My Latest Project

[Dr_Snooz]

This is what I've been working on lately.



The plumbing in Mom's mobile has been randomly springing leaks all over the place for the last couple years. It turns out the plumbing they used when they built her home in the '80s (polybutylene pipe) was subsequently banned in the US because it's such garbage. So I'm replacing it all. I didn't know anything about plumbing when I started but I'm learning.

Today I tied into the hot and cold water supplies and brought water to the new manifold (pictured above). Now as I have time, I can run new pipe to each fixture, cap off the old plumbing, turn on the supply valve and be good to go. I can run bits and pieces as I have time and not have to get it all done at once.

Wish me luck.

[lostforawhile]

mobile home or motor home? I've never seen a manifold in a mobile home here, they usually just run regular pvc pipe like a house, normally they set it up on site, then plumb everything there. plumbing isn't too bad, you'll figure it all out

[Dr_Snooz]

Mobile home. I guess the manifold setup is what they are using in all the new construction now. The plumbers unions apparently don't like it very much because guys like me who don't know anything about plumbing can re-plumb their houses for a few hundred bucks, including the tools. I'm loving how easy it is. It's easy to run, easy to connect and easy to tie into the existing plumbing. Those two water lines going to the manifold were a simple crimp connector and then hand-tight onto the manifold.

Super easy. If you don't know plumbing, this is the way to learn.

[Dr_Snooz]

I'm using PEX pipe, which is the latest and greatest. Here's where I tied into the cold water supply (denoted by the blue pipe). The red pipe is some of the emergency repairs I did when I found water spraying onto the underside of Mom's subfloor.



The city water comes in through the copper pipe at the bottom. The PEX connects to it using a standard pipe adapter. The T connector goes off to supply the manifold. The top of the T connects into the existing plumbing (black pipe) with a simple compression cuff connector. Just push the pipes into either side of the compression cuff connector, tighten the collars and you're done.

You can connect PEX to just about any existing plumbing with adapters or compression cuff connectors. If you have any plumbing trouble at all, check out PEX and do it yourself. It's really good stuff. You can buy everything you need and learn for cheaper than you can pay a plumber for one repair. The worst part of all of it was rolling around in the mud.

[Civic Accord Honda]

i love plumbing! just hate it when its an under ground leak or somewhere under the house that anit fun when u have to dig up a whole yard in the desert ><

[2oodoor]

hey, cool hose thing a ma did....
looks like a challenge.. I hope it isnt 151 degrees out there like it feels here

[2drSE-i]

hey, cool hose thing a ma did....
looks like a challenge.. I hope it isnt 151 degrees out there like it feels here

Don't worry, the awesome rain we got today will be headed your way in the next day or two. So instead of being ridiculous hot, it can be ridiculous hot AND ridiculous humid (Well, more ridiculous humid than it already was...)

[Dr_Snooz]

It's been over 100 for the last couple weeks consistently. Humidity is only 38%, so it's no big deal. It stays pretty cool under the house too.

[lostforawhile]

they don't sell it here at all, it's probably not approved for local codes, one of the most confusing things in the world are plumbing codes, you have national codes and standards, then you may have state requirements and standards, which may or may not approve the same things as national standards, then you have local codes and ordinances, it can depend on all kinds of things, what are the temperature extremes in the area, what kinds of minerals are in the water, whats in the soil, etc, etc. all of those things can affect the different kinds of materials used in plumbing. For example, we have high sulfur water, water comes from a town deep well, it eats the inside of pvc pipes over time, that type of plumbing may not be able to handle the mineral content in this area, of course it may be this is a backwards redneck town also, and they are 50 years behind the time. this is also the same town that became a national laughing stock when they created the law to ban couches from porches, it made national news as a footnote joke.

[2ndGenGuy]

Dude those plumbing manifolds are the best idea ever. If you spring a leak ANYWHERE in your house, you can just turn off that line, and the rest of your house still has water. I dunno why they never did it like this years ago. Also the flexible piping is awesome... That's really cool about how easy it is to hook up. I had no idea. I've seen that in quite a bit of new construction.

[Dr_Snooz]

Project is DONE! Sweet!! Here's what it looks like now:



My brother is here from Texas this week, so he fed pipe and I slithered around on my belly under the house. It's all working with no leaks and only a couple snafus along the way. I found an old rat corpse under the house which was disgusting. Anyway, PEX is super awesome and I highly recommend it.

