r/askaplumber

Moved into a flatshare two months ago and it's disgusting, years of built up grime pretty much everywhere, so I've been doing random deep cleans here and there. Under the sink was yesterdays deep clean and then I noticed a leak which I believe was because I cleaned away the limescale that had been keeping it sealed. Tried tightening the jamb nut (if that's the right name) as it was a bit loose, still leaking, tried tightening again and the gasket (again, don't know the names, going off a labelled google image) literally fucking explodes. Is this my fault or was it bound to happen? Either way my landlord is gonna be pissed

I'd like to move this higher up on the wall to try to get a little more usable floor space in the garage. Is there any reason it would need to be below the inlet and outlet connections?

Purchased a house built in 1995 recently in Eastern NC and I noticed a bad patch job in the laundry room. Behind a thin layer of mud and drywall mesh, this 8” length of flex duct (1st photo)duct taped to a 3” PVC pipe ( photo 2 taken looking down pvc pipe)Appeared! PVC pipe goes down into the slab and appears to head toward the master bath. This laundry room sits directly behind the master bath toilet.

It looked dry inside it and I did NOT catch a wiff of sewer gas coming out of it.

Maybe a Dryer vent I thought but a dryer vent wouldn’t go into the slab… and the current dryer vents to a different wall.

What could it be?

I moved in about a month ago and the previous resident had this clamp in place on the washing machine water supply. Why is the clamp there? A plumber that came by said it served no purpose and can be removed, but I want to be certain. Is it fine to remove?

Ahoy
Dug up a sandpit. Sandpit was there for almost 40 years. Underneath was this.

Any clue what it is?

House was built 1940s in Melbourne Australia.

Is this shit useful? Or should I hush it with a new sandpit?

Speculation welcome.

I live in a 160 year old house. Plumbing is probably 50-60 years old throughout most of the house. There’s this pipe vent coming off of the kitchen sink (located on other side of window shown). It’s in incredibly ugly and I’m wondering if I can terminate it at the siding exit with a standard vent or if there’s a reason this thing is going above the roof. Thanks!

This new boiler is only 3 years old but gathering rust. Is it the valve? The small pipe is wet, seems like it? But the valve should not fail this early. Any advice appreciated. Also wondering if we should invest into a stand or the rust be painted over once issue is addressed.

Fitting has a crack. Can I heat up the solder to get this elbow off and solder on a new one? Or do I need to cut below the elbow?

Hi guys! Just moved into a new place with hard water and I’ve been doing my best to get it under control. The toilet emits the icky hard water smell and I’m trying to be rid of that. I’ve cleaned the bowl the best I could but opened the tank to find this. What’s the best way to clean this? If this is the wrong page to post let me know. Thanks in advance. (I’ve used iron out an clr in the bowl but not sure if those are okay to use in tank.)

Trying to install a bidet in my apartment toilet, there is no shutoff valve. Am I out of luck?

The leak is where it is circled. I bought a 1 1/2 inch bevel washer. It won’t fit on the black pipe. What am I missing here?

Edit: thank you for being so nice about this. I was frustrated, but now I’m just laughing.

Edit 2: I got a tailpiece washer and new tailpiece pipe. So far so good.

We replaced our sink and had to take out an old S trap and wanted to make sure there were no glaring issues, appreciate any input!

It's all so tight together I can't get a wrench in there. Even the gray plastic mounts are so tight I can't seem to loosen them. It's brass pipe above the thread that doesn't bend. Any tips to help me get this fixture out?

Thanks for helping my dumb ass out

We are in home buying process and under contract (Upstate NY). We got sewer scope done and inspector suggest to re-scope after cleaning, as he was not confident to make any decisions (see text below). We are willing to pay for cleaning & re-scope; but our agent is saying that we are over-reacting. She also mentioned that any damage found after cleaning might become our liability, as seller might say that we damaged it while cleaning. Has anyone from the field heard of this type of liability issue?

We like this house & it has 72 feet line from house to city lateral. House has been vacant since last ~6yrs and seller has no idea when pipes were installed (it could be original). We are worried that if the pipe is damaged we will run into large repair bill (10-20K or more) fairly quickly. Are we overreacting?

Inspector wrote: "The main sewer line from the foundation to the city lateral contained excessive grease build up/debris. Portions of the sewer line appeared potentially compromised, delaminating with possible cracking and/or displacement observed in isolated sections. Visibility was limited during the inspection due to the buildup within the line. Recommend cleaning the sewer line and performing a follow-up sewer scope inspection to further evaluate the overall condition of the piping."

PS: We are pretty certain that inspector was not financially motivated, as he literally told me that he is too expensive for this type of re-scoping. He told me to find a good plumber who can do both: clean and tell us if condition is good.