Re: Adventures under the laundry sink
- From: "Denis G." <guillemd@xxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 12 Oct 2009 06:09:38 -0700 (PDT)
On Oct 12, 1:12 am, Don Foreman <dfore...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
After I'd had my first cuppa this morning, Mary informed me that she
had some unpleasant news. I'm never quite sure whether she's tweaking
me or not, which is part of what makes life fun. She wasn't this
time: there was again a leak under the laundry sink. Said leak was
not near the repair site from a few months ago but only a couple of
inches away.
Awright, so it's time to replace the whole pipe, which entailed moving
a couple of jugs from under the sink. Awright, maybe 30 jugs of
various and sundry chemicals. You know the stuff that accumulates in
a laundry room, right? Bleach, detergent, gallon of hydrochloric
acid, gallon of glacial acetic acid, half a dozen assorted
phosphoric-acid metal treat soups, Birchwood-Casey aluminum blackener,
jug of caustic metal cleaner ... the usual stuff. I also had to
move the washer and water softener a bit to gain access. The other
end, near the water meter, was gonna be painful no matter what because
it's under the laundry sink. My old bod doesn't fold up as easily as
it once did, and then there's unfolding. But the leak wasn't gonna
fix itself and bandaids clearly wouldn't suffice.
Many modern plumbers don't solder copper plumbing, they use some kinda
compression fittings that don't seem expensive compared to the labor
charge for installing them, even though they're priced like goods sold
in a jewellry store. Bah! I don't trust them newfangled gizmos.
Probably last as long as it takes the plumber's Rolls-Royce van to
clear the driveway.
Only took me two trips to Home Depot. If I lived further away I'd
plan more carefully, but it's only a couple of miles. On first trip I
got some pipe, a 90 elbow and a 45 elbow. Got home, started
disassembling. Hm, the pipe terminates in one end in a solder-type
gate valve. The valve seems to be OK but sometimes re-soldering used
plumbing can present problems, gate valves are only about 7 bux and
this one must be at least 30 years old. Back to Depot to get a new
valve. Also got a new ground clamp for two bux.
I'd debated getting 5' of pipe because I was pretty sure that would
suffice, but a 10 footer was only 3 bux more (12 vs 9) and 3 bux is
cheap insurance five minutes after the store closes with my job
incomplete.
Good call, Foreman. I cut the main run, 48-1/2", and then I cut the
short dogleg 7". Pieced it together. Didn't fit, not even close.
WTF???
Oooohhhh! After I'd carefully cut the 48-1/2" length I'd then
cleverly cut the short piece out of the measured piece. Measure
twice, cut once -- then do over because I'd carefully measured and cut
from the wrong stock. Oh well -- I had my $3 insurance policy!
The soldering was completely uneventful this time and the joints look
better than most pro work he said modestly. Wiped joints even.
Damn, I'm good!
OK, so I use tin-silver solder that costs about 25 bux a pound, so
what? Pardon me for knowing what works, right? The antimony-based
lead-free solder sold for plumbing is a lot cheaper and it works
reasonably well on new work if everything is perfect -- but things
are seldom perfect in repair jobs. The tin-silver stuff melts at
about the same temp (430F) as the antimony-based lead-free stuff, but
it wets and flows on reasonably clean copper even better (considerably
better) even than the old lead-tin solder. It also wets and flows
readily on brass, steel and stainless, and it's considerably stronger
than lead-tin. Heat joint gently until a swipe with the solder leaves
a streak, heat a bit more, touch solder to work. WHAM, it melts and
flows all round and into the joint like water. It's good shit,
Maynard!
Job done, tenuously turn on water. This is always a moment of truth.
Two leaks. Phew! Leaks are obligatory in repair work. If there
were no leaks it would probably mean that the house will collapse
tomorrow just after the meteor strike. Both leaks were associated
with the union-like joints associated with the water meter. A bit of
heavy lifting (senior grade) with my biggest croissant wrench fixed
those, still had a one drop-per-second drip. I'd about decided to
let it drip and the hell with it when I realized where it was
actually originating. It was the packing nut around the stem of the
main shutoff valve, which I'd shut off to do the job. The old nut
probably got backed off a bit when I re-opened that valve. It just
needed a bit of snugging. That happens with old nuts... Voila and
hoooahhh, we're as dry as a dissertation on Cleopatra's cosmetics.
Post-mortem on old pipe: something had been eating it. Wall thickness
was about .026". I could easily bend it over my knee. Might have been
electrolytic, don't know. New pipe will surely outlast me so I don't
care.
Tomorrow I shall carry all of the tools back up the stairs that I
carried down the stairs today in many trips.
Acids under the sink ?!? Can you say "bomb timer"?
.
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