my house that was built in the 40's or 50's had no way to turn plumbing inside the house until last year. i had a valve put on the pipe where it comes out of the porch and goes into the house. before i did that i had to turn off the pump then drain the 500 gallon pressure tank of air. even then id still have a constant dribble inside. once repairs are made i had to add air back to my tank with my air compressor
Plumbing disaster.
- Thread starter JTK
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I really wanted to see how they installed the new outside shut-off without disrupting service. I also wanted to know if they ever located the original (and replaced it), or if they just abandoned it and installed the new one?
They showed up, had it done pretty quick and bailed while my wife was getting the 2yr/old down for his nap. They never approached the house once, or communicated in any way.
I feel your pain JTK. Every time I have to touch one of the gate valves in my house (built in mid 70's) I cringe. It either won't work or the valve stem starts to leak. I too had to replace the main shut off and went with a ball valve.
One word of caution related to the ball valve that the installer mentioned is that you should take care to open and close the valve slowly as failure to do so could result in "fluid hammer" which could damage the plumbing. This caution did seem to be backed up by internet sources.
Originally Posted By: eljefino
They say NYC has 150 year old valves under the streets that they hope they never have to use or exercise.
I chose a plumbing business based on always seeing their vans driving around. It was pricey but I got someone competent. 
Originally Posted By: slug_bug
One word of caution related to the ball valve that the installer mentioned is that you should take care to open and close the valve slowly as failure to do so could result in "fluid hammer" which could damage the plumbing. This caution did seem to be backed up by internet sources.
I do not question the rates a tradesman charges. OTOH, I have a plumbing kit, and will mess around with wiring inside my house. The house's plumbing is all between 10 and 30 yrs old. The wiring has very little old stuff. I had a 200 amp panel put in when I added on. After messing with leaky shut offs for 15 yrs, I replaced all the shut-offs with ball valves. The local code doesn't allow the clamp on take offs for the ice maker. Whoop-dee-do. They stink and and the fitting was a buck or so.
JHZR2
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Originally Posted By: andyd
I do not question the rates a tradesman charges. OTOH, I have a plumbing kit, and will mess around with wiring inside my house. The house's plumbing is all between 10 and 30 yrs old. The wiring has very little old stuff. I had a 200 amp panel put in when I added on. After messing with leaky shut offs for 15 yrs, I replaced all the shut-offs with ball valves. The local code doesn't allow the clamp on take offs for the ice maker. Whoop-dee-do. They stink and and the fitting was a buck or so.
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
[quote=andyd] I got chewed out on here once because how dare I question someone who is running their business when they tried to charge over $200/hr to do an AC install, where they didnt even have to run ducts. Those HVAC folks seem to be thieves.
Originally Posted By: andyd
I do not question the rates a tradesman charges. OTOH, I have a plumbing kit, and will mess around with wiring inside my house.
The plumbing business, at least where I live, is becoming increasingly segmented. I got out of the service-and-repair business some time ago because of the overhead involved, and also because I don't like charging the prices that they charge. I understand their prices are necessary due to the cost of vehicles, training, and above all, advertising. You can't swing a dead cat around here without hitting a plumbing van, so the successful service shops advertise quite a bit. The successful plumbing company will have modern vehicles, clean, well-groomed techs with clean uniforms, a snappy logo, and strong ad presence.
Then there are the drain specialists. To be in this business, you need at least 4 different-sized drain snakes, probably 2 to 3 jetting machines with different capabilities, and drain cameras. The up-front cost is considerable, and all of this equipment requires maintenance. It would be easy to spend $20,000 to outfit one vehicle, although most vehicles wouldn't carry all of this equipment. To do this, you also have to advertise heavily.
Then there's new construction, which is what I do now. I do residential and light commercial new construction, remodel/addition work, and commercial TI's. Advertising is much more low-key, and my guys need to be plumbers rather than salesmen. Quite a bit of technical knowledge is required, much more than you need to know to do service work. I'm a pretty small operator at this point, and will still do occasional repairs for some friends and a few property owners. But I don't advertise to homeowners, and I generally refuse to do service work, mostly because I'm just not set up for it, and it would take time away from the new/remodel work we specialize in.
If it sounds like I'm denigrating service guys and drain cleaners, I don't mean to be. They provide a necessary service, and I've done that type of work also.
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