BobsPlumbingVideos.com

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

Cool tool from Ridgid – Faucet and Sink Wrench

By Leave a Comment

Buy Now – Ridgid Offset Wrench Tool

I first discovered this tool while browsing around the plumbing department at Home Depot.

Although I am a tool geek, I thought to myself “just another ridiculous product” for the weekend plumber. “Real” plumbers use basin wrenches so why would I even entertain making a purchase like this?

Well, slowly but surely, more and more faucet manufacturers were replacing metal locknuts with plastic ones. My basin wrench was getting the job done but I started to find that when I attempted to drive the locknuts home, I would break the tabs off them. This was really annoying because once that happened I was unable to tighten them any further. Well, I broke down, swallowed my pride and purchased the Ridgid faucet and sink installer and to my surprise,

I found that this is a really a cool tool! It comes with a variety of useful inserts on either end which makes life under a sink much more effective. I won’t go into all of its uses in this article but will only to say that a picture (in this case, a video) is worth a thousand words.

I encourage you to watch the video where I explain in detail exactly how I use it and how it can make faucet installation a breeze. The strainer wrench and handy emergency water shut off valve wrench is worth the price of the tool alone.

It’s ergonomically designed so you can tork up the locknuts and basin nuts without using any other tools, enough said. Check out the video and if you still have questions you can always reach me at info@bobsplumbingvideos.com.

Find Out More About This Ridgid Offset Wrench Tool

HAPPY PLUMBING!

How To Repair a Delta Single Lever Faucet

By Leave a Comment

When the Delta single lever faucet was introduced, you would think it was the birth of the i-phone.

To the best of my knowledge, this was the first company that claimed to be “the washer-less faucet.” As you can see in the video, it was nothing like the old two handled faucet I had been using up until that point and fact is they worked really well.

Delta originally introduced this as a kitchen faucet and in short time had the complete line up including bathroom faucets, shower faucets, tub and shower faucets.

The concept was very simple and the parts originally consisted of a brass ball (stainless steel today) two rubber seats, two stainless steel springs which were originally straight and are now cone shaped.

These are available in a basic repair kit but if you get the deluxe version (highly recommended) you’ll also receive the cam washer, cam cover, a spray diverter (if your faucet has a spray head), “O” ring washers and a handy allen key and cam tool.

I was then and still am a big fan of the Delta faucet company, they stand behind their products and customer service is top shelf.The new products from Delta are using ceramic disc design cartridges as are all the other major players, but these are still readily available and still in service today.

The biggest tip I want to pass on to you is that when you decide to jump in and make the repair, get the deluxe kit and replace all the parts at one time. This will ensure a trouble free repair from the start.

I also want to encourage you to check out my video titled “How to replace Delta style stems and seats-cartridge style faucet repair” which is Delta’s version of a two handle faucet.

In it you get a nice shot of how the springs and rubber seats are installed. Listen, if you experience any issues with this one, drop me an e-mail info@bobsplumbingvideos.com and I’ll walk you through it.

HAPPY PLUMBING!

How to replace washer style stems and seats

By Leave a Comment

With the new technology in faucet construction, you be might be wondering “why a video on old washer style faucets?” Because their are still millions of these in service today, not to mention these are still readily available.

In the New York City area you can walk into any local hardware store and purchase them.

By now you realize that I do a fair amount of my demonstrations on fairly new products which makes the video move along smoothly. In real life your going to be faced with handles that won’t come off, seats that refuse to come out and bib screws that are frozen in place.

Back in the day, we would go through the motions to get the job done, in todays world it’s more cost effective to replace the fitting. If you check out the video, I walk you through the motions on exactly how to replace the stems and seats in a laundry sink faucet.

In addition to the video, I want to point out some tips to be aware of:

a.when replacing the seat, some guys like to wrap a little teflon around the threads before installing it. I don’t always do this but in an older faucet, it’s good insurance.

b.before you install the new stem, make sure it’s in the fully open position, if you don’t you will damage it and render it useless.

c.Always have some waterproof silicone lubricant available (not the caulking) it’s specifically for lubricating faucet parts. It’s available at any big box store or plumbing supply house.

