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nebbian said..

landyacht said..
having got my plumbig properly done by a plumber in my bathrooom laundry, Im stuck withknocking pipes. when I got the plumber back he gave me an estimate for the fix given the amount of work I gave him in the past. I was rather dissapointed.
last work he did for me

Replace your rubber washing machine hoses with braided steel jacketed jobbies.

I'd been chasing a badly knocking pipe for years, trying my own diy fixes, putting clamps on every pipe I could find in the ceiling, putting those anti-knock devices on taps, the lot, before finally getting fed up and googling it. It turns out that the washing machine hoses act like a spring, retaining the energy. When I replaced the washing machine hoses with braided steel, the knocking stopped.

Simple test, turn your washing machine off at the tap, and see if your pipes still knock

sadly fix requires removing the bathroom and starting again or pulling the outside walls off and fixing the piping properly. simply lazy piping fixing inside the walls before i reclad the inside

Any fitter worth his salt can out plumb a plumber any day of the week.

Fire suit not necessary.

yep fitters can do it better.

yep you can do a better job.

yep they charge like a bull.

yep its ok to plumb your house.



but who do you call when the Sh!tter is full and overflowing with SH!T……………..

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Cobra said..
yep fitters can do it better.

yep you can do a better job.

yep they charge like a bull.

yep its ok to plumb your house.



but who do you call when the Sh!tter is full and overflowing with SH!T……………..

I was referring to plumbing, not drainage, but I have fixed enough marine toilets to know what is involved. Calcium build up that shrinks a copper line to half it's diameter which stops tampons passing through.

The person I call is the one who caused the blockage so they know never to do it again.

Never seen one re offend.

I have to agree with you cisco .
Only because its true & Im a fitter
Seriously doing my bathroom the original pipes were leaking & just pulled out of soldered connections which just happened to be behind the stud & going into the bedroom closet so back of closet had to come out just to repair the original plumbers job .
You can't tell me the plumber did a good job because they didn't .
I got some fittings from bunnings & my mate said you can't use them on hot water or in a cavity .
After swearing he said no worries went out to truck & got me some that are 20000 kpa & fitted them .
Lucky he works plumbing for liquid air .
But guess what he's a fitter .

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actiomax said..
I have to agree with you cisco .
Only because its true & Im a fitter
Seriously doing my bathroom the original pipes were leaking & just pulled out of soldered connections which just happened to be behind the stud & going into the bedroom closet so back of closet had to come out just to repair the original plumbers job .
You can't tell me the plumber did a good job because they didn't .
I got some fittings from bunnings & my mate said you can't use them on hot water or in a cavity .
After swearing he said no worries went out to truck & got me some that are 20000 kpa & fitted them .
Lucky he works plumbing for liquid air .
But guess what he's a fitter .

Hope the fittings weren't steel and were compatible with brass / copper. Dissimilar metals will ruin a heck of a lot of copper.

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RumChaser said..
Does using a licensed plumber guarantee that the job will be done properly?
My own experience with a brand new house.

Plans for downpipes not followed consequently not enough were installed.
Guttering doesn't have enough fall, probably because of the above and so water pools after rain.
Holes cut in guttering only roughly comply with the downpipes therefore restricting the water flow.
Gas leak left in pipework after gas hot water system installed.
Overenthusiastic with plumber's friend ie silastic which blocked up the overflow from the vanity.
Septic tank installed backwards meaning it can never reach it's rated capacity meaning I have to pay for more frequent pump-outs.
No overflow installed on the rainwater tank.

Is it possible to do the work and then get a plumber to approve it? From my experience above, you will probably get a better quality job.

A couple of things not quite right about this story,
1. All that business with the gutters and downspouts is not a plumbers work.
2. A septic tank has a higher inlet and a lower outlet, if installed backwards the inlet will be too low and the outlet too high, the contents of the tank will back up into the incoming pipe. The tank will actually hold too much not too little.
3. Like any other profession there are good and bad, incompetent people in all fields.

Uponor Wirsbo PEX tubing is the best water supply system available, I assume it's available in Australia. Much better than the crimp ring system and rather fool proof for homeowners.

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[b]Cobra said..
[/b]

but the 1/4 turn taps can **** the wannabe plumbers up real quick, as in this case.

Does anyone wanna be a plumber?! Just saying..

YOU TUBE IS THE ANSWER

Your replacing something that's already there. All the important bits that need sign off etc that you can still do yourself like fall are in your slab/ way away from what your doing. Its easy go for it

Hi all, I'm wanting to connect another water take off to this hot water system by installing a threaded tee. I'm not sure which if the two insulated pipes at the top to connect to, top pipe is 3/4 & other is 1/2.
Please note, this unit is connected to solar hot water on the roof.

I'm 90% sure it's the top pipe with outlet marked on it but would like conformation from someone in the know.

^^^ you are taking the piss

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Cobra said..
^^^ you are taking the piss

Yeah, I hope so, but then again, you never know.

