Greetings,
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It was too hot all summer for this old plumber to journey. My friends Neal and Barbra who live on San Francisco Bay, were hoping I’d come down and consult with them on a needed new sewer system. Those mystical/magical SF Bay fogs are the author’s own “Sirens”. Too good to be true. The author can only blame Pete, Pete the Plumber, Yours Truly (and occasionally Doctor Waterheater) for his anxiousness. Any person who plants a big garden and thinks they will have time for travel is dreaming.

Unquestionably, a good portion of inhabitants in the Lower 48, in the Summer of ’24, felt somewhere between ‘uncomfortable’ to miserable for a perceived “Dastardly”  (Terry Thomas?) length of time. Thankfully due to living through the summer hot spells, the cool flowing Hay Fork with its deep, clear holes, its fish and fur, is short strides away under towering cottonwoods. Matter of fact, the author needs a heat break as he writes this (110•F). He’s headed there now and will pick up again…in…an hour? Or so.
 
Back

This Pipe is Pete the Plumber’s biggest gamble to date (the author frets) and your danger of anesthesia (as a result) has never been greater. Pete originally surmised it might be a workable idea to use his blog space to discuss (in solo toto?) a sizable chunk of technical ‘ground’, as a stand-alone article?  A case of “….know when to hold them…..know when to fold them”?  Pete thinks the author never heard those words. Whatever, editor Anne will make the call. (You might well be reading serialization.)  (For your own sanity.)

This Pipe experiment (regardless of eventual format) is an attempt to add more knowledge to the reader’s (maybe modest) already earned experience in dealing with household plumbing clogs, using a “plumber’s helper”, or in ‘spec-speak’: plumber’s force cup. There are other tools made for the same purpose, some reaching the level of over-technical. But this Pipe not only hopes to “…turn the lightbulbs on” for many who flail (or fear to) when faced with using a plumber’s force cup.

 *It is also Pete the Plumber’s idea to share a number of secrets of your domicile’s plumbing that might serve you well both financially and for your physical wellbeing.

The antithesis of ‘happy home’: clogs?   The plumber’s force cup or ‘plunger’ can be quite effective on clogs when the operator knows some basics of his domicile’s plumbing, ON BOTH SIDES OF THE WALL. This discussion has borrowed from Pete’s original Taunton Press book: Installing & Repairing Plumbing Fixtures.

(The author wrote a children’s story dealing with clogs: “Pete the Plumber Meets Arnold the Ant Eater” @ PeterHemp.com)

*The introducing of rotating steel cable (‘roto- rooting’ & augering) in drains to clear clogs is not discussed in this discussion. We’ll stick with what the author ‘feels’ the layman can practically and effectively muster in this regard.

As the reader will discover/already know? there are many causes for stoppages (clogs) in residential DWV (Drains, Waste & Vent) piping. Some of these stoppages are/can be a mere inconvenience. Unfortunately, though, when “your number is up” and ‘snaking’ (inserted metal cables [$$ by others] and plunging (by you?) were all for naught, resolution can be a painful and expensive bad dream. (Yours truly has had to open ceilings/walls/floors to get at drainage pipe and fittings that needed ‘going away’: to be replaced because of “unworkable physical conditions”. These may include corrosion, physical deformation of pipe and or fittings, plus introduced unretrievable hard objects including busted ‘root’ers’ snakes. Plunging (working the force cup) does have its limitations. However, with the following text and photo’s and illustrations woven together Pete hopes he can improve anyone’s chances of success using a plumber’s helper (‘force-cup/plunger’) on viable circumstances.

That does not mean that ‘miracles’ cannot be witnessed using force cups. The author would allow himself 20 minutes of ‘cupping’ labor time to open a clogged drain, before abandoning that hope. I was amazed at how many successes occurred really close to ‘the buzzer’. Pete the Plumber’s advice: “….do not give up without a fight.”
 
As you have maybe noticed on visits to the hardware purveyors, there are a lot of choices for a plumber’s helper (force cup). Vastly narrowing that conundrum is another hope of the author, via: May the Force Be with You.
 
Clogs are happening because our sanitary systems are relatively advanced: the use of pipes (versus: ‘tossing the water and squatting anywhere’). A big factor is the usable inside diameter of residential sanitary drainage systems (piping), 30-40 and 50 years after installation. ‘Deez pipes’ are not the same as they were when new. (Pete knows this, personally.)  The old piping, inside, about now, has a ¼ to ½-in. thick (or more) slime and/or rust lining on the walls. Washing machine drains will have a “furry” lining. On all drains the deposits are thicker on the inside bottom radius.

*Mature vent systems (because they transmit dry air) tend to remain in good shape.
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*When a drainpipe has been unused for an extended period of time, when put back into use, often clogs soon after, due to the now “dry rough sponge” texture of the build-up on inside walls of the pipe. With consistent reuse the ‘dry sponge’ texture morphs back into the ‘slippery slime’ of old, and clog frequency drops drastically.

Quick note on liquids:  

Never use liquid drain cleaners shortly before attempting to unclog the drain using a plumber’s force cup (‘plunger’.)  If the ‘liquids fail’ (for your own safety) Pete the Plumber recommends that you do not try opening the drain with a force cup for 12 hours (unless you’re in a full wetsuit, hood and face mask.)  Drain Cleaning Contractors disdain being called to a clog job following a failure of a prior chemical attack to clear obstructions. The reason why is their mechanical snakes (steel cables) will turn brittle, much more prematurely when bathed in cleaning solutions. Some ‘rooters’ will not answer a call if they know/suspect chemicals were tried first, unsuccessfully.  
Surely the author believes that a lot of structure dwellers, children to adults, would recognize a plumber’s force cup, aka: plunger, aka: ‘plumber’s helper’ when they see one.  (See Photos 1 & 1a)

*Important note: The handle unscrews on most rubber cup models. (Pete the Plumber ‘Likes’…and, ‘for/why’s’ discussed downstream). 

​The rubber cup body is commonly of red or black color. There are various ‘cup’ profiles, but the common denominator is: all are round in the bottom flat plane. A few are also hemispherical-ish (See Photo 2, 2a & 2b). All of these can also make a big mess when used both properly and improperly. In this Pipe we’ll first do a ‘postmortem’, taking note of the materials, and the designs of popular models. Then Pete will share some tips on how to use a force cup effectively on individual fixtures

Scalpel! Please
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See Photo 1a below. This is an “of late” example of the typical plumber’s force cup (‘plunger’) of old still being manufactured. As the reader can see at their local retailers, it is still widely represented amongst the modern options. 

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​*A one John Hawley patented the “force cup” in New York in 1871. His was named: ‘Vent Clearer for Wash-Bowls”. (See Photo 3, below). Present-day ‘artsy’ entrepreneurs are still copying his design.

If we dissect the above Photo 1a sample into two symmetrical parts (Photo 1b, below) the ‘thickness of the rubber walls and volume of design can be studied. The wall’s thickness and where it is and isn’t, in relation to volume, is the major contributor to the success (or failure) of force cups.

The larger the volume of the rubber cup, the thicker the walls need to be. (Plastic plungers are discussed farther downstream). The thicker the rubber walls (without creases), the more energy (muscle power) is required to operate (deflate/plunge and suck/lift). *It’s this “forcing” (pushing down) and then “sucking” (‘lifting’) action that loosens up (particle) (not root) clogs. The thicker the side walls of the (rubber) cup, the more muscle power is required to flex (compress) the wall. And it is your physical strength and endurance (aside proper choice of design) that will spell success. The shape of the fixture’s (toilet; tub; sink; and shower) drainage passageway (wide variation) determines which design of “plunger” fits best for the task at hand.
 
In past writings on the subject (The Straight Poop A Plumber’s Tattler, and  Installing & Repairing Plumbing Fixtures) the author explained that to be successful using the force cup the user must/should prepare to make somewhat of a mess (depending upon the fixture being massaged). Therefore, Pete prepares the fixture’s surrounding dry areas for the great possibility of splashed water (and maybe some ‘evidence’ 😖)  (Your least coveted towels?). And…this is very important: wear eye ‘SAFETY’ glasses/shields and maybe comfortable gloves if you have tender hands.

​Vent Your Anger
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The vent piping in your structures DWV (drains, wastes and vents) and overflow channels/tubing within fixtures themselves, present the biggest challenges to a successful or force cup ‘campaign’.  If the overflow ports on a sink (Illus. 4)  and the overflow of a bathtub (Illus. 5) are not “stopped-off” (temporarily plugged), the “force” you generate with the cup is wasted. 

Instead of applying pressure to the clog, all the ‘force’ (captive water) inside the cup (which you want pressing on a ‘column’ of water all the way up to and against the obstruction), is allowed to escape. The generated force, instead of breaking up the clog or shoving the obstruction further along to the main building drain, and on to sewer or septic, or lifting the obstruction out of the fixtures drain and/or bowl (for recovery) is allowed to escape out unplugged overflow ports.
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*Also, when an obstruction on a sink, toilet, tub or shower lies past (further downstream) of that fixtures vent connection, the effectiveness of force cups is drastically reduced. ​

If you suffer a stoppage on a sanitary tee waste-to-drain piping pattern as in Illus. 6 (probably the  most common of all) and your icky stoppage lies within the green dotted line (by far the most common location) force-cupping would stand a good chance. If your stoppage were however a bit further on as the red dotted line portrays, sealing off the the outlet of the sanitary tee, your chances are less.  This clog left a pathway for your generated force to bounce off the top of the clog and take the path of least resistance up the vent (you sweating and nothing happening).

(Pouring chemicals is easy. Plunging may require your wind and muscles with a little added housekeeping.)  Ohhh but that ‘rush’; the new sense of self-accomplishment; the esteem of the Brotherhood (ladies always welcome) for/with the “Little Plumbers’ Helpers”. Pure adrenaline excitement. Your own golden, crossed, force-cup lapel pin! (with flag, x-tra).
 
The Offenders

Each fixture (type) clog presents a different challenge to the ‘force cup’er’. So, the author thought perhaps a little illumination on fixture specifics and cup technique would best serve the class.

Let’s start with the plumbing fixture served with the smallest drain (and waste piping). A cross section of the bathroom lavatory basin/sink, with waste is Illus. 4a. The drain and vent is found in Illus. 7.  Now, in ‘4’, note the overflow port near the top left of the drawing. Its existence and influence on a successful force cup action will be made clear, downstream.

*The author has never stopped giving thanks to illustrator Frank Abbas for his fantastically lucid work on Pete’s books from Taunton Press/Fine Homebuilding Magazine, which the author adapted [or in some cases ‘mangled’] in this Pipe.) 

Many lavatory bowl users never give a thought to the often-unnoticed overflow port/s and the overflow channel/s of the fixture. The obvious reason is these features are sometimes ‘easy not to see’, due to the manufacturer’s effort to not detract from the ‘beauty’ of the often-seamless design. Well, on lavatory basin/bowl clogs, knowing about and how to work with overflow ports may spell your success.
 
Why 4

It’s an irony that Illustration 4 depicts a Four Inch Center Set.  Plumbers are sometimes claimed to be a superstitious lot (far less though than seafarers). Numerologists were kind to the number 4. *Note: the particular lavatory basin/bowl we’re observing in Illus. 4, above, is a 4-in. Center Set hosting a pop-up stopper waste. The pop-up stopper waste is well accepted because the user need not get their fingers wet when plugging and draining the basin/bowl. 

As convenient as the pop-up stopper is, it is also ‘culpable to guilty’ for many slow-downs and stoppages. But it is a hygiene issue that influenced the author to include maintenance of pop-up stopper wastes in an article focused on choice and manipulation of a ‘plumber’s helper’.
*Once you learn the simple method to remove and replace a pop-up stopper, you’ll feel better about living with your present plumbing servant.

In this endeavor, Pete recommends the stopper itself should be removed from the waste prior to ‘plunging’, for two reasons. The 1st: So as not to push the stopper down onto its seat, and sealing the waste, defeating you immediately. Removing the pop-up stopper is a simple procedure requiring only one tool. And, 2nd: You will forever be grateful to have mastered this simple but extremely satisfying hygiene maintenance: Eureka!

If the stoppage has created standing water in the bowl, the author recommends (while you are a novice) first bail it out (with household kitchen items or large ‘car wash’ sponge?) to remove the pop-up stopper from the waste (yes, with some spillage).  *Soon following the author demonstrates the good reason for this precaution: Eureka!

In Illus. 4b we have the exploded cross-sectional view of a lavatory (bathroom) basin hosting a pop-up waste. Among the author highlights are the ‘threaded  nut/cap’ (pink) and ‘Spring clip’ (green). These components retain and allow for the removal of the pop-up stopper.

Some of these threaded ‘caps/nuts’ on pop-up wastes are made of plastic and some are metallic. The plastic versions are often loosened and unthreaded with only your fingers. Metallic ones usually require a grooved-jaw (8” is best) pliers, as seen in Photo 8, above.

*When the pop-up stopper in a sink will not stay up, just a little tightening of the threaded nut/cap cures the problem. These finer threads are the common/everyday right rotation to tighten; left rotation to loosen.

Once the ‘nut’ or ‘cap’ is loose and free of the waste body, by pinching the spring clip, you can slide back the actuating arm which frees it from the waste. Then, put the actuating arm back into the waste and gently lower the arm. By doing this you raise the stopper off its seat. Now you should easily (with your other hand in the bowl) be able to grip the stopper with your fingers to remove it. (Underneath the bowl, let the round chrome actuating arm dangle, captive to the flat zinc/galvanized lift strap. Again, see Illus. 4b, above.

*Sink wastes made of all plastics will have their own versions of lift arm and lift strap. But they function alike and being designed for “the public”, fasteners will be more user friendly.

Eureka!

This removal of pop-up stoppers from their wastes (and cleaning the revolting looking/smelling hair-sludge snakes from stopper bottom and lift linkage), Photo 9 is often: Eureka! (That was your clog.)  No need for plunger and wetter mess.

For the less fortunate (no sufficiently sized hair snake to be the ‘cause’) with the stopper removed you now need to re-install just the actuating arm (with ball seal), into the waste body prior to applying a force cup.  If you don’t, you’ll have a flood pouring out of the ‘arm to waste body’ threaded opening when you start to half-fill the basin with clean water.

Now, the clean water level in the bowl wants (best scenario) to be higher than the top of the rubber cup. Plus you’re probably going to lose some to the floor, so add a bit more if possible.

As mentioned above each fixture type (lavatory bowl; kitchen sink; shower; laundry sink; and toilet) tends to suffer from their own, same ‘nemesis’ clogs. For lavatory bowl/basins we’re dealing with hair; soap sludge; toothpaste, denture care products; dental floss; makeup and, if there happens to be little munchkins in the house, maybe small objects from coins to toys (and/or parts of).

