How hard is it to DIY this plumbing job yourself?

[Coronita]

[quote=Hobie]Home Depot sells water pressure gauge ~$12. The pressure nut is double nutted meaning you have to loosen the lock nut first, then loosen the pressure bolt. Flow some water and recheck gauge. Easy.

You might keep an eye on the gauge when someone in the house turns on faucet. Should be same pressure. If it drops=bad regulator.

If you guys are so inclined, and want to spend about $400, you can install another pressure regular just after the meter. This will reduce the pressure to the landscaping. Advantage is less atomization at the spray heads. Bigger raindrops=more gets on the ground.

Another way is the install a smaller pressure reducer at the beginning of each sprinkler manifold.[/quote]

amazon has plenty of them

For example…

i bought mine at a local ACE Hardware.

I haven’t changed my regulator/shutoff valve yet.

[Coronita]

[quote=equalizer]Flu,

What brands of camera are you using?

I was going to buy Nest Thermostat, but went with Honeywell because Nest has complaints about temperate not being accurate!

I bought Lutron Caséta Wireless switches because I trust switch from electrical company instead of a tech company. The hub was a pain to get connected but I don’t have to worry about quality of the switches. BTW, Lutron tech support is 24/7 US based. Switches are expensive, $50+, but I called on a Friday night and they diagnosed a three way switch problem was caused by my wiring mistake. Ten minutes later and working![/quote]

lol, I use my older dash cameras that I no longer use. I have a few foscams that were onsale that I am using too.

[plm]

[quote=flu][quote=Hobie]Home Depot sells water pressure gauge ~$12. The pressure nut is double nutted meaning you have to loosen the lock nut first, then loosen the pressure bolt. Flow some water and recheck gauge. Easy.

You might keep an eye on the gauge when someone in the house turns on faucet. Should be same pressure. If it drops=bad regulator.

If you guys are so inclined, and want to spend about $400, you can install another pressure regular just after the meter. This will reduce the pressure to the landscaping. Advantage is less atomization at the spray heads. Bigger raindrops=more gets on the ground.

Another way is the install a smaller pressure reducer at the beginning of each sprinkler manifold.[/quote]

amazon has plenty of them

For example…

i bought mine at a local ACE Hardware.

I haven’t changed my regulator/shutoff valve yet.[/quote]
Home depot had what I needed. 100 psi and the pressure didn’t change when I loosened the screw. Now it leaks as well so definitely need to replace the regulator. Only lasted seven years. Thanks to both of you for your help.

[Hobie]

Since you are going to replace the reg, you could sacrifice it until your get the repair. Shut off water and get some JB WELD putty. You mash it between your fingers ( gloves) to mix the epoxy. Remove the pressure screw and coat the threads. Reinstall and it should stop leak. Dry within an hour. ( Im assuming it is leaking at the threads only)

[plm]

[quote=Hobie]Since you are going to replace the reg, you could sacrifice it until your get the repair. Shut off water and get some JB WELD putty. You mash it between your fingers ( gloves) to mix the epoxy. Remove the pressure screw and coat the threads. Reinstall and it should stop leak. Dry within an hour. ( Im assuming it is leaking at the threads only)[/quote]

It’s a slow drip at the treads so I’ll not worry about it since the plumber will be over tomorrow afternoon. Got to drive back home and get a picture of the whole thing so he can order the right size, the model number isn’t good enough. Thanks for the info on stopping leaks.

[ucodegen]

[quote=Hobie]
You might keep an eye on the gauge when someone in the house turns on faucet. Should be same pressure. If it drops=bad regulator.
[/quote]
Not quite. It will drop proportionate to the flow because the pressure differential is used to control the size of opening on the valve on the regulator. The design that does not drop much if at all as flow increases is the ‘servo’ design, two stage design or hydraulic servo design like:
https://www.zoro.com/watts-pressure-reducing-valve-6-in-flanged-115-6-fl/i/G1435497/?gclid=CKWwmo79ktICFZJefgodG04Oog&gclsrc=aw.ds
or
https://www.zoro.com/watts-pressure-reducing-valve-8-in-flanged-m115-8-fl/i/G2183885/?gclid=COOh36v7ktICFUlNfgodsUkItQ&gclsrc=aw.ds

To determine if a bad standard household regulator is bad, check if pressure can be adjusted up and down – check with slow water flow on the controlled pressure side. This will verify that the diaphragm and internal spring are working.

