Hints, tips & secrets of plumbing - No Banter please!

[Guest123]

re: Hints, tips & secrets of plumbing - No Banter please!

Why pay a fortune for Fishcer fixings for a wash basin. M8 and M10 Stainless steel coach bolts with 10mm wall plugs does the job as good and far cheaper. A full box of coach bolts and washers costs £6. Tighten with a socket set wrench.

 

[kel4783]

re: Hints, tips & secrets of plumbing - No Banter please!

u can make ur own flux brush with 10mm pipe and some brussels of a brush stuff them in the end and crimp with a hammer then cut to size

 

[John Blade]

re: Hints, tips & secrets of plumbing - No Banter please!

i know this seems like common sense, When installing underfloor heating for a builder or if other tradesmen are working on site, once you have laid the pipes down before a screed etc, pressurize the pipe to 5 or more bar so that if any dodgy tradesman puts a nail through it or damages it, the water will pi55 all over him lol and you can deal with the problem instead of them hiding it and you finding out after the jobs completed lol.

If your finding it hard to drive a screw in lubricate it with silicone grease or another form of lubrication before screw driving, this is very useful if you are screw driving by hand.

a very useful tip is to use and air testing gauge, which can be bought at screwfix and a bicycle /car pump to test small sections of pipe very quickly.

If you have a persistent leak or some task proves to be quite challenging take a 20 min break, have a cup of tea or something to eat and come back to it refreshed and ready to take it on, you will be surprised what a difference this actually makes to completing the task properly.

If your not sure about pressurising old pipe work (when converting to a new system) drain it down and do an air pressure test this could save your a55.lol

if you cant slip your hose over a drain off put your hose tip in warm water and try again.

You can fasten a bath to a wall by just getting a short piece of wood 150mm and tucking it under the lip underneath the bath and then screwing the lower part of the wood into the wall so it acts like a clamp, it will make the bath really firm before carpenters build the frame if your not doing it yourself.

 

[johnnyplumb]

re: Hints, tips & secrets of plumbing - No Banter please!

Save the 3/4" plastic nuts & rubber washers from old washing machine /dishwasher hoses. Put a ten pence inside the nut with a washer on top and you have a homemade blank end. Most new w/machines are cold fill only so the cap is great for blanking off the unused hot valve. For extra security, remove the plastic handle from valve as well.

 

[Simon F]

re: Hints, tips & secrets of plumbing - No Banter please!

use a magnet to check for iron oxide build up/blockage in pipes( only effective on copper or plastic not steel pipe )
no guarantee of diagnosis, but if it sticks - indicates a problem.

 

[Simon F]

re: Hints, tips & secrets of plumbing - No Banter please!

always take the burner torch of the gas bottle when not in use ( especially a piezzo igniter )
I didn't until I went out to the shed one day to find it full of propane

 

[Kyle87]

re: Hints, tips & secrets of plumbing - No Banter please!

never ever ever do what an inexperienced plg trainee like me did and use the 10000000 year old stopcock thats burried underground in the garden. i used this because the one in the kitchen was it terrible shape. so i used the outside stopcock and the head came off the tap when it was in the closed position(and i promise you i wasnt using much force)........not cool. seventrent dont deal with it if its on your property. in future if i find myself in the same situation ill use the one in the street. the trouble was it wasnt directly outside the house so i couldnt tell whos was whos..........best of all....it was the mother in-laws house.



lucky for my after blagging my way into getting the seven trent man to take a look at the broken stopcock he merely chuckled and said ''ive got a bit that will sort this out quickly'' and thank god for that!!

 

[scotty plumber]

re: Hints, tips & secrets of plumbing - No Banter please!

Hi guy's, 1st post, i only read up to page 9 so sorry if this one has already been said, If the gate-valve ever sticks shut in a vented h/w cylinder you can get your apprentice to stick a w/machine waste spike into the c/w storage tank draw off to save draining the storage tank.

 

[mkw9]

re: Hints, tips & secrets of plumbing - No Banter please!

dont remove a trap and pour the water into the sink....
set a pressure reducing valve to 1.3bar ish connect two 15mm flexi's and use to fill sealed systems on your own!!!

 

[kay-jay]

dont remove a trap and pour the water into the sink....
set a pressure reducing valve to 1.3bar ish connect two 15mm flexi's and use to fill sealed systems on your own!!!

That will work but i think most people will half fill the system then leave the filling loop cracked open just a bit then run round and bleed rads


Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

 

[CES]

re: Hints, tips & secrets of plumbing - No Banter please!

Don't know if its mentioned previously but I use puppy training pads when changing rads,valves, in fact anywhere there can be water, e.g inside boiler casings when changing water side components. Im amazed at the amount of water they hold and they are cheaper than the commercial equivalent.

 

[WHPES]

re: Hints, tips & secrets of plumbing - No Banter please!

A job today reminded me of a little pitfall with oil boiler repair - if the ignition coil has failed, you need to replace the control unit as well, as the ignition relay has probably got stuck down which is usually the reason for the failure of the coil. Just replacing the coil is an expensive mistake as the fault with the control box will wreck the new coil.

 

[John Blade]

re: Hints, tips & secrets of plumbing - No Banter please!

