Recent content by fortop

So, the interpretation in your area is a circle drawn 3 feet from the center of the vent to the nearest door or window? Just wondering where I can find that interpretation in some kind of documentation to show the inspector. Thanks. Oh yeah, most houses built before the 1960s were pretty...

What is the interpretation of International Residential Code (IRC) SECTION M1502 CLOTHES DRYER EXHAUST guidelines: Exhaust ducts shall terminate on the outside of the building or shall be in accordance with the dryer manufacturer’s installation instructions. Exhaust ducts shall terminate...

I will be connecting an existing 1" K copper tubing water line to a 1" pressure reducing valve on the house side of the curb box (water meter) underground. What type of PRV and fittings should be used? The PRVs I see are female iron pipe. Is there a 1" male iron pipe to flare fitting to...

Thanks all for your input. The house is 60+ years old and the cast iron/galvanized drains are rusted and corroded/scummed up enough so that the load capacity of the house drain system is limited. Washing machines put out a lot of water in a hurry, and I am sure that repeated big loads from the...

After searching the web, I found a somewhat detailed design for a laundry gray water drain. It looks like there should be a vent line or auto vent where the gray water line leaves the house to prevent siphoning of the trap seal by the drain system. This design mentions that the air gap caused...

Thanks. I am in Arizona and our state allows (even encourages) gray water systems. There are general guidelines provided by the state Department of Environmental Quality, which I will follow. However, these general guidelines are for health/sanitation issues, like not allowing runoff of gray...

I am planning a stand alone washing machine drain to a French drain buried in the back yard. My plan is to have a traditional 44" from the floor standpipe (2" diameter) which will have a 2" P-trap then go out the exterior wall and take a few 90 degree bends before terminating into 2...

I am installing a new gas water heater in a utility closet which will have an ATP discharge line going through an outside wall and terminating in a 90 degree bend and short pipe pointed down toward the ground. How far off the ground should that termination after the 90 be? Seems like I read a...

Thanks. Great website.

I am installing new back to back bathrooms but there is a support beam above the ceiling joists near the 2 x 6 partition wall between the two baths. I need to offset the 3" vent stack in the partition wall about 2-3" to clear the beam after it passes through the top plate of the partition...

O.K. - I can make sweat unions work. But 1/2" C x C sweat union is about $6, C x FIP is about $13, and brass FIP pipe union is about $8. So, for not heating up the valve body with a torch, and a sturdier pipe setup, would the brass FIP setup be O.K.? The Delta universal valve has 1/2" male pipe...

So far, I have owned 4 houses in Tucson. Each house has had the valve housings of faucets corroded by hard water. You can replace the valves and the seats, etc., but if the housing is corroded the seats will not "seat" properly and leaks persist. Not a problem for kitchen and vanity faucets...

Would any PEX fittings allow for reuse of the PEX line without cutting it off and adding a coupling (i.e. function as a union)? In other words, can a PEX joint be disassembled and reused without shortening the PEX line? I'm not sure about using PEX inside the plumbed wall, but it looks like the...

So, sweat unions or threaded brass pipe unions would be OK? I'm a little leery about sweat unions - wrench the union to aggressively and you could break the sweat joint?

So, any alternative to compression fittings? Would threaded unions be OK? How would you plumb the valve housing? The escutcheon trim plate is removable, which would allow access to the fittings. Thanks.