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Real Life Plumbing Advice for People Who Don't Want To Call A Plumber

How To Install a Toilet Re-fill Valve

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Well folks, this is a pretty straight forward lesson on how to install a toilet re-fill valve. In fact we’re going to cover a modern style plastic flush valve with a self-contained float.

These valves are readily available from any big box store as well as plumbing supply houses.

FYI the one in the video is from a company called Wolverine Brass who only sells to professional plumbers.

A couple of things to keep in mind are:

1. Always shut the water supply off before you attempt to do this.
2. Before you install the new valve, you want to adjust the height of the valve to the proper height.

I like to keep the top of the valve at about 1 inch below the toilet tank and I can always fine tune things from the float adjustment screw.

I try to keep the water level at about 1 inch below the overflow tube as a general rule of thumb.

Don’t forget to set the locknut on the valve body before you set it in place.

Trust me, it’s not going to be pretty if you miss this step, I’ve learned the hard way.

That valve will shoot right out of the tank and hit the ceiling, cool to look at but you better have plenty of towels and a mop handy.

Check out the video and send any comments to info@bobsplumbingvideos.com.

HAPPY PLUMBING!

How To Connect Pipes of Different Material

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This video covers how to connect pipes of different materials.

If you haven’t already watched my video “How to cut out a rotted out waste nipple,” I recommend you check it out before viewing this one.

After I remove a broken nipple I’ll always try to match up that nipple to the old one which makes putting everything back together simple.

But what if you don’t have an identical match to the nipple you removed or just want to transition to a different material i.e.: copper, brass tubing or PVC?

You can accomplish this through the use of no-hub couplings a.k.a. frenco couplings. These couplings are typically used to joint cast iron waste pipe but over the years the manufacturers figured out that they can be made to joint several different materials together, which in the service and repair world, makes life sweet!

Different manufacturers generally use their own designations to identify which materials the couplings will transition to and that’s usually a combination of letters and numbers i.e.: CK115, T150, T250 etc.

These couplings are very handy when making on the spot repairs and over the years I’ve come up with a combination of couplings that I always have on hand to get the job done.

I did a video titled “Connecting different Pipe materials” where I go into a little more detail on how they work and if you have a minute I suggest you check it out.

In the meantime, I can always be reached at info@bobsplumbingvideos.com.

HAPPY PLUMBING!

Different Types of Hacksaw Blades and How To Choose The Right One

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This is a short video about choosing the right hacksaw blade to use.

Hacksaw blades generally come in two lengths 10″ and 12″. Also, depending on the material you are cutting, you’ll choose from 14TPI, 18TPI, 24TPI or 32TPI (teeth per inch).

Fewer teeth per inch will produce a rougher overall cut while more teeth per inch will produce a finer, cleaner cut.

The blades are placed into the saw with the teeth facing away from the handle allowing it to cut on the down stroke.

There may be circumstances when you want to cut on the upstroke and to do this, you would just reverse the blade in the saw or if you want to be lazy, just flip the saw around and hold from the front end.

I use a Lennox hacksaw and Sawzall blades exclusively because I feel they makes a superior product.

In addition, I use Lennox hacksaw frames and most of their cutting products including hole saws.

When it comes to hand tools, I highly recommend you don’t cheap out – that old saying “the tools make the mechanic” is true.

Watch the video and if you have any questions, please shoot an e-mail to info@bobsplumbingvideos.com.

HAPPY PLUMBING!

How To Cut Out a Rotted Waste Nipple & Remove Old Galvanized Pipe

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In this video we’ll be cutting out a rotted waste nipple and remove old galvanized pipe.

So you reach under the kitchen sink to grab some paper towels or some dish soap and everything is soaking wet. You open up the doors to take a closer look and you notice a rust stain running down from where the waste pipe exits the cabinet.

Upon further investigation, you realize that the bottom of that nipple is all rotted out and has probably been leaking for some time. Welcome to my world guys!

You think to yourself “all I have to do is get under the sink with my trusty pipe wrench, remove and replace the offending piece of pipe, right?” Not so fast my friends…the pipe may be rotten where it connects to the “P” trap but inside the wall it’s fully intact so there is no way that piece is going to screw out. If you don’t believe me I’ll hang out a bit and wait for you to prove me wrong….

How’d it go?

I know. The reason it rotted out under the cabinet is because the nipple is galvanized iron and the trap is made of brass thus creating something called electrolysis which happens when you join two dissimilar metals together.

Over time, the iron nipple will just rot and always end up leaking.

If the piece inside the wall is screwed into a galvanized fitting, it’s fully intact and short of placing a two foot wrench on it, I can pretty much guarantee it’s not going to move.

Enough talk, watch the video as I take you step by step on how to remove offending piece.

FYI, I referenced the Sawzall blade in the video to be 18 TPI (teeth per inch) and realized after the shoot that it was in fact 10 TPI .

They’ll both work but if this is your first attempt at this I’d go with the 18. If after watching the video you still have questions you know how to reach me, info@bobsplumbingvideos.com.

HAPPY PLUMBING!

How To Replace a Kitchen Spray Diverter or Hose

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In this video, we’ll cover how to replace a kitchen spray diverter also known as a kitchen spray hose.

Picture this… you’re preparing to clean the dishes after a splendid meal, you soaped up the dinner plates and it’s time for a quick rinse. You hit the button on the sprayer head and nothing happens, you hit it again and now the water stops coming out of the nozzle, one more time and you hear what sounds like a machine gun spraying bullets.

What’s going on?

Relax folks; this is a fairly common problem on faucets equipped with a hose and spray attachment.

The spray diverter is the likely cause of the problem and it’s a relatively easy fix.

Just as the name implies, its function is to divert the water from the nozzle out through the sprayer head when you hit the button on the back of the head.

This generally happens on older faucets (five years or older), but I’ve seen it happen on faucets that were in service less than a year.

As a general rule, the diverter is located at the base of the nozzle and you have to remove the nozzle to get to it. You would simply unscrew it and as I always recommend, take it with you to the plumbing supply or home center to match it up.

Once the new one is in place, simply replace the nozzle, hit the spray head and you should be good to go.

Now over the years I’ve run across manufacturers who have located the diverter inside the aerator where the water flows from, but the last one I saw like that was many years ago from the Valley faucet Company which no longer exists.

If you’re having such a problem with your faucet, I would recommend removing the nozzle and my bet is that the diverter will be right there sitting in the base of the faucet.

Check out the video, and if you still have questions, drop me a line at info@bobsplumbingvideos.com.

HAPPY PLUMBING!