[skoronesa]

Yes I know its usa made however, the only one available to me was from south korea. We are very limited to what we can buy online, it feels like we are in a third world country and can barely get anything. Also very few sellers on ebay will ship up here. I don't know what the fear is. Then on amazon we only have a fraction of the things you have. Then the private sellers like to put a price tag of hundreds of dollars for a simple item that cost 20$.

I assume it's an issue with import restrictions. Similar to what trump wants to do. They think if they restrict or place fees on certain items that they will magically start to be made domestically.


Don't get me wrong, import laws can be a good thing, it's all about how and what you do. But most of those in charg don't have the motivation to make laws that are so nuanced and don't fire up voters because they are complex or just fix something small. It's not worth their time to do small good things.

 

[skoronesa]

you got lucky on that, many times the dam plunger is corroded in place and gunked up with soap and hair locking it in place...and the coat hanger doesnt have enough strength to pull it out before the hook just bends straight..

The best is a length of small welded chain with a hook on one end and you wrap/bolt the other end to a piece of steel pipe and just pull!!!

Or if its above a dirt crawl you tell them they should try a bottle of draino and let it sit a couple days

I have also poured some HCl down the overflow and it dissolved the rust between the plunger and the tee freeing it.



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[skoronesa]

I have that same wrench but mine is blue, I wonder why.

Sent from my BLN-L24 using Tapatalk

You must not use it much so it doesn't feel appreciated or valued.






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[skoronesa]

I want a nipple caddy for 1/2 and 3/4 but just a slim one like 3 rows wide. Can't seem to find one, guess I will have to spend some time in our sheet metal shop. I do service, I don't need 75 nipples lolz





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[skoronesa]

Here's another home made tool.

This is for another type of shower drain. I've been using shower drains with a hex nut underneath but they keep stripping. I'm starting to use these drains. I did have a few calls where they were loose. I think the plumbers only used their hand to tighten them. I know the last one was a true pirate. I never saw a plumber using a special tool like I have. This drain has more threads and I can apply more torque.

I made a tool so I can tighten it from the top on a service call or turn the tool upside down and pull on it hard from underneath so I can screw the other half downstairs. It had to have the possibility to be as long as I wanted. Sometimes reaching deep through the floor joists and ceiling below.

My manager made a very similar tool but instead of a socket it is a foot long 1" pipe.






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[skoronesa]

I use silicone aswell... there is a place and time for putty however, I've read that putty can attack plastics so I steer clear when using it on plastics... really I'll use silicone on everything... even setting brass or plastic p.o's and sometimes when setting a basket strainer in a stainless sink where the beveled part of the sink is more of a bowl shape and there is no way to get a good seal without putty or silicone..

Never really thought of it for using it on push fit gaskets thanks for the pro tip

Regular putty doesn't "attack" the plastic anymore than silicone caulk does. Regular putty is filler combined with a petroleum oil which will act as a solvent on some plastics until it evaporates leaving hard putty behind. Silicone caulk is silicone with a solvent that also will dissolve some plastics. The solvent is what makes the silicone stick to the plastic. If you didn't have a solvent to partially dissolve the surface you want to glue than nothing would stick together.


Another way to look at it is this. Clear pvc primer is all solvent(Xylene, xylol, acetone, methylethylketone). If you take clear primer and put it on pvc pipe it will make the surface soft for a bit until the solvent evaporates leaving just the pvc again. The solvents dissolve the plastic like water and dirt make mud. Pvc glue is basically pvc primer with some finely ground pvc pipe materials so after you apply the glue and the solvent evaporates it leaves behind the ground up pvc material in the gap.


If you just take a scoop of dirt and put it on some other dirt they dont get mixed together and you just have a pile of dirt on another pile. If you add some solvent like water than the two different clumps of dirt mix together and when the water/solvent evaporates you are left with one solid dirt pile.


Non-staining plumbers putty isn't petroleum based, it is silicone based. It is basically silicone lubricant with finely ground filler. There is no solvent so it won't "attack" plastic. I would prefer that over caulk. I don't like to use caulk because it makes things more difficult to fix when it does leak which it will still do even with the best silicone caulk.










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[skoronesa]

I believe you are wrong about how silicone connects to a base material, I dont see silicone " dissolving" the surface of metal, stone , glass , ceramic and so on to make a seal...
nor does putty attach plastics.....
putty dries up over time and powders away..the issue with plastic and putty is the thin plastic cracks before compressing the putty and pushing the excess out of whatever drain top your trying to put together, where silicone before curing is very easy to squeeze out...
the plastic cracks or breaks, it isnt dissolved...

https://www.explainthatstuff.com/adhesives.html



"In some cases, adhesives can make much stronger chemical bonds with the materials they touch. For example, if you use certain glues on certain plastics, the glue and the plastic actually merge together to form a very strong chemical bond—they effectively form a new chemical compound at the join. That process is called chemisorption.



