Homeowner's Blog » Plumbing

Unclogging a bathtub drain

Paul — Wed, 06 May 2009 12:53:29 +0000

About once a year the bathtub drain gets a little slow. If I ignore this problem, unfortunately it does not seem to go away, it only gets worse. We end up taking shower baths, which is really annoying, at least to me. So, once a year I venture into the basement to unclog the beast.

bath tub drain below the floor

Because I am the one who installed the bathtub, I am the only one to blame if it is difficult to remove the drain to unclog it. I think I had good intentions here, but they kind of got buried in the pipes for the solar hot water system. Anyway, it is not too bad, just a little bit of reaching. When I removed the trap I stuffed a rag into the sewer line to prevent gas from seeping into the basement while I cleaned out the various pieces.

Fortunately all of the drains are plastic and come apart with little effort. A pair of slip joint pliers is all that is needed. In fact, most of the connections are hand tight.

clogged up bath tub drain pipe

As I suspected, my wife’s long hair is the culprit.

more hair in bath tub drain

Lots of culprit. I sprayed each part out with a high pressure garden hose and wiped the inside with a rag. Where the P trap meets the 2 inch drain there was some junk too, I cleaned that with a rag.

Once all the parts are reassembled I ran a little water into the trap to check for leaks and prevent any sewer gas from seeping into the house.

While I was at it, I cleaned out the bathroom sink as well. This fixture had been draining a little slowly lately. Same situation, hair.

Took about a half an hour to do and it is a little bit smelly and dirty or disgusting if you think about it too much. Plumbers charge a lot but they earn their money.

Installing a deep sink in the basement

Paul — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 20:40:27 +0000

Anyone that know me knows that I am a great advocate of reusing things. We throw a lot of stuff out in this country. Some of it really should be trashed, however, a great deal of what we throw away is still useful to somebody. To that end, when a friend of mine was cleaning out an old defunct restaurant and came upon some old kitchen equipment, I thought I would take a look.

Low and behold, there was a perfectly good stainless steel deep sink. This deep sink can no longer be used in food service because it has welded seems which can harbor germs. However, it would be perfect for a general purpose deep sink. Best of all, it was free for the taking. We may not need a deep sink in the basement right away, but, as my lovely and talented wife pointed out, it would be a great place to clean paint brushes.

The sink itself was quite dirty, caked on grease and gummy black gook on the sides, back and all around the faucet. Mmmm, makes me want to eat out more often. It took several hours with a scotch bright pad, hot water and Comet to get it to an acceptable level. Even then, I think I will be cleaning again once it is installed.

Old washing machine hookups

In our basement, there is an old washer dryer hookup. I long ago removed the electrical feed for the dryer. The waste drain for the washer was cut out when we installed the 3 inch PVC drain during the kitchen move, which leaves these two spigots on the wall that go nowhere. That, it turns out, is the perfect location.

deep sink

First thing I did was remove the two old washer spigots and replaced them with 1/4 turn ball valves. I soldered everything with non-lead solder, as required by the plumbing code. For more on soldering check out “Plumbing part II, soldering“ Always install shut off valves on a sink, it makes life easier if faucet repair work or replacement is needed in the future.

1/4 turn ball valves

I rebuilt the old faucet that came with the deep sink, all it needed was new washers and a new valve seat for the hot side. The new valve seat is not at all surprising as the faucet was hooked up to city water for at least ten years. The chlorine in city water often eats away at brass and causes soft brass parts to crumble.

I drilled through the upper part of the back splash so I could rout the pipes down to the faucet and still push the sink all the way to the wall. I don’t know what alloy steel this sink is made from, but it is pretty hard, it took quite a while to drill through with a 1 1/8 inch hole saw. I was using the drill on slow speed so I would overheat the hole saw and ruin it.

deep sink installed

I when connecting the faucet, I used unions on the hot and cold lines so I can easily move the sink if needed. I used 1 1/2 inch PVC waste drain pipe for the sink drain. Since it is below the sewer line to the septic tank, I had two options; I could a) install a catch basin with a pump to pump the waste water up to the sewer drain, or b) since it is gray water, empty it into the sump and let the sump pump remove it out into the yard drain. I choose the (b) option because I don’t think I am going to use this sink all that much and it is an approved method for gray water in my town. Other municipalities may have different rules.

After all that, I turned the water on, and as they used to say in the Krylon Spray Paint commercials, “No runs, no drips, no errors.”

All in all, a good Saturday project.