*In days long past, when rubber stopper wastes, (See Photo 10) were common, toothbrushes, makeup pencils, hair pins and small combs were the cause of many clogs. Today with (properly adjusted) pop-up stopper wastes being the norm, far fewer small-ish hard objects are the cause of clog problems.

Knowing the enemy will also tip-the-scales for successful ‘cup work’. For lavatory bowls, when ‘munchkins’ were suspected or detected, the author then almost arbitrarily removed the p-traps J-bend and freed the little toy soldiers and such. (Pete wouldn’t risk wasting time on questionable cup-work success against such a difficult enemy as small, heavy, hard objects). However, if he suspects his client’s long hair mixed with beauty products and spent toothpaste ‘be’ the cause, he’s ready to plunge (and splash) a little water first, before maybe having to take the under-sink waste tubing apart.
 
Bull’s Eye
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The closer a basins/sinks (bathroom lav’s included) waste is to any vertical or near vertical inside sink wall, the lesser the chance for successful plunging. Styles of basins (and tubs and toilets) vary because once your house is plumbed the plumbers and fixture manufacturers can’t get their hooks ($$$) back into you until you ‘wanna move stuff around’ or buy new. For most of us that’s expensive and the idiom: “if it works don’t fix it” tends to prevail and we end up living with out of vogue designs. Photo 11 is of a ‘dated design’ style of lavatory bowl. Look where the waste is located. Almost centered. This would greatly lend to successful force cup therapy. Look at Pete’s sink (Photo 12). 

His sink’s pop-up waste is almost tight to the vertical back wall. Less than desirable. The degree of ‘centered’ rubber force cup contact, encircling the waste, will be wanting in his case. This often results in side-squirting, where the ‘cup’er’ sends water escaping the poorly sealing force cup, up the flooded walls of the bowl and out and away to space (and to the floor).  (And when the captive water in the submerged cup escapes under the foot/lip, much effect is greatly reduced. Photo 12a, below, shows location of the overflow port on inside front wall of the lav basin.

Up In Air

As mentioned earlier, overflow chambered sinks/basins (and tubs, with their overflow wastes) present the ‘cup’er’ a challenge. On a tub, if the port to the overflow chamber, see Illus. 5, below, is not sealed over (wet sponge in plastic bag?) all of the force produced by your downward cup ‘plunges’ and ‘strong upward ‘lifts’ will escape in a circuitous journey through the overflow chamber, as in Illus. 14, back into the room. 

What Pete dislikes about plunging, solo (the author, yours truly and Pete the Plumber are nowhere to be found) is: he basically has only one arm to conscript. His other is firmly pressing a wet sponge (in a plastic bag) to the overflow. This ‘goes’ for both sinks and tubs. Not only does it hamper accuracy, but resulting muscle fatigue can be expected.

To the fortunate reader who can conscript an extra ‘two hands’ to hold the wet sponge/s (in the plastic bag/s) over the basins overflow port/s, giving you two arms and hands to operate the force cup, will greatly simplify and fortify your labors and chance of success (‘call-in your ‘chits’?)
 
Go For It

Let’s just say you have ‘standing’ water in a single bathroom lav bowl with a missing stopper or old style ‘rubber stopper waste’. *(Double lavatory bowls are discussed downstream.)  There happens to be no, young, munchkins in this house. Before cupping/plunging, is the newly introduced clean water (following bailing of dirty) higher than the top of the plunger/cup body?  If it is, O.K. If the added water level reaches the sinks overflow port/s and the top of the plunger is still higher, that is the level we’ll have to work with.
 
With one hand gripping the force cup handle, use the other hand to hold tight, the wet sponge (in the plastic bag) over the single overflow port. (It will not be an easy exercise, the older you are.) 

If your single lav bowl has two, widely separated overflow ports, you’re in a pickle. Both need ‘stopping-up’ and how do you do this with one arm and hand and have the other remaining body parts to hold and actuate the plunger/cup? (Some ingenious readers might be able to ‘concoct’ physical barriers for this purpose (whittled wine corks and Gorilla tape?)  An extra pair of hands and arms is the simplest method.

Pete tends to lean over the sink and grip the plunger handle with his right hand, near his-now shoulder height, close to his ear, and slowly begin to force water back and forth, by first pushing down and deflating the cup, and then lifting (keeping the cup’s mouth sealed to the drain area) in a steady, near vertical motion, creating a vacuum, then pressure. This motion (water under pressure) moving back-and-forth, is usually successful in many situations (and usually more effective than compressed air).

Pete the Plumber repeats this ‘sequence’ of ‘up and down’ maybe four of five times before lifting the cup off the waste, in a strong, abrupt ‘finish’ of motions (big splash—water on the towels). The now ‘standing’ water, for a second, is a violent mini-ocean and waves have their mischievous ways, so the towels on the floor.

Then Pete repeats the rhythmic ‘up and down’ four or five times and finishes with a downward plunge, alternating between lift and plunge.

Lavatory sink drain clogs may thus be ‘broken-up’ and leave your piping to join other. Until then, the standing water may now resemble Gazpacho). After your successful labors, (usually) and audibly, the clog takes its leave: a gurgle-gurgle rush….and then gone!
 
*(From now on: Why not spit the toothpaste in the toilet and make sure the dental floss goes in the waste basket; and not comb hair directly over the sink?)
 
As yours truly mentioned upstream, he is prepared to expend 20 minutes when he has decided to use his plumber’s helper. If he’s successful Pete has saved his client a notable sum for not needing a ‘snaking’ and/or possible cost of new waste parts like j-bends and trap arms (old ones can crack and leak when disturbed).

The author is now seeing an interesting new addition to ‘force cup’ handles: plastic and aluminum. Some plastic handles have a cross-piece at the top, or in other words, a T-handle (Photo 13, above). He can see where this might be a great idea for the wood handled, rubber-cupped designs, also. ‘T’ handles might meliorate wrist fatigue between two methods of “gripping” the handle. Pete can also see some savy ‘offshore’ manufacturer making a ‘clamp-on’ t-handle for (the standard size) wood handled force cups.

*For the author and the aluminum handle ‘the jury is still out’ on whether he embraces the addition. He’d probably not use one around electric motors, like garbage disposals.
  
Double Bowl Bathroom Counters

Some designers? a long time ago had an idea. Maybe ‘they’ thought it was sexy: “I’ll put two lav basins on this ‘long’ bathroom sink counter here.”  (Using a continuous waste (Illus. 15 & 15a) and the same drain and vent). That idea caught on and was/is still very popular, probably for a ‘long run’ yet. 

*If designers ‘wanna’ continuing ‘spec-ing’ double bowls they should have the integrity to also call for separate sanitary tees, and trap arms. ‘Their’ design can be “iffy” at times, and wreak havoc on your wallet. Was it as ‘sexy’ as its proponents might have believed? The author knows very few folks who want to be in the bathroom when other folks will also be in there. Even lovers may prefer ‘single occupancy’.

Good idea or bad, for plumbers (now including you), maybe not so. Two bowls with overflows and pop-up wastes, on one (1) drain & Sanitary Tee. Are you alone on this job?  How are you going to hold wet sponges to two (or 4?) overflows and stop-up the other pop-up waste, and have an arm and hand for plunging?  In this case, with double bowls sharing one Sanitary Tee, again (Illus. 15 & 15a, above) unless you have another person to hold ‘cling wrapped’ or ‘wet-sponge-in-plastic-bag’ at 3 to 5 locations, ‘snaking’ might be your only option if the stoppage were not hair snakes in the pop-up wastes as discussed above. Plunging one sink will only drive the ‘soup’ to the other bowl.

With Luck

Don’t give up without a fight. Find a friend who will give you 20 minutes of their time and attention: ‘Gazpacho Duty’.  Maybe you’ll get lucky with only an easily dislodgeable stoppage at the San Tee (nemesis location) again, (Illus. 6 & 7). The reader won’t know...until you “give it a go.”

Kitchen Sinks

There’s a few different angles here, with kitchen sinks that we did not encounter with lav basins. (Yet both sink types are fortunately mounted on “33-34 or “36 high cabinets, which when applying the force-cup saves your back from the discomfort of plunging bathtubs, leaning over the side, on your knees, or leaning over toilet bowls.

Today the majority of kitchen sinks do not have overflow ports and chambers. The ‘high-end’ of the market is the place to look for that feature.

Unlike lav basins, there are kitchen sinks available in single bowl models, and kitchen sinks are also available in double and even triple bowl. The majority also have a drain ‘mostly centered’ in the pan. This makes for better force-cup-to-sink suction (also produces less side squirt). (Mentioned in Lavs, upstream.). The further you get/got into ‘designer’ options for your sink, placement of drain holes in tight corners or close-wall are more common. (Looks great, but hope you never need to plunge this sucker.)

Again like lavatory basins, stopped-up single bowl kitchen sinks without a ‘disposer’ are similarly ‘plunged’ with the same 4 to 5 force-cup ‘plunges’ and ‘lifts’ we used on lavatory basins. The big difference between plunging lav basins and kitchen sinks is when you add a garbage disposal. Illus. 16 shows the 2 most common clog locations for disposers.

​*(If the cosmetics industry isn’t checked, we could possibly see one day: lav basins with disposers) (and bigger pipe size regulations?)  
 
Grinders (no, not the burger variety)
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Now, a single bowl kitchen sink,  like Photo 14, without a garbage disposal, uses the same fittings used on lavs, but bigger ones. Lavatory basins have a 1&1/4-in. code minimum drain diameter size. Kitchen sinks now need a code required 2-in. diameter drain. With bigger diameter wastes and drains more water passes faster through kitchen plumbing than the lav plumbing. The late Code increase to 2-in. kitchen sink drain line was a very smart move. 

Along with this larger diameter waste and drainpipe size requirement the more possibilities one gained to cause a clog. Sinks hosting disposers went from the minority to parity and the ‘2-in. requirement’ might figure in. By and far on most occasions the stoppage is unwanted green cuttings and prepared food leftovers.

*The ‘experts’ tell us that around 20 percent of our household waste is composed of vegetable/scrap food waste.

The warning list of items NOT to feed a garbage disposer may surprise some who live without one. Among those on this list are some items that can get wedged/wound-up under a disposers rotating cutters. This includes ‘stuff’ like stringy celery stalks, artichoke leaves, fish bones etc. Also, (surprisingly) yours truly discovered the pasta clog for himself, thus: “Pete the Plumber Meets Arnold the Anteater” @ PeterHemp.com

The author, after looking back all the years, would say the most common clog causes involved a waste ‘pattern” where the clog happens in the sanitary tee, as the author has mentioned above.  If the clog also clogs (seals off) the upper vent connection to the sanitary tee our chances are good. (So we’ll give it 20 minutes.)

When a single bowl KS hosts a garbage disposer, again (see Illus. 16, above) it complicates matters. You are lucky if you’re one of the few with disposers who find the clogging at the disposers 90 degree discharge elbow. (Not a ‘bad’ job for a ‘handyman) to remove/clean out and replace). 

As ‘disposers’ drag along into their ‘middle-age’, like us, their ‘dietary tract’ suffers slowdowns and their cutters (teeth) have dulled to the point that they are producing a ‘salad’ instead of a slurry. (“Doesn’t slide down the pipes very well anymore”.)  Enough ‘salad’ sent down older kitchens 1&1/2-in. drains can cause a clog by slowing down the rate of drainage to a point where smaller debris joins the scrum and eventually enough ‘food waste’ seals the pipe.
  
Scary Odds
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Before trying to plunge ‘standing’ water in a single bowl kitchen sink that host’s a disposer, (which in turn hosts a dishwasher's drain port) inside the disposers grinding chamber) (See Illus. 17 & 18).

This juncture also needs to be plugged (wine cork?)  If the opening is not plugged (with something), the dishwashers drain hose (connected there) will happily allow a bunch of ‘Gazpacho’ be sent back down to the washer’s cabinet (and clean dishes there awaiting being ‘put away’?)  Or, Gazpacho may rise to the level, inside the dishwasher, that could pour out onto the floor if the appliances door is not locked. And look out after opening the door.

(If Pete lives long enough he’ll tell you about a garbage disposal replacement job that came straight from hell.)  (Even the tv “Home Improvement” bunch couldn’t have dreamed up what happened to Pete the Plumber, AND his client!)
 
Back

Now, if you have a stopped-up single bowl hosting a disposer and you want to try clearing it with a force cup, the author suggests ‘newbies’ bail the sink. Splashing clean-er water opposed to ‘messed-up’ water will make the exercise less ‘icky’. Then (using a short section of garden hose and bucket) siphon the grinding chamber of its standing ‘liquid’. Your success depends upon how clean of debris you can make the drainage holes/slots in the sides and floor of the garbage disposer’s grinding chamber.

You cannot find the holes and slots through opaque (Gazpatcho?) in the grinding chamber. Also, ‘tools’ such as long, straight and curved, hemostats are invaluable for the cleaning/retrieving chore.
 
Now De-energize (Un-plug) GB

Most garbage disposals installed in the last couple of decades, by code, need to be energized by a standard, rated appliance, three-prong cord and electrical outlet, installed near the appliance in the same cabinet. Simply pull-the-plug to work with safely. (Illus. 14a)

Double Trouble

Both kitchen sinks, one with a garbage disposal and the other, without, mostly use the same (behind the wall) vertical sanitary tee pattern. (It was the same for the lav but in smaller diameter pipe and fitting.)  Even kitchen sinks with garbage disposers (as mentioned) stoppages occur many more times at the branch of the sanitary tee, again (Illus. 16, below). As disposers age they do a poorer and poorer job of grinding and the ‘Gazpacho’ gets thicker and thicker and slows down the velocity of the discharge, increasing conditions for a stoppage.

Plunging a double bowl kitchen sink (one of) hosting a disposer creates the same need to ‘plug-up’ escape routes for the Force you are about to create as we did with overflows and passageways on lavs and tubs. You want your force to attack the clog, not climb up and out into the other bowl. It’s (big) wet sponge in plastic bag time again. Again, when possible while force cupping a disposer it’s best to do so with a plunger/cup skirt pulled down, and slipped into the garbage disposers sink opening, if it fits your disposer opening. You will/should be able to feel it drop in if the Gazpacho is too opaque to see through it. With a good ‘fitting’ of skirt-into-GB opening, fewer side squirts.

*If you do not have a cup/plunger with a fold down skirt just try to keep the cup centered (as much as possible) over the disposers opening. (Eye Protection On?)
 
Isn’t This Fun

In any sink or basin (with standing ‘dirty-soup’, or new, clean fresh) the rubber force cup works better when, resting still, in place, is fully submerged. This condition is not always possible and we work with what we got.

Let’s start by applying the force cup on the now ‘cleaned out’ disposers opening. (Water level hopefully above top of force cup). Begin the 4-5 slow, rhythmic ‘plunges’ and ‘lifts’ as we did for lav basins. Can you give it ‘the 20’?)