The 1/2" fitting is your PTR valve and should not be modified. The probe coming from them is meant to be so that it measures the tank temperature, which means you can't tee before it, not to mention the safety aspects of mucking around with the PTR placement. You can get PTR valves with water take-offs, but these are not that common, and the ones I have seen are at a higher pressure setting than most tanks need.

I am curious. Where does the solar return connect to, or does it connect elsewhere to the 'outlet' you can see?

If it were me and I were a plumber, I would replace the 3/4" union on the outlet near the wall with a 3/4" compression tee. That way you keep the heat-trap and the replacement tee is not much bigger than the union that is already there.

There is probably a tempering valve there somewhere down the line, so just keep that in mind when adding something else. Or preferably use a good plumber.

They look both to be 15mm both off tpr and outlet.
Solar feed should be at the inlet at base.
But as a plumber of 27 years id say get a plumber. Too much can go wrong.

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Cobra said...
^^^ you are taking the piss

^^^^^ ha ha, no not a toilet mate - I'm hooking up an outdoor shower.
I've been told that plumbers won't / can't do it for some reason, so did the job myself today.
No leaks or injuries, thanks for the tips everyone.

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toppleover said..

Cobra said...
^^^ you are taking the piss

^^^^^ ha ha, no not a toilet mate - I'm hooking up an outdoor shower.
I've been told that plumbers won't / can't do it for some reason, so did the job myself today.
No leaks or injuries, thanks for the tips everyone.

If you haven't already done it, fit a tempering valve. For the price they are excellent, and knowing that even if you have full hot water (i.e. no cold) its still safe is worth its weight. Tank temperatures change a lot, especially with solar, and fitting a tempering valve removes that risk.

FWIW, Masters going out of business sale seems to have a few solar tempering valves going cheap. I guess the added hassle is fitting the cold supply for the tempering valve, but again, its safer, and better.

Don't know why they wouldn't do it. I'd have no problem doing for anyone that wanted it done. Just needs to be done to a standard that's all. Perhaps customers don't want to pay because we are required to work to the rules.

Mmmmm, the plumber that did all the work on my new home about 8 years ago worked to a standard........a very low standard & dont get me started on builders - have had about $100k of insurance work done to date.
I know all plumbers & builders are not a$$hats but I do what I can myself now, if time permits.

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toppleover said...
Mmmmm, the plumber that did all the work on my new home about 8 years ago worked to a standard........a very low standard & dont get me started on builders - have had about $100k of insurance work done to date.
I know all plumbers & builders are not a$$hats but I do what I can myself now, if time permits.

I hear you. A good bit of my work is fixing screw ups by other plumbers or advising on rectifying what they have done. There's some shockers out there. Some crap doctors too but don't get me started on that.

By the way, did you contact the qld govt department in charge of the plumbers license? Or are they a toothless tiger like here in WA?

I live in Canada and something is legal to do with plumbing but not a lot. And in my opinion it's better and even more safe to ask professionals to do. Sometimes I can check Plumber Etobicoke's site here aqualuxdp.ca/etobicoke/plumbing-services-etobicoke/ to find out can i do that or not. May be it can help you

I did some work on the gas lines the other day,
Just a helpful hint, turn off the gas before getting the oxy on the lines!

It didn't cost me $200+ to find and remove this from my toilet waste pipe, and I'm not sure releasing it into the sewer system would have been a good idea (as a professional plumber wanted to do with his "snake" cleaning machine) -

Of course, I was very lucky that this root bundle was close to a "jump-up" and I was able to remove it relatively easily.
What led me to this was the suction of the water from the toilet bowl after every flush.
A plumber mate in the U.S. suggested either a blocked vent-pipe, or partial blockage in the waste-pipe causing a "venturi" effect. He was correct!
The cause of this root incursion appears to be bodgy solvent-joints done by the plumber who did the original work.
From Iplex - "...the welding action of the solvent cement virtually eliminates tree root intrusion".


My philosophy is - D.I.Y. if at all possible, after getting reliable and unbiased information and advice.

This has been a most amusing post to read,
The answer is u can't do ****e,
But we all do,
And so we shall,
So we do ,
So it is written,
In the bible,
isnt it ?

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saltiest1 said..
By the way, did you contact the qld govt department in charge of the plumbers license? Or are they a toothless tiger like here in WA?

No mate, there was so many other issues - thank god for building insurance.
Both upstairs bathrooms waterproofing was also leaking, sorted that myself too - after getting quotes for 15K per bath room, (they wanted to gut them & start again).
I fixed both for $1500, just bad tiling & grout.

That's what got me on to buliding the outdoor shower, haven't showered indoors for about 3months now.

I know my OP question deserved a FTF!! but a mate of mine who is "apparently" a plumber told me I could use either of the top two pipes to connect. After some research the second pipe down looked like the solar return pipe , so I ask "the question".