just clean and move on with life?

The connections under my sink have a flexible tube that I'd like to replace with rigid tube. The stub out from the wall doesn't have the nut and threaded connection I've seen before, and they've used what I think is called a no-hub connector.

Would I use the no-hub connector on the rigid tube or do I sweat something like this on? https://www.brasscraft.com/product/1-12-in-o-d-tube-x-1-12-in-fip-3/ Or is there some other way?

I've soldered the narrower water supply lines, but nothing this large. Is there anything to consider other than heating it longer?

The stub out has corroded on the bottom and there's a thin crack that the no-hub fitting covers, so there isn't a leak now, but I don't know if that will be covered if I sweat on a connector. Is there a way to deal with that crack?

As some extra info, I think that some stubs are threaded into the vertical pipe. This isn't threaded in and doesn't look like it can be removed without opening the wall and replacing it.

There are plumbers worldwide who post youtube videos of themselves working and you can see what issues they face on a daily basis.

Australia: roots

Korea: cooking grease

UK and Germany: wet wipes

I added a link to my favorite in Germany. His videos are all translated if you click Closed Captioning, but he also speaks in english occasionally.

I thought I would share this website with anyone interested. There are a variety of courses you can take for free on topics ranging from plumbing, water quality, drains, HVAC, backflow prevention, etc... There's usually short videos or slides and then a series of questions afterwards. After completing courses you get points which you can redeem for things like sweatshirts, lunchboxes, and camp chairs. I think it's kinda cool because you learn something, you can get free stuff, and Watts gets advertising so everybody wins. Still worth a look even if you're not interested in the swag because the courses are actually helpful if you're in the trade. Also I'm not affiliated in any way, just like to learn stuff.