On double bowls with disposer, the chances are still good that the clog is at the sanitary tee branch, again (Illus. 16, above). If you can still find (seriously?) the stopper that came with the disposer, put it in, hold it down with one hand and ‘plunge’ the ‘naked’ bowl without disposer.
As Pete has mentioned/alluded to, this “plunging” business is a first line of attack on clogs/stoppages. It is/can be a messy enterprise. (With the author it is/was ‘hands down’ messy.)  Pete reckons it’s the reader’s level of $ liquidity $ that governs their participation in this ‘water sport’. (But maybe just knowing is worth the read?)
 
Tubs

Pete’s immediate prior address had no house numbers, on a cliff above the river. It did have a glorious 6-ft., cast iron legged bathtub, on the ‘under-the-stars’ deck. During snow flurries or autumn full moons both, Pete enjoyed a good, long soak. There were no stoppage worries. And no overflow worries. Pete sealed-off the overflow so he could fill the tub to its very top edge. When yours truly got in the tub, a ‘certain’ amount of water left the tub. No worries. Sealed deck. Watered flowers. Not even any need for towels (not touching skin).

*For most of you, tub bathing has been quite a different experience. For all of the joys bathtubs bring us, when expected operation is hampered by a clog, not being able to use this fixture can be exasperating. “How dare it!”  Well, compared to ‘plunging’ lavatory and kitchen basins/bowls, plunging a tub presents more ‘issues’. The ‘tricky’ aspects of plunging a tub involve the design (type) of W&O (waste and overflow), again Illus. 5, below, and where to place your body to perform the task. 

Leaning over the head edge of the tub, trying to hold a wet sponge ‘in-bag’ over the overflow (bent/twisted elbow?) while ‘plunging’ with one hand (hot or cold valve handle or tub spout in your face?) is not very comfortable, but ‘do-able’ to a degree.

Two items can make plunging a tub drain much easier and effective. (Pete already has several, long, 1-in. rubber contractor’s hoses he can couple together so he can be outside and siphon a stopped-up tub.). The first item is a ‘handy sized’ plastic bowl which with wet sponge inside, aids your covering and sealing of your W&O upper overflow port and trip-lever plate.) (The second item is an acme-threaded, wooden push broom handle (Photo 15).

Tripped-up?

If your tub waste is of the trip lever design as in, again Illus. 5, above, removing the internal ‘bucket’ stopper, with the linkage, will sometimes cure the problem outright as the lav pop-up stopper demonstrated upstream: hair and sludge. Usually only two screws hold the trip lever plate to the tub. One should be gentle when removing and re-installing the linkage and captive ‘bucket’ (stopper). It’s best to ‘jiggle’ this linkage as you lift. And, do not afterwards apply any “lubricant” to the bucket/ stopper before re-inserting the assembly into the overflow port. If the linkage with bucket stopper does not easily lift out of the overflow port, do not continue this ploy and replace the lift lever/overflow plate.

Tubular (brass) overflow piping (behind the tub wall) is flimsy stuff. Excessive side or rotational movement as a result of trying to lift out a ‘stubborn’ linkage/bucket stopper (or running a metal cable ‘snake’ through the overflow port) can cause leaks at the slip-nut locations. This is because many waste and overflows made of tubular brass employed rubber slip nut washers which after decades crack and leak from movement. Also, the ‘doughnut’ foam rubber sealing gasket (Illus. 19) which is held tight to the back side of the tub, surrounding the overflow opening, can fall out of position. When the gasket falls out of position a ‘splash’ leak may occur when the tub is used, even when showering.

*Solvent welded Schedule #40 ABS and PVC ‘kit’ waste and overflows (they provide the fittings, you: the cements) stand the test of time when they are installed by the ‘well initiated’.
 
Captain Nemo?

For a tub hosting a pop-up stopper, again Illus. 5, third above, removing the slide-out stopper and the actuating linkage will often benefit you as it did to remove the lavs pop-up stopper and ‘linkage’ (upstream): hair and sludge removed, problem solved. If the stoppage is further on, having clear pathways increases your odds of success. The author as rote would try the “uncomfortable” sponge-in-bag/lean-over-routine, upon arrival. That failing, it’s time to get serious: out come the coupled garden hoses and siphon-drain the fixture. (Run the water outside where it will not cause any problems.). Then, refill the tub with clean water to a depth that covers the top of rubber force-cup/plunger.

With neoprene, ‘stocking foot waders’ and kneepads, the author could comfortably kneel in the tub, which is a big deal. With rubber force-cups, replacing the factory’s acme threaded, short, force cup handle with a custom cut-to-length (3-ft.) section of acme threaded push-broom handle allows for far more successful clearances, especially if you can conscript an extra pair of hands to hold the wet-sponge-in-bag over the overflow plate. No waders?  No kneepads? Your tub?  No problem: ‘shorts’ or au natural.

Use the same four ‘compressions’ (plunges) then four ‘‘lifts’ as we used on the lavatory and kitchen basins/sinks.

*The extended length of the 36-in. custom-cut push-broom handle (for tub clogs) greatly reduces the muscle fatigue for your hand/arm/shoulder doing the work. The extra ‘tallness’ of the 36” custom cut handle allows you to grip high up and the ‘cup’er’ then pulls down instead of shoving down, and your arm, back and neck muscles are used in a more comfortable/less tiring way. It’s fine to go back and forth with ‘shoving’ and ‘pulling’. If you successfully conscripted help, then having both hands/arms working greatly increases your odds of clearing the clog.
  
Toe-Taps
 
Photos 16 & 16a illustrate a late entry of tub drainage hardware. 

​Because both trip lever and pop-up stopper waste and overflows may require ‘re-adjusting’ over time, the good designers looked for a simpler but effective way of stopping-up the tub. The original rubber cork method (Photo 16b) must have influenced them. 

The toe tap stopper is a modern version of the old rubber cork. The usually chromed plastic toe tap stopper on less expensive models and the more expensive metallic stopper type still makes a water tight seal using a modern neoprene ‘rubber’ O-ring or other custom designed ‘rubber’ seal. The elevated ‘toe tap’ stopper is spring loaded and presses down on the rubber seal, sealing the water entering the tub when pressure is applied to the top of the stopper by the bather’s fingers or heel or toes. When bathing ends, a mere ‘touch of toe’ trips the spring which raises the stopper to allow drainage.

Sounds sexy?  This design does have some convenience aspects that trip lever and pop-up stopper waste and overflows lack. The first is toe tap W&O’s ditched the linkage that its brethren are stuck with. That is a big deal. But there are also negatives involving this design which the author finds too severe/objectionable to embrace.  One involves springs which are required. The author has found them to be too fickle to ‘stay on the job’ long enough to earn his acceptance. Another detractor is the slower drainage rate for this design versus properly adjusted linkage versions. (Need to clean the tub more often).

For a plumber or ‘handyperson’ removing this stopper prior to force-cupping is not a big deal. For the layperson the author at this time feels it’s stretching the mandate of this tutorial. Like pop-up stopper and trip-lever waste and overflows, hair collection underneath the toe tap stopper is enemy number one and because of the usually slower drainage rate involved with ‘toe taps’ it presents a lesser opportunity for force-cup success on stoppages.

The second drawback to plunging/force-cupping a tub with the toe tap stopper is its height. It greatly limits the design of force cup you can use and also limits the range of ‘down’ plunges you can perform before ‘bottoming-out’ on the stopper.  Though a benefit for this type is the overflow plate, again (Photo 16a, above) is flat and much easier to ‘stop-off’ with the wet sponge in a plastic bag. The author’s choice of force cup for this application would be the larger ‘hemispherical-ish’ force cups like Photos 1, 2, 2a, & 2b. A more abrupt shorter plunge with the usual suction/lift followed by the ‘Gazpacho Finish’ lift is the author’s recommendation here.

Lift and Twist
​
The final drain peculiarity for discussion is another elevated stopper that employs weight instead of springs to stop-up the drain. The Lift and Twist Stopper waste and overflow (Photos 17 & 17a) are usually a pre-cut ABS or PVC kit. 

The plumber cements and mounts. For deeper tubs the ‘kit’ might only include the tub shoe and overflow housing and trim plate and mounting screw. The weighted stopper waste and overflow (Lift & twist) assembly often sees the plumber measure the distance between the plastic components and then cut, plumber-supplied, Schedule #40 pipe pieces to length and cement together.

The stopper for lift and twist varieties is intentionally heavy. It’s the mere weight (usually/thankfully brass) of the stopper, weighing-down a neoprene O-ring or other proprietarily designed neoprene rubber seal. This heavy stopper rides up and down on a post for accuracy and retainment: it won’t get misplaced. (As long as the set-screw under the bottoms edge remains tight). Of the two styles of elevated stopper waste and overflows, the author sees the lift and twist the lesser of “surrendered performance”. Again, a high volume hemispherical-ish force-cup would be suggested to plunge the tub without removing the stopper and post. Same cupping technique as for toe tap stoppers: shorter downward plunging but don’t “wimp out” on lifts. *There are hair screens for this type, see Photo 18.

Shower Enclosures

Showers really ‘take it in the neck’ when it comes to clogs or slowdowns. A bathtub, when draining, has the advantage of the heavy weight of standing water flooding the waste and drain. When taking a shower (especially today with ‘the water saving’ shower heads) the draining bathing water stays below your big toe. Very little applied weight by comparison. Less water, less ‘carry distance’ for the oils/soaps/hair/hair products in the draining water. This ‘slowness’ accounts for ‘build-up’s’ which in time encourage full stoppages.

Until the 1970’s most States had codes designating a minimum 1 &1/2-in. p-trap, trap arm, and drain line for stand alone showers.  Well, we humans tend to learn by our mistakes. Today, most codes demand a 2-in. p-trap, trap-arm and drain line. This was/is a smart move. (It is the author’s belief that also today, we send more hair/health care product ‘slurries’ down shower drains than anytime in our short history of shower bathing.) This ‘gunk’ wasn’t around when plumbing engineers calculated required drain and waste diameter for ‘then’ fixtures. So, it’s important not to further slow down the exodus of this junk by not maintaining a hair trap over the shower drain to keep it from “reinforcing” the sludge. What do you suppose Photo 18a could contribute to a blockage in my daughter Kelly’s shower enclosure and my grandson Justin’s shower, separated by a wall?

Stoppages in shower pan p-traps occur when the slow-moving drain water releases their load while still transiting the trap. This ooze builds up, mixing with hair and creating mini-‘Fatbergs’.

*Some references to ‘Fatbergs’ at end of article.
 
Fat Chance

Eventually this hair reinforced sludge (fats) invades the trap arm and creates further slow-down. Total blockage happens when the growing ‘mini-fatberg’ builds up at the juncture of trap arm and sanitary tee branch. It’s also at this juncture, between trap-arm and sanitary tee that Mr. Spoiler, the vent also shows his face. Your chances of success if the clog occupies space anywhere between the shower drain fitting and a short distance to the vent (red dots) are good. If the clog is past (downstream) (green dots) of the vent to drain connection (Illus. 20) un-clogging the drain with a force cup are slim. But give it 20 minutes’ worth?

*Most codes allow 5-ft. trap-arm lengths to vent juncture for 2-in. pipe. It’s a convenient length since most American ‘built-in’ bathtubs are also 5-ft. long and the plumber can run his vent up a wall at the backrest end of the tub if framing closer to the drain is inhospitable for this purpose.
 
*It is not evident in a completed bathroom but when the plumber plumbed a shower pan (or tub) with a wye branch fitting as in Illus. 20a instead of a vertical sanitary tee, the ‘Cup’er’ is still equally handicapped by the vent’s effect on compression and suction while plunging. In the case of a wye branch vent juncture, the stoppage will usually occur downstream for this pattern.

The Toilet Bug-A-Loo

O.K. (any hangers on), we’re now ‘suiting-up’ for the Major’s.

Thomas Lynch in his “The Undertaking: Life Studies from the Dismal Trade” had this to say about toilets: “The flush toilet, more than any single invention, has “civilized” us in a way that religion and law could never accomplish.”  And, the toilet (‘closet’ in plumber speak) is probably the fixture most requiring a “plunging” now and then. We knew what to expect when plunging the lavatory bowl, the tub, and the shower. Plunging the toilet bowl (the why for) has many more players, a couple of which involves design and construction of the toilet itself, as the reader will see downstream.
 
* An apropos aside: Pete was once given a special illumination device (known as a ‘bore scope’) to test and see if the device could fulfill a need in the plumbing trade. The manufacturer wanted Pete to use it for a spell and give them a report.

The author found it very handy but it could not do the one chore he wished for most. He wanted to be able to see if an ‘Aunt Mabel’s wedding ring’ or ‘Uncle Joe’s watch fob’ or ‘grandma’s’ eyeglasses might be in the trap of some customer’s toilet. The donated bore scope was rigid. It wouldn’t go around corners. It did though help Pete looking for leak sources in walls and ceilings.

The report Pete eventually ‘sent in’ mentioned the products ability to let Pete see inside walls, ceilings and floors. But he also told them if they could make a flexible one which could slide through a toilets passageway, that they’d be ‘on to something’.

Yours truly never heard a peep after he submitted his report. Then one day some months later, while ‘leafing through’ a plumber’s trade magazine at some wholesaler’s counter, he saw an ad that caught his eye. The same manufacturer was advertising a new flexible device that allows plumbers to look and see what’s inside toilet traps and passageways. The name of their new gadget: “Toilet-o-Scope”!  The author chuckled.  Photo 19 is one of the latest such devices that is exactly what Pete the Plumber had dreamed about. 

Tried And True

The old-fashioned force cup (header photo, above) when its rubber quality has not deteriorated badly, can be effective on simple “too much paper” and/or “too much (normal) #2. in toilet passageways. When an aged rubber cup becomes riddled with cracks …and leaks air, good luck. There are humans who produce ‘mondo’ stools, ‘logs’ of such girth and length that few toilets can facilitate them.

*There was a toilet manufacturer (Carmona) in Australia, producing a toilet with an extra-large internal passageway just for this situation/‘condition’, but it is presently no longer in production. ‘Tis a shame. It had a reputation built by performance and the understanding: ‘If you can make it, we can pass it.’

Photo 20 reveals the extra diameter Carmona  passageway and ‘horn’, compared to 2&1/8-in. passageways of most manufacturers in Photo 21.

Rectifying this situation via ‘plunger’ demands a good-quality one. For years Pete the Plumber’s favorite force cup was marketed as: “Toilaflex”, manufactured by the Radiator Specialty Company: good strength and flexibility. This model (and since, knockoff’s) have a pull-down skirt which is a great aid when ‘plunging’ toilets. (The skirt is best left unfolded for disposer-less kitchen and bathroom lav force cup’ers.   
 
Why Me?

