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

[LeakFinder's]

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

When working with plastic pipes always carry empty shells and a permanent marker. You can mark the pipe using the empty shell. This will avoid you having to open and close joints to make sure they are fully seated.

 

[Darkcloud]

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

With the larger tubs of flux if you heat up a bit of 15mm you can push a hole through
the lid so you can keep your brush in it.

 

[Darkcloud]

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

When freezing copper I make an indent between the freeze and the cut
just to give it a bit of key if the plug starts to go.

 

[Darkcloud]

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

If you're doing a cut and thread on minimum length with a set of prestos you
can actually turn the dies round in the head, just be careful you keep the head
square.

 

[Guest123]

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

Modern toilets are fitted to the floor with those horrible plastic brackets that are screwed into from the side of the toilet. I fit a piece of 4x2 timber the same width as the inside of the toilet and screw it down between the screw holes of the inside edge of the toilet, I then screw this into the floor and then fix the toilet down with a couple of stainless steel coach bolts atnd washers hrough the screw holes on the side. Never moves, even with fat custards.

Use a socket wrench to tighten the coach bolts.

 

[LeakFinder's]

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

I find a handier way to do this is to fill a pint glass. Turn off the street stop. Wait five minutes and place the glass so that the tap outlet is in the water open the tap and if a leak is present it will syphon water from the glass . Another quick was is simple to turn off the stop and open the kitchen sink tap given the line was under pressure a small splurt should come from the tap when open. The simplest way is to buy a monument gauge and place it on the dishwasher or washing machine mains line and turn off the street stop. i prefer the more scientific approach p.s make sure the supplies are isolated to the header tanks.

 

[Kyle87]

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

fix a toilet cistern to the wall using brass screws.......they wont rust and become a nightmare to remove.

 

[Guest123]

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

fix a toilet cistern to the wall using brass screws.......they wont rust and become a nightmare to remove.

Stopped using brass screws a long time ago, they are just not strong enough and readily snap under pressure and can be a nightmare to remove. Use Stainless Steel screws and Stainless Steel coach bolts both with Stainless Steel washers. Extremely strong and very corrosion resistant, far better and much stronger than brass.

 

[Ted808]

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

Another tip for preventing pipes disappearing under the floor is to put a plastic snap shut type pipe clip on it above the floor, also holds it in place.

 

[dontknowitall]

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

When draining heating systems, manually opening the zone valve(s) can help the process along (ditto when filling again.)

 

[GQuigley67]

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

when removing an old combi boiler, strip it while its hung on the wall i.e remove heat exchanger, brass, copper pipe, pump. Discard pump keep the rest for scrap. This will now make boiler lighter to take off wall and once off the wall remove plate heat exchanger and any other inacessible part that is worth some money down the scrappie !

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

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

when removing an old combi boiler, strip it while its hung on the wall i.e remove heat exchanger, brass, copper pipe, pump. Discard pump keep the rest for scrap. This will now make boiler lighter to take off wall and once off the wall remove plate heat exchanger and any other inacessible part that is worth some money down the scrappie !

no this is how my old man does it on the rare occasions i am to busy to do a swap-over,i have a slightly different approach remove it whole,take it to the garage beat it with a sledge hammer it takes 10 minutes to remove all the scrap and its good for your cardiovascular system funny how people think differently

 

[kay-jay]

When coring a flue if it comes out in one piece keep it for sealing flue holes on future jobs involving a boiler relocation.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

 

[WaterTight]

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

When you're about to drain down a CWSC or F+E and look inside them to check there isn't much gunk about to be dragged down also have a peak to see if there is a nut and olive left on the bottom of the vent pipe. If there is you're possibly in for some fun with airlocks.

 

[Mr Flux]

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

when you have a airlock in a vented central heating system pipework before you start taking radiators or connecting the mains up to flush it out, go to the pump close the 2 isolation valves and swap the pump around the other direction open the valves again and turn it on for about 30 seconds! This should cure ur airlock, could save you alot of time

 

[REDSAW]

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

if you get an air lock in an open vent system, instead of scratching your head whip out the wet vac and stick it into the feed tank. suck up a vac full of water and the air-lock will dislodge due to the increased water movement.

if not, scratch your head and try the other methods.

 

[Dannypipe]

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

Remembered one just now, as I've just got in from this very situation.

You need to drain down a heating system, HW cylinder or in my case tonight a thermal store.

The drain off jumper/washer gets stuck in the valve. You need to get it out and the system is full of scorching hot water.

Put on a pair of marigold gloves as you attempt it. This way the very hot water won't affect you, and if the worse happens you can jam a thumb over the end and let it drain out.

What I did tonight was, prepare the remaining part of the valve by sticking a bit of ptfe on the thread. Use a pair of long nose pliers, and pry out the stuck jumper. Quickly thread in the remaining part of the valve (which seals due to the PTFE tape) allow to drain. Then repair/replace the faulty valve.

Simple thing to remember, but basically, carry some snug fitting marigolds in your van!

Only applies if you can't wait for the system to cool.

 

[mactatty]

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

In a house, a garden tap is usually the lowest one for draining the cold pipework.

 

[mactatty]

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

I only got one or two jobs from a tube of Leak Sealer before it went solid. Now I use a sealant paste like JetBlue or Plumblue - for leaks and also other joints that I would otherwise use PTFE tape for. I hardly ever use the tape now except for rad valve tails.

 

[mactatty]

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

If you use Mapp gas for soldering, most of the mats around are for up to 600 degrees flames ie. propane-mix gases only. Monument OMAPP might be the best one, and it has a slit for putting round pipes. I tried one from B&Q which looks like the Dickie Dyer, but when it got a bit wet, the stuffing went into clumps inside, and I couldn't fluff them up again.
The best tip I was given for a heat mat was to get a piece of aluminium sheet, 200 by 150mm for instance, and this is great to use when you have nothing behind like painted skirting board, that could get damaged by heat going through the metal. So it's fine for under-floor and in airing cupboards. The sheet can be bent round pipework to stay in place. I got a srap sheet from a metal merchant and cut the piece I wanted out of it - I've used mine for years so its outlasted my heat mats. Maybe 1mm or so thick .

 

[JAP&H]

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

Top tip from Darkcloud.

Cut my heat shield from scrapped 9x9 stainless flue terminals. Usually have 3 in the hot bag, different sizes for different apps.

Work just as well protecting walls, skirting and other surfaces. Normally put additional damp cloth behind it if near sparky stuff.

Not tried ally but mild steel 'holes' too easily, and I like a bit of shine.

 

[dontknowitall]

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

When unpacking a bath, keep the plastic packing pieces which hold the legs, then screw these to the floor for the bath panel to save you cutting pieces of wood.

 

[dontknowitall]

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

Measure once, cut twice ...

 

[bobe]

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

when you weight in your scrap copper cut off all joints, copper pipe with fitting on is classed as brazery and you get a low price if u pull out any old lead with those big sweated joint on warm them up and peel them off , lots of tin in those and there worth a small fortune.

 

[Guest123]

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

Cut up an old oven/baking tray into various sizes for a heat shield.