Tagged Questions
0
votes
1answer
24 views
Why is my shower cold even though there is hot water?
My shower gets full hot water with the cold turned off, but once I turn the cold water back on to the house my shower is barely lukewarm. I replaced the mixing valve on my single handled valve. When ...
3
votes
1answer
70 views
How do I keep water from getting in and out of a dishwasher drain air gap?
I have no idea what this is called, so I apologize for the vague title. If someone knows what it is, feel free to edit it.
When I turned on my dishwasher (just moved in), water started spewing from ...
3
votes
2answers
119 views
Can/Should I Move These Pipes?
I need to fix a broken ball valve (luckily the valve doesn't leak until I turn it on) that runs to an outside faucet. Also, all of these pipes are CPVC.
When I looked at replacing it, they seemed to ...
0
votes
1answer
165 views
What is the name for this round metal drain cover?
Rainwater drains from an acre uphill from us into an underground system that has been in place for 50 years. It works fine, except that the 16-inch round metal cover for the drain has rusted through. ...
2
votes
1answer
57 views
What are my options for installing a water softener on the opposite side of the house from the main water supply?
Background Info
My main water supply on my home is located on the east wall of the home, whereas my garage is located on the west side of the home. There is no water softener loop in the home, and in ...
1
vote
1answer
96 views
How can house hot water pressure be kept stable if more than one hot tap is open?
We have a Vaillant Ecotec combi boiler in the loft. When showering, hot water pressure is fine. But if someone opens any other hot tap in the house, it massively reduces the hot water coming into the ...
2
votes
1answer
100 views
Why is my electric water heater making an intermittent groaning noise?
My 8 year old electric water heater started to make a strange rattling noise a couple of weeks ago. The noise happens at random and lasts for only a few minutes. Short bursts of noise about a minute ...
2
votes
2answers
105 views
How can I fix this leaky water heater?
I have an electric Water heater and it is starting to leak from what I believe to be the pressure release valve. I just wanted some tips on how I can fix this before the leak becomes unmanageable. The ...
0
votes
3answers
317 views
Why is the water pressure so high from my overhead water tank?
We have recently rented a house and it has normal taps fitte, and a normal
overhead water tank, but the water pressure is very high. The water comes out
with so much pressure, that if I am trying to ...
2
votes
1answer
446 views
Why is my main water supply shut off valve leaking even while closed?
While prepping to install a new kitchen faucet, I went to shut off the water supply to the house since there were no valves under the sink. I mistakenly chose to turn the city-side (gate valve) supply ...
1
vote
1answer
55 views
How can I fix this broken connector piece on my Symmons shower Knob?
I was trying to get the knob off so I could potentially increase the amount of hot water getting mixed and it seemed to be coming off nicely but then snapped. By nicely, I mean it was a steady ...
0
votes
1answer
115 views
Why is cold water coming from the hot part of the faucet? [duplicate]
The last plumber I called made a test. He closed the cold water intake to the 40 gallon gas water heater. The he opened all the hot water faucets in my house. After a minute passed,
the faucets, ...
1
vote
1answer
143 views
Is it safe to not have a safety cutoff on an immersion heater?
I'm having some serious trouble with the immersion heater in my apartment. I believe the set up is similar to the one described in this answer, however there is no thermostat to turn the immersion ...
2
votes
2answers
1k views
What causes a water heaters relief valve to discharge water?
I have a Gas Reliance Water Heater 1212. I found recently (in winter) there is a water dip through the relief valve into a 5 gallon bucket. Sometimes, it can fill the whole bucket. Sometimes, it has ...
2
votes
0answers
62 views
Where could the air in the water system be coming from?
We live on the top two floors of a small brownstone walkup. To get the heating to work upstairs I need to bleed the baseboard heater almost every other day. All faucets in the house sputter, and the ...
1
vote
0answers
46 views
How/where should I put a water dispenser on this counter?
My friend's coffee shop has a hot water dispenser they use for drip coffee and tea. It's already filtered, and accessible to customers.
It would be terribly convenient if we customers could get cold ...
2
votes
1answer
129 views
Is it normal for tap water to turn brown/blue when the pipes freeze?