Hi again folks, Heres another tip for reusing solvent welded fittings and it works and can get your bum out of serious trouble and can save you money, Dont abuse it looooool. May take a lil practice.
1.Cut the plastic pipe you wish to remove flush to the the lip of the fitting with a hacksaw.
2.Clean all the burr out and the inside of the remaining pipe in the socket.
3.Now add a thin film of solvent weld on the inside of the REMAINING PIPE all the way around, (don't put it on the fitting).
4.Now skill and common sense is needed here for the next step.Use your blow torch and set the remaining pipe alight inside the socket for 10 seconds and blow it out. (Some of you greener plumbers should have your fire extinguisher nearby loool)
5. The inside should have softened enough to take a flat headed screwdriver or a similar tool to wedge in between the socket and the pipe and wedge it out POP.
You can file or sand any burn marks out, and as you get better you probably wont even get any burns.
Bloody awesome trick especially when you wanna take out a fitting put in another.

Ill add some more tricks in now and again, and thank you guys for all your great money and time saving ideas.
Cheers

 

[Mbear]

re: Hints, tips & secrets of plumbing - No Banter please!

If u need to drain a pipe but theres nowhere suitable to drain it from. For example I've cut out a gd few choked cold feeds in my time. What I do is either bung tank or turn off stopcock if available, have a bucket and absorbent sheets handy, use a self cutting washing machine drain valve (valves come in 15&22mm) cut into cold feed above the chokage and drain pipe and header tank into a bucket, minimal mess! The self cutter cuts a small 5/6mm hole iirc, remember to make sure the small cut out does not go missing, it could easily cause a further chokage. Theres not alot of other ways to get rid of the header tank water in that situation so that one works well. Also having a decent magnet or even a fridge magnet in the toolbox is handy, as magnetite is magnetic and copper/plastic is not, it's ideal for pinpointing chokeages

 

[kay-jay]

re: Hints, tips & secrets of plumbing - No Banter please!

Hi again folks, Heres another tip for reusing solvent welded fittings and it works and can get your bum out of serious trouble and can save you money, Dont abuse it looooool. May take a lil practice.
1.Cut the plastic pipe you wish to remove flush to the the lip of the fitting with a hacksaw.
2.Clean all the burr out and the inside of the remaining pipe in the socket.
3.Now add a thin film of solvent weld on the inside of the REMAINING PIPE all the way around, (don't put it on the fitting).
4.Now skill and common sense is needed here for the next step.Use your blow torch and set the remaining pipe alight inside the socket for 10 seconds and blow it out. (Some of you greener plumbers should have your fire extinguisher nearby loool)
5. The inside should have softened enough to take a flat headed screwdriver or a similar tool to wedge in between the socket and the pipe and wedge it out POP.
You can file or sand any burn marks out, and as you get better you probably wont even get any burns.
Bloody awesome trick especially when you wanna take out a fitting put in another.

Ill add some more tricks in now and again, and thank you guys for all your great money and time saving ideas.
Cheers

good idea!

similarly if you find yourself fitting basins that custard has got from ikea or similar and the connections on the waste are a kind of spigot which won't go in a push fit, solvent or multi-kwik connector because its stupid continental tosh don't go running off to buy a whole new waste fitting, simply heat it with lamp then force it into multi-kwik compression fitting (minus nut and washer) plastic will shear off about 5 mm, repeat till the thinned out spigot is long enough to fit into the comp fitting full slip and you have saved some money and a trip out to the merchants.

 

[ollied]

re: Hints, tips & secrets of plumbing - No Banter please!

Not sure theese have been posted up but i have a fewfor speedfit.

Always keep speedfit pipe in the bag it comes in or wrapped up in a sheet to keep it from getting battered in the back of the van.......many times has this been the cause of a mystery leak.

If demounting speedfit fittings make sure the grab ring goes back in the right way.............the wrong way round will grip the pipe for a few seconds then pop and water goes everywhere.

A 15mm/22mm copper pipeslice will cut speedfit very neatly, discovered this today when all i had in the roof cavity was a copper cutter.

Let a coil of speedfit warm up before laying it, cold speedfit is extremly springy! i find standing it infront of my halogen work light for a few minutes works a treat.

I have a 240v pond pump and 50mtr reel of lay flat fabric hose for draining down cisterns and cylinders. was peanuts from local garden centre in the middle of last winter

 

[ollied]

re: Hints, tips & secrets of plumbing - No Banter please!

Be careful when working on gas plumbing and while drilling. In general be careful when you are working.

A pipe finder wall scanner thingie is a good investment, has saved my bacon a few times.

 

[Mr Flux]

re: Hints, tips & secrets of plumbing - No Banter please!

when draining radiators make sure that both rad valves are shutting off water before u crack open the nuts, do this by opening the bleeder if no water come out ur free to crack nuts open and drain away!!!!

 

[gasmarc]

re: Hints, tips & secrets of plumbing - No Banter please!

A wet and dry hoover does loads of jobs

 

[Darkcloud]

re: Hints, tips & secrets of plumbing - No Banter please!

If you see a piece of roofing slate lying around, stick it in the back of the van.
It can be used to caulk weeps on screwed steel, works every time.

 

[Darkcloud]

re: Hints, tips & secrets of plumbing - No Banter please!

When changing a toilet syphon I use my manometer hose to syphon the remaining
water into the pan.

 

[Darkcloud]

re: Hints, tips & secrets of plumbing - No Banter please!

When completing a steel job use your bottle to burn off the straggling
bits of hemp.

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

re: Hints, tips & secrets of plumbing - No Banter please!

When changing a toilet syphon I use my manometer hose to syphon the remaining
water into the pan.

its easier to use a sponge that way you dont swallow it

 

[Darkcloud]

re: Hints, tips & secrets of plumbing - No Banter please!

Cat litter acts as an excellent oil spill kit and has an odour killer in it too.

 

[Guest123]

re: Hints, tips & secrets of plumbing - No Banter please!

Use a wet vac and an absorbent mat. These mats soak up twice their volume in water. You can drain a radiator on to one and not leave a mark!