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Have see a few things on sand "trap" filters that work by slowing down the water enough that the sand sinks to the bottom of the pipe and into chambers. I have some sand in my supply and have a filter screen but it clogs frequently. Hoping to put together a sand trap to keep things running...

Have a house the we had built and had a plumber do the plumbing. We have plumbing (bathrooms/kitchen/laundry/etc) grouped at each end of the house. We have shutoffs for the sinks, toilets, etc but not for the showers/tubs - this seems pretty standard. If I have an issue with a shower valve...

Noticed the cold water in the bathroom was lukewarm and checked things out. The water heater is in the basement below. Hot water line out of the heater is hot with no fixtures turned on and it is normally cool a short distance from the tank. The cold water line is slightly warm. I checked...

Have an in ground sprinkler system fed by a pump. Have a fine screen filter but the water sometimes has a bit of fine sediment that makes it through. The system has been in over 10 years and has been fairly trouble free. I have a few zone valves that feed hose connections. Recently I set up...

We have hard water and a softener but still have some stuck shutoff valves. I have heard that cycling them 2 or 3 times a year is recommended to avoid this and have done that on some but others in remote locations have been missed. What's the recommended frequency? I have read of adding a...

I have a diy sprinkler controller (opensprinkler) that is networked and has some nice features. One of the reasons for it is I have a lot of zones and this is easily expandable. My question is about protection from shorted valves. This controller is weak in this area and I have several zone...

I have a 4' section of 4" copper drain line that is a heat exchanger with coils of tubing around it to recover heat from drain water. It was available commercially when I installed it about 15 years ago. It's in a house and the rest of drains are PVC. It's in a vertical stack and coupled with...

I need to install stub outs for a new half bath. My choices seem to be - a bracket that holds the PEX in a curve out the wall. Then a crimp on valve on the PEX. Seems like poor support of the valve, particularly when operating it. - a copper bend stub out with either: - solder on valve...

Pumping from a stream for irrigation and am having trouble with pump output. It's been in use several summers and worked well until recently. Checked the input screen, filter, etc. Finally decided to see what the volume of output was. At about 40 PSI the output is only about 10 gal/min and...

Building a detached garage in Illinois near St. Louis. Outlet will run to an existing septic system. My understanding is that needs to be 4" even though the use is only a half bath and an AC condensate drain. My question is where should this transition to 3". It has been suggested to make...

New construction in St. Louis county, Missouri. Looking to build a house with walkout basement and behind the house a detached garage with half bath (corner lot with house facing street with sewer main and garage access off other street). Sewer is only 8' deep so elevations are an issue...

Located in St. Louis. Planning a new house. Plans call for a sump. Current house is a walk out about 40 feet from a steeper slope that goes down over 50' of elevation. We ran inside drain tile to daylight at the edge of the steeper slope and never have to worry about basement water or a pump...

Looking at building a home in an older neighborhood on a lot that slopes away from the street. Sewer line is 8' below street. The existing houses main floors are several feet above ground level and the street and have basements. Looks like we can do a walk out but have some concerns about...

What should be done to a softener that has been out of service for 6-8 years? Just clean the brine tank, flush the resin bed and run some cleaner through it and flush again or something more?

Have a pump inlet that I have put a PVC male threaded adapter to PVC pipe, then an elbow, etc for inlet pipe. Last year I had the threaded end shrink and deform and come out of the pump body. It had a fair amount of weight of the pipe on it so put in a support for the pipe and replaced the...

Have a leaking bath faucet that I need to get a cartridge for. Wish I had kept records of faucet make/models... Installed in 2004. And which parts are supposed to move on the threaded body - the steel washer on top or the threaded part on the bottom that had a toggle part to lock onto the...

Have an attic furnace/AC that has a maze of 6" R6 flex duct. 100k standing pilot furnace and 3T (I need to check this to be sure) AC. Planning to replace the furnact and questioning the ductwork. The existing system has just a box on the inlet and outlet and immediately transitions to many...

I would like to pump from a very small stream for use to water trees and bushes. I plan to install a pump relay to control when the pump is running but also want to make it so the pump can be started in the house and then go to one of several faucets (large yard) to turn on the faucet. I am...

I have had repeated banging in my pipes for the last few months. It started suddenly and I was unable to find any valves, toilet valves, etc that had any issues. I moved one of the bladder tanks (I have one on each of two water heaters on each end of the house) to where the water comes into...

I am wanting to set up a pump to get water from a very small stream. Before anyone jumps in about if this is allowed I have already checked and allowed to do this. The elevation change is about 80 feet on a fairly steep hillside and the run is about 250'. I have guessed about 5 GPM is about...