Made a little Boo-Boo

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FullySprinklered

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Installed a new PRV and expansion tank for a new customer today. The connection at the exp tank dribbled on for a while as I waited to screw the new tank in. I flipped up the T/P valve to try to mitigate the flow at the connection so that I could remove the blown-out tank and install the new one. That worked, so I installed the new tank then went back and turned the water on. I checked for leaks at the PRV and then leisurely sauntered back to the utility room to check the expansion tank. The floor was 2" deep in water and rising. I'd left the T/P valve flipped on. The pop-off line was piped into the a/c condensate pump, and it was running over like crazy.
So, here's the question. Is there any place on God's green earth where it's legal to run the pop-off line into the a/c condensate pump? Yes, I forgot to snap it back down, but to what extent should I feel culpable for the wet carpet. (I spent two hours vacuuming water and setting up fans and all that). I had a bad day.
 

Jadnashua

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I do not think terminating the T&P outlet into an a/c condensate pump would meet code anywhere. It's my understanding (from reading people that should know) that the outlet cannot be restricted.
 

FullySprinklered

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Thanks, Jim. I always understood that the t/p line goes outside and elbows down at ten inches above the ground etc. So basic that I don't think about it that much. I just got through talking to my wife about this site. My concern is that I'm upsetting the regulars here and I just might be a little too heavy handed sometimes. I do often have a certain amount of venom left over at the end of the day but I don't mean any harm. I've gone back a bunch of times and edited my posts to try and lighten things up a bit. I'm working on it. Maybe Terry should start a whine line for people who need to blow off steam at the end of the day?
 

hj

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The outlet would not be restricted, because most condensate pumps have openings on the top for a 3/4" pipe. The pump just could NOT pump that much water that fast. The discharge is supposed to be piped to a point where it WILL NOT cause damage/flooding if the valve discharges. What you had is the same as when the T&P is piped into the safety pan under the heater, and the results would have been the same after about a 30 second, or less, discharge.
 

hj

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quote; I've gone back a bunch of times and edited my posts to try and lighten things up a bit.

You are too kind. Once I write it, it is as if it was chiseled in stone, regardless of whether it hurt someone' s feelings or not.
 

FullySprinklered

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quote; I've gone back a bunch of times and edited my posts to try and lighten things up a bit.

You are too kind. Once I write it, it is as if it was chiseled in stone, regardless of whether it hurt someone' s feelings or not.
Thanks, that means more to me than you could imagine. Why edit out a masterpiece.
 
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Terry

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Hey, We're only grumpy some of the time.
And I'm sure others have hard days at work too. I was dating a woman and some days after work I would hear what a bad day she had. She would be talking on the phone, selling vacation packages to a university, and it was like she wasn't feeling enough respect from the other woman on the line. Oh man was she angry about that and her bad day.
I would mention that some of my bad days are things like going into a crawlspace after six in the evening, crawling through puddles of water, soaking my clothers, pushing poly pipe into an insert fitting without the advantage of my weight to push it together, knowing that I was going to put my back out by twisting my body into contortions to complete the job, and I would have to schedule to go into Seattle to see my chiropractor the next week to fix that. To me.........that was kind of a bad day.

Or maybe the crawlspace where I had to slither past a dead rat, with crawly things moving when I shoved it aside. Then noticing the pans of rat poison down there that make the blood thin out in a rat. My nose bled for few days after that job. And of course it was dirty and dusty down there too. That was kind of a bad day too. But do you think I could complain about it later on? Nope. She wasn't real interested in construction stuff.
If I dropped a new diposer in that was whisper quiet in her home; she noticed that. But none of that stuff that happened on jobs I went to.
And maybe that's why we get a little grumpy.
 

FullySprinklered

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What did you have in mind?
I
Probably take you ten minutes, but after coming home with black fingers a few times from handling different neoprene gaskets, etc, I did some research on neoprene to maybe see if it were harmful. I went through a couple of sites (don't have a link for you) and one said that the interaction of neoprene and chlorine created a compound that is carcinogenic. I just wanted someone to go into it on their own and confirm that.
 

FullySprinklered

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Hey, We're only grumpy some of the time.
And I'm sure others have hard days at work too. I was dating a woman and some days after work I would hear what a bad day she had. She would be talking on the phone, selling vacation packages to a university, and it was like she wasn't feeling enough respect from the other woman on the line. Oh man was she angry about that and her bad day.
I would mention that some of my bad days are things like going into a crawlspace after six in the evening, crawling through puddles of water, soaking my clothers, pushing poly pipe into an insert fitting without the advantage of my weight to push it together, knowing that I was going to put my back out by twisting my body into contortions to complete the job, and I would have to schedule to go into Seattle to see my chiropractor the next week to fix that. To me.........that was kind of a bad day.

Or maybe the crawlspace where I had to slither past a dead rat, with crawly things moving when I shoved it aside. Then noticing the pans of rat poison down there that make the blood thin out in a rat. My nose bled for few days after that job. And of course it was dirty and dusty down there too. That was kind of a bad day too. But do you think I could complain about it later on? Nope. She wasn't real interested in construction stuff.
If I dropped a new diposer in that was whisper quiet in her home; she noticed that. But none of that stuff that happened on jobs I went to.
And maybe that's why we get a little grumpy.
I'll see your rat, and raise you three dead dogs. Thank God they were still frozen. Lips drawn back, teeth bared; felt like I was trapped in a horror movie. I mean right under the kitchen where I had to work. And I worked quickly that day.
 

Jadnashua

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This link has the material safety data sheet for the stuff http://www.rtvanderbilt.com/documents/MSDS/US/76401.pdf
Unless you're molding the stuff while liquid, or you eat the stuff, it appears it takes a LOT of material to cause skin irritations. You don't want to be breathing the smoke from it if you're overheating it or burning it (it's self-extinguishing, but will burn with supporting flammable surroundings). It's been around for about 80-years...it's pretty stable stuff.
 

FullySprinklered

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Thanks for the information, Jim, I thought you'd be a good person to ask. Did a car charger for an engineer yesterday am. You guys live and breathe information. One more question concerning the neoprene/chlorine interaction, aren't O-rings and faucet washers made of neoprene, and could we not be consuming this in our tap water? When I install a new faucet the first blast of water out of the spout is pretty black, but I don't know enough to blame it on a particular thing. Any thoughts before I let it go?
 

Jadnashua

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Most water companies are now using chloramine rather than chlorine for protecting the water supply. This also has reactions with neoprene. If you're getting a shot of black from the faucet, and it's not actually rust, it's time to change either the cartridge or the washer! If it's rust, then it's time to bite the bullet and either repipe if it's the supply lines or the fixture itself.

The 'nasty' stuff in neoprene gets 'locked up' in the vulcanization process. I think, but am not certain, that the black 'paste' you may see on a degrading gasket or seal is probably not releasing that carcinogenic component. I've not seen a test of that, so this is just a guess.
 
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