[Civic Accord Honda]

[2ndGenGuy]

Awesome work man! Looks fucking pro!

[reinaldo]

You really love plumbing..

[lostforawhile]

needs to be braided hose with AN fittings

[blazin3gen]

pex pipe wont pass code on alot of counties in cali

[lostforawhile]

pex pipe wont pass code on alot of counties in cali

yea i looked into it here locally and the Home Depot guy said it's not code here eithier

[DBMaster]

I love those push-in type connectors. Are they called Hansen connectors? I have an R/O (reverse osmosis) system under my sink that uses them and it has been leak free for fourteen years. I also like the "Shark Bite" connectors for copper plumbing. Having done plumbing projects since I was a teenager I have to say that technology has made it much easier in recent years.

[Dr_Snooz]

I did some more plumbing this weekend. The previous owner of the house ran all the hose spiggots off a separate line from the water main. That was nice when I did the plumbing inside the house because I didn't need to worry about the spiggots or sprinklers. Unfortunately, he didn't feel that durability was something to worry about, so the whole line, right up to the spiggots, was PVC. So all our spiggots were perched on the tops of wobbly PVC pipes. They all had issues of some kind or other but finally this last weekend we noticed that one of the PVC lines has been leaking on the siding and rotting it out. I decided to re-run the whole circuit. I ran PEX under the house with galvanized pipe running outside to the spiggot.



It's bullet-proof now. No more wobbly PVC leaking on the siding.

I also had to put in a new ball valve because the old one didn't turn off completely. In typical Dr_Snooz fashion, however, I did this at the end of the project, after doing everything else with water dribbling on me the whole time.




Hope everyone else got to do something awesome this last weekend!

[Xaisk]

Man that looks great. That really is a good idea.. plumbling manifold. brilliant and looks damn sharp.

Wish I had a house to do cool stuff to like that haha.

[Dr_Snooz]

Two year update: the plumbing is still working great with no problems. The only issue with PEX is that the water coming from our taps still tastes like plastic. Really bad. First thing in the morning is worst because the chemicals have been leaching into the water all night long. We're constantly flushing the water (in a water scarce area) and we go through a lot of Brita filters now. The taste has been slowly diminishing over time, but it's been an exponential decay function (very slow and getting slower). Maybe in 10 years it will not taste so bad.

The constant bad taste has made me rethink PEX. I'm a lot less excited about using it and I'm pretty sure I won't use a manifold again. At least not a plastic manifold. The manifold is a big chunk of resin and solvents and it really gives the water a foul taste. I'm sure the PEX pipe itself imparts some taste too, but most of it is coming from the manifold.

[Buzo]

But I'm sure your mom tells her friends "my son did all the plumbing 2 years ago and I have had no leaks since then". And regardless the slight taste in the water, I got that taste too from my fridge's cold water supply AND all the plumbing is cooper! I don't think it is a big deal.

I'm glad you did something for her. Moms are great and don't hesitate to proudly tell others about what you did for her.

When I do a repair at my mom's house, she usually change names. So she tells others that it was one of my brothers who fixed stuff when in reality I was who fixed it. But we all know her and we all know I am good at mechanics, plumbing, and my brothers are good at... mmmh... other stuff.

Congratulations for this nice project!

[2oodoor]

It is still amazing.

My mom got a new fridge about 3 years now and the dam ice maker and cold water service STILL taste like plastic.
I will always use copper line and make my own lines for ice makers if I ever get around to hooking mine up. lol

[Dr_Snooz]

I got that taste too from my fridge's cold water supply AND all the plumbing is cooper!

It's a pick-your-poison kind of deal. With PEX, you get all the chemicals and solvents they use to make the pipe. With PVC, you get lead and other nasty stuff. Copper can also become toxic in the body. The only way to avoid it is to go without indoor plumbing, I guess.

Thanks for the kind comments.

[lostforawhile]

It's a pick-your-poison kind of deal. With PEX, you get all the chemicals and solvents they use to make the pipe. With PVC, you get lead and other nasty stuff. Copper can also become toxic in the body. The only way to avoid it is to go without indoor plumbing, I guess.

Thanks for the kind comments.

whole house filter,sink filter or pitcher filter. Our water here in the city is well water and it's awful, it eats the flappers out of the toilet.