I fully take apart and lubricate the stems and also place a fair amount inside the handle before putting it back onto the stem. This will insure you can remove it in the future. One more important tip is to make sure you have the correct replacement stems (i.e. hot, cold ,left, right etc.).

If you’re not sure , check out my video titled “How to identify hot from cold water stems.”

If you follow the the steps I’ve laid out in the video your repair should be fairly routine, if you get stuck you can always drop me a line at info@bobsplumbingvideos.com.

HAPPY PLUMBING!

How to unclog your toilet with a plunger!

By Leave a Comment

As you can see in this video, I stuffed so much paper in the bowl that I had to muscle-up to get it to go down.

Now on the surface you might be thinking “it can’t be that difficult to plunge a toilet?” Think again!

I can’t tell you how many times throughout my career I was called in for what seemed to be a routine clog only to end up having to use my toilet auger (another video) or worse yet, having to remove the bowl (another video) to find out what was causing the problem.

I’m getting ahead of myself so let’s just concentrate on the art of the plunger for this article. Plungers come in several shapes and sizes: tall ones , short ones, big and little alike. Heck they even make power plungers that you can pump up!

Generally when plunging a sink wether it be a kitchen, bathroom, laundry sink or even a bathtub I like to use a softer rubber plunger with a flat bottom. You can generally find these in the big box stores, they’re red in color and are just what I would call your good old basic plunger.

A different story when it comes to clearing a toilet, as you can see in this video I like to use a plunger that has a flexible male end on it so I can insert it into the opening of the bowl. This allows me to get a good tight seal around the base of the bowl so I can get maximum power while pumping away.

This plunger is also constructed of a harder rubber which in my opinion is the best choice for clearing toilet bowls. These are also available in the box stores as well as plumbing supply houses.

Look you’re going to be faced clogged toilet or sink sooner or later and in a pinch, a good old plunger can save the day. Now although you can use the plunger featured in the video for sinks as well, I own both styles because I feel the softer flat bottom version works better on sinks and bathtubs.

In the video I mention a way that you can prevent the bowl from overflowing if all of a sudden you see the water rising in the bowl.

Simply stay clam and remove the toilet tank cover, reach inside the tank and push the flapper down. You just prevented the tank from emptying into the bowl thus preventing a mess.

Hey my wife and kids do this when they see the water in the bowl start to rise.

If you still have questions about this or any of my videos, shoot me an an e-mail to info@bobsplumbingvideos.com.

HAPPY PLUMBING!

Toilet tank to bowl installation (table top demo)

By Leave a Comment

I wanted to do this video on my bench top to give you an idea of what the view looks like from behind. Now, I just finished installing a new flush valve inside the tank and as you can see I have my flush valve gasket in place as well as my brand new brass tank bolts.

I buy my tank bolt kits from a company that sells only to professional plumbers so you would expect all the components to be brass. I couldn’t believe when I was shooting this video, they supplied me with galvanized steel wing nuts, go figure!

Guys, for the record, if this happens to you please go find some 5/16″ brass wing nuts or just plain old 5/16″ brass nuts. If you mix the two different metals together in a damp environment I guarantee that in less than 6 months those galvanized nuts will corrode and they will not come off.

Once you set the tank onto the bowl, start with your brass back up washers followed by the brass wing or conventional nuts and start to tighten in an alternating fashion until the tank comes to rest on top of the bowl.

You’ll want to place either a two foot or torpedo level across the tank while you’re doing this to make sure the tank sits level. Once in place, you can connect the water supply tube to the fill valve and emergency water shut-off valve and turn the water on.

Flush away, check for leaks and you’re done. Not too difficult!

If you’re unclear about any steps in this video I invite you to e-mail me at info@bobsplumbingvideos.com, I’d love to hear from you.

HAPPY PLUMBING!