Waterworks

[Unimatic1140]

My weekend project was plumbing. For years I've feed all 27 washers with copper lines and faucets, but the supply to fill the copper lines was simply using a set of rubber hoses attached to the line. You can see the hose attached to the original faucets at the laundry sink and they connect to a hose connection that I put in when I built the original lines for the washers.

ps. Before anyone asks, lol, I do have each washer attached with stainless steel hoses, but for the supply I just used standard rubber hoses.

 

[Unimatic1140]

Since I wanted more pressure in the lines I knew eventually I would have to plumb the washer lines directly into the 3/4" house supply line. Before this weekend the line ended at those last two faucets in the picture below. Now the end has become the beginning and as I've soldered in brand new 3/4" lines attaching to the washers 1/2" copper lines. I added 3/4" shut off valves in a convenient spot to I can turn off the incoming water to the line.

 

[Unimatic1140]

Here is how I connected the new lines to the house lines. I figured one day when I sell the house it will be easy to disconnect and cap the lines at that spot near the ceiling.

 

[Unimatic1140]

I inspected some of the 70 year old galvanized water pipes and while I've seen much worse, I think its time to replace most of them.

 

[Unimatic1140]

So I ran some beautiful new copper lines for the kitchen and bathrooms supply. (and no that hole wasn't caused by this project or me lol, it was there when I moved in).

 

[Unimatic1140]

Tada

And here s everything back together. Yay for greater water pressure.

 

[a440]

Wow!

You have been busy!
Great job Robert!
How much do you think a plumber would have charged you to do this job?
How much would you charge? : )
It looks awesome! I am sure you are loving the higher water pressure.
Brent

 

[swestoyz]

Looks great Robert! Hopefully you are seeing some improvements in the pressure department. Was there a trigger for this? ;-)

About a year and a half ago I ripped out 2/3's of the original 1914 steel pipe in the house (very little was galvanized). Everything for the kitchen and 2nd floor bathroom. Replaced with copper and PEX. It was quite disturbing to see what the inside of the steel pipes look like, when you know you've drank water that has ran through them! When I start working on the basement I plan on running new 3/4 copper from as close to the main as I can get, to the point where I cut out originally. Will be very happy to get rid of as much steel as I can.

Ben

 

[rickr]

Good job Robert! I did not know that they used steel for water pipes. My house had lead pipes originally, and they were replaced with copper in 2002.

 

[maytagbear]

Wow!

Seriously excellent, Robert!

Faster fill times?

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[qsd-dan]

Sooo...

Are timed filled Frigidaires going to overfill now?

 

[sudsmaster]

Nice.

I'm still running my Miele in the workshop from a 50 ft garden hose (3/4" dia, extra heavy duty red) from an outside faucet that runs in through a window I leave cracked open). It was supposed to be temporary... lol... I use another 3/4" red hose to ferry the effluent from a laundry sink beside the Miele herd over to a commode on the other end of the shop. Funky, but it works.

And yeah, lots of homes were plumbed with galvanized steel water piping. Probably from about the 1920's or earlier up until after WWII. This home was built in '41 and the original water piping is steel. About 1/2 has been replaced with copper. I need to do the rest. And eventually I'll plumb the workshop with copper faucets for where the washers will wind up... someday... But then I'm not into this as much as Robert, for better or worse.

Steel piping isn't that bad until it starts corroding inside... then it can plug up, or, worse, spring a leak around connections that have rusted through. Any lead water piping needs to be replaced, though. Even though in time it produces an oxide layer that is resistant to further leaching of lead into the water, why take the risk of lead poisoning? And even some types of galvanizing have appreciable levels of lead in the zinc layer - as do older solder formulations for connecting up copper pipe.

 

[chestermikeuk]

Leaded Pipes

Ohh, busy busy, looking good, do we have a new machine that needs extra pressure then?? do you switch off the mains feed to the basement when you`ve finished washing??

I replaced all the lead water & gas pipes 12 yrs ago after moving in, the house even had active gas running through leaded pipes to gas lighting mantles which had been capped!!! all copper now... cheers, Mike

 

[gansky1]

Very nice! I love those ball-type valves, much more secure and easy to use. It will be interesting to see the pressure difference now. Those old pipes don't look as bad as some of seen around here, it helps that Minneapolis softens it's water to 7 grains - we have sand and pebbles running through our pipes! 14 to 17 grains depending on the time of year.

