Many modern drain cleaners, like Draino, contain harsh chemicals that can dissolve and corrode cast iron pipes over time, so is there a cast iron pipe that has a protective layer of glass on the inside? Glass sand can be applied to the cast iron, which is then heated that melts that glass, and rolled so that the melted glass coats evenly on the inside of the iron pipe. This glassy layer will protect against corrosive chemicals.

Thank you for your interest and attention.

Hello everyone, I was in my basement a little while ago and saw this pile of soap suds coming out of what I believe is the sump?

This hasn't happened before, but i think it's relevant that we've got a baby so I'm washing a fuckton of bottles and using a fuckton of soap. Could that cause this?

If it's not that, how concerned should I be? Thanks in advance

Original post (Thursday, April 30th):

Hello, c/plumbing, I'm back for another round of troubleshooting and need your help again, please.

Background: Yesterday my water heater stopped putting out hot water. Since I own my home, I decided to troubleshoot on my own before I call a professional plumber.

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Ninja Edit 1 (additional background): Yesterday when we first noticed a problem, we were getting room temperature water, just warm enough to shower but still somewhat chilly, like the temp you get when you're about to run out of hot water. As of today, our "hot" water isn't even room temperature anymore, it's the same as our cold water (noticeably cooler than it was on Day 1).

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(back to the original post)

What I've tried so far: With power turned off, I removed the cover panel and checked the reset button on the top thermostat, but it was not tripped (no click), so today I picked up a multimeter and tested resistance and continuity on both heating elements as demonstrated in this video. Both elements passed both tests - the resistance tests read between 12.7 and 12.9 ohms, and the continuity tests beeped. I also did a ground test, which read no resistance. So far, so good.

Where I'm stuck: At the electric panel I flipped the power back on for my water heater so I could do a voltage test at the thermostats and heating elements as demonstrated in this video. Even though my no-contact voltage tester detects hot wires (first photo), with the multimeter probes touching the topmost screws on the thermostat and/or the two screws for the heating element (second photo) my multimeter reads 0.0 volts in AC voltage mode (third photo). I've tested the multimeter on an electrical outlet and confirmed it reads 124 volts as expected (fourth photo), so I think the multimeter itself is functioning properly. I tried switching the probes, which made no difference (as expected b/c AC).

Any pointers on what I should try next? Since the multimeter doesn't read any voltage at the top thermostat, I'm not sure if this indicates an issue w/ the thermostat or if my testing process is flawed. Thank you!

Photos:

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Ninja Edit 2 (more photos from my original testing):

I've also touched the multimeter probes to the screws on the heating element even though I originally only posted photos showing me testing the thermostat - here are the two additional photos that I should've included in the OP:

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Edit 3 (terminal-to-ground tested each terminal individually + more photos):

I went back out there and re-checked each terminal individually (terminal to ground) for the top and bottom thermostats and heating elements. In all cases, readings came back between 124 and 126 vac.

I appear to have reached the limit for image uploads on a Lemmy post, but I also terminal-to-ground tested the other terminal for the top heating element and repeated these same tests for the bottom thermostat and heating element, and all of them show between 124 and 126 vac.

Where to go from here:

From these tests I believe I can conclude that all of the components (both thermostats and heating elements) are at least receiving power from the grid, although I am perplexed as to why when I connect both multimeter probes to both terminals at the same time, the multimeter reads 0 vac, which seems different from the second video that I linked above (here's that link again).

Given these latest test results and the fact that both heating elements passed earlier continuity tests w/ the power off and wires disconnected, any ideas what to check next? Is it time to just replace all four components and see if we get our hot water back?

Edit 3.1:

I'll look again for a rogue light switch and check the individual wires and if necessary the conduit cabling as suggested in the comments, then I'll report back. I do have an appointment that I need to scurry off to at the moment, but I'll get back to this in a few hours. Thank you!

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Edit 4: After testing the individual wires at the top thermostat, there appears to be a fault somewhere between the top left wire and the circuit breaker. I tested at the circuit breaker and measured normal readings (125.4, 125.7, and 250 vac), so my next step is to investigate under the conduit on top of the water heater like Cataphract suggested. I want to thank everyone for getting me to this point. Your support has been amazing, truly beyond words. I'm about to call it a night tonight, then tomorrow I'll pick up where we left off and continue updating this thread. Thanks again!

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Edit 5 (Tuesday, May 5th - after being visited by the electrician):

On Saturday w/ the power off and both wires disconnected from their respective terminals at the circuit breaker and the water heater, I checked for breaks in the wires between the circuit breaker and the water heater, which are about 20 feet apart (ordered some extension leads specifically for this test). In resistance and continuity modes the multimeter shows open line for the white wire and good line for the black wire, after which I'd reached the limits of my ability/desire to continue troubleshooting, so I called and scheduled an electrician to come out on Tuesday (today).

