Blog Comments

Blake I don't care what Marc says I think you did a good job <chuckle>

Everything looks good, except for one area and it's something I didn't include in my plumbing write up unfortunately. Wye fittings are usually designed for vent pipe applications, and they don't have much of a socket for the gluing process. All your other fittings were 1" to 1.5" deep but a "Y" fitting is 3/4" at best. With less surface area, the glued connection must be perfectly seated and glued meticulously. It is a weak spot.

I'm not saying yours will fail, but there are Y fittings with deep sockets, usually ordered online. The local stores rarely carry them.

Sometime you can heat it with a heatgun like for stripping paint and get them a part if it is not a really old joint. Plus a couple pipe wrenches. Been there and ruined that

Sorry, no I don't have a secret magic eraser for those kinds of mistakes. And it's easy to get hurt trying to pull these apart. I just hate waste, and will do what I can do avoid it when plausible.

With the "Red Hot Blue Glue" I'm using, I get about 2 seconds to get the pipe inserted and positioned the way I want it. After that it's not moving.

When I realized what I'd done (about 10 seconds after putting the 2 pieces together) I stood on the flange of the union (not much purchase but the edge of my shoes would just catch the flange) and pulled on the tee as hard as I could. It wouldn't come apart. That's why I was asking melev his method for getting glued pieces apart. I didn't know if you could add heat from a torch or something to loosen the pvc enough to get it apart.

I want to see your 2x4 wrench!

I just did that with some plumbing I was doing. Mine has a happier ending because I realized before the glue had dried, but if it hadn't been a joint that involved some abs plastic... If that had gotten messed up though... I would've had to take out a bulkhead that was glued in place. When I had originally installed the bulkhead it got some primer on it and it swelled up. I ended up making my own wrench for the bulkhead out of a 2x4. It took about an hour, but I got the retaining ring screwed down and then I "installed" the next piece of my plumbing. Thankfully I realized what I had done in the nick of time and was able to rip out the piece. But hey, I feel you man. Better luck next time!

It takes tools and you have to act quickly. You can cut a former fitting and use a special boring bit to cut out PVC from a fitting that can't be extracted, but it isn't easy. I've used tools from dremels to needlenose pliers to cut out a mistake. New parts are always simpler, but sometimes you have to work with what you have because stores are closed.

Ripping it apart??? How do you accomplish taking it apart after it's glued? Use a holesaw to cut out the glued in pipe? I went to the store and bought another double union ball valve and tee, cut the end cap off for reuse and glued up that portion of the manifold again. About a $20 oops in parts, so not as bad as it could have been.

Yes, I've done this once as well. I spent 10 minutes ripping apart what I'd just glued in 90 seconds, and another 5 or so trying to smooth out the melted zone for a new application. I hate mistakes like that.

Well just to let you know you are not alone. I did the same thing although i was able to fix mine with a cut and a union.

If the electric bill is a high as my wife expects it to be, I'll have to do a more thorough search of craigslist or the newspaper or something. There was a burn ban in the Puget Sound Area a couple of months ago due to air quality that lasted 4 days. Between that and running led Christmas lights our December electric bill went up about $50. This is the first time in 7 years we've ran the heaters for a full month at this house. I'm expecting the bill in the next couple of days.

The couple of times I've ran out of wood over the last 10 years and had to buy firewood from craigslist, it showed up soaking wet, even after asking the seller if it was dry.

You may have to get some from elsewhere where they keep it covered. Out in the country, or further.

I wish I had put up more wood for my stove this year. Colder than normal year and we've already burned the cord and a half I had put up. Only have a small emergency stash left. Paying for electric baseboard heat is killing me.

Thanks for the tips and for following along on my little adventure guys.

It has been very interesting and I'm sure others will continue to benefit from your detailed entries. The NP reactor looks like it will work out just fine for what you're doing.

I wish I had a wood stove.

That's coming along nicely, and I'm glad my article helped you so much.

If you have to do silicone work in the future, apply the blue masking tape on both sides of the area you are working, leaving 1/4" of glass visible on either side. Apply the bead of silicone, then wet your finger tip and smooth out the bead. 5 minutes later, peel off the tape and you'll have a pretty seam.

Stick some foam insulation on the garage doors and go at it. Besides what part of plumbing is noisy? That glue looks like the Rain or Shine glue that I use around the pool plumbing, if it is similar do not get it in a cut on your hands it burns like crazy. Looking good Blake, you can use some alcohol and a towel to remove those blue drips, or just paint all your plumbing the color of your choosing.

oil base paint takes forever to dry. Even after it feels dry to the touch it is soft for a long time