Now have someone shut off the slow water flow and watch the pressure – if it creeps up to match street pressure, the seat or seal on the valve is bad – or there is dirt caught in/under the valve seat.

[ucodegen]

[quote=plm]
Home depot had what I needed. 100 psi and the pressure didn’t change when I loosened the screw. Now it leaks as well so definitely need to replace the regulator. Only lasted seven years. Thanks to both of you for your help.[/quote]

Where is it leaking from. The adjusting threads? If so, the diaphragm is broken. On some of them, it is possible to replace the diaphragm. It is much like the diaphragm on automatic sprinkler control valves.

Find the make and look it up. It might be something like: this

[plm]

[quote=ucodegen][quote=plm]
Home depot had what I needed. 100 psi and the pressure didn’t change when I loosened the screw. Now it leaks as well so definitely need to replace the regulator. Only lasted seven years. Thanks to both of you for your help.[/quote]

Where is it leaking from. The adjusting threads? If so, the diaphragm is broken. On some of them, it is possible to replace the diaphragm. It is much like the diaphragm on automatic sprinkler control valves.

Find the make and look it up. It might be something like: this[/quote]

Yes, its the adjusting thread. Since I’m having a plumber do the fix, it makes sense to just replace it considering a plumber’s hourly rate. But for do it yourself it makes sense to repair, no pipe cutting, soldering needed then. My valve is actually a larger 1 1/4″ part which isn’t even available at home depot locally. But he was able to find it cheaper locally somehow so I don’t mind paying for a professional to do the fix for me. And he’s a very nice guy, super helpful when I had a crisis that almost flooded my house.

[plm]

Regulator is replaced now. Seems like an easy enough job if you know what you are doing. No pipes to cut or soldering. Drain the water, replace the regulator by unscrewing some large nuts and replace the washers. Turn the water on and drain the air then set the pressure.

[FlyerInHi]

Last night I had my first water heater leak. The heater is on the balcony and the neighbor downstairs called.
It’s also a power vent high-BTU water heater that feeds the hydronic heating system. I got a quote for $4800. But I found a cheaper guy at $2800. That’s crazy expensive for water heater but I need it quick for tenant. You can order it for much less on Amazon. That’s when DIY pays off.

We need smart houses with smart valves especially for vacation homes. I’m going to look into that. it’s a good idea to shut off water and water heater when away.

This valve connected to a smart switch sounds good.

[FlyerInHi]

$260 each to a replace corroded shutoff valve at water heater. There are 2 of them.
I guess plumbers need to send their kids to college too. I will DIY myself another time when I have a vacancy.

As houses get older they need maintenance.

[Coronita]

I just had this done about two weeks ago.

I paid $230 for replacing the regulator, shutoff valve, and fixing a leaking drain that required cutting the drywall, drain pipe….I provided the regulator, he provided the shutoff valve.

It wasn’t even worth the time and effort for me to do it myself.

[FlyerInHi]

[quote=flu]I just had this done about two weeks ago.

I paid $230 for replacing the regulator, shutoff valve, and fixing a leaking drain that required cutting the drywall, drain pipe….I provided the regulator, he provided the shutoff valve.

It wasn’t even worth the time and effort for me to do it myself.[/quote]

All of that for $230 is a deal.

Plumbers upsell when they come out and see something. I would pay $130 per valve, straight pipe, nothing complicated. $260 is too much. They upsell replacement of connection hoses,etc….

If rent is $1500, a plumbing bill can easily take a chunk of your earnings. You have to look at things in proportion. Ok, I’m cheap.

[Author]

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