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One night, my wife poured a large pot of recently boiled water down the kitchen sink drain. After that we noticed a strong chemical smell coming from the sink drain, which eventually went away. We have a polypropylene P trap below that sink. I explained to her not to do that anymore, and even...

In my home, I have a main natural gas line coming in at 2 PSI, and then a branch goes to a Maxitrol 325-3 regulator, which then goes to the gas lines feeding my furnace, water heater and dryer. I assume that regulator steps the pressure down to 1/2 PSI? Is that correct and isn't that what those...

Since I moved in, my house has had an unstable standpipe made of 1-1/2" compression PVC parts and fittings for my washer to drain into. Take a look at the photo below, which I took after partially dismantling things. The standpipe is removed in the photo and connected on the right side of the...

I have the Korky 528MP fill valve that is often recommended on this forum. Installed it a couple years ago, but it is now having a problem where after flushing, there's a delay before it turns the water on. The delay used to be maybe 20 seconds and it's getting worse and now takes a few minutes...

I'll be working on installing LED under-cabinet lights in our kitchen, and I have to fish electrical wire up an insulated wall and into the back of a kitchen cabinet, where I will connect it to the LED driver/transformer/power supply that I'll mount in the back of the cabinet. I won't have an...

What size ChannelLock pliers do you plumbers recommend as a good all-around size to do residential plumbing, and I want it big enough to also work with 1-1/2" PVC threaded fittings. Is the Channel Lock 440 12" about right?

I want to replace my traditional rod and lever bathroom sink drains with the kind you push to close and push to open. What brand do you plumbers recommend? Online there are some highly rated, inexpensive ones from KES (although the washers are bad on those, they say) and Pfister. But not sure...

I want to replace an old-style laundry room faucet connected to the plumbing from the top, with a kitchen type faucet and sprayer, with the plumbing coming from the bottom. As you can see in the photo below, the space above and to the sides of the laundry tub is quite limited. I have mostly...

I have a water softener with the good ol' Fleck 5600 on it. For a while now, we've been getting salty, foamy water running through our sinks after it regenerates. At times, the brine level in the tank is too high, as well. I've taken the Fleck apart and checked everything. There was some grit...

I just replaced an older Delta faucet in our bathroom with a warranty replacement model that Delta sent us. The new one is a single handle model that has a cartridge with the red tab on top of it. It works fine, except when the water is turned on half way, with the handle in the middle set to...

We just replaced our bathroom faucet with another Delta single handle model. It works fine, except when the water is turned on half way, with the handle in the middle set to warm water, it is really loud. It is not water hammer, it just sounds like lots of water is going through it -- same sound...

I'm no pro, but have done a fair amount of sweating copper joints. I always clean the heck out of the fittings, apply Oatey #95 tinning flux to the joint, and then use a propane torch to heat the fitting (not the tubing). I heat up the fitting, and after the flux boils away, touch the solder to...

Does anyone have any tips for keeping a shower valve's screws tight? We have about a 25 year old Kohler valve, single handle faucet. After you remove the handle, you can see three long screws that hold the valve together. They come loose over time and cause a leak in the valve. As a test, I...

Hey all you plumbing gods out there, I need some advice. I've done some sweating of copper joints, but not a lot. I want to replace the shutoff valve shown in the photo below, which leads to our outdoor spigot, with a ball valve. I'd prefer to sweat the new valve on, if I can do it without...

To hook up my furnace humidifier, I want to put in a T (sweat connection) in my 3/4" copper pipe that comes out of my water heater, so it comes out to a 1/2" on the side, which will eventually hook up to the 1/4" compression fitting that joins my flexible copper tubing to the humidifier. I...