Ever wonder why someone else’s toilet clogs more than yours (other than aforementioned biological anomalies?)  (Pete doesn’t think that question is too creepy.)  One easy ‘answer for’ are young children: lots of toilet paper. Children also have imaginations almost as fertile as Pete the Plumber’s (he was told by an associate). And, your imagination is capable of giving you some help here, if there needs to be an explanation. When the author answered a ‘stoppage’ call, and the customers had either aquariums or cat litter boxes, the bells would ring in his ears. (Like doctors meeting presenting patients for the first time in examination rooms: an almost immediate ‘good guess’.)  (book: “How Doctors Think”)

Aquarium gravel and cat litter are big time offenders. Pete need not tell non-pet owners how the gravel and litter got into the toilet bowl. Many times ‘plunging/cupping’ will be unsuccessful for this problem and now the toilet requires the tank be removed and the bowl gently rolled outside on a convenient soft space, while getting a garden hose enema in both openings. (Sometimes only the embarrassment of the client when Pete performed this procedure on their front lawn did a change of habit occur.)
 
(Safe Passage?)

Most users of flush toilets would recognize ‘them’ by touch in complete darkness or blindfolded. What practically makes ‘them’ different on the inside (passageways) the same users understandably draw blanks. Aside the shape and volumetric capacity of the toilets bowl, it’s the diameter, path, and internal surface of the passageway that really spells operational success of gravity flush toilets. According to manufacturers data sheets most internal toilet passageways, today, are of 2 &1/8-in. inside diameter. The average human stool is about 4-inches long and ¾ to an inch in girth. How easily sanitary fixture designers can send our poop on its way and maintain an effective volume of flush water in the bowl (after the ‘flush’) determines the success or failure of the fixture (and your happiness with it).
 
*An Apropos Aside:  Pete the Plumber unfortunately once found himself in a health clinic in Arizona for six weeks dealing with his own “plumbing” problems. And, some of his fellow patients were the ‘coke bottle/brown bear-sized’ grazers. The four toilets were always clogging. Now it just so happened that Pete had just recently written a product review to a national builder’s magazine for a brand new “super-flusher” 3.5 gallon gravity toilet. The author had demonstrated the toilet at a plumbing wholesaler's location. He placed the toilet above a 55 gallon white plastic drum and repetitively and simultaneously flushed 6 (thawed) standard American hot dogs into the drum. Time after time.

For the clinic, Pete called the manufacturer and asked for new toilets, for free. They sent them. Pete installed them. (Effective but quite noisy they were). Fortunately though, the plumber slept elsewhere and never had another need to visit the clinic.

When the author started in the trade, 7-gallon cisterns (toilet tanks) were common. The industry later thought they were being ‘conscientious’ when they began making 5-gallon versions. California has since led the Nation in paring down the amount of (drinking) water needed to flush toilets. Today, thankfully, the necessary volume has been reduced in some cases to a little more than a gallon and a few two-ounce ‘jiggers’. How has this occurred?  Smarter engineering coming to our rescue: improved and improved and improved passageways. 

Closer Look
​
For all survivors of this Pipe stream (to this point) the author wants to show the reader some differences in manufacturers’ internal passageways, further downstream. Illus. 24 is taken from my book “Installing and Repairing Plumbing Fixtures”. 

Like all other sanitary fixtures (sinks, showers, urinals, bidets etc.) each of these fixtures must be served by a sanitary trap.  For sinks and showers the plumber attaches the trap. Toilets, bidets and sometimes urinals have internal traps. The traps Pete buys and puts on sinks, tubs, showers and other ‘sanitary experiments’ have mandatory standards set by numerous governing bodies. A p-trap in Arizona is the same one in Maine. A toilets built-in trap/passageway may differ until the cows come home. It sure would help if the ‘cup’er’ could see a profile of the ‘prospective’ toilets passageway. The where and why of the stoppage could signal what ‘cup technique’ would be best to employ.
  
Glazed (or Caked?)

How do you like your doughnuts?  Can you tell the difference between the two when you swallow?  Well your toilet knows when it ‘swallows’ something different than ‘normal’ human poop.

*Another Apropos Confidence: Pete has an airline captain brother who retired after many thousands of hours flying people all over the world. He referred to himself as “a bus driver in the sky.”  Well, Captain Tim flew one of the first Boeing 747’s between San Francisco and Tokyo, Japan. Almost all passengers were Japanese. They got there on their second try. Half-way across on the initial flight they had to turn back. The toilets were plugged. In San Francisco the mechanics discovered the Japanese poop was so different that it clogged the toilets American poop had not (in testing). Pete’s next-door Japanese sculptor neighbor, K.G. told yours truly that Japanese fixture manufacturer Toto used mochi dough molded to the ‘right’ dimensions to test their toilets. Pete likes that rice dough, and he would have to admit that there is a likeness and that it would be a good choice to test passageways.
 
Smooth As What?

In the late 1950’s when the author was introduced to the world of plumbing he cannot recall seeing a glazed passageway when he unseated ‘leakers’ and re-set (re-installed) them. He also can’t recall when he came across the first glazed one. But what Pete thought when he saw his first one was: great idea. Could you see that glazed Caroma ‘horn’ opening in Photo 21? 

​Eventually Pete the Plumber was glad to see his customers wanting them. And, stoppage problems with the ‘glazed’ (in Pete’s experience) were fewer than with the traditionally cheaper bisque (un-glazed) models. As the author brought to readers’ attention in his books: inspecting before you buy is a major step to a happy purchase. Porcelain fixture manufacturers have sizable ‘bone yards’ of dud, deformed, glaze-failed fixtures that they caught during the manufacturing process. Thankfully. But many more escape and are boxed and shipped. The retail customer was rarely shown their purchases (naked) before leaving the store/warehouse/shop. Wise contractors do and/or demand. Pete found (among others) many glazing problems while inspecting purchases. These often occurred inside walls of the horn and close to the juncture with the passageway. They appear as the little, pointed curls on ‘chocolate drops or cake frostings. These are razor sharp to human skin and great hooks to catch any manner of ‘stuff’ people send down toilets. Sometimes it’s a de-formed horn as the author has covered upstream in another Pipe article. If someone lives with a continuously clogging toilet, ‘lifting’ and inspecting is a ‘good idea’.
 
Whose Big Idea

As Pete the Plumber mentioned upstream, toilet designers have carte blanche (restraints only by physics) on bowl and passageway shape and path. Only a plumber (or savvy builder) would be ‘told anything’ when glancing at installed and/or toilet bowls just ‘outta da box’. Again, the toilet bowl and passageway, Illus. 24, borrowed from my book illustrated by Frank Abbas: Installing & Repairing Plumbing Fixtures, has a fail-proof bowl/passageway design. No sharp corners anywhere. 

Compare to Illus. #s 26, 26a, 26b, 26c, 26d & 26e, which are tracings from manufacturer’s schematic cross-sections with two versions exhibiting one or more sharp 90 degree angles. Give the author the soft curves every time. Illus. 26e is the shape of one manufacturer that Pete the Plumber thinks recognized the importance of soft turns and it resembles the Abbas design from Pete’s book. (Mr. Abbas was in fact a plumber before putting his wrenches down and picking up illustrator tools.)

In Illus. 25, below, note Pete’s highlighted, lower right: Siphon jet. Toilets operating at today’s mandated ‘lows’ usually need this siphon jet to flush fully. The 7-gallon cisterns (toilet tanks) of yesteryear alleviated the need for this jet feature.

Modern toilet bowl designs have to work with low-water-usage constraints. We today, do not have the advantage of almost 59 pounds of water ‘pushing’ to ‘get the brown down’. To accomplish today, with approximately 8 &1/2 pounds of water what we once did with almost 60, means some smart folks need to keep going to work and see if we can’t ’raise the bar’ by lowering it with even less water use. 

Now, in Illus. 26e, above, the passageway from the bottom of the bowl, up and over and then down (looks like what Doc cut out of Pete) to and through the horn would be a great flusher: an almost vertical drop into the drain. Contrarily, passageway tracings which are of actual factory schematics by yours truly, show how different they may be.

Which one/s would Pete the Plumber want to pin his reputation to?  It wouldn’t be any with sharp angles. (On really old installations, without 7 gallons in his holster Pete would rather hide in the livery.)  Next time you have to shop for a new toilet you might ask for a ‘cutaway’ schematic and look for any sharp angle passageway turns.

Now the purpose for the siphon jet is to aid, in a ‘pulling’ manor, the complete evacuation of bowl and contents. Remember, we’re doing this (today) with new, lower water allowance regulations, most with 3.5 gallon to a now low of 1.6-8 gallons of drinking water. The jet, served by the highlighted upper rim cavity, again Illus. 25, above, uses the falling water of the tank, which constricted into a much smaller lower elevation opening, creates water of higher velocity. This higher velocity stream is aimed at the center of the passageway. When the tank lever is tripped, releasing its contents, the ‘jetted’ water races up to and over the weir of the trap (highlighted) pulling the slower velocity exiting water of the bowl along with it. This is the same principal that placer gold dredges work on.

When plunging/force-cupping a clogged toilet bowl ends with failure, the next technology to employ is the toilet auger. Pete’s done thousands of auger rescues but that is outside of this discussions purview.
 
Power to the Pee-ple

All of us at one time or another have used a toilet in a restaurant, gas station, hospital or other venue serving the general public which when flushed almost made us ‘leave or shoes’ because of the outrageously loud noise. These locations/businesses may employ (due to high number of users) and paper towels, toilets with ‘pressurized’ cisterns (tanks) which ‘blast’ the toilet bowl contents through the passageway. They are effective (but who wants to live with that noise in our living quarters?)  When these power flush toilets clog the efficacy of force-cupping usually does not meet success rates of our residential gravity toilets. But don’t let this fact stop you from trying to unclog one with a force cup. Got 20 minutes?
 
Plastic Force Cups

When one goes shopping for a force cup they will discover some “Darth Vader-ish” to ‘creepy’ looking devices that may remind you of children’s monster toys. Most all are of bellow construction (Photo 22).

The author appreciates the “anti-side stretch’ of this pleated material. This keeps forces going mostly in only one direction, quicker. One aspect the author finds intriguing about the plastic Master Plunger” (GT Products, Inc.) Photo 22, is the threaded handle. With one ‘un-screw rotation’ (CC) captive air is released. If this force cup had a soft ‘kisser’ (like rubber models) yours truly believes it would open a new strategy for ‘force cupping’. Also, with full removal of handle, additional water could be poured in until water filled the pleated ‘bellows’. This would increase the efficacy. If plastic force cup makers co-operated with some “rubber” guys and found a way to bond a ‘grippy’ neoprene like material to the openings of their now muscular plastic designs they might earn a devoted, growing market.

With force-cups, it’s water that does your bidding. With the much larger plastic versions, air makes up a big part of its ‘muscle’ (Illus. 23). As we all learned in school eons ago: air compresses. Water: naught. Who do you want fighting for you, pushing trouble away?  Someone who gives no ground, or someone who can be shoved around?  The GT’s Monster’s provision to rid itself of the air and fill with water is a step in the right direction.

Pete’s Dream Cups

If the author were a younger man he would try to scrounge up some funds to make a prototype plumber’s force cup with some “new twists”. But like a life-long wish to hike the Appalachian Trail, paddle his kayak to Micronesia, learn to hang-glide, fifty-years later the urge doesn’t get him off the couch.  But it’s not been an ‘overly bored’ life, either. One new development (for Pete) was rubber cups on aluminum handles, like Photos 2a & 2b, and a ‘pleated plastic’ plunger solely for toilets (Photo 24).  He trusts there are sufficient numbers of smart people who will continue to find time to dwell on cup improvements while he sits on his.

Air Force

 There are all manner of sophisticated compressed air devices on offer for clearing plumbing clogs. The author one day thought he might like to just ‘pull a trigger’ to clear clogs. He saved his dimes and got a beauty.

Pete the Plumber could not wait to have an excuse to use his new air ‘blaster’. Well, the day came. He got a call to a huge mansion (jade tile wainscoting in bathrooms). The offending clogged toilet was a giant, old, jade-green, wall-hung tank, elongated toilet bowl with ceramic trim covering the flush elbow piping bringing water down from tank to bowl. Of course a 7+ gallon tank. Guests from afar were being inconvenienced. (Pete the Plumber was happy as pie.)  With a big smile (and boast) yours truly slid his C02 amo into the breach, positioned his ‘gun’ and pulled the trigger. He dislodged the clog but also blew away the bee’s wax ‘ring’ sealing the bowls ‘horn’ to the drain. As a result, Pete ‘donated’ 5 hrs. labor time to replace the seal. Would Pete do that again?  (T & M?) (With helpers?)  Hmmmmmm, he thinks not. The author might. Sure was excitement though pulling that trigger.
 
Pseudo Finìsto

Congratulations to readers who slogged through Pete the Plumber’s musings comprising this Pipe. He hopes you came away with some improved comprehension of what the many forms of force-cups can accomplish, and sometimes not.  He would like to end this attempt by leaving you with a last (I promise) apropos aside.

The word ‘force’ was used so much during the above argument that Pete worries that it may have lost a little of its p.s.i. For that reason the author would like to leave you with a little tale involving Force that might get the reader to consider the real existence of the Force. It was the coincidence of writing (a bit technically) about plumber’s force cups and then reminding himself of an incident that happened (involving a “household name” entertainment figure, that is cause for the title of this Pipe: May the Force Be with You
 
There Has To Be Angels

Pete believes that somewhere in his blogs and books he admitted plumbing and maintaining restaurants constituted a sizable chunk of his billing and happiness. He makes no secret of it: Pete likes to eat and restaurants (after he’s done working) always treat him royally with a table for one and wonderful fare, gratis.

Well, one day Pete the Plumber was called to one of the restaurants he plumbed in Berkeley. The restaurant occupied a busy ground floor corner location with second floor residences above. The cause to call Pete was problems with an ice maker. It was housed in a purpose-built shed, up on the roof. Around the outside corner restaurants ground floor, on each side, were big, old fashioned (original 1930’s) ‘crank-out’ canvass awnings, to provide shade for a small number of checkered cloth, two-person tables (‘duces’).

The ten o’clock Sunday morning Pete was called to the restaurant, the sidewalk tables were hosting a Mimosa quaffing, crêpe and blintze indulging (tiramisu to go) pro-brunch regulars. The awning on one side (East) had not yet been ‘cranked-out’. That was the same wall, up at and on the roof (now properly called a parapet wall), where the ice maker shed had been backed up to.

Pete the Plumber (after a latte [he was allowed behind the counter to make his own] and coffee cake) climbed the back stairs to the roof with his tool sack over his shoulder. The ice-maker enclosure (as mentioned) was backed by a 4 ft. parapet wall running around the building perimeter. Pete fixed the ice maker without too much effort and began getting his tools back in his sack. Next is where the Force comes in.
 