Absorption and chemisorption are chemical connections between the glue and the surface. Glues can also form physical (mechanical) bonds with the surface they're sticking to. Suppose the surface is porous (full of holes). The glue can seep into those holes and grip through them, like a climber's fingers grabbing holes in a rock face. That's called the mechanical theory of adhesives."




What I said was that putty doesn't dissolve plastic anymore than silicone because I disagreed with his argument that silicone was better because it didn't attack the plastic like putty did.

I use silicone aswell... there is a place and time for putty however, I've read that putty can attack plastics so I steer clear when using it on plastics...

Regular putty doesn't "attack" the plastic anymore than silicone caulk does. Regular putty is filler combined with a petroleum oil which will act as a solvent on some plastics until it evaporates leaving hard putty behind. Silicone caulk is silicone with a solvent that also will dissolve some plastics. The solvent is what makes the silicone stick to the plastic. If you didn't have a solvent to partially dissolve the surface you want to glue than nothing would stick together.
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I was wrong to say that last sentence. Obviously there is mechanical cohesion as is described in that link. But I am sure we have all seen silicone and other caulks peel right off of metal, ceramic, and other smooth nonporous surfaces.


I know what you mean about the putty being difficult to squeeze out. We don't use plastic pop-ups, sink baskets, or other tailpieces, we only use metal, but the same can still be an issue, especially with thin sink baskets. My normal technique for a kitchen sink basket is to put a 3/8" bead of putty, pull/push it down tight by hand, scrape out the extra that squeezes out below, put on the rubber seal and basket, tighten the nut most of the way. Then while I do something else some more will squeeze out and then I finish tightening.


I use putty instead of silicone simply because it is easier to get off later if need be and either one can make a good seal. That's just the way we do it here, I am not saying your way is wrong, it's just not the way we choose to do it. As long as it doesn't leak and the customer is happy nothing else matters really.









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[skoronesa]

Also, I would like to see you set a toilet in silicone caulk like you can with putty :biggrin:








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[skoronesa]

I've just heard that it's a no no.. to mix putty with plastics so I dont do it... I've read on a abs p.o plug dont use it... maybe it doesn't really attack it but if the putty is a petroleum product and plastic is a petroleum product there is a possibility there is some reaction...

Correct, there is some reaction but it isn't enough to cause damage or we would be seeing failures indicating such in the field. If anything it helps the putty seal in my opinion.

There is a guy at work never uses either... like obviously there are some things its needed for but.. he just says the rubber is what seals the basket strainer..

Now we've had this conflict before and he says rubber goes on bottom I say top... i dont know anymore because other guys say the top aswell but I trust him... whatever he does it works never have had a call back to fix his things plus hes been doing this work for 40 years plus... he said 2020 will be 43 years for him.. just an addition to stir pot lol..

The large rubber seal for a basket strainer goes below the sink. Mind you there are two(most common) types of basket strainer and this is true for both. One has a small nut and no fiber washer but does have a rubber washer. The other has a large nut with a fiber washer and then rubber.



I guess neither has to have putty(or silicone) as when you squish the rubber washer it should expand in as well as squishing out and thus seal against the basket. I have never relied on this and don't really want to. Either way the putty(or silicone) is mainly there to fill the small gap under the lip of the strainer so no food sticks in there and rots. It also makes a seal.


Not using putty(or silicone) on a pop-up seems fine except again for the issue of stuff getting in that gap like soap and rotting or corroding the metal. The rubber washer has to make a seal whether you use putty(or silicone) or not because the holes for the overflow are there.


Honestly now that I think about it I am questioning if putty(or silicone) is really needed at all on sink baskets or pop-ups. I know that every plumber I have worked with has used putty and every one i have taken apart even from 80 years ago has had putty. But the more I think about it the more I can see how putty(or silicone) isn't really needed.


I feel like these putty(or silicone) posts need to be moved to a dedicated thread where we can debate this subject.








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[skoronesa]

Now this is where it gets messed up.. because your picture shows it on the bottom... in the kindred manual it shows the gaskets on the top... let me find you a pic

I have seen one or two with a real thin gasket for the topside but if it has the 1/8" thick ones it goes below.


