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Thanks for all the great insights. The sink will go on the wall to the left - the small sink I plan to order for this shows the waste C/L 23" off floor. Getting from there to the vent pipe (7.5 ft) I will need to drop about 2" for slope plus 6.25" (from drain c/l down through it's san tee and...

Hi - the cleanout plug location is too high to get proper grade from the sink drain to the stack. I need to come in about 3" to 4" below that. I am interested if anyone has used a sawzall (with a good blade) to cut an existing cast iron cleanout tee about where I've marked it. Thought about...

Hello Everyone - I have a bathroom in my basement but it is just a toilet. I'd like to add a sink but am not too excited about bashing up concrete to tie into main drain line. I had the city inspector over for a new hot water heater inspection and asked him about tapping into the existing...

I am looking for an aerator for an old Crane Drexel sink. The sink has a porcelain spigot as part of the bowl (see pics). The original aerator blew out. It looks to be constructed of a series of wavy copper strips. There's a pic of some of the pieces. Love the sink but without this piece...

I thought I read somewhere that, generally, leaks on hot water heaters start slow (the lining will corrode to the point of a pinhole leak). You'll notice dripping on floor but no big sudden explosive loss of water. Is this true?

Yes - I is copper & H is a dielectric union. All horizontal pipes in basement are either pex or copper. Not sure it's galvanized but it's not lead. Yep, looking like I'll do a full replacement of the old vertical pipes up to 2nd floor ... nice winter project.

Thanks for the replies. Yes I'm afraid this may involve more demo (and replacing the pipe with pex) than I had originally planned. The wall upstairs doesn't lend itself to opening and getting a wrench on things (wall is only 1 foot wide - side of a large arched dining room/living room...

I have an old galvanized pipe that is beginning to leak around an elbow connection. If access was OK this shouldn't be a problem but this is in tight with heating pipes and a soil stack all boxed in a small space of rafters and headers (see pic below). I'm afraid if I simply put a pipe wrench...

Hi Dana - yes there are older style brass valves that control branch flows (diamond shaped heads - cone valves I believe). I set the one that has the long run wide open and the others about half way. This improve things but I wondered at what cost? With the branch to the room where the...

I currently have a Grundfos UP15-42F recirculating pump on my boiler. There are 3 branches (all on the same zone) throughout the house. The branch with longest run and the most radiators does not get near as warm as the other 2 branches when the heat is not on for very long (> 60 min as when...

Hi Dana - Thanks for all your replies to my questions. Learning this new old house heating has been interesting but I think I've got the main house heating figured out. With some adjustment I think I've got a good situation now. I have adjusted the 3 branches (far run wide open, other two...

Thanks Dana ... I'll check that. I think my IR temp sensor can read from the black pipes. I assume that on system start ups, after the boiler has been off quite a while (like during nighttime set backs or spring time when PM outside temps get warm), that return water temps will be below 120...

A quick update on the cool radiators issue ... as previously posted, we had someone come out about a month ago to look things over. At the end of his visit, he mentioned that the company guru (owner) would be in touch to see if there's anything else that could be done. The owner came out last...

Thanks for the reply Dana - insulating those basement walls is on the radar. You can tell the heat loss by simply looking at the snow melt on the outside around the perimeter. I've read some about mold issues ... getting basement insulation right in old homes seems tricky but doable if done...

Hi Dana - here's an update ... I ended up calling a heating contractor I have worked with in the past and he spent some time going over the system. Here's a summary: - He rewired the pump so that it doesn't pump continuously now. He didn't see any practical reason to have it continuously...

Dana - thanks so much for the reply. Sorry for the delay but got off track onto some other things. A few comments: - I looked back on the bills and I forgot a month (duh!). Total therms from 11/27 thru 1/29 is 557 therms - We set the thermostat to 69 during the day (someone is here all day)...

Thanks Rob. I'm going to try and tinker with the valves based on number of radiator fins.

Sure thing - between 10/25/17 and 1/28/18 my 2 bill say a grand total of 387 therms (very cold from end of Dec until a couple weeks ago). Monthly breakdown is 162 therms from 10/25 to 11/26 and 225 therms from 11/27 to 1/28. Square footage of heated space is around 1800 sq ft. Zip is 55105.

Thanks for the replies. RobNY - we just bought the house in November and there doesn't appear to be any modifications to the system. The pump works all three branches/zones. Below is a pic of the valves I was closing to get all the flow to go one branch (used channel locks to turn). Dana, I...

I’m have a couple radiators that do not get near as hot as the others (I would call their temperature “tepid”). There are 3 branches, or zones, coming off the boiler and these radiators are at the end of one of these branch lines. This branch has 5 radiators on it while the others two...