You Knew Better

In the course of repairing the ice maker, Pete did something very foolish. It had nothing to do with the repairing of the machine. The “unforgivable” lapse-of-good-judgement could have resulted in tragedy.

A whisper in your ear: Shipyard workers have to scale and work at many high places when building and repairing a hull (with many co-workers working below them). For good reason a draconian code is in force: drop a tool once, fined $500.00. Drop a tool twice: fined $1,000.00   No third time. You’re fired!

Pete the Plumber had lain a heavy Crescent wrench on the flat top of the 6-in wide stucco parapet wall. He knew better. (He had already punished himself (sutures and more than once) by leaving wrenches (and other tools) on high steps of tall ladders (where they could not be seen from below). One big reason for ‘hard hats’ and face shields. After performing the repair, when the author reached for his ‘drop-forged buddy! (too quickly) he committed the unforgivable: Yours truly, accidentally, knocked the wrench off… into 2-story  space!
 
Holy Chrome Moly

Down at the ground floor sidewalk tables (moved close together for a party of four) sat the unsuspecting foursome. From the plumber’s vantage point (directly above) only the style of clothing (gender) differentiated the café guests.

At the instant of judgement failure the author suffered a very terrible, ‘sickness’ in both heart and stomach. (‘Blood and Lawsuit’ imagery shot to the front of his shattered train of thought.)  To this day, Pete can still see that big, chrome-moly, sunlight reflecting ‘arial killer’ landing in between the two, close together (6-8-inches) tables of innocent, unsuspecting diners.

The falling wrench hit the ground with very audible ‘metallic’ sounding impact, then ricocheted with a REAL loud ‘BANG’ off one of the two tables metal central column supports. It landed, finally motionless, several feet out in the center of the sidewalk. Pete was frozen in place, and still peering down on the ‘crime scene’- the diners were also in a state of frozen animation. It was as if a combatant in a foxhole witnesses a too close for comfort landing mortar round, but seconds intervene before any coherent cerebral machinations can coalesce. (Fortunately NONE of the diners were struck or in any way, injured.) (PTSD?)

The author’s memory is a blank between descending from the roof until mere strides from one, standing, and three sitting diners. From a short distance Pete the Plumber sensed he might not be physically attacked (four against one?). But the author did expect a very angry ‘dressing down” from one and/or all. Very thankfully that did not become reality. The gentleman stood several feet in front of the tables, and with neither stern nor warm facial features/body language, merely extended his arm, hand grasping tool, and said in a calm, normal timbre: “The Force was with you.”

This incident required a report to the management. The café owner, graciously removed the bill from table top and apologized to the diners, then gave Pete a look that would be difficult to describe. In a low voice he told Pete to meet him at the restaurants back kitchen door.  There, it was: “Do you know who that guy is?”  The author honestly answered: “No”, I don’t.”  “Well, if you went to movies you would.” 

However, importantly, Pete did not lose his privileged key to the restaurant, or the walk-in, or the wine/beer cooler (for another 20 years).

Now this is/was one incident (of way too many) of myriad dangers, that, life-long, have not ended in tragedy for yours truly (and others). Pete the Plumber ‘knows’ he’s had some force intervene on his behalf. And, he hopes one day (in the nick of time?) The Force May Be With You, too!
 
 
PtP

References to ‘Fatbergs’:

Rise of the Fatberg: Secret of the Ooze
https://www.vactor.com/home-news-press/what-is-a-fatberg
 
Pandemic Wipes Create Sewer-Clogging Fatbergs – Bloomberg
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-03-26/pandemic-wipes-create-sewer-clogging-fatbergs
 
 Huge Blobs of Fat and Trash Are Filling the World’s Sewers
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/fatbergs-fat-cities-sewers-wet-wipes-science

Greetings one and all. Pete the Plumber has been very busy of late, not however with anything to do with plumbing. His missing Pipe action was due to an ‘outta left field’ influence: for the first time in his life, he fell prey to an unexpected (but common to many others) impulse. He planted a vegetable and flower garden. (Photos 1a & 1b.) ​

And being a ‘greenhorn’ in such endeavors he foolishly went a bit overboard. (Homer, his long-deceased Wisconsin farmer grandfather would most certainly find this spectacle hilarious.)  A bit like ‘gold fever’ the author succumbed to the ‘gardener’s mania’: he left his MasterCard on file at the nursery. (You can just imagine what folly would be possible via such ‘short’ sightedness.) (Oh, but what fun!) (When discounting the sunburn and aching muscles). As of this writing Pete has only one melon trellis to build before he dives (fully) into this next In the Pipe: M.I.A.

In Pete’s last Pipe he had a few things to say about helping with the installation of a commercial kitchen for the fledging food Co-Op in his village. During that effort it was necessary to deal with a ‘problem’ which used to be a chronic bone of contention for old time plumbers, long past. True to The Pipe, this ‘bone’ involved both materials and practices.

Because in today’s world the majority of freshwater plumbing systems are either plastic (PEX, CPV and a few exotics) and copper, what Pete is going to share in this PIPE will benefit repair plumbers, mostly. The reason for discussing such a ‘limited interest’ topic is because there are still millions of plumbers around the country who ‘now and then’ will want to shake my hand for learning what this article did/does for them.
 
Iron/Steel and Rust

Pete ‘cut his chops’ when plumbers were still ‘cranking’ (threading) galvanized steel and galvanized iron pipe for fresh water supply. In many older cities these fruits of plumbers’ labors are still on the job, still supplying life supporting fresh water to millions. In the previous Pipe article the author mentioned working on the NSF (commercial) kitchen, and this endeavor required the use of one of Pete’s specialty plumbers’ tools. A tool that in today’s plastic and copper FWD (Fresh Water Distribution) practice is rarely required. In old metropolitan areas with lots of galvanized pipe still on the job the tool Pete is going to tell you about remains a must have. Will the reader of this Pipe ever need to work with this tool? Hopefully not.
 
My CO-OP assistant for the kitchen plumbing, Ryan, had scored two commercial kitchen faucets, used, on-line. They were ‘workable’ Fisher Company wall-hung models. One of the faucets had broken and corroded galvanized nipples in the supply fittings. NO room for a pipe wrench to grip anything. How were we to get rid of these corroded and broken nipples?  The faucet (regardless of its good condition) would be useless unless the supply ports were clean ½ in. F.I.P. (female iron pipe) threads. To rid ourselves of the broken nipples required the use of a Pipe Nipple Extractor (‘back-out’).
 
A  LITTLE  HISTORY
(It won’t hurt you)
​
Back in the 1930’s and until the 50’s most kitchen sink faucets were “Wall-Hung”. Deck sink/counter mounted varieties were yet, years away. An experienced framing carpenter (if not the plumber) in that time framed two, (in those days, ‘rough’) studs: 9.0” to 10.0” ‘inside to inside’, at a point on the wet wall that centered on the sink. (Illus. 1.) 

The ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ galvanized pipe (risers) supplying the kitchen sink faucet were fastened to the insides of the studs with “spikes” (considerably bigger than standard #16 penny for framing.) The fastening consisted of “bending over” the spikes on the piping. There might be 6 or more spikes used on each pipe, to hold it firmly on (or very close to) 8 inch ‘on centers. What’s the 8 inch on center for?  The reason is the pipe connections of the wall-hung kitchen sink faucet was/still is 8-in. on center.
 
Post Tile

On the top of the galvanized “risers”, before spiking, 90-degree change of direction fittings were installed, port facing out. (See Illus. 1 above.)  These ‘90’s’ were behind (inside) the ‘finish wall’.
 
The’ finish’ of the finish wall might be tile or stone for the financially able or Marmoleum/linoleum for the proletariat. Regardless, galvanized steel nipples (of several possible lengths) needed to be threaded into those ‘in the wall’ spiked 90’s after ‘finish’ wall was completed. The length of these nipples depended upon how deep in the wall the plumber spiked the risers and the thickness of the ‘finish’: mortar bed and tile (2-in.?) versus linoleum (1/8-in.?) (or as part of a wall hung cast iron sink ‘backsplash’ (2-in.?)
 
* If brass nipples were used in place of galvanized ones, and their lengths were under 6-inches long, the corrosion that occurs at the brass nipple and galvanized 90’ is more difficult to deal with than corroded nipples at the faucet connections, with steel nipples. Corrosion deeper inside the wall at the riser 90’ makes the extraction/repair a much more difficult operation and much more $$$$$$ (rather than shorter nipples near the finish wall surface.

* Brass nipples 6 inches long (or longer) may join steel components with less dielectric caused corrosion than the practically useless dielectric unions sold to plumbers today.

* 8-in. wall-hung kitchen sink faucets (fortunately) include off-set adapters which allow the plumber to install the faucet to nipples not on a perfect 8-in. on center. (Few were).
 
With Time

Once the wall-hung sink faucet was set on the finish wall, years to decades (occasionally) a generation later, galvanized nipples holding the faucet in place commonly begin to leak and need replacement. The speeds at how quickly the corrosion occurs also depends upon the quality (purity) of the water supply.

 Without a specialized tool to accomplish this nipple removal, the job cannot be done without opening the wall (unless you are a dentist, with all your tools at home). There are a number of manufacturers making various designs of ‘specialized’ tools (pipe nipple extractors) (‘back-outs) for this task. The author has found one particular design, by one particular manufacturer to have never ‘let him down’. He’s tried almost all of the others, with mixed results. In this Pipe, the author reveals his ‘tried and proven’ choice/method for removing broken or leaking galvanized ‘in the wall’ nipples.
​
As mentioned, the inspiration for this Pipe topic was born when Pete, during his recent NSF kitchen work, had to dig out his nipple extractor to remove broken nipples from a used, commercial wall hung sink faucet the owners wanted installed. Pete’s helper, Ryan, had never seen one before. It made quick work of the problem. At that moment, this Pipe’s direction catalyzed: introduce readers to the ACE E-X7 (for ½-in. pipe) nipple extractor.   (Photo 2.) ​

As the author mentioned upstream it’s predominantly repair plumbers who might best benefit from this post, but there may prove the existence of just “unlucky” home repair activated homeowners sometime faced with extracting a broken galvanized steel nipple for a wall hung faucet, F.I.P. hose bib, F.I.P. washing machine bibs, kitchen/bathroom sink F.I.P. angle stops, and maybe even pumps and other equipment/devices. So, learning about Pete’s choice/favorite pipe nipple extractor, now, will save any of you needing one, the years and anguish Pete paid to ‘figure it out”. On the kitchen job (thanks to the Ex-7) the faucet got mounted on the NSF sink’s stainless-steel backsplash to serve another decade or more.

The Line Up
​
Photo’s 3, 3a, 3b and 3c are the most popular, common choices for pipe nipple extractors available today.

Some are tapered and square sided, some are tapered spirals, some are almost round with straight ridges and others use a cam action. Pete’s favorite uses tapered spiral gripping ridges in its design. It’s the spiral ridges (at the rate of climb and the overall taper) of his favored tool that’s the ‘magic’ of this tool’s successful performance. You may find other makes of spiral design extractors with similar characteristics, but the author (after all these years) isn’t salivating to experiment. He’s found it! with the Ace EX-7. It resembles the long used broken screw/stud extractor mechanics employ. (The first screw-stud ‘back-out’ the author (at 17) had to use was to remove a broken stud (motor) on his Model A Ford.
 
What’s In a Name

The EX-7 means: ‘Number 7 Extractor’, sized to fit ½-in. iron/steel pipe. No.7 is one of several standard sizes in the industry for use with ½-in. pipe. As the pipe diameter increases so does the size of the extractors and its corresponding number designation. For example an EX-9 would be used for ¾-in. pipe and a Number 11 would serve 1-in. pipe.
 
Using the Tool
​
All ‘back-out’s’ (extractors) operate the same way: insert the pointed (or tapered) end of the tool into the nipple (may require a gentle ball-peen (hammer) ‘tap’; and, then a large Crescent wrench is applied to the wrench ‘flats’ (Photo 4) on the ‘fat end’ of the tool. With both hands rotate the wrench (and tool) in a counterclockwise direction. 

Sometimes Pete has to lean hard against the wrench while using it. As for kitchen wall-hung faucets (and maybe laundry F.I.P. bibs) the plumber remains standing while doing battle. This not the case for F.I.P. angle stops at approximately 16-inches off the floor in bathrooms under a wall-hung lavatory sink or cabinet supported bathroom sink or a kitchen cabinet deck- mounted sink faucet. When someone finds themselves needing to replace broken/leaking nipples in a situation where the labor cannot be accomplished while standing, the chore becomes much more distasteful. For an F.I.P. angle stop serving a toilet or bidet, the job may require lifting the fixtures to gain sufficient “tussle room”.
​
The ACE-EX 7 works wonderfully for extracting nipples that happen to be as long (or longer) than the tool itself. When the situation though involves a short (‘close’): 1-in. long or 1 & ½-in. long nipple threaded into a 90 or 45 degree fitting, sometimes the tip of the tool strikes the inside radius of the fitting before the ‘gripping’ ridges can engage (effectively) the inside walls of the nipple allowing it to be “un-screwed”. (Illus. 2.)  

Pete solved this problem. With a diamond ‘cut-off’ disk on his grinder he shortened another EX-7 for those occasions when the standard EX-7 is too long. (Photo 5.) A manufacturer of plumbing tools, PASCO, has come to the same conclusion and offers a ‘shortened’ version of a # 7 spiral extractor (Photo 6).

Wrenching Thought

The author’s first choice of wrench to use with the #7 extractor is a 12-in. Crescent wrench. If it’s a “no budge” attempt, he gets his 15-in. out for the job. This operation does have a ‘worry aspect’ about it. On very old piping Pete has broken piping inside the wall trying to extract stubborn nipples. Depending upon the circumstances the degree of damage varies. If Pete broke piping for a wall hung sink, on tile, we now (unfortunately) have a need for a tile setter to repair the finish when the plumbing work is completed. When breakage occurs behind ‘drywall’ or plaster it’s still unfortunate but usually within the ability of the author to repair.
 
Under Cabinets

Attempting to extract galvanized nipples under sink cabinets, using adjustable wrenches is almost always a futile effort because of restricted working space. (Pete the Plumber absolutely hates/despises two-door cabinets with a center divider.) It is sometimes necessary to remove from the wall a small bathroom sink cabinet to achieve working room.

It required a ‘gestation’ period but Pete came up with a method to remove nipples when they happened to be under a sink cabinet. The author happened to have a good collection of mechanics’ tools (to keep his trucks running) and one day, when needing to replace nipples but challenged by a kitchen sink cabinet, the lightbulb went on: ‘breaker bar’, three ½-in. socket extensions, and a 12-point socket to fit the ‘flat’ (butt) end of the ‘back-out”. Instead of the usual 6-point mechanics’ sockets used on hexagonal (SAE) nuts and bolts, a 12-point socket (Photo 7) fits a square nut and the square end of the ACE E-X7!  With a few long socket extensions, a 12-point socket to host his extractor, and breaker bar, Pete could remain kneeling, outside of the cabinet and remove those pesky/leaking nipples. Whew!

