I just learned today that when you are replacing plumbing parts that you should always take it clear to the wall with whatever you are replacing. I replaced the faucets and drains on all of the bathroom sinks in the house a couple of weeks ago. One of them leaked---pretty badly---all over our towels. I got stuck under that particular sink while I was replacing the drain so I was pretty upset when it is the one that leaked. I decided today that I was going to fix it after I got off work---no matter how nervous I was about crawling back inside the sink cabinet---so I took everything out when I got home and went to the plumbing store (not Wal Mart or K Mart or Home Depot) and took all the parts in with me.
I asked the guy that waited on me if they had a new drain part---he went into the parts part of the store and came back with a new drain and all of the parts for the pea trap---I asked why I needed the pea trap stuff---he said that when you tightened up new stuff that the gaskets were pinched into the pipes and made them water tight---when you did it the second time if you got the gasket exactly like when you took it out it was fine but if it didn't match it was likely to leak.
I told him I thought as long as you tightened things good you didn't have to worry about that. He said that is why he loves home plumbers---he gets to sell the first replacement parts then when it leaks he gets to sell all new parts to stop the leak---yes he asked me the first time if I needed the pea trap stuff---I told him no---
Just as I was leaving the store he told me that I needed to cut all of the pipes the proper lengths and showed me how to measure the pipe to be sure the length was right before I put it together. He explained that if I didn't do that then when all the parts were matched up it was likely that one of them would be too far into the other pipe and would touch the place where the pipe turned and would act as a plug---when I got ready to put everything back together I measured the inside of all the pipes and cut the two that I needed to cut to the proper size---when I checked it for leaks I was astounded by how well it drained---the old pea trap pipe and the drain pipe itself were too long and plugged the drain---I didn't know drains could take water out that fast---I have never seen one that drained that well.
I'm sure glad I found out that a penny saved is not necessarily a penny earned---No matter what Ben Franklin said about that---unless he liked wet towels---oh yeah he didn't have inside plumbing.
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4 comments:
You still saved a $65 service call. You were probably able to buy both parts for less than that. If you would have called a plumber, you would have had to pay parts and labor. My father in law has a great saying, "If you have more money than time, you pay for someone to come fix it...if you have more time than money, you fix it yourself." He says that's how he learned how to fix things around his house. :) I enjoy reading your blog even though I don't comment that often. ***L***
Now I know who to call when I need work done in my house... :)
But what if you don't have time or money? What then?
;-)
You have wet towels---or worse yet wet walls and floors---water ain't good for any structure.
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