Water taps and showers
- Thread starter Xmas
- Start date
Plumbing tips and tricks:
Most standard showerheads have a rubber grommet in them to reduce flow, barring removable heads on the hose, those are tricky. The grommet has several small holes in it, so take some needle-nose pliers, pull out grommet, increase flow. Be sure not to confuse the grommet with those rubber screens, you NEED the screen to make sure no debris enter the shower-head and render it a funky sprayer. BTW, do you realize that you should clean those screens out about once a year, sure you guys did.
For those who wish to have less flow in the shower, don't screw with the plumbing at all, just get a super-low flow showerhead, they sell those at most stores under the name water-miser or some such. They also have inline flow reducers if you wish to keep the same shower-head. A crescent wrench, preferably TWO are your friend on this type of project, and have some teflon tape on hand so you get no leaky-leaky.
Toilets, WC, whatever, that are low flush, can have their capitance increased. In some early units, there is a bucket surrounding the flap in the tank, the water level sits higher than the bucket, once you flush the water level drops below the edge of the bucket, the bucket empties out and thats all the water you get. Cut the bucket out, little by little to get the volume of water to make that stinker disappear for good.
Newer models use a simpler and trickier to bypass method where the over-flow drain in the turlett determines the amount of water in the tank for flushes. For example: the over-flow is SHORT and will only allow the tank to fill to a certain level. If you don't have your float valve set right and the toilet doesn't think its full, it will continually run because of the overflow. To bypass this, increase the length of the pipe by an inch or two. Easiest method is to determine outer diameter of the tube, get a piece of rubber hose (try automotive store) with the same Inner diameter and slip over the end of the tube and use a hose clamp or such on it. Be sure to put the small wash tube back in so your toilet refills properly when you flush it. Oh yeah, and adjust the float valve so it doesn't cut off the water at the old level.
And also, strange as those European toliets are, they DO sell those here in the states, even the shelf ones. You will not find them at any DIY store. They are usually special order only from specialized plumbing outfits, and most must be installed by a liscensed installer. Yes you may be amused when said plumber has to call the manufacturer to determine proper installation.
And as someone else stated earlier, the types of faucets in the home are usually directly related to age:
2 seperate spigots are the oldest types, tho it is becoming retro and stylish to have those in your homes today, form over function I guess.
1 spigot 2 handles are OLD and still sold today, but you get what you pay for and almost all are made out of plastic now, with craptastic valves in them.
Single handle shower models were actually designed after the single handle sinks became popular, earlier ones you would pull out from the wall for flow, adjust L or R for temp. Later ones dropped the pull method (once the valve goes out in pull ones they are trash, no way to adjust) and you just rotate counter-clockwise to turn on water flow and adjust temp.
Recently (past 10 years) the single handle flow control with the smaller handle temp control came onto the market. They are much more expensive than their brethern but satisfy the consumer demand for flow.
BTW, i was a commercial plumber/pipefitter from the ages of 16-21 and from 21-24 i was a home service plumber before i got tired of playing with other peoples shit all day. My father has been a licensed plumber for about 40 years now, and we had this same faucet discussion years ago. Also don't fuss about my water practises, I am on a 220' deep well that i had the joy of replacing last fall. 220' of poly pipe is nothing to pull out of the ground, even filled completely full of water, well nothing a backhoe and 2 guys with necks as thick as my thighs couldn't handle. I only had to pay them in beer. They cost me a bundle.
Most standard showerheads have a rubber grommet in them to reduce flow, barring removable heads on the hose, those are tricky. The grommet has several small holes in it, so take some needle-nose pliers, pull out grommet, increase flow. Be sure not to confuse the grommet with those rubber screens, you NEED the screen to make sure no debris enter the shower-head and render it a funky sprayer. BTW, do you realize that you should clean those screens out about once a year, sure you guys did.
For those who wish to have less flow in the shower, don't screw with the plumbing at all, just get a super-low flow showerhead, they sell those at most stores under the name water-miser or some such. They also have inline flow reducers if you wish to keep the same shower-head. A crescent wrench, preferably TWO are your friend on this type of project, and have some teflon tape on hand so you get no leaky-leaky.
Toilets, WC, whatever, that are low flush, can have their capitance increased. In some early units, there is a bucket surrounding the flap in the tank, the water level sits higher than the bucket, once you flush the water level drops below the edge of the bucket, the bucket empties out and thats all the water you get. Cut the bucket out, little by little to get the volume of water to make that stinker disappear for good.
Newer models use a simpler and trickier to bypass method where the over-flow drain in the turlett determines the amount of water in the tank for flushes. For example: the over-flow is SHORT and will only allow the tank to fill to a certain level. If you don't have your float valve set right and the toilet doesn't think its full, it will continually run because of the overflow. To bypass this, increase the length of the pipe by an inch or two. Easiest method is to determine outer diameter of the tube, get a piece of rubber hose (try automotive store) with the same Inner diameter and slip over the end of the tube and use a hose clamp or such on it. Be sure to put the small wash tube back in so your toilet refills properly when you flush it. Oh yeah, and adjust the float valve so it doesn't cut off the water at the old level.
And also, strange as those European toliets are, they DO sell those here in the states, even the shelf ones. You will not find them at any DIY store. They are usually special order only from specialized plumbing outfits, and most must be installed by a liscensed installer. Yes you may be amused when said plumber has to call the manufacturer to determine proper installation.
And as someone else stated earlier, the types of faucets in the home are usually directly related to age:
2 seperate spigots are the oldest types, tho it is becoming retro and stylish to have those in your homes today, form over function I guess.
1 spigot 2 handles are OLD and still sold today, but you get what you pay for and almost all are made out of plastic now, with craptastic valves in them.
Single handle shower models were actually designed after the single handle sinks became popular, earlier ones you would pull out from the wall for flow, adjust L or R for temp. Later ones dropped the pull method (once the valve goes out in pull ones they are trash, no way to adjust) and you just rotate counter-clockwise to turn on water flow and adjust temp.
Recently (past 10 years) the single handle flow control with the smaller handle temp control came onto the market. They are much more expensive than their brethern but satisfy the consumer demand for flow.
BTW, i was a commercial plumber/pipefitter from the ages of 16-21 and from 21-24 i was a home service plumber before i got tired of playing with other peoples shit all day. My father has been a licensed plumber for about 40 years now, and we had this same faucet discussion years ago. Also don't fuss about my water practises, I am on a 220' deep well that i had the joy of replacing last fall. 220' of poly pipe is nothing to pull out of the ground, even filled completely full of water, well nothing a backhoe and 2 guys with necks as thick as my thighs couldn't handle. I only had to pay them in beer. They cost me a bundle.
horvendile
Regular
Chris_T said:
Wow. That's probably the second most ambitious post about plumbing I've ever read at an internet computer hardware site.
horvendile
Regular
_xxx_ said:Hey! Never heard of water cooling?
Good point! I stand corrected.
Not really... I was rather hoping that everyone would instantly recognize the obvious Monkey Island reference!
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