* Not all squared wrench flats of the various manufacturers’ ’back-outs’ are able to use a same-sized 12-point socket because of un-uniformity in quality control efforts. The author has found it might be necessary to have two sockets if you are not using an Ace EX-7 due to the sometimes-larger dimensioned competitor’s extractors/back-outs. (Photo 8.)

That’s about ‘it’ for this topic for now. Gotta get my watering done this morning before the expected 106 degrees arrives around noon. Aphids anyone?
 
Hopefully you, the reader (unless you are a plumber) never have to replace any leaking galvanized nipples using extractors, of any design/make. (Or have to go purchase the extra tools mentioned in order to perform the work.)  But/however you may, someday, be able to enlighten an unfortunate individual who is faced with this very need.
 
Next Time
PtP

​Greetings,
First words out of my Pipe: ‘Hold your breath!’  (However, it’s worth the effort.)  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) just gave yours truly a tiny bit of hope: 

The national press will be visiting this health issue closely as progress hopefully will materialize. What’s at stake? Our very health. The technical explanations for this are clearly dissected in the few articles of recent publication mentioned at the end of this Pipe. What the author wanted to bring to your attention in this missive is that: highly portable plug-and-play technology already exists to protect us from Forever Chemicals (PFAS’s) (“PEE-FA’s”) infecting us via the freshwater piping in our domiciles: Photo 1. To protect a family it would require indulging in a unit resembling Photo 2. You do not have to wait for bureaucrats to ‘come up to speed’ when providing critical prevention for you and yours from PFAS in drinking water.

Unfortunately, it’s not just drinking water born Forever Chemicals that threaten, but a cornucopia of causes involving every aspect of our daily lives: We live in a world surrounded by Forever Chemicals such as clothing; food packaging; plastic water bottles; medical supplies, the list is endless. It is estimated that 15,000 individual PFAS threaten our health. Contact by ‘drinking-water’ through some forms of plastic piping/water packaging, is one major culprit (and here we’re going to delve into that).
 
Ancient History

Many (MANY) years ago, Pete the Plumber was very fortunate to find himself the assistant of a ‘mad’ professor. ‘Doc’ was a nuclear physicist living (near me) in desert lands of Southern California. Aside from designing electric deep-space rocket motors (and WMD’s), Doc was helping a start-up R&D design and test solar powered drinking water stills. Their design was applicable for far off-grid operation and emergency humanitarian settings/situations. (Eased his conscience?)  For Pete it proved immensely interesting (dealing with H20 in that way) and the results were highly effective and reassuring.

After recently reading articles (mentioned below), Pete’s heart sank a bit, reckoning how many billion gallons of drinking water were infected with Forever Chemicals (PFAS). And, how much or more would be consumed by humans (before high-tech ‘infrastructure’ could/would make any meaningful difference). THEN Yours Truly recalled how efficiently the ‘long ago’ solar stills purified hideous examples of H2O of viruses and bacteria and *minerals!  That word, minerals, will be re-visited, downstream.

The thought, then, occurred to Pete: “Would a modern, electric, ‘countertop’ drinking water distiller have any effect at leaving behind the Forever Chemicals?”  Answer: Wholeheartedly YES!!!!!  For an explanation, please avail yourselves of the remarkable YouTube eye-openers: “The REAL Reason Why You Should Drink Distilled Water” by Dr. Eric Berg…with a chaser: “How Bad Is Tap Water for Health”, by Dr. Andrew Huberman.
 
Rah-Rah RO

The author installed a number of Reverse Osmosis (RO) units over the years but less than a ten-count of these modern, electric “stills”. Before the “Plastic Problem” we all live with (and contribute to) it was mostly known biological threats to our drinking water supplies causing public concerns. Back (then), aside Water Utility added chemicals, the “bugs” could be dealt-with by employing filtration systems. The “Literature” does mention Reverse-Osmosis (RO) among effective methodologies to treat Forever Chemicals in your domicile’s drinking water. In most homes this technology is still being installed UNDER the kitchen sink (or immediate, lower R/L cabinet space). For ‘family-sized’ drinking water distillers they unfortunately are of the size that coveted counter space is commonly surrendered. For a ‘lone dweller’ though, there’s the plug-in drinking water ‘still’ the size of a coffee pot mentioned upstream in Photo 1.

For Reverse-Osmosis owners it was: “…no space left for ‘anything else’ under my kitchen sink!”  Pete the Plumber just recently consulted on and inspected a commercial kitchen installation for a fledging food Co-Op. Having all that clearance under the big, tall, legged NSF sinks (5) I slid around on my mechanic’s “creeper”.  Pete was relieved there was no RO involved. (If the author were to return in a year or so he’d wager/see a similar reality to most American’s “Under Kitchen Sink” Situation: jugs; bottles; brushes; sacks; bags; rags etc.
 
Safe?

Reverse Osmosis water has long been deemed safe for drinking without further treatment. But distilled water? The old argument went something like this: “The distilling process removes many nuisance and dangerous compounds, BUT lot’s of good *MINERALS, too. If YOU do not add back the ‘good’ minerals, and you consume solely distilled water, your body’s store of ‘good’ minerals will be ‘raided’, to compensate. Prepared packets of these ‘good’ minerals, for adding to distilled water before consuming used to be market available. Well, now, thanks to Dr. Eric Berg for putting that inconvenience to bed, health ‘motivated’ souls with the means now have a wide selection of drinking water distillers to ‘delete’ maybe one of the the major source of PFAS in their family living. (Dr. Berg’s YouTube video under references, below.)
 
I’ll Take That…

The author is pleased to see the recognition of late, by Congress, that many Americans are drinking unsafe water primarily because it’s contaminated with lead* due to a delivery pipe material: lead.

Lead is not the only culprit. There are other minerals (manganese is one) that when occurring in excessive amounts also pose hazards, not to mention organics: ‘bugs’. Our water and waste treatment plant operators are humans. Now and then, somewhere…

By employing Distillers or Reverse Osmosis we can remove Forever Chemicals (and *lead) from their strongest beachhead. However, other than the Forever Chemical threat of drinking water from some forms of plastic water piping (and plastic bottled drinking water) you’re now on your own. Only by practicing due diligence (informing ourselves) will we succeed on multi-levels that are ‘outta Pete’s orbit’.

Until Next Time,
PtP


Reference Articles/YouTube Videos

EPA Announces First-Ever Drinking Water Regulations for “Forever Chemicals”
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/epa-first-ever-drinking-water-regulations-pfas-forever-chemicals/
 
Why Drink Distilled Water (Dr Berg) - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSRxZXbQVxA
 
How Bad Is Tap Water for Health? | Dr. Andrew Huberman – YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-x2rbkEjjsU
 
Past PFOA and PFOS Health Effects Science Documents | US EPA
https://www.epa.gov/sdwa/past-pfoa-and-pfos-health-effects-science-documents
 
Does Distillation Effectively Remove PFAS from Drinking Water? - Living Whole
https://www.livingwhole.com.au/does-distillation-effectively-remove-pfas-from-drinking-water/


Crossing My Fingers

On an entirely different matter, only slightly involving water (ocean, lakes and rivers): Pete lost his ‘Sea Sock’ for his 2003 Feathercraft K-1 kayak 🥲. Do any readers have one the author could make a pattern from?  (They are very scarce.) You can contact him through the Contact the Author portal on his website: PeterHemp.com

Hello Readers. It’s ‘that’ time again.

Instead of a close look at plumbers' materials and practices (as this space usually discusses) the author this time around wanted to tell his readers about two books he holds in high regard and believes they are perfect candidates for readers of In the Pipe. Home dwellers; builders; architects; plumbers; septic contractors; ‘pumpers’ and real estate professionals would all enjoy and benefit from the two titles represented.

The reasoning behind discussing books instead of hardware was a simple choice: Pete thought he’d take advantage of an offer from Amazon to publish a book review on his Amazon’s “Author’s Page”. There are several titles that over many years the author believed the public would be well served to read, concerning plumbing’s history and functions.

Pete the Plumber was recently invited by Amazon to submit three book reviews whence the company might pick one of them for publication. “Less is best”; “Fewer the better” (words) are terms authors subconsciously know are important to keep in mind when telling a story.  Journalists are especially keen at this.  (Me thinks Pete rightly avoided that latter art form.)

At first Pete thought he could fulfill this 3 report challenge, until he read the ‘fine print”. What? Take the time to write 3 (hopefully) thought provoking works and have (with a great deal of ‘luck’) maybe one (1) selected for publication? After much procrastination (something he’s good at) Pete the Plumber was not very comfortable with those rules and odds. (Put in ‘all this work’ with no guarantees Amazon would use any of the three?)  And not only go through the ‘self-flagellation’ of bumbling along in his signature loose, corny ‘Arthur Godfrey-ish’ labors, but write with an excruciatingly pared down word count?

So. Well. Yours truly decided he would have more fun telling you about his book recommendations in his verbose mid-Western manner.  Not only did this decision not scare Pete away from the challenge, but by roping 2 reports into one rotund-ish article the author had sufficient (minimum) word count to bother his editor, Anne. (She could pull the two reports into a Pipe piece, thus saving all the work to have the reports thrown into the ‘round file’, and Amazon will still publish the author’s two reports on the author’s running collection of blogs, at/on his author’s page. Is that being either sneaky or lazy?  Or both?  Now, you the reader, gets to decide (if you have the stamina). The first book Pete wanted to bring to your attention is:

The Septic Systems Owner’s Manual

If there was/were? just one book on a plumbing related topic that the author thinks should be read by the public at large, it is The Septic Systems Owner’s Manual. (I can hear you laughing.) But it’s no joke. About 25 million septic systems are operating in the U.S. and each year 400,000 new ones are added. That’s millions of people making the average 1lb. of their poop a day their responsibility for sanitary disposal. Now, what might you think this has to do with the rest (majority) of the population living with paid municipal sewerage privileges?
​
A realization is now forming in the minds of forward-thinking sanitation professionals that the present model of municipal, centralized, pool enabled sewage and wastewater treatment facilities face a troubling future due to climate change. (At some point no longer enough water). Experts have been late to understand that our drinking water wasting sanitation model might not be feasible at some future date (possibly sooner than later).

Opposed to our present model of ‘municipal centralized/pool processing, our long-proven septic (de-centralized) designs at some point in our future may need to ‘save’ us from no longer working, energy gobbling, high maintenance ‘pool’ methodologies. (Now “no worries Mate”). This great threat probably/might not/ won’t occur in a few short years’ time. But by reading (now) The Septic System Owner’s Manual, if you do happen to still be breathing at the unfortunate time of ‘Poop Armageddon’, you’ll have the good sense to go move-in with your old Aunt Edna, out on the ‘outskirts’.
​
Understanding how human liquid and solid waste (thanks to ‘bugs’) in conjunction with soils is made into a safe “afterthought” is the chemistry lab probably most of the Country would now flunk. However, invest the little time to read this book (and thanks to its author, Lloyd Kahn, and illustrator Peter Aschwanden ) it’s a very humorous read to boot.  You’ll be fully schooled in this extremely important fact of life and ready to attend your next class reunion (with lots of new gosh bathroom humor for ‘ammunition’.)

Bonus
Not only are septic systems fully discussed but included is a invaluable chapter on gray water systems which will be playing an ever more important role in our modern hygiene existence.
Happy, Fun Reading…
 
PtP

Clean And Decent, By Lawrence Wright

Hello Again,

Now in this, the second review, the author fondly recalls many service calls to homes of customers who over the years became good friends. Luckily for Pete a goodly number of these customers-into-friends were also very good cooks. And even more fortunate for Pete (who owns an insatiable appetite), not only a few enjoyed feeding the author. Yours truly truly understands the passage: “Have your cake and eat it too.”  Who, ever, had a gig as good as that?!?!  Me wagers not many. Matter of fact, one of Pete the Plumbers most coveted accounts was a world class fine dining venue. Over the years Pete and the head chef formed a wonderful bond, and the plumber became also the home plumber for his chef.

On one particular ‘light workload’ day the author got a hankering for some good food and proceeded to his friend's restaurant. As usual, when Pete would appear, the Maître d would announce his arrival. On this particular visit, the chef told Pete that quail was on the menu. “Oh…I just love quail” said Pete, “but they’re not especially filling.”  “Well, how many of the little birds do you think you can eat?” said my friend. “At least five,” Pete told him. “We’ll see,” said the chef and Pete was seated. (Yours truly devoured all of them.)

Another true friend/client of Pete’s was a Geography Department Chair at a world-famous university. This professor was not in need of his university salary due to inheritance. The educator’s kitchen looked like a commercial kitchen supply store.  Pete’s friend (a gourmand) was known to fly to Paris to procure mustards. This professor happened to enjoy occasionally cooking for a select group of his postgraduates, and on some those occasions would call Pete, the day before, and invite him to attend. Those occasions were always jocular ones, and the author always happily answered any questions involving plumbing (which always arose).
At one of these feasts, following the final exit of the student guests, Pete’s professor friend pulled a book from a shelf and handed it to the author, telling him that “…every plumber would be well served by reading it.” The book? “Clean And Decent”.

This plumber has thanked his mentor’s gift of Clean And Decent for opening many conversations among Pete’s plumber friends and prospective clients alike. (Reading this book of plumbing’s historical progress makes one so glad they are alive now…not then.) It is a most enlightening, enjoyable and profusely illustrated history of bathing, pooping and other personal hygiene habits of mankind. It is actually pure enjoyment masking a rather scholarly endeavor. With reading we discover the first known advertisement for a house with a bathroom was in a Paris newspaper of 1765. (Real estate agents paying attention?) Another: In 1908, in London, there was one municipal bathtub for each 2,000 inhabitants!  Or: In 1851 a bathtub was installed in the White House. (We know it wasn’t a cast iron one because those weren’t on the market until 1880.)  And, it wasn’t until 1910 that porcelain bonded cast iron fixtures became available. 

Lots of fun such facts, wonderful historical illustrations, but attitudes are also noted. Example, page 41, last 4 sentences: “In medieval stories of amorous intrigue, the two lovers usually begin their evening by bathing together. Ideas of propriety were different from ours; the whole household and guests shared the one and only sleeping apartment, and wore no night-clothes until the sixteenth century. It was not necessarily rude to be nude. Home life seems to have combined luxury with discomfort, and a strange indifference to privacy.”  

The biggest takeaway (for Pete) from reading Clean and Decent is a reinforced appreciation for our present-day level of ‘sanitary convenience’. The common man is living a lifestyle that even kings and royalty could have only dreamed of. Clean and Decent is a fulfilling and entertaining account in text and illustrations of man’s sometime wobbly progress along the path of increasing our knowledge and practice of personal hygiene.
​
By taking Pete’s cue and setting aside time to digest this recommended read, at some future social gathering the read reader will be able to amaze his/her fellow attendees with encyclopedic factoids (when inevitably) the suffering conversation ‘comes round’ to irritating bodily ‘shortcomings’. And, by all means take up the challenge on Page 7:

Until next time,
P.t.P.