In our old apartment, the pipes would freeze during the winter during the night, and in the morning sometimes the water that came out of the tap was blue at first. We spoke to a plumber, and he ...
12
votes
5answers
2k views
Why does the shower get cold when I flush, and how can I prevent it?
When the shower is running and someone flushes a toilet, why does the shower get cold (or sometimes hot) in some houses, but not others?
More importantly, would fixing that require replacing the ...
6
votes
4answers
665 views
Should I install an inline water heater for my bathroom?
It takes 3-4 minutes of the shower running before the hot water reaches my upstairs bathroom. I'd like to not have to waste all that water and time. My initial though was to install an inline water ...
0
votes
1answer
71 views
how can i fix my bath tub
When I turn the water on to take a bath the water don't run it just drips and takes hours to fill the tub or I have to add pots of water is there a way for this to be fixed or do I have to call a ...
5
votes
4answers
630 views
Why is the first shower of the day is colder than the second?
Description
Since I've moved into this house, I've noticed that the first shower of the day is colder than the any subsequent shower. More specifically, if no hot water has been used for a while, ...
1
vote
1answer
505 views
How do I choose the correct size pump and pressure tank?
I'll have a 3000 gallon water tank (around 8 feet tall) located at the same elevation as my house.
The distance between my house and the tank will be about 90 feet, with the water traveling through a ...
2
votes
1answer
390 views
What would cause the water pressure to be too high for just a second?
Lately when I turn on any faucet in my house the water comes rushing out at about twice the normal pressure for about half a second and then drops to normal pressure. I am worried the pressure is ...
0
votes
0answers
642 views
Adjusting a Mixer Tap Hot/Cold Mix
I have a Twyford mixer tap on my bathroom washbasin (Exact model here).
As it stands the Hot/Cold mix I can get out of it is either very hot or very cold, with a tiny area in the middle giving a ...
5
votes
1answer
288 views
Should a curtain drain be covered/back filled?
I do some light maintenance and yard work in exchange for rent.
The building had some problems with flooding. We have an extensive drain system, but it was a bit clogged. Even after the plumbers ...
1
vote
1answer
213 views
When should I change / replace my water pipe?
I was wondering when should we change our indoor water pipe? Should we change every 5 years or every 10 years?
This is because recently, I notice that the water quality is not getting that good ...
3
votes
1answer
636 views
What could cause water to come out of the faucet when the shower is on?
I'm having a problem with my shower. The water is not all coming out of the shower head, but out of the faucet. The type of shower I have switches to the shower by pulling down on the faucet head. ...
4
votes
2answers
386 views
Should we install an overhead tank or cistern tank?
We are building our home (a 2-storey house) and a cistern tank was suggested by our architect for aesthetics. We asked around the neighborhood and one person has a cistern and an overhead tank but ...
4
votes
4answers
1k views
What to do with leaky sink?
Our kitchen sink has been slowly leaking for several months, and as of yesterday, it is finally leaking so bad we can't use it until it's fixed. I'm generally handy, but when it comes to plumbing of ...
2
votes
1answer
111 views
If I fit a water softener, will I run out of on-demand water via bath/shower-use?
I'm interested in fitting a water-softener (specifically, the Twintec S3, which is a dual-cylinder unit developed in the UK, apparently) to my home. My home is over 3 stories, with a bathroom on the ...
1
vote
2answers
132 views
Can I replace my oil-based water heater with several electric ones?
I was looking at this question, which is somewhat related to mine but didn't give me a good answer: How to evaluate the suitability of an electric tankless water-heater
Basically, my mom's water ...
3
votes
1answer
821 views
How to stop a whistling hot water tap which also has a mind of its own?
The hot water tap in my kitchen whistles quite loudly when it is in a certain pressure range -- at very low and high pressures it is fine, but within the sweet spot it whistles away.
It also seems to ...
3
votes
2answers
248 views
How can I add an ice maker water line?
I have the following setup with a T with a valve to an above sink water filter.
The line from the T has one steel braided 3/8” line and goes up to the sink as 3/8”. The other is a thin PVC line ...
