No hot water until... until...until.... NOW!

[Muse]

He had you over a barrel but also quickly solved your problem with zero drama. Fair trade I'd say.

Still not sure how you survived for so long without running hot water.

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His quotes were better than the other guy's. Not by a lot, but I had a lot more confidence in him. Plus, yeah, I was over a barrel then. Plus I had no other option, it was a no brainer. I asked him about repiping the house and he said $7000. There are two bathrooms. I asked the other guy what repiping the house would cost when I called him with the news that the kitchen job was done and he said $7200! Among the two I'd take the guy I worked with today, but I'm sure it would be a team job. He said they are 15ish people, 20ish including office staff.

It wasn't tough to survive:

1. I very often don't turn on the hot water at my kitchen sink when washing dishes (even before I lost my hot water due to this snafu), unless it's the colder months, at which time the cold water is super cold. Right now, the cold water doesn't bother me. And there's no dish washer.

2. My friend from my volunteer gig, who just retired from his long time plumbing gig (I believe he was solo, with his truck, and had devoted customers), had come over around 7 weeks ago IIRC and had the idea to redirect a few valves on my tankless water heater, which allowed me to get hot water through one of my 50' hoses. When I showered I would snake the hose into the house through the back door and into the bathroom, where I bungied the hose with sprayer (which has a shut off) onto my shower curtain rod. I got good at taking showers that way. I also filled my washer 2-3 times using that hose with 105 degree water.

Really, I didn't feel all that put out, but that's all over now. Hot water in the kitchen and bathroom! Also, the water pressure's now stepped down from ~90-92 to ~68, according to his gauge. He said that would be tops! I don't know if he's right about that. My retired plumber friend said I should have it set 70-75. But this guy today said he opened it high as it would go. I wonder about that, but figure 68 is probably OK.

It's this valve:

Zurn 34-NR3XLDU Wilkins Pressure Reducing 3/4-Inch Valve Lead Free

Amazon.com: Zurn 34-NR3XLDU Wilkins Pressure Reducing 3/4-Inch Valve Lead Free : Patio, Lawn & Garden

Buy Zurn 34-NR3XLDU Wilkins Pressure Reducing 3/4-Inch Valve Lead Free: Accessories - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

Amazon's page says: Factory preset 50 psi

The guy who installed it today said his gauge before adjusting it said 40 psi, so maybe his gauge is off?

 

[Greenman]

So... yesterday I gave the college try to straightening out the threads of the hot water nipple my wall mount faucet has to connect to, using a 1/2" die. I'd removed tile in a circle big enough to let the die sink well below the tile plane, but not so big that the faucet escutcheon wouldn't cover it.

I tried and tried and tried but no soap. Couldn't get any 1/2" female fitting to grab the old nipple. I don't know how old those galvanized nipples are but the house is 111 years old, so potentially very very old galvanized 2.5" long 1/2" nipples.

So, I went on Yelp to find highly recommended plumbers. I was immediately confronted by something I didn't expect, being an online questionaire asking me what my plumbing issues were. I played along, thinking I'd contact the one plumber I knew of that presumably had great Yelp reviews. Instead, I started getting calls right away. 4 plumbing companies called me within an hour or two. In the mean time, while fielding calls, I started poking around Yelp, reading reviews for the companies that were calling me, among others.

Two of the 4 companies that called (and I made appointments with for a free inspection/quotation) were 100% highly recommended. One was very highly recommended but had a few negative reviews, and one had only 3.5/5 stars, a company whose truck had attracted my attention a month or so ago in my town. When they called I recognized that they had relatively bad reviews, so I didn't pick up the phone!

The 3rd highest rated of those 4 could only come in 8 days. The 2 totally greatly recommended companies I set up for today, one this morning, one this afternoon. This morning a couple guys from one of those said they could do it for $400 for a quicky job, no copper piping, but I wasn't very clear on what they intended to do. Seems all these guys are Latino, and are ESL. Communication was a problem. For $1600 they would put in all copper piping, shut off valves too. But at first they said they would tear open the outside wall for me. Then the guy said he would do it from inside. I just wasn't clear. I told him I was seeing a competing company this afternoon and he asked me to call him today with my decision.

So, the 2nd guy comes this afternoon, alone, and I knew his name, he was very recommended in some Yelp reviews. He was upper 30's, young for his age, is my impression, knowledgable, very experienced and I began to explain it all and he just starts in on it. I explain that my internal pipe wrench didn't budge that hot water nipple. He removes my old faucet, which I had attached to only the cold water nipple at that point and that nipple appears to be in just as bad shape as the other one was, and I'm "oh, no, now I will have no water in the house at all unless something is done!!!" I figured I couldn't get my old faucet on either of those nipples. There's just one cold water shutoff, and I would have to leave it shut.

Both these guys tried cranking on that nipple with the 1/2" die and couldn't get any female to grab it.

So, he presents his superior internal pipe wrench (it looks like a 1/2" drill bit, evidently designed as an internal pipe wrench, with a square back end you can crank on with a wrench. I had a pretty big Crescent for that) and fortunately manages to remove both of those fucked up nipples (without resorting to heating the nipples with a torch) after I agree that I'll pay him $350 to remove them and install the new faucet, which I purchased almost 10 weeks ago. He had me over a barrel, how could I refuse? I said yes. He rummages around in his truck and finds a couple of brass nipples he'd had there for a long time waiting for the proper occasion. He installs them very professionally and proficiently. He installs my faucet, WHICH I LOVE! I ask him if he can install the water pressure regulator I bought 18 months ago and says he'll do that for $350, so he does that. Whole thing took 2 hours and 10 minutes, cost me $700, but my nightmare is over. That new faucet cost me $71, but is terrific and has ceramic cartridges that are smooth as silk.

In installing the water pressure reduction valve, he installed a 90 degree turn lever water shut off replacing the twist shut off that was there, which was a pain.

I called the other two companies and told them a guy came today and fixed the problem.

Blind installations scare the crap out of me. No way to tell if there is a leak inside the wall.
Great that you got it fixed up though.

 

[Muse]

Blind installations scare the crap out of me. No way to tell if there is a leak inside the wall.
Great that you got it fixed up though.

No, I think a leak should be obvious...

Before he left I asked him, is it possible there's a leak back in the wall? He said no way, can't be. I took his word for it.

Now, my recently retired plumber friend from my volunteer gig told me 9 weeks ago that this was a concern, but he said it would be obvious if there were a leak. I'm thinking two things now:

1. I could look under there (from the door under the sink that's outside) and see if there's evidence of a leak, wetness, etc.

2. Probably the better idea: EBMUD around 4 weeks ago replaced the box in front of the house, outside the sidewalk and the foreman explained to me that the little dial with the blue dot is there specifically to detect a leak... even a tiny leak will be obvious because the blue dot will move (albeit slowly) around the dial with even a little leak. We looked at it and it didn't move. He said that means I don't have any leaks on the property. I think I'll check that today.

 

[Muse]

Blind installations scare the crap out of me. No way to tell if there is a leak inside the wall.
Great that you got it fixed up though.

I just checked my new EBMUD water meter (installed ~4 weeks ago). The blue equilateral triangle is completely motionless. There are no leaks on the property.