Recent content by ourzoo

I'm probably over thinking this but I have to ask. I'm replacing a 1 1/2" galvanized bathtub drain line as part of a bathroom re-build. The old line was about 16" long and had three 22 1/2 degree elbows, making a zig-zag assembly to raise the pipe level about 1". Mighty strange and a great...

The link you provided gave some great examples of vapor movement and the end results of bad decisions. The shuttle example is especially significant.. you'd think the engineers would have thought that one through when they changed the outer coating of the fuel tank. Thanks for mentioning...

Dana - if you don't mind me asking, what do you do for a living? You must have a Materials Science, or Mechanical Engineering background. I really appreciated hearing the details behind your explanations for my bathroom water vapor post. It always amazes me how much folks take for granted in...

Dana - Thanks for the additional info. and the analysis. You've provided me with quite an education on the subject! I'll likely stay with the 3/8" poly on the ceiling, though the 1" is tempting. The bathroom fan I've purchased has a side port for the exhaust which doesn't tolerate much of...

Great Advice! All - Thanks for the advice. I've learned quite a bit. Jimbo - I was thinking about a larger and quieter fan but there's a definite privacy issue with a small house: bathroom sounds that you might want to mask. Seems for this house the more noisy the fan the better. But...

After 50 years, it's time for my tired old bathroom to be renewed. The room is only 5' by 7', with a sink, toilet and tub/shower. Five of us live in the house with five showers per day - lots of moisture. I plan go back to the studs and start fresh, but I'm not sure about how to approach...

All, Thanks greatly for the advice and comments. Sounds like the cold line heat trap won't give me any problems with pressure build-up in the tank. That's good to know. Sure wish I had an overflow floor drain but this is not the case so I need to keep the chances of any spills to a...

hi there Jimbo. Just to make sure I'm thinking right, lets start with my current set-up with the old water heater, with no expansion tank, no check valves, just a direct connection to city cold water. So lets say I start out by filling the tank with cold water. At this point the system...

hj - thanks for the quick reply. Well I'm confused. What I've read so far says that when the water in the tank is heated it expands. With my old water heater today, and its open system connection, the water expands out into city cold water supply since it is an "infinite" reservoir. The hot...

My gas tank water heater is 14 years old and I'm getting ready to replace it. The current water line installation is straightforward. We're connected to a city water supply source and we have an open water system. No expansion tank. Also we're only using our heater for domestic hot water, not...

All, Thanks for the comments and information! Sounds like a traditional gas water heater with a flue liner is a good approach along with a leak detector. I was starting to lean toward a power vent heater but a friend said he had one and stated that it blows exhaust out of the house at a...

Hi all, I just had a high efficiency gas furnace installed in my 1950s house and now my natural gas water heater is the only exhaust producer for my traditional flue tile chimney. I live in Maryland and my furnace installer said that while the current water heater is fine for now, when...

Jim, Mark, HJ, Thanks for your reccommendations! Sounds like I should do my best to get some support under the flange. I need to take a second, closer, look at where the floor will come up to. If it looks like I'm off a ways, I'll pop-off the flange per HJ's suggestion. Had one heck of a...

Thanks to the forum owner and administrator for a means to ask questions! This is great for a plumbing novice. This is more of a carpentry issue than plumbing but I'm sure many of you have already solved this. I've gutted my 1955 bathroom, including the tile floor and am replacing the...