I would love to see one that your coworkers put in with the thick seal on top lolz, must look like azz!!!:vs_laugh:






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[skoronesa]

Abs eh.. stuff is like so brittle after 5-10 years.

Sure it is quick and cheap to put in but it dont last like copper or cast.

How's the cell core PVC in the states guys does it go brittle too..

Usually the sys 15 and xfr is quite tough and doesn't get brittle like the abs does

The little cellular core pvc I have seen was old and seemed fine. They like to use that in the city. Where I am most of us prefer pvc except for some of the older "less aspirational" guys who prefer abs.


The only application I have seen where abs might be preferred for performance reasons is when pouring a lead joint with an abs adapter. The pvc ones tend to light on fire easier where as the abs adapters put up with the heat. But really? How often are you going to pour a joint?








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[skoronesa]

Nothing fancy. Just more for convenience.


I do not understand why the hell I can't rotate these pictures. It's irritating.

Assuming you have windows, open the picture with mspaint/paint, rotate the picture, and then save the file.


If you just open the file with windows picture viewer and rotate it that doesn't save the file as rotated, it just rotates it whenever you look at the file on your computer with windows picture viewer.


If you don't have the paint program you can easily download it or any other number of picture editing software.








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[skoronesa]

Today I made my own tools twice. The first was for a moen 1248 cartridge in a widespread tub faucet. There is a screw in retaing ring for the cartridge that has notches made to accept a tool you can get from moen. It wasn't until after I was unscrewing it with my copper pipe that I remembered I actually do have that tool in my toolbox. Oh well. Making my own was actually easier than digging to get to it! lolz :biggrin:



The second one I cut a notch in a piece of 1/2" black iron. It's hard to see in that pic but the c.o. plug I put in was about 6" down. With the notched pipe I could easily tighten the wingnut. I could have used a heavy 3/8" nut to replace the wingnut but for some reason I told my self it was best to leave the wing nut on. :vs_worry: I have had a rough start to the week. I went the whole day thinking it was tuesday too.

 

[skoronesa]

i made one a these once except i didnt have the tee handle i just used channel locks. i used it to hold the handsink drains in place while i tightened the bottom nut.

Lavatory sink


Pop-up assembly OR grid strainer


Mack gasket nut, gasket nut, mack nut




Just figured I would help you with the jargon. We all feel like an idiot when we go to the supply house and describe something like a homeowner. It happens to all of us.








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[skoronesa]

If its in a kitchen, like a stainless steel sink mounted to a column is that still a lav? we were calling it handsink basket strainers?

mack nut i did not know of thank you... i love knowing the proper names...

Yeah, you're right lolz, in a commercial kitchen you do have a handsink or handwashing sink. And yeah, basket strainer, usually that refers to the 3-1/2" ones that fit kitchen sinks but they do make 1-1/4" basket strainers as well.










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[skoronesa]

problem with proper names is that we have seen in the past how they differ so much from region to region just in this country,,,
so your proper name by you may not be the proper name else where...

Yeah but in this day and age you can google any of the names with at least some success.


Besides, my main intent was for him not to look like an idiot. He recently moved and can just blame it on what you just described, they call it that where he comes from. Then he can proceed to explain what the part is and they won't look at him like he is an idiot hack.





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[skoronesa]

Yard hydrant plunger removal tool

I don't have a welder and wanted one a little nicer than what my manager welded so I drilled and tapped a 1/2"-20 bolt for 3/8"-16. I'm surprised it's so concentric given I hand drilled it

 

[skoronesa]

Love this thread!! Just started a new one with this info but I wanted to chime in and add to all the other rad ideas on the thread already. ...........

Plumber or not you're just spamming now.

There is a part of this forum specifically for manufacturers and salesmen.

@OpenSights I suggest you remove this link, it's the same as the one in his intro.

 

[skoronesa]

I needed to stop water from draining in the wall while I was changing the cartridge

I was changing a waterworks T-static hockey puck the other day and it occurred to me that a lot of the newer valve body designs don't stick out as far as the old designs, even when they are roughed in properly. Those waterworks ones hold a lot of water too! Very annoying.

Luckily there was room to shove a rag in the wall but the tile was very sharp and I knicked myself.

 

[skoronesa]

For those who do service work, do you guys ever replace that diamond-shaped gasket and flush valve on Kohler W/C's? The flush valve nut is surrounded by the rubber gasket and a large channel locks doesn't fit well. So I made a socket to fit it.

I have a large socket meant for truck hub nuts. 17.99$ at an autoparts store. I forget the size, 65mm maybe? Have to be acareful picking one out because many of them are 8 flats or 6 flats with rounded corners.