My house is all copper from the street so I've been lucky to not have to replace any, just add more for the washer lines. I have rubber supply hoses as well and need to replace them soon with braided or direct-plumb them into the house system.

Since I have softened water, I have two sets of cold water supply lines running the length of the house - one soft line and one hard water for the outside faucets, sprinkler system and the refrigerator/ice maker line. It's like a spider web at some points but with a little patience and tracing of lines, easily figured out.

 

[tlee618]

Robert, it sounds like you have really been busy there!! I bet that you are going to enjoy the added water pressure!!

 

[toggleswitch2]

YAY to a thorough job done right!

 

[Unimatic1140]

How much do you think a plumber would have charged you to do this job?
I don't know, but I bet it would have been really expensive.

Are timed filled Frigidaires going to overfill now?
Nope, that's what the flow restrictors inside the water valves are for, but I will be able to fill multiple timed fill washers at the same time now. yay.

do we have a new machine that needs extra pressure then?? do you switch off the mains feed to the basement when you`ve finished washing??
No new machine, but yes if I remember I usually do turn off the water to the machines.

 

[frontaloadotmy]

Robert

In post 561 pic what are those brass fittings between the
red handled valves and the 90 L's ?
(I'm going to try some pex here.)

 

[turboace]

Great job!

Robert, looks like you did an awesome job. Our new house has all copper, with 1 1/4" main line coming in from the well and 1" main trunk line in the rest of the basement, branching off to 3/4" supplies.

Question - did you think about putting in a recirc loop on the hot? Our bulider did that standard, and wow, what a difference. You have hot on tap at every point and don't waste any water waiting for it to get warm. Works great for the DW and washing machines too. There are two types of these systems, powered, where there is a little pump that is typically set on a timer, and passive.

Our bulider reccomended the passive system. Just Right by Nibco. See link. This valve uses natural convection to keep the water recirculating. Additionally, when you first turn on the tap, the Just Right valve uses water from the recirc side of the loop to fill the water heater, so it is actively sucking the return, pulling the hot even more. The link explains better than I can.

The next house our builder built was right when the price of copper sky-rocketed. Interestingly he changed over to PEX home run system. Each and every tap has a home run to the manifold each with its own shut off valve. This sytem might have acutally worked better in our house since none of our first floor walls line up with our second floor walls. What results with copper is many, many 90 degree elbows, each and every one slowing the flow and reducing pressure. The pex system totally eliminates that.

Anway, great job. Did you have to re-sweat any connections that leaked? I hate that.

Andy


http://www.nibco.com/assets/Justrt.pdf

 

[fltcoils]

galvanized will last, without copper in the mix

I've seen houses with copper installed onto galvanized systems.
Many think that is something avoid.

The copper sets up an electrolysis reaction where the galvanized pipes are the sacrificial anode. I've seen this happen, not pretty.

"but you will end up with bigger problems than before, because the reaction between the galvanized iron and the copper creates additional corrosion in the galvanized pipe. When the copper pipes are added to the old iron ones, you will get leaks as the older pipes break down even faster than before... "
http://www.drainsandplumbing.com/waterpipes.html

 

[sudsmaster]

Copper vs. Steel

Yes, joining copper pipes directly to steel pipes will cause electrolytic corrosion of the steel.

The solution is to use a dielectric union for any such joins. This keeps the two materials electrically separate from each other, reducing or eliminating the electrolytic component of the corrosion.

I notice the cited article doesn't discuss that simple fix.

The same type of union is needed for the cold and hot water lines going into and out of a typical water heater. Most water heaters have steel tanks and fittings. If the home has copper piping, it's essential to use dielectric unions to join the copper to the steel at the water heater.

http://www.hammerzone.com/archives/plumbing/systems/components/union_de/intro.htm

 

[Unimatic1140]

In post 561 pic what are those brass fittings between the

Darrel those are one way check valves, they only allow the water to flow in the direction of the washers and not back into the fresh water system.

 

[rapunzel]

Your plumbing is beautiful and I need a husband!

Come to my window tonight and I'll let my hair down for you.

cheers

rapunzel