BobsPlumbingVideos.com

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

I Need Your Help!

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It’s March 31, 2017, and the last video I posted to my youtube channel was on Feb 25th. I’m sitting here in my office with a totally blank slate. So rather than racking my brains out trying to decide what content to create, I’m going to ask my subscribers. I need your HELP! What Videos would you like me to post?

After 40 years in the service business, I lose sight of the fact that my daily adventures don’t seem all that important to me. But I’m probably missing the fact that what comes second nature to me, may be of great interest and really valuable to you. So again I ask, what Plumbing Videos / Basic Plumbing Repairs do you want me to create?

Help!

Do you really want to see major plumbing alterations and repairs? Are you more interested in the materials, tools or the techniques to get a job done? Plumbing repair covers a very wide range of tasks ranging from very simple fixes to very elaborate and beyond.

Below I’ve created a simple survey and would appreciate your participation! Simply check off the content you would like me to create more of !

The fact is if you’re a homeowner you’ll most likely be faced with having to call in a plumber at some point. My goal here at BobsPlumbingVideos.Com is to educate homeowners like yourself about the art of residential plumbing repair and in the process help you save your hard earned dollars for basic plumbing repairs.

My equipment is set up and ready to start filming my next video so, please send me your ideas, your thoughts, and suggestions on how I can help keep the plumber out of your life! Regards, and HAPPY PLUMBING!

Bob

Bobs Plumbing Tools for Homeowners

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In today’s blog post and video I’m going to show your the plumbing tools that I have in my plumbers toolbox.

Bob's Original Tool Bucket!
Bob’s Original Tool Bucket!
Everyone’s asking me, Bob what kind of tool bag is that your using? So to answer some of these questions I thought I’d put together this video showing you exactly what I use on a daily basis in my plumbing practice. Back in the day when I was a helper, the plumbing mechanic carried his tools in a home made wooden box. Bulky? Yes but it served it’s purpose. As time evolved we eventually graduated to a metal tool bucket which was more convenient, but most times the item you were looking for ended up in the bottom. We’d dump it out to find what we were looking for and threw everything back in the bucket and repeated the process. Eventually the five gallon plastic buckets replaced the metal ones and you could buy one of those liners with the individual pockets to organize your tools. I used these for quite a while, but inevitably would be looking for a small tool which caused me to dump the whole bucket. Enough!

Enter the Veto-ProPac line of tools bags. I found these online years ago and bought one for my personal use. At the time they only made a closed top version, but they were so well made that I thought how could I adapt these to use as my primary plumbing tool bag. Well lucky for me (and a whole group of professional tradesman) the company introduced their O.T. (open top) version of their original tool bags.The bag in this video was actually given to me years ago as a Christmas gift and I thought this could work as my primary tool bag. This is their O.T. (open top) X.L. (extra large) bag which I use as my primary everyday tools bag. These bags are so well made that these are the only tool bags I will use and I own approx nine different versions. Pricey? yes, but well worth the investment. I’ll leave a link at the end of this post.

My Old Tool Bag!
My Old Tool Bag!
As you can see in the video I manage to pack a lot of stuff into this bag, with the exception of myhacksaw which is clamped to the side of the bag. I’ve reached out to the company to possibly produce a bag specifically for plumbers and they’ve been very receptive to the idea. They do currently make a O.T. (open Top) X.X.L. (extra large) bag, but I can tell you these get very heavy to lug around, so make sure you really need all that stuff before you commit to purchasing one of these. As you can see on the bench, I fit quite a bit more that you can see initially when the bag is upright. This is my everyday plumbing service bag, and for me it works. Do you as a homeowner need all these tools to perform base home plumbing repair? Absolutely not!

I’ve laid out for you what I consider to be a bare basic list of tools you’ll need if you want to tackle basic home plumbing repairs. I like to call it Bob’s Basic Tools (BBT) for home plumbing repair. Now some may say it ‘s not enough while others say it’s to much, but after 35 plus years in the game of plumbing service and repair, I feel these are the basic tools you’re going to need to get the job done.Check out the entire video and tell me what you think! If you think I missed something or need to add something, I’d love to hear from you. You can always reach me at info@bobsplumbingvideos.com. I look forward to seeing you in my next video, until next time HAPPY PLUMBING!

Here’s the link to my Veto ProPac O.T.X.L. – http://amzn.to/1Dm1K99

Cool Foot Vise Tool

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What the heck is a Foot Vise! Those were exactly my words when I saw this on E-bay. I was browsing thru the tool section one Sunday evening looking for plumbing stuff and saw this for sale. Actually the one in the ad was the model that worked with sizes from 1 1/4″ thru 2″ pipe.I searched E-bay for a model that would take smaller pipe sizes, but couldn’t find anything.

I then proceeded to Google Foot-Vise and to my surprise I was taken to a website called ARGCO.COM. I searched for the smaller model and to my surprise, they were back-ordered. Well needless to say I placed my order and about three weeks later my Foot-Vise arrived. I thought where have I been that I never knew these existed. For small service and repair jobs I always used the good old two pipe wrench method, one acted as a vise and the other to turn the fitting. This worked whether you were working with 1/2″ thru 2″ pipe as long as you were using the proper sized wrenches. The problem always was if you had a stubborn fitting that didn’t want to come off, you chanced getting your knuckles banged up if the wrenches fell over.

This is one of the greatest tools I own and believe it or not, I haven’t even put in my service vehicle yet. WHY! Well that’s going to change as of the publishing date of this article. Check out the video and see if you agree with me, it’s GREAT! And if you’re working with larger sizes 1 1/4″ thru 2″ it’s even better. Trust me trying to make up fittings with a couple of two foot wrenches takes some practice.

Anyway I hope you enjoy this short video and as always you can always reach me at 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!