Changing the Potasium Permanganate bottle

Paul — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 23:59:10 +0000

I posted once about our iron well water. Basically, without a good filtering system, our water would be an orangish brown color. Lots of Iron, everyone around here has it.

To get rid of the iron, most people use a Culligan water softener. I don’t like “soft” water, it tastes salty to me. I also don’t like the way if feels in the shower, like you can’t rinse it off. It sort of feels like a coating of slime or mud. Ick. In addition to that, it seems relatively expensive to pay for the Culligan Man to come out and load all that salt into the water filter every three months.

Since I am not most people, I looked into other ways to get rid of the iron in our water. I decided on a combination sand/green sand filter. The sand filter is just that, a sand bed that traps the larger particles and holds them until the sand be gets backwashed. The green sand filter uses Ion Exchange, in other words, it oxidizes the iron into larger iron oxide molecules, then runs it through a sand bed that traps the particles until backwashed. I have both filters set to backwash once a week on different days. It works amazingly well.

So well in fact that we forgot it was there. Until recently that is, when the water began taking on a rotten egg odor again. Mostly the hot water in the shower. Nothing like getting up in the morning to be greeted by a steamy rotten egg smelling bathroom.

potasium permanganate bottle for Kenmore green sand filter

I quickly determined that the Potasium Permanganate (KMnO₄) bottle (small plastic bottle next to unit) on the green sand filter had run out. It is really easy to replace, simply remove the old one and replace with the new bottle. It is recommended that you wear gloves and a face mask when replacing. The I bought an entire replacement bottle from Sears (part #3441799). I also could have bought 6 pounds of Potasium Permanganate crystals and reused the old bottle. The only issue now is what to do with the spent bottle, which still has Potasium Permanganate residue in it. It is considered a powerful oxidizer and is dangerous to aquadic life so it cannot simply be dumped down the drain. I will contact the county transfer station and find out the proper disposal method.

Smelly Hot Water

Paul — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 15:54:39 +0000

Update and bump: I finally got around to replacing the anode rod today with a zinc aluminum rod purchased on line. I took this picture of the old and new anodes:

As you can see, the old anode is pretty much shot. When I flushed the tank out, all sorts of black junk came out. I think the iron reducing bacteria were eating the manganese chunks coming off of the rod. This water tank is only three years old, it kind of floors me that the anode rod would go so fast. A part of it is the water from the old well, which was acidic, ph around 5.5 or so. The new well water is neutral, ph is 7 so perhaps the new anode rod will last a little longer. I will have to add that the my annual check list of things to check.
Update: I investigated the hotwater heater anode today, I think I found the culprit:

I have ordered a new zinc/aluminum anode today and I will install it as soon as it arrives. In the mean time, I poured about 1/2 a cup of bleach in the open port where the anode was installed. That took care of the rotten egg smell temporarily. Getting a new anode should make the fix permanent. There is a lot of information on the web about water heaters and sacrificial anodes. The purpose of the anode is to prevent the steel tank walls from corroding. If the anode wears out, then the tank will eventually fail, leaving the home owner to replace the entire hot water tank. Most people recommend checking the anode every 3 to 5 years. The above anode is 3 years old.

Original Post:

This one has me scratching my head a bit. Our hot water is now smelly (like rotten eggs), not the cold water, just the hot water. This is a recent development which likely has something to do with the new well. Here is what I know:

Our well has ferric iron (mineral iron dissolved in the water).
We are using a green sand filter to remove the dissolved iron, it appears to be doing a good job (the water looks clear and does not turn brown when exposed to air).
The green sand filter backwashes twice a week.
The well and filter went on line about two month ago, the smelly hot water just showed up about a week ago
It is only the hot water
I have drained some water out of the bottom of the hot water tank, the first gallon or so came out dark, the rest came out clear.
The water tank (electric) is about 3 years old
The temperature is set to about 110-120 degrees

Obviously, it seems that some type of iron reducing bacteria is in the hot water tank creating hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) which accounts for the rotten egg smell. But where is the iron coming from? Is the green sand filter not getting all the iron?

Solar Hot Water installation update

Paul — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 00:16:49 +0000

Update:Todd asked for a schematic, I drew this 2D basic system diagram (click for hi-res picture):

Perhaps I was a little optimistic to think that I would get all the plumbing work done in one weekend… I did make some good headway in the basement, but I am nowhere near done.

First, I build a little stand for the drainback tank to sit on. This allows the solar loop pump to be installed below the drainback tank, which I think is a good idea. I used the legs of the stand to mount the two pumps on. I would rather have the pumps attached to something rather than be supported by 3/4 inch or 1/2 inch copper pipe.

