Tag: plumbing

August 20, 2025 – Introducing My Mistress

August 20, 2025 /

I know, I just kind of dropped off of the face of the earth. Most outages are planned and I try to make some kind of announcement. But, I just got overwhelmed and hyper-focused with what I had to do. My wife has set my deadline at August 31 which I should comfortably make. But, you would be surprised at how many steps go into this seemingly simple process.

I should also mention that in the middle of last weekend, I also had to redo the front brakes of my Lincoln Navigator. I needed the Navigator to go get sheetrock so that I could continue making progress on this project. I was forbidden to drive it unless I fixed the brakes. Add that to the list of reasons why I was not able to write.

I know that I have already written about this once and will possibly show the finished product in a week or so. When I casually said, I can do that, I had no idea what that really meant. It has also been really helpful that the finished vanity is right behind me so I can take measurements. For instance, because I did a mock-up, I realized that the backsplash was going to hit the switch plate cover. Rather than trying to modify the cover, I decided to move the electrical box up so that it would clear the backsplash.

I was already doing electrical work to add the new light fixture. While I would have preferred to eliminate the round junction boxes for the old lights, the wiring was just too complicated to fix without ripping out the ceiling and re-wiring the bathroom fan as well.

Speaking of old electrical work, those junction boxes turned out to be antiquated. They are 3 1/2″ round which is a size that is not made anymore, at least I didn’t run across it. By proxy, I was not able to find paintable covers, except for one. I tried all of the local hardware stores and both box stores. Ordering was the only way to get something that would work.

I had a dream of insetting the medicine cabinets into the wall. That is just a better look to me, but it meant that I needed to take a critical look at the framing given that was a structural wall. I took a good chunk of drywall out to do the wiring and see what I could see with the framing. No dice there, the vent stack ran right where I wanted to inset the medicine cabinet and I was not about to re-plumb all of the drain pipes to make it work. I would have been possible but not without a lot more time, money and effort.

When I committed to the project, I didn’t give any thought to the plumbing. Well, only a little. I figured plumbing was there so it should work. I thought that I would tee off of the existing shut-off valves to each fixture. That was before I learned that each fixture should have a shut-off. Since I had to modify the rough plumbing, I might as well make it so that I had to modify the cabinet as little as possible.

I also learned the copper flux can go bad. After hours wondering why I couldn’t get the solder to work, I finally decided to change the only variable that I hadn’t changed which was the flux. Pretty soon I had one joint completed in five minutes instead of 15 minutes on the torch and $20 of solder on the bench top. That stuff has gotten crazy expensive at $41 for a half pound roll.

All that was child’s play when it came up against the drain plumbing. I thought that I was going to add a p-trap to each sink and then out the drain until I was wondering if the pipes needed some pitch. It turns out that I needed a whole new setup. I was scratching my head with a whole bucket full of pieces wondering if I got the right stuff. I am still not sure until I get to the point of doing the work.

I haven’t done a serious project like this since I remodeled the little house in 2020. I was telling my wife, image if someone didn’t know what they were doing and had to call a plumber, electrician, drywaller and painter. This would would be a serious financial investment. The vanity wasn’t cheap to begin with but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was $20,000 job.

End Your Programming Routine: On the surface, it seems simple, replace one vanity with another. But, boy oh boy going from one sink to two is an exponential dynamic. It’s good though, it flexes some muscles that have atrophied. I know that it is going to be something that I can be proud of because I was careful and did everything right.

August 5, 2025 – My Keg is Flat Again?

August 5, 2025 /

When I got my keezer (kegerator), it had one tap and therefore one keg. There is probably room for four kegs of this type inside the refrigerated space. the vessel is called a Cornelius keg, often called a ‘Corny’ keg and used by Pepsi Co. That makes a lot of used ones available in the market for whatever reason.

My strategy if you will is to have one on tap, one in waiting and one used extensively for flushing the lines. I have considered adding more taps but realistically I should not make drinking beer easier. Plus, it is a lot a work to brew and flushing the lines is often not done after use so for now, one is plenty. The point is that I have added two more kegs to the system.

Both of the kegs I have purchased were used. In fact both were also dirty. One had Mountain Dew under pressure in it. I don’t recall the second one other than to say I know it was dirty. But, I imagine that these things are not taken out of service for no reason. As a result, I have taken to having to give them a once, twice and often three times over to figure out what is wrong.

Aside from being dirty, the most common problem is leaking. Even though I have had extensive work in scientific air analysis, the tools I have at my disposal are pretty rudimentary. Most of it involves guessing and checking. The one thing that works pretty well is the soap solution looking for bubbles. The one I am showing in the picture comes from the plumbing section of a home improvement store.

You can make your own solution with dish soap and water. I don’t honestly know what the mixture is and I suppose it probably matters which detergent you use because of the factory concentration. The reason I chose to buy one is that the cap comes with a brush and so you can swab areas of interest. The one we used in the lab was a squeeze bottle with a tube at the nozzle so you could really target small areas but it is $25 a bottle.

I think it is pretty obvious how you know that there is a leak. That being said, how did I know? I opened the tap handle and nothing came out. Normal keg pressures should be around 15psi and there should be enough pressure in the vessel to fill a cup without the source pressure on (again laziness about the proper steps). But if I did things right, you should not hear gas going into the keg when you turn the cylinder valve because everything should be at equilibrium in this closed system.

When it comes to troubleshooting this system, the distribution line likely only needs to be checked once for leak Go to each break in the line and swab the joint under pressure. If it leaks, that joint will need to be tightened (only occasionally loosened depending on the connection type but beyond the scope of this article). Honestly, I only do this if during my initial test, I lose pressure. This is called ruling out the variables.

By far and away the most frequent failure parts are the action parts. These are things like valves and O-rings that seal connections. If no leaks are found around the valve, then try replacing O-rings. These are designed as replaceable parts anyway and it could have gotten damaged during transit or worn from heavy use. If your vessel leaks, then it is almost certainly junk unless you can weld on stainless steel.

I found that on my keg in the picture above was leaking around the main seal O-ring. Even my soap test did not reveal the leak and it would occur over the span of three days or so. I also knew that my O-rings on the valves were OK because the keg leaked whether it was connected to the distribution line or not. Other kegs I have did not leak and so it wasn’t the other end of the connection either.

Generally speaking, these tests should be done under system pressure. This should reduce the risk of contamination from the soap. Cranking up the pressure should make leaks more obvious but it is possible to cause new problems, so be careful. The one thing that I also wanted to add with soap is to make sure product surfaces are cleaned after testing unless you like soapy beer.

End Your Programming Routine: This troubleshooting technique works for beer kegs, water lines, air lines etc. In plumbing, lines are pressurized to prove that they are solidly connected (generally new construction). One final thing, the air molecules are generally smaller than liquid water, so a leak in an air line is much more likely than a water line. So-so connections can still hold water that don’t stand a chance containing gasses for long term.

May 3, 2023 – Unclog Your Sink Like a Pro

May 3, 2023 /

Another day in the life… Since I barely go upstairs anymore, I don’t happen to peak in on this bathroom much. This is my kid’s primary bathroom so I don’t know how long the drain has been slow. If I were to hazard a guess, I would say that it has been a while. My wife told me it wasn’t working and wanted it fixed, so here it goes.

End Your Programming: It’s hard for me to believe that people don’t know how to do things around the house anymore. But then again, some people probably find it strange that I struggle with the emotional side of things. Yes, plumbing can be an unsavory past-time but clearing the drain yourself not only saves money but it could be weeks before you get a scheduled appointment. You can do it.