Recent content by Niccolo

My natural gas furnace just came on, and the sound seemed unusually loud, so I investigated. An upstairs sink drain was making a fairly loud air sucking noise. I turned on the water in the sink briefly, initially that had no effect, the second time I did it, the sucking noise went away. The...

The plumber worked on a ground floor faucet; the water heater is also at ground level. I'm realizing he must have first drained enough hot water out of the tank, via the faucet he worked on and nearby ones, that the system was essentially dry.

I'm curious to try to understand something I've observed a few times. I have a tank water heater with a dedicated hot water recirculation loop with a pump installed next to the water heater that pulls water from the loop and back into the bottom of the heater. Twice recently, I've had a plumber...

Separate issue: the maximum hot water seems a lot less hot at both the tub faucet and shower, i.e. it seems like the new (seemingly identical) faucet/valve is letting less hot water flow than before, is that possible? I don't think this design has a max hot water limiter. The water is very hot...

Interesting, if the back end of the sleeve doesn't need to be secured in place, I like the idea of making my own spacer to just the right size

A plumber installed a Delta shower faucet for me today, to replace one that was leaking and corroded. I'm guessing that unsightly gap between the back of the handle the rest of the assembly are within spec. I'm guessing it's a function of the old rough-in valve position relative to the wall...

Maybe it's clear, but we're talking about a natural gas water heater, with the gas coming via pipes from the utility. Properly installed, the excess flow valve closes (fully or mostly) if there is excessive gas draw on the demand side (because of a post-valve leak), causing the pressure on the...

Are we clear that I'm talking about an excess *gas* flow valve, i.e. something like this (often bundled with a flexible supply line): https://www.homedepot.com/p/BrassCraft-Safety-PLUS2-Thermal-Excess-Flow-valve-36-800-BTU-1-2-in-MIP-x-1-2-in-MIP-x-24-in-Gas-Connector-CSSL114TE-24-X10/304227546...

I'm posting because I'm curious to try to understand an apparent installation error and its consequences. I recently turned off my tank water heater while gone for a two-week vacation, and it wouldn't turn back on when I returned. The plumber who came out to diagnose it pointed out that there...

Appreciate the update and the direct message alerting me about it (having made my toilet decisions, I don't hang out on the forum, so I would have missed this post). I've found that some but not all women (and at least one kid, though that might be user error) are affected by the splash back...

I was under the impression a big reason to get a water softener was to protect the water heater, interesting that you're anecdotally reporting the opposite, and that you're seeing issues specifically with Bradford Whites.

Interesting. Bradford White water heaters locate the anode at the hot water output, so something like this wouldn't work (unless you modified them to remove the anode and were able to install this in an alternate location).

I just realized I misunderstood the original suggestion, I was picturing the brass coupling as male-female, not female-female. All clear.

So the brass threaded coupling would not be tapered but the water hammer arrestor would be?

Hmm, the irrigation pipes are PVC, I'm not sure how viable it would be to incorporate a metal segment for the purposes of having a metal place to attach a hammer arrestor. And I haven't seen any PVC threaded male hammer arrestors, either. The Home Depot website has dozens of hammer arrestors...