Recent content by Don Zorn

Master plumber mark - Interesting. So what did the electrician do to fix the problem? Curious?

I don't think I overheated the valve when soldering it - but who knows - maybe I am. I did open the valve when soldering as recommended by the manufacturer and tried to apply the heat evenly around the valve/pipe before applying solder. Any tips on what I could do differently next time...

This is general question on which type of valve is more reliable. On the advice of a plumbing associate at my local HD, I soldered a "sweat type" ball valve on the 3/4" cold water supply to my hot water heater. After turning on the water I noticed a small pin hole leak in the valve itself...

Rio - Beads - interesting - I got to get some of these - next stop to HD and I will see if I can pick some up. I did remove all of the aerators and flushed out all of the lines. Thanks for the tip. :) Did a google search on Jet Sweat and came up empty handed. I have heard that some...

When soldering copper in the basement, I shut off the main water supply line to the house and open up all taps in the house, but the water seems to keep dripping forever - making it impossible to solder. The only thing that I have found to alleviate this problem is to stuff some compacted...

hj - What you say makes sense. Jim - I guess I can just hook up a hose and drain soem water off the bottom every 6 months. Any other opinions about the self cleaning hot water heaters out there? :) Don

Not sure about AMTEX, but this link may help. Good Luck. :) http://floorstransformed.com/ceramic_tile/messages/17542.html Don

Greg - I hear ya. I thought the same thing - screw the underlayment right through the subfloor into the joists = nice solid floor = less tile cracking. But apparently I was wrong. It is even listed in the TCA handbook - only screw the underlayment into the subfloor. :) Now this is for a...

Underlayment Joint Position vs. Subfloor Joint Position Kavita - If you are interested, read this article for more tips on how to place the underlayment (ie. top layer of plywood) relative to the sub-floor (bottom layer of plywood) in order to reduce tile cracking...

John - I can't answer your questions, but I think that if you went with the electric radiant heating on a cement slab, the thing would take forever to warm up. Note that I installed radiant heating cable in a second floor ensuite bathroom on a plywood subfloor above a heated room below and...

I am in the market for a new hot water heater. I currently have a Rheem Rudd 40 gallon gas direct vent (model RQD40-38M). I got 5 years out of the first Rheem Rudd before the tank started leaking and 12 years out the second Rheem Rudd - and the tank is just now starting to leak. Is there any...

As of Sept. 2004, any plumbers installing a new hot water heater in our area are required to install an anti-scald valve which is set at 120F to protect the homeowner from potential burns. The valve costs about $200 Cdn. Just curious if this is a requirement in your area and if so, are these...

Hi Clayton -- Turns out there is a floor joist right where the drain would need to go on the Geberit tub waste overflow - probably why a direct drive waste was used when the house was built. So I ended up installing an OS&B 314DC-20BCP brass cable driven direct drive unit. To install the...

Thanks for your response!

Clayton - Thanks for your post. Yes - that is exactly what I have - a direct drain waste. Downloaded the OS&B catalogue off the internet and low and behold - they do have both cable driven and toe clicker models in the direct drain configuration. I actually managed to get a hold of...