4
votes
3answers
382 views
Are hot water returns worth putting in?
Once I saw on an episode of This Old House that they were putting in hot water return lines: pipes that recirculate idle hot water back to the heater so you get hot water right away, instead of ...
2
votes
1answer
436 views
Could water temperature fluctuations be caused by new plumbing?
I'm having a new bathroom installed. I hired a plumber to do all the water works. He ran all the lines; he is now waiting on sink and toilet to arrive to finish installation. Since he ran new line, we ...
2
votes
2answers
2k views
What is causing my gas water heater to squeal?
I have a gas water heater. Starting yesterday, when the flame is on, the unit makes a squealing noise of moderate volume. The noise stops immediately when the flame turns off. This means it is not ...
4
votes
3answers
2k views
Why is the water in my toilets orange?
My wife and I just moved in to a brand new house and have started to notice that the water in the toilets is an orange color, and is starting to leave stains in the bowl. After looking online briefly, ...
3
votes
1answer
940 views
How can I replace my main water shutoff valve?
I just recently purchased a house that was built in 1979 with galvanized plumbing. The water main just outside the house looks like this:
I'm planning to replace it, but I want to make sure it's ...
3
votes
1answer
549 views
Increasing water pressure with pump
I live in Karachi, Pakistan. We have underground water tanks and use motors to transfer the amount of water required to overhead tanks that then supply the house.
I get lower pressure in my house's ...
0
votes
1answer
211 views
Low water pressure in house
My inside water pressure is very low. My outside pressure is good. I did disconnect an old water softener and just connected the input and output pipes from the softener together. I would like to ...
2
votes
1answer
1k views
Showerhead with “backflow prevention”
I bought this Delta showerhead almost a year ago. I remember the packaging mentioning a "backflow prevention" feature. Every time I turn off the faucet water streams from the area I've circle below, ...
8
votes
4answers
6k views
How much water do water softeners waste?
I'm considering buying a water softener, but I heard that they waste a lot of water, and I don't really want my water bill to skyrocket.
I haven't been able to find any clear indication of how much ...
4
votes
2answers
339 views
How can I prevent mineral build-up from my water?
I'm not sure whether my house receives really hard water, or water that has a lot of junk or sediment in it, but I am constantly having to soak my faucet spreaders and shower heads. Recently, I ...
2
votes
1answer
240 views
Leaky newly installed PVC drainage pipe
I am pretty bad doing handy work. Anyways, I decided to add a water drainage to my concrete flat roof. I had mocked up all the pipes and finally waited for a sunny day to remove it all and glue all ...
2
votes
1answer
1k views
How can I prevent sudden increases in shower water temperature
I assume, but am not sure, that this is caused by someone else in the house competing with the shower for cold water.
I'm guessing an anti-scald valve might be necessary but perhaps there is a way to ...
5
votes
2answers
354 views
What could be the cause of a washing machine hose coming loose?
Ok, I'm not a rocket scientist but this has me stumped. I have a new hot water hose for my washing machine. I replaced the O-ring on the faucet side of the the connection, tightened and went to use. ...
3
votes
2answers
287 views
Can (and should) I replace the hose connecting a cold water expansion vessel to the cold water supply myself?
We recently had a small flood in our apartment. I found that the metal-sheathed rubber hose connecting the cold water supply to the blue cold water expansion vessel had a wide split in it. The water ...
3
votes
1answer
2k views
What's the purpose of a cold water expansion vessel?
My rented flat (in the UK) has 2 expansion tanks behind the boiler, one red, one blue.
From googling around I can find lots of references to hot water expansion vessels; the purpose seems to be to ...
2
votes
1answer
134 views
How do I increase the capacity of a small humidifier?
I'm trying to increase the humidity in our house, as it gets extremely dry in the winter. I have a small second hand humidifier that I have modified to suit my interests, however there is one thing ...
2
votes
1answer
1k views
How can I clean hard water buildup from pipes?
I've basically confirmed that my overall plumbing problems are down to hard water buildup. My softener has been out of action for about a month or two (waiting on a part), so I have at least that much ...
