Oh the joy of plumbing

shadowgray396 · #1 10-09-2010, 09:02 PM

I spent the last two day under my house redoing the plumbing. was going to have a plumber do it, but it was $600 a fixture and since I had six fixtures to hook up it was not in my budget. He was nice enough to walk me through the steps and the code info for hooking everything up correctly. He even didn't charge me anything for coming out and spending two hours with me. I got totally rain out today, so water lines are next weekend and then the inspection can be done. Now that the house is sitting on a foundation the crawl space has some room to move around under it.

Hank70SS · #2 10-10-2010, 06:37 AM

Looks good, PVC is nice to work with. Not fun working in a crawl space though. Water lines going to be copper? HD use to have copper fittings with the solder already in them, all you have to do is heat the joint up. A little more expensive but nice in a crawl space where you're trying to sweat an upside down joint.

Bdubya · #3 10-10-2010, 06:57 AM

I know you're on a budget, but for copper pipe there is a company that makes "shark" fittings. They literally push-lock tight onto the end of a copper pipe. No solder no leaks. They make them in any fitting as well.

shadowgray396 · #4 10-10-2010, 08:48 AM

I have been looking at both opitions. The shark bit fittings are great I have used them before. Or you can now use the pex pipe with the clamp on fittings that you use a special tool to do it. The only draw back to using the pex pipe or some form of plastic pipe for water is the long term effect of chlorine on it. Years ago they had polybutelyne or PB tubing gray in color and failed after a few years and was band. The pex can freeze and not break unlike the cooper that will break. I'm still leaning toward cooper at this point. Mice and rats will chew through the pex pipe if it is not protected.

Rank · #5 10-10-2010, 11:16 AM

That recalled plumbing was called "Quest" . I built a eight-unit back then that they payed me twice to plumb it ..... gotta love it! LOL

Primary concept for plumbing "sh*t runs downhill and payday is on friday" ..... I keep blowing it on the second part! LOL

Bdubya · #6 10-10-2010, 01:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rank

Primary concept for plumbing "sh*t runs downhill and payday is on friday" ..... I keep blowing it on the second part! LOL

You forgot "don't bite your fingernails"

Hank70SS · #7 10-10-2010, 06:31 PM

Is PVC okay for water supply? White PVC is so easy to work with and won't split like copper from freezing. I have a piece of copper running under the deck from the house, about 15'. It has more patches and splices than you can imagine. I try to get it drained every year but seems it still freezes and splits in the winter.

Nice part is the deck is barely high enough for me to slide under. About 20' from the end were I can get under to where the pipe is.

shadowgray396 · #8 10-10-2010, 08:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hank70SS

Is PVC okay for water supply? White PVC is so easy to work with and won't split like copper from freezing. I have a piece of copper running under the deck from the house, about 15'. It has more patches and splices than you can imagine. I try to get it drained every year but seems it still freezes and splits in the winter.

Nice part is the deck is barely high enough for me to slide under. About 20' from the end were I can get under to where the pipe is.

Wrap a heat tape around it with the pipe insulation and you should be good to go. I believe PVC is still allowed, but not the 1st choice anymore.

Rank · #9 10-10-2010, 08:40 PM

Copper is usually used for grounding the electrical system, you need to be careful not to isolate the ground.... I'd pass on using pvc and yes it freezes and splits just like copper.

shadowgray396 · #10 10-10-2010, 08:53 PM

When I ran the new water line in my current house I lost the electrical ground. It is no longer code to ground a electrical box to a water pipe for that reason. In Oregon you have to have two electrical ground rods ten feet apart and the grounding rods are ten feet long. What joy they are to drive in the ground in some area's.