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I think this is an easy one. Does the typical residential submersible pump have a check valve built into it? I have heard that this is so, but then I always see another one just before the pressure tank, so why is that one necessary if there's one in the pump? Thanks for the Wells 101 advice!

I am dealing with a low-yield well and storage tank situation. Dole valves keep coming up in the discussion. Can anyone say why a Dole valve is better than a gate valve? Seems like with a gate valve, you can adjust it to just below the well's yield. With the Dole valve, you have to know what...

Here's my nice new Hansgrohe shower valve. Notice the ugly gap between the back of the handle and the escutcheon. Anyone deal with this problem? I'm trading e-mails with Hansgrohe but it's uphill even to get them to understand that this is a design problem, not an installation problem. The...

Cacherchick, I thought tubs and shower pans were considered rough plumbing, since they go in before sheetrock.

For a DVW pressure test, how do you plug the tub? It's not practical to plug the drain and overflow, with those little cross bars in there, and I can't turn the trap to plug it caue it's connected to the overflow and the drain. Pros, what's the trick? Got an inspection in two days.

The inner drain, with the flange showing in the sink, was stainless. The outer cup underneath was galvanized.

Consumer Reports? They might tell you which brass faucet is safest when crashing into an SUV, is all.

Success! I sawzalled through the cup and drain outlet, then pealed the residual cup metal off. I don't think it would have come off otherwise. The two parts were all corroded together, maybe from years of slight leakage past the flange in the sink.

Yes...I think so...that black gasket would go below the sink of course. That's the one I'm heat gunning and digging at with a screwdriver. It's so petrified that when I dig in I'm bending the lip of the bottom spacer/reinforcer. More heat and more prying I guess. I'll take some pix this...

Thanks Redwood. I'll try that. What's that cup for anyway? It appears to be attached only to the sink, not the drain outlet. Maybe just something for the spud nut to cinch against?

I have a 50+ year old stainless drainboard with integral stainless double sinks. It has never had a garbage disposal but I want to add one. I must remove the old drain ring from the left-hand sink to put in the one provided with the disposal unit. This drain ring is the usual cup-shaped thing...

Brass Drain There's a brass drain that takes up less space than the black ABS one, so you won't have to chip out so much concrete. I found that out when my shower pan drain ended up next to an I-joist. I minimized how much of the joist flange I had to remove my using the brass drain. Home...

Cheaper Alternative Simpson makes bolts you just screw in a drilled hole. They are called "Titen" bolts. There's the epoxy ones, but have you seen the price of the epoxy? :O

Leach Field [. If you have either a sewage ejector pump or a macerating toilet, the septic tank and leachfield must be increased in size by 50%. ] Good thing leach fields are already overdesigned by about 100%.

Shower Pans I'm planning on putting in a Kohler cast iron shower pan, because the shower gets used all the time and any plastic type pan eventually gets beat up.

Have you considered 3/8" pex for individual hot feeds from a manifold to decrease the hot water wait time and waste? Do a litte math. 3/8" pex takes about half the time to deliver hot water compared with an equal length of 1/2" copper. It will actually be a lot less than that, because a...

PVC and CPVC and Joints Under Slabs Thanks garrydaplumber, but this is the stub-up in the wall. I need to come up to a drop ear, then out to an angle stop. So I'm still looking for that 1/2" PVC/CPVC adapter. HJ, the joints under the slab are glued--doesn't that count as "fused"? I've never...

PVC Controversy HJ, if not PVC under the slab, then what? There are connections, but all glued PVC. What is the huge headache? The PVC is buried in rock under the slab. Jimbo, the hot is in PEX.

I stubbed 1/2" PVC cold water pipes up through my slab. Now everyone says I can't run PVC cold water in the house, even though they think it's OK in Florida, Illinois, and maybe other states. I'm in California. So I'm looking for a 1/2" PVC to CPVC adapter, but all I can find is 3/4"...

Use Sharkbites Would all this trouble with thin wall brass fittings be a good reason to use sharkbites instead? They are pretty thick and massive. I've never heard of a problem with them. I haven't used them but plan to with my rather small (2-bath) system. Plus you don't need a special...