Aloha,

Normally the author would leave his readers more time between challenges but recent ‘developments’ leave Pete no wiggle room. This “discussion” will honor (not that those past don’t, necessarily), the statement proclaiming this blog: “Keeping readers abreast of new developments in plumbing materials,​ products, tools and practices.”  In the author’s opinion this following ‘discussion’ is the most important and pressing topic he has ever posted to the Pipe.
 
Sump’n Has Come Up

A new-ish concern (of the plumbing realm) has just recently morphed into an immediate concern. The immediacy relates to human health. The author was once approached to act as an expert witness in a multi-million dollar court case involving a ‘failing’ plastic DWV pipe which caused much structural damage. Today, another plastic plumbing pipe is facing new scrutiny for another concern: adverse health risks. That pipe is Poly Vinyl Chloride (PVC). (Along with sister CPVC). (The prefix C translates chlorinated.)

The recently ‘sofa re-ensconced’ author just had to deal with this. My apologies. For decades (forty or more years?) the plumbing ‘world’ has tussled (to put it mildly) with a safety concern involving PVC pipe for drinking water. For the last ten (or more) years the argument has more or less been sleeping. A report by Emily Le Coz of USA TODAY from April 18th 2023 recently helped peel the lid off the ‘bitter jam’, though. And, Brian Bienkowski, of the Environmental Health News also recently stated (regarding the EPA’s forthcoming reaction to latent published public warnings involving safety of PVC carrying drinking water):  “This is one of the most important chemical review processes ever undertaken by the EPA.”  (The bolding was mine.)
 
The Everywhere Plastic

PVC plastic has found ‘more than many’ applications in modern life. Plumbing pipe represents about half the market for use of the plastic. According to TheWorldCounts.com “…global production of PVC is 54 million pounds annually, or 7 kilos per every single person on the planet.”  It is found in everything from medical supplies to clothing to credit cards. The list is endless. The argument involving plumbing pipe (which, to date, has never really been settled) is that chemical components making up plumbers’ PVC pipe leach into the water that passes through it. (Opposed to concerns that in-ground contaminants passed through the wall of PB (Poly Butylene). (PB caused astronomical dollar and environmental turmoil, especially to municipalities who had many miles of the stuff buried under asphalt and concrete. The PB pipe, due mostly to the metal compression rings used in its joinery, blew apart, and necessitated its excavation. In a few other occasions there had also been pipe wall failure.

Me and you could be doing a PB piping project on your ¼ acre and find that pipe failures were going to cost us a week’s wages as we dug up the stuff and used improved metal crimping rings to replace the failed design. That’s horrific enough, but can you imagine the frowns on countless public agencies’ “managers” contemplating the extent of the agony they were about to have to deal with: $Engineers; $private civil engineering companies; $equipment storage, $waste disposal, the list goes on and on. What used up years to install, and then extend, the PB now needed to all be dug up. Then, roads and landscape replacement. How fat is our budget?

For PVC, there was enough concern with PVC in August of 1974 that The Consumer Product Safety Commission banned it from aerosols.  When the author was writing Plumbing A House, the published hazard of PVC pipe application (at that time) was health risks involved with using the powerful chemical agents (primer & cement). This coupled both breathing dangers and skin contact concerns. Now, this more modern concern with leaching adds a whole other twist.

Poly Vinyl Chloride (PVC) was accidentally synthesized in Germany in 1872 by chemist Eugen Baumann. But, it wasn’t  until 1926 when in the U.S. a very bright fellow by the name of Waldo Semon teamed up with the the B.F. Goodrich Company and created additives that made PVC more flexible, and easier to manufacture and the modified material quickly went world wide.
 
The Contest

“It seems like forever” there have been studies by ‘experts’ that support both the con and pro of this argument. Usually the con side publishes more damaging claims of chemical poisoning, and the pro side says they did similar to same studies and the results always showed no discernible harmful levels of said compounds. (But something tells the author that maybe this time that won’t be the case.). We now have been served with too many new studies continuing the con’s argument for health hazards involving use of PVC pipe for freshwater to not want a definitive answer.  Will the latest warning articles prevail?  Only time will tell.

A spokesman for the American Chemistry Council was recently quoted: “…PVC used for delivering drinking water is certified by NSF Foundation to conform to EPA safety regulations.”  Dominique Joseph, EPA spokeswoman, told Emily Coz of USA Today: “…the agency has no requirements for plumbing materials except that they be free of lead.”  Where does this leave us?  We are about to see if a U.S. Government agency established to protect the health of the Nation ‘passes the buck’ and leaves our future health in question by doing nothing.
 
Looking Back

The author was once approached by a party, in a multi-million dollar court case, to act as an expert witness. This case also involved a type of plumbing pipe, a pipe used for drainage. The issue was not a public health one, but rather property damage. Pete was also once contacted by attorneys representing pipe manufacturers, letting him know that they were keenly interested how their clients’ were going to be portrayed in the author’s soon to be published “Plumbing A House”.
 
No Pockets, Let Alone Deep Ones

Pete, Pete the Plumber, the author, yours truly, Dr. Waterheater wished to raise this question of PVC remaining a prominent ‘force’ in our drinking water plumbing because he wanted to reiterate: This question of the published health dangers of PVC pipe for drinking water will be the EPA’s biggest test of their accountability in their history.  And because the author feels that the topic of this Pipe is more ‘newsworthy’ than any other in the collection (especially involving your health and safety) he wanted to provide the reader with the following list of resources from which he consulted for this article and recommends your further reading.
 
 
The Goods

New report warns against using PVC pipes in drinking water systems: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2023/04/18/new-report-warns-against-using-pvc-pipes-drinking-water-systems/11688737002/
 
Is PVC Toxic?: https://www.theworldcounts.com/challenges/toxic-exposures/use-of-chemicals/is-pvc-toxic
 
EPA begins review of PVC ingredient vinyl chloride, which could lead to restrictions or ban: https://www.ehn.org/vinyl-chloride-pvc-ban-2666602999.html
 
PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride): http://avemwater.com/variations/pvc-polyvinyl-chloride/
 
Overall View of PVC Viability: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41578-021-00407-8.pdf

​Hello Everyone,
 
The following ‘Pipe’ (“Yuck, Yuck, Yuck”) might be “walking on thin ice” as my Wisconsin Grandpa, Homer, would have said. This Pipe is going to perhaps affect some readers to the extent that they choose (immediately) to read no further. The author fully understands. Excused from class. In this Pipe the author broaches the subject of the use of toilet effluent to supplement drinking water supplies. In an indirect way, it is already being done. Many metropolises across the Country who source their drinking water supply from rivers and lakes are using water that has previously been used in sewage treatment plants of other upstream cities. This is referred to as indirect potable reuse. However, as climate change and drought continue to endanger our water supplies, cities are looking to the day that we directly re-direct treated sewage effluent into piping serving fresh water supply. California has formalized the rules in Section 116275 of the Health and Safety Code. This is referred to as direct potable re-use. It’s not a very appetizing thought, is it. Unofficially this process has given birth to the term: the Yuck Factor. As Pete mentioned in an up-stream post “Some Straight Poop: The Cruelest Inconvenience and Power To The Pee-ple” (9/29/2021), me and you excrete (on average) approximately one pound of poop in a 24 hour period. Of this, ¾% is water. In other up-stream posts the author tried to ‘get through’ to the American public: ...pooping, indoors, in private, hygienically, is the biggest stride the last two hundred years has managed to provide the masses. (Two decades of international homelessness is witnessing a challenge to this accomplishment.)
 
As our (ever growing) numbers require more and more fresh (drinking) water supplies, use of drinking water to rid ourselves of our poop makes less and less sense. According to author Dan Lewis (“Now I Know” Newsletter), each of us uses about 24 gallons of drinking water, per day, to flush our poop to sewer or septic. The U.S. Government’s Office of Groundwater and Drinking Water estimates that the average cost of U.S. water is $2:00 for 1,000 gallons or 4.8 Cents, per person, per day, for the 24 gallons they each use to flush their poop. Until infrastructures have been modernized to offer not only drinking water but also “purple” water for toilet and landscaping, use of drinking water for this chore will remain our Achilles Heel.
 
“Purple” water was given that name by the color of the pipe which carries it. Purple water is reclaimed water from sewage (and water) treatment plants which is not potable (at this stage) but can be used for landscaping and flushing toilets. When city streets have not only freshwater piping underneath them, but also “purple” pipe running alongside, then new and remodeled buildings will begin flushing and irrigating with “purple.”  This will significantly free up the fresh water demands now solely performed by our over stretched, Utility freshwater (only) piping systems.
 
No wonder then “experts” are eyeing the recoverable (and treatable) water content of our poop and the ‘wasted’ drinking (black) water used to transport it. However, the U.S. Government’s EPA (Environmental Protection) Agency)   “...does not require any type of reuse. Generally, States maintain primary regulatory authority (i.e. primacy) in allocating and developing water resources...”  In this interest some U.S. cities have already established standards for treating sewage wastewater to drinking water purity. The technology already exists, and as our climatically adjusted waste infrastructure is further challenged, true direct potable re-use may have to be adopted. More on this ‘as we go’. (The reader, downstream, will also be directed to a phenomenal video demonstrating how this can be accomplished.) *
 
 
In the Beginning
 
When Pete the Plumber was a hard-working metropolitan plumber, he owned a clown suit. Pete would have more than one client of young family having difficulty “potty training”. (Childhood leaves no one unscathed). For these loyal clients, the author donned the suit so as not upset some little bambino’s when he carried his tools (both ways) to his clients’ “potty rooms” and kitchens. Especially the “potty room”.
 
How quickly and easily pooping and “tinkling” in a “potty” is established (all parents know) can differ among siblings. Some children become adults dragging along long-childhood “fear issues”. Many are bodily function and toilet-bathtub-sink (all kinds)-related. Pete had psychiatrist friends who said that adults’ long-carried childhood phobias about plumbers (and toileting) was quite common.
 
Fresh water supplies/concerns have not reached the present level of the general public’s concerns, maybe since Ptolemy was building his cisterns (a long, long time ago). Today’s over-stretched water suppliers (California) have had productive audience with official California water managers, leading to the “wringing out the rag” in support of direct potable reuse.  This will be where water which has carried our feces is ‘treated’ and reintroduced into the potable water stream, where we once again make orange juice with it, boil rice with it, shower with it, and continue sending poop away with it. This potable reuse is already being done in some US. States in an indirect fashion, discussed below. According to writer Dan Lewis (“Now I Know” newsletter), the average American uses 90 gallons of fresh water per day. Of this only about 2 gallons goes toward drinking and cooking. About 24 gallons is used to flush toilets. We use 10 times the water to send our poop away than we used in preparing its progenitor (food) for consumption. More and more smart minds are waking up and realizing this ratio is a losing bet the farther we look ahead.
 
 
With Eyes Open
 
The author can remember a much ‘simpler’ world than most of his readers, he reckons. (That’s bad for him? but good for you.)  This Pipe takes the (willing) reader through a modern argument for direct potable re-use.
 
The fate of our long-in-use metropolitan freshwater distribution systems are looking more challenged by the year. Back in 1996 Pete the Plumber was feeling better when he read the EPA announcement: “As of 1996 over 92 percent of the population supplied by community water systems receives drinking water that meets all health-based standards all of the time.”  Yeah?  What percentage of the population would the citizens of Flint, Michigan, after April 25th, 2014, deem they represented? The Flint tragedy was a “wake up call” to the entire world. Safe, fresh water supplies for large populations might not be so safe (all of the time).
 
In past blogs the author has also donned the euphoric “Little Red Hen” suit: writing about the impending doom of freshwater shortages. Anyone who reads media news has not been able to escape the late attention given to water issues such as supplies of and quality concerns. Climate Change and Global Warming figure into these opinions. Leakage from utilities’ distribution piping is a constant concern. What (now) appears to be more understood, is our take for granted water wasting practices of “before” will not be able to be fact for much longer. Population growth with continued ample supplies of freshwater is not a given, meteorology considered. (Not good for plumbers.) Today, enough experts are voicing their fears that enough fresh water for all will require the adoption of direct potable reuse  (discussed below) but first: Professor Petteri Taalas of the World Meteorological Organization recently was quoted: ”We need to wake up to the looming water crisis.”  This wake-up call will require behavioral changes most urban water subscribers so far have failed so show a willingness to adhere/follow.
 
“Even if we had all the money, we would not be able to convince our customer base to participate at the rates we need them. We can build it, but they don’t necessarily come.”  Those words were spoken by Joe Berg, Municipal Water District of Orange County, CA.
 
 
So Goes California So Goes the Nation?
 
The State of California, because of drought and non-stop development, has recently been forced to adopt a mandatory fine structure for its 400 water purveyors. By 2035 if these utilities have not reduced their delivered water volume by 9% they face a $1,000.00 a day fine (until they are compliant). During droughts the fine can go far as $10,000.00 a day. Many of these suppliers say their customers are already conserving to the point of hardship. But even though one considers the number of toilet flushes, it’s still drinking water that carries the poop, paper and goldfish away. Now it may sound odd but water agencies (under the great ‘pressures’ they find themselves) are working towards not wasting a drop of fresh water, even it formerly escorted our poop outta the house.
 
In other words, in California the water used in our toilets (“black”) and sinks, showers, tubs, and laundry (gray) carry’s our poop (and other wastes) to the municipal treatment plant, might, soon, be “green lighted” to be put back into our ‘potable’ (drinking water) piping (after thorough processing). Does the thought of that (for those not ‘on’ septic) ring anyone’s Yuck Bell?  If it does, the author hopes to allay your fears/suspicions. For the ‘firmer’ stomached, Pete hopes the read proves a logically pleasing one. But regardless the author is pleased that the topic is no longer ignored in the Press media.
 
About ten years ago Pete’s plumbing mentor Larry Weingarten invited Pete to tour an experimental home on the Central Coast of California. This home did not require a “full time” Utility water supply. Why? Because it reused all of its wastewater (including the 75% in poop). This experimental home consumed its own black water. The author recalls all of the tanks, pumps, valves, gauges, wire and cable under that home. (It reminded him of submarines.)  The experiment of this experimental home was the ability to not waste even the water dealing with (and in) poop. To many (or most?) readers this challenge might seem: “Over the top”?  Recall Professor Taalas. The World Meteorological Organization reminds us that only 0.5% of water on our planet is useable and available fresh water. And it is estimated that by 2050 water demands will be 20 to 30 times what they are at present. (Pete’s glad he won’t be around for the suffering.)
 
