Plumber repaired burst water main; appears he... [updated 6/13: Fixing...]

[phucheneh]

...does not know ass from hole in ground.

I am not any kind of expert in anything home-related. We know this because I have posted about broken stuff before. However, I generally have the intuition, common sense, and willingness to research to do better work than most of the people who do this shit for a living, it would seem. No offense to any plumbers, electricians, et al; my city just seems especially full of morons who think their piece of paper means they can do whatever they want (kinda like college).

Anyway...pipe burst in front yard. I think I posted about that. I started digging, got to pipe. Found prior shit work. Plumber was called, shit was supposed to be fixed.

Water pressure has been terrible ever since. The city was probably piping it in above spec, apparently without a regulator under the house. Regulator installed, supposedly set correctly. Water pressure has been garbage ever since. So I went under there to look at his work, and found some lazy nickel-ass shit. Regulator has tag saying it was set to 50psi, I'm assuming by the manufacturer. 1) Isn't that low? 2) Would 50psi keep the washer from filling at a normal pace, or keep me from being able to wash the damn shampoo out of my hair? I'm betting the pressure is well below 50 pounds.

3) Pics of garbahe repair incoming...

[edit 6/13: Adding on with repair. Little late...]

I just posted this at the end of the thread, figured I'd add it to the OP...disregarding the leaks, here's our 'water pressure' problem...don't use this crap, people.

I still don't get these fittings. Is this even installed right? This is the upper end of that pex hose, intact with a piece of old copper pipe still stuck in it. It does not seem to match what their website shows. Also, hello restriction. That's gotta be close to a halving of the pipe's flowable area (in cross-section).

Without pulling out the micrometers...1/2" pipe is 5/8" OD with about .050" thick walls. So .525" ID, area = ~.22 sq in.

Putting out a conservative guess, that white plastic and the gap around it is another .075" off of each side (yeah, it's way more than the thickness of the copper walls; pic may suggest otherwise, but that copper is rolled in a bit from the tubing cutter)...giving us an area of...hey, I guess good: ~.11 sq in.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

i think 50psi to the house is reasonable, IANAP

 

[GoodRevrnd]

Those regulators are usually easy to adjust yourself--there's just a nut you screw in or out. The one on my house has a range of 50-75 and when it was installed it was just left at the default 50. Needless to say I turned it up to 70 (I think the house was at 80-85 with the failed one).

Yes 50 is low. I believe "normal" is 60.

 

[flyboy84]

I would love to have 50. My old row house only gets 40. Pressure is low, but it's still enough for two showers to go with enough pressure to wash your hair with the right shower heads.

 

[phucheneh]

I feel like this should probably be some kind of 'Where's Waldo?' thing. I.e. 'pick out everything that is wrong here.'

1) Why is the main being fed with a hose?
2) The hose is leaking.
3) Would a plumber normally inline a gauge to check head pressure or something? Or is it more likely he just threw the shit together with a preset regulator?
4) I dunno what the shit he replaced, since that pipe already looks old.
5) And then there's apparently an even older main.
6) ...and it's integral to the wiring.
7) Pipe is not even strapped up, sagging like a motherfucker as it makes an unsupported 20ft+ traverse. I don't care if it was already like that or what...CYA, asshole. You neglect to mention and/or fix it, it's your fault now.

Fuck.

 

[bolomite]

yeah, 50 psi should be fine. Are you getting low flow at all taps throughout the house, or just at one or two? Whenever your water main is closed and then reopened, like the plumber had to do for his repair, sediment from the pipes can get blown out and clog your faucet aerators.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

yeah, that looks ghetto as hell, IANAP

 

[phucheneh]

yeah, 50 psi should be fine. Are you getting low flow at all taps throughout the house, or just at one or two? Whenever your water main is closed and then reopened, like the plumber had to do for his repair, sediment from the pipes can get blown out and clog your faucet aerators.

All of 'em. If sediment was the issue, I think I'd be familiar with it by now, heh...I posted a thread about water heater issues, wherein I found it to be full of friggin' rocks and dirt.

Does the adjuster go in to turn pressure up? I gave it a few cranks out and it seems the same. Guessing I went the wrong way, or it just takes a lot more turns to make a difference.

And I can tighten the dumb fitting on the bottom of that hose, but I have no idea how that crap on the top is supposed to work. It leaks.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

there should probably be another shutoff on the other side of the regulator, so it can be replaced without needing to drain the house

 

[Jimzz]

The blue pipe is pex, that is fine. The problem is it was put on with sharkbites. Those will reduce the inner pipe size so that does not help.

How big is the main line? Mine is 1", yours looks small but maybe its the picture?

 

[PsiStar]

I have ~19psi which is on the low side. To compensate the shower heads have the flow restrictors removed. There is more than enough pressure from the showers now.