Fast forward to today (Tuesday), electrician comes out, I explain that my multimeter reads 0 vac at the thermostat and detects an open line on that white wire, so I believe it to be a power supply issue. He disagrees w/ my diagnosis, thinks a bad element could cause 0 vac reading at the thermostat, and recommends sending a plumber. The plumber is under the same roof as the electrician, and this company has decent ratings on Yelp, so despite my skepticism I accept his recommendation to have the plumber come out and take a look.

So the plumber is coming out later this afternoon. I'll explain the situation to him and if he agrees w/ the electrician that it's likely an issue w/ the thermostat and/or heating element, I'll let him do his thing and then either we'll have hot water (hallelujah) or we won't (boo).

Stay tuned...

Edit 5.1: Holy shit, we back, baybee let'z gooo!

Okay, so while the electrician was here, he inspected the wire connections on top of the water heater and noted that the wires were not braided, so he re-did them for me and put the caps back on. I fessed up to having disconnected them and putting them back wrong during my troubleshooting adventures. Keep in mind that at this point, I had thought the issue was with the white wire itself, and he thought the issue was one of the heating elements, so neither one of us thought to test the hot water after he tweaked that.

Fast forward 90 minutes, I go wash my hands in the bathroom, and after 10 or 15 seconds I notice the water's getting warm. I immediately run upstairs to test the shower, and holy shit, it's working! She's alive!

Literally me:

I must admit that I'm still perplexed b/c I thought I had ruled out that connection point as a possibility when I tested each end of the white wire from the circuit breaker to the top of the water heater for continuity, but if there has ever been a time when I'm glad to be wrong, this is it.

I would like to once again thank @Darkassassin07@lemmy.ca and @Cataphract@lemmy.ml for their invaluable advice and support. And I would be remiss if I didn't also thank my gf for her patience while we rode this out - in Cataphract's words, an absolute saint! 😘

Original post:

So I'm on my way to the store to pick up a voltage tester b/c our showers have been noticeably room temperature today. We own our place so I'm attempting some basic DIY troubleshooting steps before I call a plumber. Found this 4-minute video guide to resetting an electric water heater. At 2:30 into the video, right after the plumber removes the cover plate and insulation, the white plastic cover in the video has two holes, and the top hole supposedly has a big red button to reset it.

I've already flipped off the circuit breaker and removed the metal cover plate. The problem is, on mine the white plastic covering on the thermostat only has one hole, there is no big red reset button on my thermostat. Any tips on where else to look for the big red reset button? If it makes any difference, I am located in the US, and I believe the brand of my water heater is State Select, model number ES652DORT 210.

Side question - should I take steps to protect myself against the outer insulation wrapped around the overall water heater? I kinda just went in there guns blazing and didn't think about gloves, masks, etc.

Photos:

Thanks in advance for everyone's help!

EDIT: Today I learned there are two thermostats, and the big red reset button is on the top one! Unfortunately, pressing it did not click like I was hoping. This leads me to believe I have a bad heating element as suggested in the comments. My next step is to get a multimeter so I can check continuity, resistance, and amperage. Thanks to those who have weighed in so far.

Photos of the top thermostat:

The house I live in has an existing oil-based boiler for both heat and hot water. The hot water tank (50 gallons) will likely need to be replaced in the next few years as it is more than 10 years old, probably approaching 15. I am on well water without a water softener, and I assume that the previous owners never did any sort of maintenance with the current hot water tank. (A neighbor mentioned that there is some sacrificial part that can be replaced every so often to extend the life of the tank.)

I keep reading that the hybrid heat pump water heaters are incredibly efficient, and I hate having to burn oil during the warmer months just to heat my showers. My plumber tells me that it's a really efficient system and that I should keep it intact as long as I can. He also seems a bit old school in his opinion and preferences, as he scoffs at the idea that I would eventually like to replace the whole boiler and system with a heat pump system instead.

Is there a good place to learn about how my existing system works, and any way to compare to possible savings (or pitfalls) of switching to a new system? Are there other options, such as tankless hot water heaters, that I should consider? I gather that recovery time with a hybrid heat pump water heater will be much slower than the existing system, so should I also calculate for a larger system (65 or 80 gallons)? Two adults live here full time but we frequently host guests and family gatherings, and we sometimes need enough hot water for 10 or so adults to shower. There are three full bathrooms in the house and one day we may add a fourth.

geteilt von: https://discuss.tchncs.de/post/57229837

Hello! My bathroom faucet has an insert aerator. We attempted to remove it in order to remove the chalk in the faucet, and broke the bottom part off as a result. The keys we have to remove the aerator are now not working, and we can't quite get it out.

Does anybody have any suggestions? We've tried using thin pliers for electronics to grab it and twist, but we can't get a good enough grip. A few photos attached: the remaining part inside the faucet, the broken off bottom part, and the keys that we have.

My first actual plumbing project done entirely on my own, replaced leaking black 3" flex piping w pvc, about 6 feet. In the end the cement I had was old and consistency of jelly. Instead of going out and buying new I went ahead used it and now I'm haunted/scared. It came out really clean and I now have much regret for not taking the final step correctly.

