Post Tricks Of The Plumbing Trade Here.

Squench

Speaking of tricks...anybody ever try to patch a small tear hole in a lead bend?

Ron The Plumber

I just cut them out and replace lead bends.

Ron The Plumber

Garbage disposal jammed up, can't find that disposal wrench. use a basin wrench to free it up, get the jaws to lock on impeller and with a few quick turns, it should be no longer jammed up.

a1plumbingyakim

or the allan wrench in your bag?? lol

gitnerdun

Tricks are well earned and I don't share many, so if you are a customer or competition of mine, please don't read

Kitchen sink stopped? Try filling the disposer side halfway. Hold the stopper in the other compartment firmly closed. Now turn on the disposer and let it force the water thru the blockage. I can't tell you how many times this works. I have talked many a customer thru this on the phone, and even recieved tips in the mail.

Basin wrench turns a hard to get to shutt-off

A hand bilge pump to remove water from wherever

Small inflater to blow water from a low pipe for repair

Cut the end off a closet auger and it now works in a tub drain, and alot of other drains

They make skinny shovels for small pipes

There are some that I am willing to share.............maybe after a couple beers I'll share more

Ron The Plumber

Use a wet vac to remove water out of a copper line quicky so you can solder up that joint, no bread needed. Maynot be so good under a house though.

Drain water out of the service line by disconnecting the meter nipple on house side of it, this is good for under house work since water will flow to meter box, not so good if there is a PRV vavle attached though.

Ron The Plumber

Want to remove remains of the old wax off the bottom of the toilet fast likem after you have removed all you can with a putty knife?

Use your tourch, melt and wipe it clean.

sparkie5

That goofy looking basin wrench sounds real handy. I'll keep that in mind.

Thanks for sharing the tips!

Ron The Plumber

Forgot to tape that closet flange up before the painters came and now there is paint spay all over the top, no need to muscle with a scrapper and sand cloth to make that a clean surface for set.

Attach a good wire brush to your cordless drill, spray paint will come off in secs flat.

a1plumbingyakim

a hacksaw blade will fit in your sawzall....hard to reach areas be careful though...not real durable

Squench

When lifting water heaters onto a stand, take a tie-down strap and wet the middle portion. Snap out the excess and wrap around the heater at knee height, pull to snug and lift. It works! Your back will thank you for it. Helps to wear tough gloves.

Thomas

Tired of cleaning copper fittings by hand with your fitting brush?
Cut off the handle with a hack saw and insert into the chuck of your battery drill

Double-A

For the water heater lift, I use a motorcycle tie-down strap and just hook the hook to the other hook.

The 'other hook' is placed in burner access opening or to another strap wrapped around the lower part of the heater that is cinched up tightly (like squench is suggesting). The loop is placed over my head with one arm trough the loop. This lets me use my legs exclusively for the lift.

Stand up straight and lean back slightly and set the heater on the stand. Takes more time to type this out than it does to set the heater on the stand.

__________________
"My clients’ wishes are the center of my attention." -- David Guido, a contractor in Woodstock, N.Y.
New York Times, July 20, 2006

gitnerdun

Cut those closet bolts with bolt cutters before you install them. Measure and practice, it beats that little mini hack.

Ron The Plumber

Use the handle of your channel locks to tighten up your chrome shower arms, stick handle inside the arm and tighten up, or use other related tools to accomplish the same task.

smellslike$tome

[QUOTE=Ron The Plumber;171422]Use a wet vac to remove water out of a copper line quicky so you can solder up that joint, no bread needed. Maynot be so good under a house though.

About a month or so ago a guy calls me about an hour before dark on a Saturday to repair a busted water line. He and his buddy had been trying to sweat about a 3" piece of 1/2" copper, which was vertical, with a coupling on either end. He said they had been at it all day but couldn't get the lower coupling to take the solder (but they could'nt figure out why). I had told him on the phone that Saturday service call was double the norm and for his location would be $98 to get me out to look at it. After I looked at it and heard his story I charged him my standard charge of $199 for that repair (no extra for Saturday only on the call out charge). He authorized the work, I got my stuff and went to work. I cut out about a 6" gap in the copper, including both couplings, inserted a 20" supply tube into the lower part of the copper to dip out the water, re-fitted the pipe, sweated the joints, turned on the water, and was finished in about 20 minutes. The looks on their faces was priceless (I could'nt help but sneak a peek when I dipped out the water with the supply tube)! I kept waiting for him to complain about the price so I could hit him with that old "2 hammer taps $2, knowing where to tap $2000" story but he took it pretty well and did'nt whine at all so I did'nt make him feel any worse.

Wet vacs are great for toilets too, so that when you pull them you don't slosh water everywhere. Or if you are just doing a minor rebuild on a tank you don't let that last 1/2 inch of water run out when you remove the ballcock.

THANK YOU! wish I had known of this a long time ago (kinda like dipping water out of a copper line with a supply tube )! I always just "rassel 'em" up on the stand. The 40s are not so bad but I can never get a good grip on the 50s. I have 2 50s sitting outside that are going in tomorrow and I WILL BE DOING IT YOUR WAY!

It does'nt buggar up the threads so that the nuts don't want to start?

By the way, under the heading of things never to do! Never cut off your water closet bolts with an angle grinder! If you do you will embed the metal filings in the porcelan. If you should ignore my advice and do it anyway, I had pretty good results removing them by lightly rubbing it with sand cloth. I am also told of a product I think is called iron out but since it only took once for me to learn this lesson I'm not sure if this works or not.

Extra tape on the threads and don't over tighten or the handle of your c-locks can egg out the shower head end.

Same when tightening any threaded fitting. If it takes a threaded nipple, go ahead and put one in a couple of turns just dry, easy to take back out after the other end is tight and will keep you from egging out the spot where your pipe wrench was at.

gitnerdun

You cut the bolt after you have the nut on it. Then you back the nut off, it does take a little practice.

Ron The Plumber

Tape and then pipe over the tape, garanteed to seal the first time around.

Squench

When working on a faucet or valve that has size-specific o-rings and you don't have the specific size remove the o-ring and teflon tape around the 'race' or groove the ring sits in, a couple times. Replace the ring, grease it and forget it!
Never had a callback on one yet.

Hey smell$ let me know how the strap works out for ya.

Ron The Plumber

Brass Craft angle stop not shutting off all the way, no need to replace the entire stop, just replace the inners with the inners from a new brass craft angle stop, fast fix if the valve body is in good shape.