I am also an aquarist ... not astrology, but salt water fish tanks. To cut down on unwanted minerals & crap from the tap, I have a RO/DI water filter. For it to work efficiently it needed a pressure boosting pump to get to 40 psi, but that is only on that filter. That water dumps into a holding tank for water changes & top off for the aquariums. It is not part of the plumbing to the rest of the house in other words.

 

[phucheneh]

I think it's 3/4. I'll check.

 

[todpod]

It pex tubing making the connection no issues with that, pretty common. They connected it using shark bite fitting, questionable for a professional plumber

 

[todpod]

The blue pipe is pex, that is fine. The problem is it was put on with sharkbites. Those will reduce the inner pipe size so that does not help.

How big is the main line? Mine is 1", yours looks small but maybe its the picture?

Doh too late

 

[phucheneh]

Line is 7/8" OD coming in. Found a tag for a 3/4" ball valve laying in the dirt. Or should I say, mudslide, from where the dipshit upset the plastic sheeting and then installed his leaky pipe.

Copper and PEX (is this like a flex PVC?) are 5/8" OD.

 

[phucheneh]

Looking around, I would venture a guess that he did not deburr and clean the pipe, since this is an O-ring seal, apparently...which seems like a terrible idea. O-rings go bad on cars, which have ethylene/propylene glycol as a lubricant...if you just filled the cooling system with water, shit would leak a lot quicker...

 

[PsiStar]

An insurance inspector told me recently that he had received an advisory about shark bite fittings. If they start to leak, they will likely let go very soon. I think I am liking my wimpy pressure.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

I disagree about pex being 'normal'.

It's normal for a homeowner than cannot braze copper. A plumber should not be using pex and sharkbite fittings on a home plumbed with copper.

Just seeing that work I would be suspicious of whatever he did in the front yard.


Buy one of these from a hardware store, you need to check it on the further outside hose fitting:

http://www.amazon.com/Rain-Bird-P2A-...pressure+gauge

 

[SpatiallyAware]

Looking around, I would venture a guess that he did not deburr and clean the pipe, since this is an O-ring seal, apparently...which seems like a terrible idea. O-rings go bad on cars, which have ethylene/propylene glycol as a lubricant...if you just filled the cooling system with water, shit would leak a lot quicker...

Honestly... At this point I would personally redo it all myself. You can buy all of the solder tools you need for less than $50 and it's a good skill to have.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

All of 'em. If sediment was the issue, I think I'd be familiar with it by now, heh...I posted a thread about water heater issues, wherein I found it to be full of friggin' rocks and dirt.

Does the adjuster go in to turn pressure up? I gave it a few cranks out and it seems the same. Guessing I went the wrong way, or it just takes a lot more turns to make a difference.

And I can tighten the dumb fitting on the bottom of that hose, but I have no idea how that crap on the top is supposed to work. It leaks.

Some of those regulators aren't supposed to be adjusted. The older ones I've messed with would leak after adjusting them. You can usually just replace the insides so you don't have to mess with brazing on a new housing.

I'm fairly sure that you adjust the screw IN to increase the water pressure, sort of the opposite of a valve.


I would not touch the pex stuff. Just replace it with copper, and strap the existing junk to the joists.

 

[phucheneh]

I've never soldered pipe, but I'm sure I could do it. Like with a lot of stuff, my thinking is simply: worst case, I do a shit job, and I know it, so I redo it until I get it right.

I know you use acid core solder. What size would you use for that? Cheap propane torch works well enough for heat, right? Or is MAPP better?

Another thing I just saw someone state, which makes sense, is that shark bites hate torque...so even if we assume that they're not a crap repair, that vibrating pipe is probably rubbing the o-rings to death, isn't it? I can easily rotate stuff by hand. And they're on every damn connection...

...if he buried those damn things in the yard, he's getting extra kicks in the dick. Would that even meet code requirements?

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

Shark bites are fine imo especially on a repair like that where its easily accessible to check if you're worried. Id leave it alone. Obviously you have another issue causing your low pressure.

 

[Humpy]

I don't care if it was already like that or what...CYA, asshole. You neglect to mention and/or fix it, it's your fault now.

LOL. Just how much of your piece of shit house was he supposed to fix while he was under there screwing stuff up?

 

[phucheneh]

The pressure feels akin to what I've felt in old victorian houses, which I'm guessing are in the 20psi range. Adjusting the regulator appears to do jack shit.

 

[edro]

He should have used another 90° shark bite. The pex tubing is taking a large bend radius into the the bottom straight shark bite. They only work well and drop free if the tubing isn't under tension.

Also, I highly doubt shark bites are legal where inaccessible. (similar to electrical splices)

Definitely secure that pipe with some pipe hangers.

If you want to solder yourself, the pipes need to be COMPLETELY dry. You can heat them up to steam the residual water out, but it needs to be super dry for the pipe to heat up enough to solder to. Use rosin and make sure the pipe ends are scrubbed very clean (with the special tool). If the solder doesn't take after a few tries, take it apart, re-clean and try again.