This is a double pumped system which are much more efficient at moving heat around than a single pump/convection system. Basically, there are two plumbing loops; the solar loop which runs up to the roof and through the solar collectors then back down to the drainback tank. The hot water tank loop which runs out of the bottom of the hot water tank through a heat exchanger in the bottom of the drainback tank and back into the top of the hot water tank.

The drainback tank (RADCO DBHX 6029-GC) holds eight gallons. This should be enough as each collector holds 1.6 gallons of water when operating. The total pipe run is going to be about 60 feet of 3/4 inch copper. Type K copper pipe has 0.0227 gallons per foot, so the total water in the pipe will be 1.4 gallons, which leaves a minimum of 3.4 gallons of water in the drainback tank. For a full chart of copper pipe technical data, including gallons per linear foot, check out the Copper Pipe and Tubing Cheat Sheet. This should be enough to keep the heat exchanger submerged and keep the system operating at peak efficiency.

The solar loop uses a TACO 009F pump because of the high static head of the system. At startup, all of the water in the solar loop is in the drainback tank and has to be pumped up to the top of the solar collector, where gravity will then return it to the drainback tank. The top of the solar collector is 24 feet above the drainback tank. According to the pump spec sheet, the flow rate should be 6 gallons per minute. Taking into consideration other factors such as resistance from the pipe itself and things like elbows, temperature gauges, flow meters, etc, the flow rate will more likely be about 5 gallons per minute. Each collector is looking for 0.5 to 1.8 gallons per minute. The are plumbed in parallel, so my maximum flow rate should be no greater than 3.6 gallons per minute. I will likely have to throttle the pump down a little to attain this.

The tank side plumbing loop will use a TACO 003B circulator pump. This flow rate will be about 3 gallons per minute, just enough to keep the heat exchanger working well while not breaking the stratification of the hot water storage tank. This is a potabe water loop, so a pump with a brass casing must be used.

Drain back tank with flow gauge and thermometers for collector send and returns. Flow gauge acts as a sight glass to check drainback tank water level when system is not operating. The solar loop pump is the green unit on the lower left, the hot water tank loop pump is the brown unit on the right.

Solar Hot Water System mounting and location

Paul — Fri, 04 May 2007 01:43:13 +0000

Perhaps one of the most important factors in installing any type of solar powered system is locating the solar energy collectors, be they photovoltaic panels, or thermal collectors in an optimum place. The worst thing you can do is locate a solar collector where it will not work correctly. You will never get your return on investment for the materials and installation. In that circumstance, it would have been better not to install a solar system at all. Fortunately, solar hot water is a little more forgiving in this regard than are photovoltaics. The panels must be located in a position that is unshaded between the hours of 9 am and 3 pm.

In the higher northern latitudes, location becomes more critical both from a perspective of the angle of the sun striking the solar panel, and the hours a panel will be a viable energy collector. In the northern hemisphere, the panels should be aligned to true south as closely as possible (and vice versa in the southern hemisphere). The reason being is this, the maximum energy transfer between the sun and the solar collector occurs when the sun’s energy is striking the panel perpendicularly. The further away the sun’s angle is from 90 degrees, the more spread out the sun’s energy is.

This is true for both azimuth (direction e.g. south, north, east, west) and elevation (angle the panel is mounted). In most cases five or ten degrees off on either the elevation or the azimuth will not make a big difference. Much beyond that and you will need to add collector surface area to make up for the reduced energy input into the panel.

The elevation angle is determined by your latitude above (or below) the equator. For example, my latitude is 42 degrees North. As a base figure, I would install my collector with a 42 degree angle. However, since my solar collector area is larger than I need in the summer time, I am going to increase that angle to make it work better in the winter months. For me, the optimum elevation angle appears to be around 48 degrees. I calculated this based on the PVwatts program from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

PV watts uses both the elevation angle and the insolation data for a particular location to give the panel energy output value. By this calculation, solar power should generate 100 percent or greater of my hot water for six months out of the year, 80-100 percent for three months out of the year, and 25-80 percent for the remaining three months for a total of 73 percent of my hot water usage. That is a large savings of electricity.

Caution: Lots of math theory ahead

Remember the whole A²+B²=C² thing from school? You probably told your math teacher “I’ll never use this stuff, why do I need to remember that?” Now you have a reason to use it. Along with A²+B²=C² there was also something else called Camp SOHCAHTOA which is a way to remember the triangle functions of sine, cosine and tangent. I am more of a visual person, so I prefer the unit circle. Either way, the proper trig function can be determined, then it is just a matter of plugging the information into your calculator.

