Help! Commercial building sink plumbing. Not sure what this is

[mugenkb1]

So I have two things, this is in a commercial building suit, about 25 years old:

1)I want to change out this sink/vanity to a new one. But I'm not sure if the pipe in the walls are PVC or cast iron. I have a feeling it's cast iron because of all the other pipping in the building are cast iron (had leaks in my unit and that what the pipes were made out of). So my question is, how do I undo this metal connection to fit a PVC connector to it? Can metal and PVC pipes mix? I'm not sure how the pipe/connection looks when coming out of the wall.




2) I want to change out a faucet, but one of the handles of the water shut offs were broken.

I don't believe there's an external water shut off valve for the suite. What is this round thing?

I understand it's to get access to the pipes in the wall. But once it's off, it looks like this.
Is it used to shut off the water to the pipes running to the faucet? And how would I even turn this thing with such a slot?

 

[breplum]

That is a clean-out for the drain.

 

[mugenkb1]

That is a clean-out for the drain.

Ah, makes sense. So there's no real way to close off the water to fix the broken water shut off valve then without closing the main water switch that I don't think I have access to?

 

[roont]

the drain can be replaced with plastic ,, local hardware or supply chain store has many optional choices that should fit just fine,,, 1.25 inch or 1.5 typical .. if its a commercial building you should be able to chase the lines to a valve above the ceiling hopefully close ,, or residential you might get lucky and find both hot and cold around the hot water heater or service closet .. once the cold is off you can replace broken angle stop from one at same store you get the drain stuff from

 

[mugenkb1]

the drain can be replaced with plastic ,, local hardware or supply chain store has many optional choices that should fit just fine,,, 1.25 inch or 1.5 typical .. if its a commercial building you should be able to chase the lines to a valve above the ceiling hopefully close ,, or residential you might get lucky and find both hot and cold around the hot water heater or service closet .. once the cold is off you can replace broken angle stop from one at same store you get the drain stuff from

Thanks. I've learned that usually the pipe that comes out the wall is 1.5, and so it'll need a adapter to get to 1.25 for bathroom sinks.
Will try and look up into the ceiling tiles to see if it leads to a valve to shut off the water.

 

[MicEd69]

Are you changing out two sinks? Your pictures show two different sink connections.

I would assume your unit has its own water heater. If so, there should be a shutoff valve for the cold-water into your unit located there.

 

[mugenkb1]

Are you changing out two sinks? Your pictures show two different sink connections.

I would assume your unit has its own water heater. If so, there should be a shutoff valve for the cold-water into your unit located there.

There's actually three different sinks lol. But I'm trying to change out one sink/vanity, and one faucet. The sink/vanity is the one the first photo, where the new vanity's sink is offset to the pipe, so I'll have to make it turn and stuff so everything matches/connects:



and the one where I want to change out the faucet is this one where some smartass broke the valve handle to the cold water:




I do have a water heater, but I checked and there wasn't a valve to shut the water off to the unit. I'll double check though..

 

[mugenkb1]

Here's a photo of the setup of the water heater and other pipes.
The ones circled in red, I've closed all of them and I still get water in the faucets. The connection that doesn't go into the wall (on the right end of the pipes) goes to a vacuum pump unit.
I haven't tried closing off the water to the water heater though.

 

[MicEd69]

The quarter turn valves, the ones you circled in your picture, are so you can change out the filter. You do realize that of the three valves in your picture, the two in the vertical lines are open and the one in the horizontal line is closed. If you turn the two valve handles in the vertical lines so they are perpendicular to the pipes, all three valves will be closed, and you should not get any cold-water flow to the faucets. And the valve in the cold-water line to the water heater should also be closed, turned so it is perpendicular tot eh line, as it appears that the water supply to the water heater does not go through the filter.

 

[Rickyman]

Change the shutoff valves. These corrugated supplies will break and flood the place if you bend them to replace the faucet.

 

[mugenkb1]

The quarter turn valves, the ones you circled in your picture, are so you can change out the filter. You do realize that of the three valves in your picture, the two in the vertical lines are open and the one in the horizontal line is closed. If you turn the two valve handles in the vertical lines so they are perpendicular to the pipes, all three valves will be closed, and you should not get any cold-water flow to the faucets. And the valve in the cold-water line to the water heater should also be closed, turned so it is perpendicular tot eh line, as it appears that the water supply to the water heater does not go through the filter.

Yeah, I know that the horizontal one is closed. I did that so that water will be diverted to the filter. I'll try closing the cold water line going to the water heater as well.

 

[mugenkb1]

Can confirm that the hot water can be closed by closing the valve above the hot water tank, but cold water is still not closed with the valves oriented as such:

Makes no sense to me where they could hide the main cold water valve...

 

[roont]

how long did you let the sink run after closing all those.. maybe its just draining what was in the pipe ?? maybe have a ball valve thats bad

 

[mugenkb1]

how long did you let the sink run after closing all those.. maybe its just draining what was in the pipe ?? maybe have a ball valve thats bad

At least a good 5-10 seconds. Tried in multiple faucets, cold water was still full blast. Can tell hot water was totally getting weak and slowly to a trickle.

 

[MicEd69]

REALLY strange! Does this commercial building suit have a kitchen?

I've never seen a filter that didn't filter water to all the sinks, but sometimes unfiltered water is piped to the toilets, washing machines, etc., to increase filter life. So MAYBE someone thought they would only pipe filtered water to the kitchen. That doesn't make sense, but neither does this current situation.

And even if this is the case, there appears to be no way to cutoff the water supply to the rest of the suite.

I assume you do not own this commercial building, so I would contact the owner for assistance.

 

[mugenkb1]

REALLY strange! Does this commercial building suit have a kitchen?

I've never seen a filter that didn't filter water to all the sinks, but sometimes unfiltered water is piped to the toilets, washing machines, etc., to increase filter life. So MAYBE someone thought they would only pipe filtered water to the kitchen. That doesn't make sense, but neither does this current situation.

And even if this is the case, there appears to be no way to cutoff the water supply to the rest of the suite.

I assume you do not own this commercial building, so I would contact the owner for assistance.

The suite doesn’t have a kitchen, but a break room right next to that utility room. But it’s only a sink and space for a small fridge that doesn’t need a water connection.
I’ve changed that filter before, and had no issue closing the water from there to do so, but it just doesn’t close the cold water to the suite.

I’ll try contacting the owner, but man, that guy is annoyingly hard to get a hold of.