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We've been heating the floor in a sunporch with a dual outlet gas water heater for twenty years now. Since a concrete slab doesn't gain or lose heat rapidly, it doesn't "consume" hot water like running a tub full. We never notice any lack of hot water we can attribute to the floor heat. As to...

Actually, if his hourly rate is $100, she got a deal. wouldn't 3-3/4 hours have been $375 ? jack vines

You sort of answered your own question. This is akin to the myriad threads here asking what magic fluid homeowners should pour down the sink/toilet to clear a blocked drain. As most know here, those just usually make the plumber's work more difficult when he has to deal with the problem...

Were you there at the installation? If not, after 40+ years, it's a total guess as to how the tank was designed, how the drain field was designed and as to what is actually going on down there. Wouldn't most septic system companies suggest after nearly fifty years, maybe that system has...

I've seen clean-outs stubbed in at the back when that was closest to most of the served vertical lines. Easier than running the snake from the front uphill the length of the house. jack vines

FWIW, I just had a 200' sewer line replaced by the "burst" method and it works wonderfully well; fast, easy and only digging is at either end. Not the cheapest, but no idiot stick work required other than writing the check. It's a one-day job. The crew will pull a cable through your existing...

dangerous ?? Any Florida experts here? I know FL does have more salt air on the coast, but as long as there isn't direct salt water externally or very corrosive water inside, cast iron soil pipe doesn't really have a finite lifespan. Up here, we're relatively low humidity and I've taken out...

Was a very long, very trying week, but we're flushing. Fortunately, my random pick off an internet search got me maybe the best in town at "bursting sewer lines." Vietzke Trenchless knows their stuff, has the latest equipment and professional crew. Watching them fight through problems and use...

The process we chose welds together 20' sticks of 4" thick-walled black plastic pipe to replace all 200', including the two 45-degree bends in one solid run. They will open the sewer connection in the street and at the back of the house. A heavy cable is pushed through the existing pipe. It...

All the cast iron soil pipe is under the basement floor and all of the sweep joints run toward the back of the house. Agree, a liner is not the way to go with Orangeburg. Now we're thinking trenchless replacement with hard lines Just ran a camera/sonde out to the blockage about five feet...

We've been living in a 100-year-old house for 45-years with about every ten years an occasional clog which I've been able to clear with a rented 50-foot snake. This weekend, life as we knew it came to an end. The rented snake didn't do it. A pro-rooter stringing two 125-foot snakes together...

Are you planning on plumbing the entire system yourself? If so, then your homework is needed. If contracting, consider spelling out the end results you require and let your guy figure out how to best accomplish them at the most reasonable cost. Few things a plumbing contractor hates more...

Or just sloppy restocking in the truck/van. They could have had leftovers from the last install, just tossed them into be back and the smaller plug rattled inside the larger. Just throwing sticks together, they might never have even noticed it was there. Of course, no flow test after the...

Yes, no, maybe; it depends on pressure, water quality, chemical reactions and what else is in proximity. I've seen 125-year-old wooden pipe still carrying water. I've seen 20-year-old copper with pinholes. I've seen 50-year-old galvanized totally plugged by deposits and in other areas and...

On another thread, a pro maintenance plumber says he always uses Sharkbite for repairs and they'll last as long as copper fitting repairs. While I'm old school enough to wonder about that, what say you other pros? What does Sharkbite claim? jack vines

And that looks more like a seat or globe valve than a gate valve. jack vines

X2 - manufacturers don't stress anode replacement, because they don't want the units to last forever. jack vines

The friction of replacing a plumbing unit once a year is beyond "hardly a problem". I'd pay several times more money for a unit which lasted indefinitely. jack vines

X2 - Cast iron is a ***** to cut, but easy to break. OT, but plumbing related; a plumber friend was asked to do some relatively minor remodeling work which included removing a built-in cast iron bath tub in a second-floor bath. He hemmed and hawed about how difficult this was going to be and...

Agree, heat is going to be required. One help which has not thus far been suggested is to begin removal by tightening. Often, a stuck fastener/fitting will move more easily in the tightening direction. Just a bit of movement in the 'wrong' direction will then create slack to make it easier...