Here are the knowns: the size of the panel is 10 feet by 4 feet wide. I am going to add 6 inches to the top and bottom as a fudge factor. So in the equation state above, C=11 feet. In order to build the proper support structure the values of A and B need to be found. We also know that the angle b is 48 degrees.

Welcome to Camp SOHCAHTOA:

Sine = Opposite/Hypotenues
Cosine=Adjacent/Hypotenuse
Tangent=Opposite/Adjacent

Using Camp SOHCAHTOA, which trig function can be used to find the value of A and which one to find the value of B? Since angle b is opposite side B, the sine function is used to find the length of side B. Therefore Side B=(sin)48 x 11 feet= 8.45 feet. Side A is adjacent to angle b, therefore the cosine function will be used to find the length of side A. Side A=(cosine)48 x 11 feet= 7.04 feet.

Lets test the math: A²+B²=C² so 7.04² + 8.45²=120.96 feet. In the above triangle; C=11 feet, so C²=121 feet. The square root of 120.96 is 10.99 feet, both of those answers are close enough for this application.

I will build a frame that is 9’6″ wide by 7’1″ deep by 8’5″ high to mount my solar panels on. The frame will be oriented to true south by using a topographical map, then confirming that with a sighting at solar noon. More in the next post.

Maintenance of a DWS-7 UV disinfection unit

Paul — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 20:36:20 +0000

The other day I was driving to work and thinking to my self; you know, I just don’t have enough problems, I wish somebody would give me some more problems. Well, apparently “somebody” was listening. Cut to last Sunday. We have an Ultra Violet light water disinfection unit installed on our old well because basically we are using water that is slightly above that of stagnant pond water (I hope beyond all things, I can get the new well installed this year). One of the things that is required when you use a UV disinfection unit is yearly maintenance. The bulb needs to be replaced once a year and quartz tube needs to be cleaned.

File under the category “haste makes waste” as I removed the UV bulb from the quartz tube, I pulled it slightly sideways and cracked the bottom of the quartz tube. I was immediately greeted by a steady stream of water from the bottom of the UV unit. Damn, just damn.

In the exploded view, the tube is number 16, while the bulb is number 17.
Now, secure all the valves and drain the water out, remove the brass tube retaining fittings, and this is what I found:

The quartz tube cracked to a point just above the “O” ring. The tube would need to be replaced. This is not just any glass tube, you see, it is made of quartz and is purified so that none of the UV light gets reflected back to the bulb, but passes through and into the water, where it’s germ kill qualities are needed the most. Cost to replace: $50.00. Cost for a new bulb: $73.00.

You can see the ends of the old bulb are starting to turn black, just like a florescent light bulb that is slowly burning out.

Replacement was in the reverse order, first I used a little petroleum jelly to lubricate the “O” rings. I put one “O” ring on and carefully slid the tube back into the unit. I put the other “O” ring on and centered the tube in the unit and then carefully replaced the brass retaining nuts. Turned the water back on and checked for leaks, all good.

After all that, I carefully replaced the UV bulb.

The light has and electronic ballast, much the same as any ordinary florescent light fixture. The ballast should run a little hot to the touch, but not too much. A ballast that is too hot means the bulb is getting weak and needs to be replaced.

Water Logged Pressure Tank

Paul — Thu, 23 Nov 2006 12:03:04 +0000

I wrote a post about our new pressure tank, which has an air bladder installed in it. Our old pressure tank does not have a air bladder installed. Pressure tanks work under the principle that gases can be compressed, while liquids cannot. When the pressure in the tank drops, the well pump turns on and pumps water into the tank, compressing the air bubble at the top of the tank. If there is no air bubble, the pump will cycle on and off very quickly causing a possible motor burnout in the well pump.

Old rusting bladderless pressure tank

If you have a bladder tank, the installer should have charged it properly, and once charged, it will not loose its air charge. A non-bladder tank will, over time, loose its air charge because the air will dissolve in the water and disappear out of the various faucets. Therefore a non-bladder tank should be recharged regularly with air. If you suspect a tank is completely water logged, it will not hurt to put a little air in and see if it makes a difference. The air fittings look like tire fill valves, and are normally located near the top of the tank, possibly next to the pressure gauge. You can add air with a bicycle pump, I would start by adding enough air to make the pressure gauge go up 10 PSI.