The place I repaired is intake from gravity fed 3" piping direct from irrigation ditch to my yard (3" intake reduced to 1.5", 90° up, 90° over), where it comes in to my pump, so the parts I replaced aren't under direct pressure. What scares me most is once the ditch opens up, whatever the results of my work I may be stuck until the end of the season to replace/repair.

Ditch opens up in April. How fucked am I?

It's happened twice now. I figure I maybe didn't tighten it enough last time so I went a bit harder this time. Any idea if something else might be wrong? My complete amateur theory is that the hard water buildup is making everything stiff down there, so that rotating the faucet also rotates this piece.

Thanks for your help!

One of my shut off valve need to be replaced. It's a metal valve in a copper pipe.

A plumber proposed a solution, by adding plastic fittings on both ends of the valve.

The plumber said the finished project would be like this (from his previous job at another customer's). (see the fittings in blue circles).



I don't know a lot about plumbing code, so I'm seeking advice here. Is it a common practice to add plastic fittings like this?

I'm in Ontario, Canada. Thank you very much 😊

I have a grounding wire that is connected to a copper pipe in my house.

Originally, I imagine said copper pipe connected all of the way to the pipe which goes into the ground towards the well.

However, at some point, the previous home owners installed a filtration system and replace a lot of the copper with PVC pipe, so it goes Copper > PVC > Copper > Ground Wire

Is that ground wire still useful? Or do I need to extend it to where the original copper pipe extends into the ground towards the well?

Okay, this is going to be a bit long. First, the setup. We have a two tank system, but the second is unpowered and connected to both the main tank and our geothermal system. There was a recirc pump installed prior to us buying the house, but it failed and was melting so it's unpowered and still in place. The tank is downstairs at one end of the house, and our issues are occuring upstairs at the opposite end. We are on a well, and had a fair amount of sediment in our water. We installed a three stage whole house filter, but some sediment likely remains in the tank. We haven't seen any of the previous issues associated with the sediment, so I don't believe any new sediment is entering the house.

This started several months ago, and is weird (for me, anyway). The master bath is the farthest from the tank. A few months ago, the water in the shower spontaneously (or so I thought at the time) would only get lukewarm. The other upstairs shower, much closer to the water heater, still had spicy hot water. I thought it was the mixing valve in our shower handle, so I replaced it and everything was fine. This was right after the master tub was used, which is seldom used at all.

Another month or so goes by (after the tub was used again, still no 2+2 for me), and now the farthest faucets only get lukewarm water. The closer bathroom is fine, the kitchen (midway between upstairs bathroom #1 and the master) also has lukewarm water. I did some googling, and decided a back flush of the hot water lines was needed. I capped the sink in the master, did the back flush, hot water was restored.

Another month or so elapsed (the tub was used again), the lukewarm water returned, and now I'm starting to get suspicious about this damn tub. I flushed the tank, did yet another back flush of the lines, and hit water was restored. Then my wife used the hot water in the tub to clean it today, and the lukewarm water returned. She did not used enough to empty the tank and draw up more sediment (if that's the cause), so I don't think it's a partial blockage. Tonight when I was using the kitchen sink, the hot water was measuring at 95 degrees. On a hunch, I went and opened the hot tap on one of the master sinks. The water in the kitchen instantly jumped to 115. I turned the tap back off and the kitchen water dropped back to lukewarm.

I'm pulling my hair out over here. Somehow the usage of the master tub is throwing the upstairs water into a tizzy. We can't avoid using the tub, as its where our kids take baths. I would live to not have to keep capping the master shower and back flushing, although that has worked 100% of the time.

Any ideas from you experts? Is this something to do with the tub valve, or some weird pressure imbalance caused by using the tub?

I appreciate you taking the time to read through all this noise.

Edit 1: My wife used the master sink just now after I posted this (again, farther downstream than the kitchen) and the sink in there was plenty hot like it should be. So now I'm even more confused. When this happened before, the master faucets were the lowest temp as they're the farthest.

You can just see the top of the drain pipe sticking out to the left of the shadow.

The contractor that built this addition had a little decorative box there so I never saw this until now. It lasted through two winters with that little box and a bale of straw that was put there for unrelated reasons, but I feel like that was dumb luck.

What would you do? Keeping in mind a tear-out and replace is out of the question before spring now.

Thanks,

I live in a condo (40ish yo) and recently a neighbor in an adjacent building had a leak and the board suggested that everyone have a plumber come inspect their units. I just inspected and found various levels of corrosion at most joints with the included photo the worst looking of the bunch.

How concerning does this appear?

The nut broke off and had a small red ring/gasket between these connectors. I'm an noob but can follow instructions. Please give suggestions. Thanks

Below there is a water valve which may be used as an alternative if the above (cupper?) pipe is inconvenient to use.