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

Multi Tool Blades / Oscillating Tool Blades

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 Multi-Tool Blades?

So I’ve owned my first edition Fein multimaster tool for quite a few years now and I remember the first time I had to purchase replacement multi-tool blades for it. STICKER SHOCK to say the least and truth be told I didn’t think they were that great. I later came to the realization I was expecting more from them than they were designed to do. (more on that later).

I started looking for a less expensive multi-tool blade alternative and over the years, tried several aftermarket brands. None of them were as good a quality as the originals, but for the price I paid they got the job done.

I was recently on Amazon scrolling thru the tools (my toy store) and came across a company that manufacturers replacement blades for multi tools. They had over two hundred positive reviews about their blades so I had to check them out.

I contacted the company and they were very gracious in that they sent me two of their most popular multi-tool blade assortment kits. Before I move on please know that I did not pay for these blades and agreed to produce the below video after trying them out. I received two kits, a 15 piece multi tool saw blade set which consisted of three pieces each of five different blades. And a 10 piece bi-metal saw blade set all which consisted of one style blade.

I tried each of the blades out on different materials such as 1/4″ plywood, 1″ X 3″ stock, 2″ X 4″ stock, 3/4″ p.v.c. and 1 1/2″ p.v.c. pipe, light gauge angle steel and finally 3/8″ threaded rod. I thought across the board they performed well but did find that the 10 piece bi-metal struggled a bit on the 3/8″ threaded rod.

Don’t get me wrong, it made the cut but on threaded rod I’d probably use my hacksaw or sawzall. All in all for the the price point of these blades I thought they provided a a good value for a fraction of what the original Fein blades cost.

Speaking of multi-tool blades or even tools for that matter, I see all to often that young apprentices and even seasoned tradespeople (myself included) often like to push the boundaries of what the blade or tool was designed to do. As a result they’ll give the equipment an unwarranted “bad review” which in my opinion is not fair. It’s often the operator that’s at fault so please keep that in mind when shopping for blades or tools in general. Buy the right tool for the right job!

I invite you to check out the video below and please stay tuned for brand new content from bobsplumbingvideos.com. I know I haven’t posted in quite some time, but that’s about to change for the better. I left links above for you to check out If you’d like to try these blades out for yourself.

 

Stay Well & Happy Plumbing!

Bob

 

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

Delta Faucets, Delta Repairs, Delta Faucet Tool

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Delta Faucets and Delta Repairs are some of the most popular videos on You-Tube. I posted three of them, two for their single lever faucets and one for their two handled faucets. In both cases, the removal of the cartridges, ball, seats and springs is necessary for a proper re-build.

As far back as I can remember I’ve used a thin blade screwdriver, dental pick or even a long needle nose pliers to remove those pesky seats and springs which sometimes can be a pain in the butt to remove. Especially the hot water side, those rubber seats get hard as a rock and literally, break into pieces when trying to remove them.

For the most part getting them out is a relatively straight-forward task, but installing the new ones can be tricky at times. You have to drop the springs into a small recess inside the faucet followed by the rubber seat which also has to sit over the spring and into the recess. Often if there’s water sitting in the faucet, the rubber seat ends up floating up and out of the recess.

A good tip is to remove all the sitting water via a sponge or straw so this problem is avoided.I usually, will thread the rubber seat followed by the spring onto a thin blade screwdriver and use it as a guide to lower them into the recess inside the faucet. This has been the way I’ve been doing it ever since I can recall, but recently I found this tool in one of my supplier’s catalogs called a Purge-N-Set tool for seats and springs.

Needless to say, besides being a tool geek and curious I had to order one and check it out. Well, I’m happy to say it works really well and for those of you who are having trouble removing and re-installing seats and springs in your Delta faucets, you might want to check it out. You can purchase a Purge-N-Set tool at few online retailers and if you want to see it in action check out the video below where I demonstrate just how it performs.

As always if you have any questions on Delta faucet repairs, you can e-mail me at info@bobsplumbingvideos.com. You’ll also find me on Face-Book, Twitter.

Happy Plumbing,
Bob

P.S. – I bought this tool from Wolverine Brass which only sells to professional plumbers. My cost $14.95, I’ve seen them online selling for as much as $28.00 plus in which case I would say to you the good old fashion thin blade screwdriver trick works just fine!

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!