Entropy

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JR.
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Re: Entropy

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mediatechnology wrote: Tue Jan 05, 2021 5:17 am I recall that we cut off the old stops with a hack saw and then used emery cloth to de-burr the copper line before installing the Shark Bite.
My plumber is due sometime today, to get him here sooner I just started a load of laundry and dishes, just to temp fate.

I do have a hacksaw and sand paper, maybe next time, that should happen never... :-)

JR
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JR.
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Re: Entropy

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terkio wrote: Tue Jan 05, 2021 7:30 am
JR. wrote: Mon Jan 04, 2021 4:49 pm I really hate it when physical things do not behave as expected (its the laws of physics).

I previously mentioned it was an odd "coincidence" that the sink cut off valve started dripping after I shut off the hot water heater... Now after repairing the heater and bringing it back online, the drip has stopped. WTF?

This is inexplicable. I am inclined to replace the under sink shut-off valves anyhow, but what is going on?

No hurry for the plumber to repair a drip that stopped dripping. :-)

[update, still some moisture... just not dripping like before./update]

JR
I think, this leak variation is from temperature.
One can feel the temperature difference at the hot and cold water pipes under a sink.
that was the first thing I checked for. The bathroom is probably 50' away from the heater and copper plumbing run under the house in the crawl space. I just checked again and there is no discernible temperature difference between hot and cold pipes under the sink, without hot water flowing in the pipe.

It is likely, the shut off valve, needs a new gasket at the pipes.
With these cheap valves I often I see leaking from around valve handle/stem, my suspicion is that these valves are not engineered for many lifetime operations. Sometimes the leaking stops when turned hard open or hard closed, so I stopped trying after neither position stopped the drip.
These red gaskets like cardboard can become leaky. Try a tab of retighning, some 1/8 turn. But be ready first, with new gaskets, old ones are not reusable, when tempered they desintegrate.
There are better gaskets. I replace with Aramide, blue/green color, stiffer.
Since I brought my hot water heater back on-line the valve stopped dripping so fast, but it still is leaking slowly down the pipe. The water has probably been running down the pipe and dripping down into my crawl space for years. So no visible water accumulation/damage under sink for now. When I stuffed bath towels down there around the pipes, the towels filled up with water so I stopped doing that. I don't know how long it was leaking. I only noticed the visible drip after I cut off the hot water heater.

I could do a post mortem on the faulty valve but nah...

My best evidence right now is that fully pressurizing the hot water heater again caused the significant reduction in drip rate, but sometimes I am willing to just let life's unsolved mysteries go, when they are of little consequence. Life is short.

JR
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mediatechnology
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Re: Entropy

Post by mediatechnology »

John - Was the dripping stop under the sink the hot or the cold?
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terkio
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Re: Entropy

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With these cheap valves I often I see leaking from around valve handle/stem, my suspicion is that these valves are not engineered for many lifetime operations. Sometimes the leaking stops when turned hard open or hard closed, so I stopped trying after neither position stopped the drip.
Some designs ask for turning hard open for best sealing at the handle shaft.
It is clear this valve is f*cked.
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JR.
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Re: Entropy

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mediatechnology wrote: Tue Jan 05, 2021 3:26 pm John - Was the dripping stop under the sink the hot or the cold?
Close inspection revealed that both were leaking... The hot water side was the one visibly dripping after I shut off the hot water heater. The plumber said that based on the visible oxidation on the copper pipe it was probably leaking for some time.

While he was down working under the sink, the several decade old trap disintegrated when he bumped into it. That was another plumbing failure waiting to happen. I replaced the trap under my kitchen sink with PVC over a decade ago.

I now have good solid on/off valves and a PVC trap to replace the cheesy thin metal disaster....

====

My strap band ratchet clamp arrived today so next project is trying to use that to prevent the heater tank from rotating while I once again try to break loose the sacrificial anode. Since the heater is already 4 years old, if I still can't get it loose I'll ride it untill it fails, again. The water tank is now grounded so I shouldn't get any more shocks in the shower.

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Re: Entropy

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trap.jpg
Pretty remarkable condition... I suspect the hole in the section on the right was already there, but the section on the left pretty much crumbled from handling. This was the next plumbing disaster waiting to happen.

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Re: Entropy

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For another head scratcher, I had been getting smelly water from that bathroom sink for a long time and I looked into the obvious suspects, like too low hot water heat settings, so I cranked up the hot water heater hotter than normal.

After the old T&P relief valve started leaking I turned down the temperature settings inside the hot water heater, but it is not logical that lower temp hot water temperature would somehow smell less bad.

For now after a week with odor free bathroom sink water I am inclined to suspect that the cut off valves were colonized with smelly biotics.

JR

[update- I am searching for an alternate explanation since I do not find the thesis of the cut off valves causing the smell very logical. The drain trap that was replaced during the same service call was clearly in poor condition. I am considering that the drain trap was perhaps colonized with smelly critters and running water down it released their essence. Another possibility was that the trap was not effectively blocking smells escaping up from the drain pipe/sewer. My sense was that the smell was coming directly from the tap water, but it is odor free now. /update]
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Re: Entropy

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Today's entropy episode involves my smart battery charger... today after returning from my once a week shopping trip that is inadequate to keep my car battery topped off, I connected my smart charger (plugs into the cigarette lighter).With no charging...

I first checked the obvious suspects and charger was getting good 120VAC, next I tried connecting the charger directly to the battery under the hood and that charged normally.

I had already replaced the cigarette lighter power plug once a few months ago.... I was pleasantly surprised to see how easily this cheapo plug adapter came apart, and I found the failed solder connection between the ground wire and spring ground contacts. Repaired and back in place charging through the cigarette lighter plug.

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terkio
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Re: Entropy

Post by terkio »

I cannot resist to tell a most stupid mistake of my own.
That was with a battery charger. A cheapo.
I set the charger near the car battery, checked I had an ok voltage at the battery, so far so good.
A couple of hours later, I came back to check. From a clumsy move, the charger tumbled down, while in a panic, I felt it was damn hot.
I unhooked everything, let it cool down, then checked for its output voltage unloaded. Measured way lower than 12V. Something like 7V.
This cheapo, I new was nothing by a transformer and diodes.
I concluded a diode had gone south.
Then I opened it to discover it only had one diode and that diode was fine.
I found nothing wrong inside and that was definitely an ultimate cheapo without any smoothing capacitor.
Then I though of what a DC measurement with a Multimeter really is on such a "DC" generator.
Face palm.
The charger was fine.
The charger being hot, was simply because of bright sun shining on the steel case and panic inducing me to thing it had fried.
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mediatechnology
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Re: Entropy

Post by mediatechnology »

Going back to the old trap post...

I often bleach my traps and also run a lot of boiling hot water through them.
Then lots of hot water-heated water.
It takes 2-3 feet/sec flow rate for a pipe to self-clean.
Bleach isn't so great for metal traps but mine are all PVC now.
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