Pressure tank air fitting

To completely recharge the tank, turn off the pump and run the water until the pressure gauge reads zero. Add air until you reach the pump cut in pressure (low pressure setting where the pump turns on). Then turn the pump back on. This is the proper amount of air for your pressure tank. The pressure gauge should go up slowly until it reaches the cut out pressure (high pressure setting when the pump turns off).

Pressure tank, adding air

Well Pump Pressure Switch

Paul — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 15:24:14 +0000

I like lots of water pressure… remember the episode of Seinfeld when they were buying and installing large wasteful shower heads on the black market? I am that guy. I like my showers to have an average pressure slightly less than that of a sand blaster. Since I have my own well, I can be that guy without really feeling guilty that I am wasting everyone else’s water. To that end, the shallow well jet pump I installed last year had its pressure settings much too low. I can’t abide by that, so I went a tinkering with the pressure switch to get the pressure up to about 50 to 60 PSI.

Here is what I found: There are two main types of pressure switches on any type of well pump; Square D pumptrol, and everything else. Fortunately the all work on the same principle. The cut-in pressure is the low pressure limit that tells the pump when to turn on, the cut-out is the high pressure that tells the pump when to turn off. The differential is the difference between the two, usually about 20 PSI.

To some extent, the cut-in/cut-out pressures are predetermined when the switch is manufactured. If your pressure switch specifies a range of 20 to 40 PSI, then you will not be able to make it run at 40 to 60 PSI no matter how much you adjust it. That is because the switch operates using an internal spring to select it’s cut-in/cut-out. In order to make a lower pressure switch operate at a much higher pressure, the spring would have to be replaced, and you might as well replace the whole switch if you are going to that trouble. You can however, make adjustments in the 5 to 10 PSI range using the adjustment screws on the switch.

Square D pumptrol pressure switch settings

Square D pumptrol pressure switch

Safety note: See those wire screw terminals there? That is 240 VAC, so you want to turn off the breaker before you go poking around with a screw driver.
There are two pressure adjustment screws; one will adjust the cut-in and cut-out pressure, the other will only effect the cut-out. On a pumptrol switch, these screws are called number 1 (cut-in and cut-out) and number 2 (cut-out only). Those folks at square D are clever that way. To increase the cut-in and cut-out, turn screw number one clockwise, to decrease turn counter clockwise. To increase the cut-out pressure only, turn screw number 2 clockwise, to decrease, turn counter clockwise. Most every pressure switch works the same way.

Meyers jet pump pressure switch setting

Made in China pump pressure switch

The jet pump did not have a Square D pressure switch, it has something that looks like it was made in China. I was thinking it would not be difficult to replace it with a better switch, but then I thought, why bother? I am going to be putting the new well on line soon anyway, right? Right.

Update: This is a picture of the pressure switch with the wires attached. The diagram that comes with the switch shows a slightly different way to wire it, either way will work. I like to match colors so that the red wire is connected to the red wire, etc. Then again, thats just me, I suppose.

Square D pumptrol pressure switch wiring

UV disinfection unit

Paul — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 06:33:58 +0000

Our old well is shallow, so it is inevitable that some form of bacterial contamination will get into the well water. We use injected chlorine to oxidize the ferric iron present in the water so that the sand filter can catch it and remove it.

We also use a DWS-7 Ultra Violet (UV) disinfection unit made by ATS to be sure that the water does not contain any harmful bacteria. The UV kills any bacteria that are in the water. The DWS-7 has a maximum effective flow rate of 7 gallons per minute.

The UV unit was installed before our closing because the house did not pass its water test. The installation looks pretty good with appropriate shut off and bypass valves, unions to remove the unit and a boiler drain.

Basically, the UV light itself looks like a small florescent tube with an electronic ballast. The light slides into a glass tube within a metal cylinder. Water enters one end of the cylinder and flows to the other end, thus being exposed to UV light for a period of time. Exposure to UV kills any bacteria in the water.

The light bulb lasts about 1 year, and they are about $85-95 dollars each to replace. You can check the operation of the light bulb by viewing the small port on the side of the unit. It is recommended that you do not look directly at the viewing port as UV can damage eyes. Put your hand up to the port and look for the green glow on your fingers.

To replace the light tube, remove the brass covers on the top and bottom. There is a wire which runs to each end of the tube and are held in place by clips. Remove the clips and slide the light tube out. Slide the new tube in.

The manufacture also recommends that you clean the glass tube every year or so. For this you have to dismount the unit from the wall and take it apart. Clean the glass with a mild dish detergent and rinse.