Unfortunately, the experimental home was unable to pass the County’s stringent requirements for direct potable reuse of wastewater to potable water supply. New regulations for direct potable reuse require the removal of 99.999 % of diarrhea-causing viruses and other parasites. Other requirements include the removal of anti-seizure drugs, pain relievers, anti-depressants, and numerous other dangerous compounds.
 
The ‘Direct’ness of It
 
Indirect reuse as mentioned upstream is a process where treated wastewater is first injected into a groundwater aquifer, lake, or river and then re-treated before it is distributed for public use. A Water Reuse article in watereuse.org defines:  In a 2017 EPA Potable Reuse Compendium “Direct reuse refers to those situations where treatment is followed by storage and use in the environmental buffer.”  The buffer to consist of municipal irrigation, designed wetlands and other environmental uses. However, some experts, by the wordage of California’s new rules, claim reclaimed poop and gray water piping can be directly connected drinking water piping, overriding EPA’s definition. So far, this ‘black water’ is not being “re-piped” directly to our home freshwater piping, after treatment (to the author’s knowledge). It’s going to be contentious progress. But, the technology does exist. *(This ingenious machine turns feces into drinking water | Bill Gates). The problem is scaling up the process to serve everyone. There are over 400 urban retail water suppliers which serve 95% of Californians drinking water requirements. The investment required to treat black water to the point of direct inclusion in their potable fare is presently too unpalatable. Someday? Maybe. According to Erin Stone of LAist (Southern California Public Radio), “…75% of treated wastewater is returned to the ocean.”  Whoa! (More than the author would have wagered).
 
California, though, will not be the first state to operate a direct re-use water treatment plant. Texas was. It built the first operational facility in 2013. This was treated sewage water being introduced to waters which several upstream municipalities drew their freshwater. At present the new California regulations are allowing for reintroduction of wastewater treated to new potable reuse standards, into the immediate upstream intake of a potable water treatment plant. So far black water is not being “re-piped” directly to our homes freshwater piping, after treatment. So far…
 
 
The Day Will Come
 
Water usage in the author’s family (from his early childhood until the present) has always been a “don’t waste it” attitude. In the ‘early days’ the sink faucets always turned on when needed. The tub faucets always ran when wanted. The toilet always flushed. (O.K. though if one had to let the the cold (drinking) water run (waiting for it to get hot), preparing for a tub bath or shower, to go down the drain until the ‘right’ temp showed up.) That behavior would/does-not-fly today. Residential water supply costs for most of us have been so economical that residents rarely gave it a second thought. That way of life no longer is a viable one. Mother Nature has been scolding us already, and for some time. Whatever the freshwater situation is for those born thirty/forty years from now, yours truly will be more than content with his present, temporary reality. (The author never was a gambler.)
 
Before we leave this Yuck behind, the author recommends that all of us remain cognizant of our personal water use footprint (average of 24 gallons for pooping, outta the 90 gallons per person, daily use). Will your ‘next generation’ family look back at your now 90 gallon daily average usage, as exorbitant? Could be a chance.
 
Until Next Time,
 
Don’t take any wooden Nickels.

Introduction
                                                            
As the author mentioned upstream, utilities have run large scale tests which dramatically showed how much more energy efficient heat pump water heaters are than the standard electrical resistance type. But, until the day when we find/see the upfront costs of purchase and installation of heat pump water heaters priced within the reach of most of us, the author believes their widespread inclusion will be a tardy one.
 
For those readers fortunate enough to be contemplating a remodel or a new home, the author would like to share with you (in Top Drawer) what he would plumb, if it were his residence. (It would not include a heat pump water heater, as made at present.)  This recommendation involves a particular brand and model of standard electrical resistance fired water heater, serving a 3/8” and ¼” PEX short run home run installed Water Distribution System.
 
However, for a replacement only situation, Pete would have to stick with (vote) the heat pump water heater.  Now, structures built on a raised, (crawl-able) perimeter foundation are ‘survivable candidates’ for a PEX re-piping operation. Structures ‘on slab’ are usually trickier (and more costly) to re-pipe (in any material). Since the major available re-piping pathways for a one-story, on-slab structure are ceilings and attics space, re-piping in PEX makes the most sense for both performance and price.
 
 
 Top Drawer
 
Anyone who has read Plumbing A House might recall that the author used the term ‘Top Drawer’ to describe his approval of products, practices and level of workmanship. The reader may also recall Pete telling his readers that he was of the belief that because of the nature of a plumber’s work that the plumber had a higher moral obligation to do the best work (top drawer?) than any other tradesperson. What we do affects the health of all present and future residents of the plumbed structure, until such time the product or system needs replacing. What aspect of modern life is more critically important than access to a sanitary water supply. A heated sanitary water supply. What the author discusses in Top Drawer is his recommendations for a ‘top drawer’ product and practice.
 
Via “Top Drawer” Pete highlights the attributes of pairing a particular standard electrical resistance residential water heater, and small diameter (3/8” and 1/4”) PEX freshwater distribution piping.
 
The combination of the Rheem Marathon standard electrical resistance water heater and manifold supplied (“home runs”) PEX (preferably UPONOR) is a ‘Pete’s Ticket’ to performance and longevity for a Fresh Water Distribution system.
 
The first major contributor discussed is our choice of water heater. To see why we will first look at the source of the hot water used in our design (before discussing piping materials) goes back to the upstream discussion about warranties, steel, and anodes. Take a good look at what warranty’s manufacturers today are offering for their heat pump offerings. 10 years?  What is a fair cost of purchase, with installation, for the average heat pump water heaters?  Pete’s general contractor friend, Eddie M., billed a recent client for a heat pump water heater installation (Photo 1, below).  (This included the removal of an existing natural gas fired heater.)  The billing price was greater than had he been installing a standard electrical resistance water heater. To install the client’s pick of heat pump water heater it had to be moved to a new location because it did not fit in the space of the existing. There (gratefully) happened to be plenty cubic feet of open surround space, a first requirement. A new electrical supply (4,500 Watts) and a new water supply had to be run to the new heater location also.

The client’s chosen Rheem heater Eddie installed has a 10 year warranty. This type of heater is referred to as a hybrid.  The 4,500 Watts required is greater than other makes and models. The reason the client chose the hybrid model was because it was constructed with a good, mechanical, internal ‘insurance policy’: 2 standard electric resistance type heating elements at the ready in case the the ‘heat pump function’ of the heater failed. The extra elements would then take over (automatically) and heat until such time (automatically) heat pump function is restored. (This service failure can be due to non-maintenance, worn moving parts, or atmospheric/temperature change.) (A standard electrical resistance water heater has far fewer gremlins.)
 
Will an owner of a heat pump water heater be a conscientious one and perform the filter cleaning maintenance their heat pump water heater needs, to maintain it’s designed level of efficiency? If the maintenance is not performed, not only efficiency suffers but this can be a cause of a service shut down. The author’s recommended choice of the Rheem Marathon standard electric resistance water heater, by comparison, has minimal post-installation maintenance requirements (atmosphere and geography being benign). Pete’s recommended Rheem Marathon water heater has a tank lifetime warranty. The application of this heater choice feeding short, 3/8” and ¼” PEX ‘home run’ piping to the latest ‘low-flow’ valves and fixtures accomplishes this (silently). Sans motors/compressors, employing PEX, this Marathon needs to heat much less water (a ‘big deal’ savings, now, and a ‘huge deal’ as we move forward.)
 
Heat pump water heaters may last 15 years with proper maintenance. The Rheem Marathon standard electrical resistance water heater has a lifetime tank warranty. The heat pump water heater using 120 Volt supply uses less electricity but has a much longer recovery time, and a relatively short life compared to the standard electrical resistance, lifetime-warranted, Rheem Marathon. (How many replacement heat pump water heaters later will be required to match the continuous service of a  Rheem Marathon electrical resistance water heater?)  A generational ‘chain of family’ could live, served by one Marathon paired to short ‘home run’ PEX, where another family depending on (today’s) heat pump water heaters would have to purchase several. Why: steel, anodes (the lack of), and electric motors. The Marathon has no anodes; no electric motors. It doesn’t need them!  Its tank is fiberglass.
 
 
The Goods
 
If the reader has read the PEX Edition of Plumbing A House, PEX is then ‘old hat’.  What Pete the Plumber did not discuss in the book (aside a few other things) was the Rheem Marathon standard electrical resistance water heater. The author now thinks (before discussing piping) it’s time to delve into why he is recommending this electrical resistance water heater.
 
Actually, other than the standard type electrical heating elements found in mass produced electric water heaters, Pete’s choice of electric water heater has little about it that is standard. The reason he wanted to bring this water heater to your attention involves two issues: performance, economy and efficiency when serving small diameter PEX piping (preferably Uponor).
 
 
Steel, Anodes and Motors
 
Yes. The author loves the efficiency gain of heat pump water heaters (and resulting energy economy). But, steel tanks, anode rods and electric motors (for this purpose) turns Pete off. It’s like buying a car. For the first year (or two) of your ownership, all goes well. But you know in your heart you are operating a mechanical gamble. ‘Some’ component ‘down the road’ is going to retire and leave you needing someone else’s talents, accompanied by a bill. For most, installing a standard electric water heater (or even a gas one) affects their worry/concern ‘space’ in their conscience less than concerns of maintenance and repairs with heat pump water heaters. (Not to mention purchase price).
 
The author used to kid folks that under hoods of modern cars: “It’s all belts, hoses and cables, can’t even see the engine.”  Guess what it looks like under the top of a heat pump water heater?  How many people do you know who might be able to troubleshoot these beauties?  Extended Warranties?  You’d better. It’s not just the complexity of the heat pump water heaters operation, there are things called steel and anodes which will (eventually) sink your ship. And mass marketed heat pump water heaters have both. 10 year warranties are pretty standard and five year extended warranties are also available. Still on the showroom floor, your new love will easily set you back over 2K. (Any sales tax?).
 
However, one aspect of heat pump water heaters that does intrigue Pete is the inclusion of Wi-Fi. (While the system functioned as designed people could save money using it. The appliance can be custom regulated, remotely. (Will sunspots and hackers ruin the picnic?)
 
 
Another Way?
 
The author is next going to make a suggestion:  For new construction/remodel why not use a little inefficiency to gain a much greater end efficiency. (No, it’s not a perpetual motion machine.)  “It” is a choice of employing a Rheem Marathon standard electrical resistance water heater (4,500 Watts) to serve 3/8” and ¼” PEX fresh water distribution piping. This ‘combo’ suggestion is admittedly best practical for two situations: those involved with new construction or the remodeling of existing structure. (The featured Marathon water heater though, is, alone, a ‘top drawer’ choice for those just replacing a standard electrical resistance or a gas heater in existing structure.) Without the nuisance of the flue pipe and gas line for/gas water heaters, siting an electric water heater has many more possible locations. Operating a heat pump water heater using 120 Volts for a traditional “straight line” (trunk and branch) piping plan could cost as much (or more?) as the Marathon operating at 4,500 Watts serving a well-designed, short run, small diameter PEX ‘home run’ distribution plan.

​Illus. 1, above, is a cut-a-way view of the Marathon heater. No metal outside skin to rust; no steel tank to rust/corrode; no need for sacrificial anodes. Plus, a union top connection for the Temperature and Pressure Relief Valve and a Titanium lower heating element... Good reasons why the ‘out the door’ price (though considerably less than a heat pump water heater) is sufficiently ‘dear’ that most homeowners faced with an unplanned water heater replacement might settle for a lot less. (For fear of not living long enough to ‘spend that kind of money’. In some instances there may well be some truth to that. However, the author believes there are many others who will find the ‘peace of mind’ of being served by Marathon and Uponor worth the investment.
 
Frown
 
The author’s Mid-Western ‘dairy’ folk had a saying: “Even good chickens can lay bad eggs.”  Well, there is a component aspect of Pete’s choice of water heater that the author wishes to caution you about. In Photo 2 we see an assembly of valve and fitting Pete would say: “Definitely not Top Drawer” (for this purpose). What’s ‘going on’ here?  What is not going on is an efficient means of draining the tank of both water and sediment. Anyone who purchased a Rheem Marathon and found a facsimile of Photo 2, Pete would highly recommend an immediate removal and replacement with a ¾” ‘full-port’ ball valve such as Photo 3 which allows for the removal of sediment build-up (not just the water in the tank).

The valve in Photo 3a, below is what is called a ‘globe’ valve (shown next to a ball valve for comparison). This designation of valve has been with us for a very long time. It has a couple of qualities still appreciated mostly by industrial/agricultural interests. The globe valve though is not the best choice for thoroughly draining a water heater with sediment.

​The reason today that few favor it for this application is because of the level of friction the water
(and sediment ) is subjected to as it passes through the valve. The friction slows down the waters velocity and flow, Illus. 2. Engineers have a term for this: Frictional Loss. Photo 4 is a graph comparing the frictional loss of various valves, fittings and pipe materials. We see that a globe valve for ½” pipe has a frictional loss co-efficient of 340 and the frictional loss of a ½” (full port) ball valve is 3, many times less. The 50 gallons in a Marathon would drain dramatically slower through a globe valve than through a full port ball valve. 

But, it is not the water drain rate that Pete is most concerned about; it’s the ability of being able to remove sediment from the tank. Compared to a full port ball valve, much less sediment will pass through a globe valve. In Larry Weingarten’s book: the Water Heater Workbook, the reader learns how important sediment removal is for tanks of all materials. Full Port ball valves are crucial to an efficient routine of maintaining clean holding tanks of all types.
 
 
Caveat
 
Globe valves are considered superior to gate valves for remaining leak/drip-free. Could that be why someone found it applicable for duty on a water heater?
 
 
Stop-Cock
 
The author hopes readers who managed to ‘hang on’ until this point found out new things about water heaters which might be of help ‘someday’. On that subject, me is now ‘stop’erd’..
 
 
If we are all lucky the rains will continue soft and on schedule and the sun will shine benignly upon us and our lands. Reality, we know, is not likely to ‘play out’, such.  Somebody will be needing a new water heater…soon!
 
 
Until ‘something’ in plumbing gets Pete off-the couch, again, readers may want to get off their couches and familiarize themselves with how and from where their hot water is produced.
 
PtP

Welcome back.
 
In this 2nd of three: “Heat Pump Water Heaters”, it’s the author’s hope to explain in simple wordage, what a heat pump water heater is, and how it accomplishes what it does for you. However, first…
 
 
“Location, Location, Location”
 
Pete doesn’t want to pop anyone’s bubble of being able to employ a mass-produced, residential,
heat pump water heater. So, he needs to alert the reader ‘right out’ that these stand-alone* mechanical wonders only operate efficiently in year-round, stable air temperatures. Lower cost models may require between 40-90 degrees F. (4.4-32.2 C.). More expensive units have wider ranges like 37-145 F. AND they require a minimum cubic feet of air space around them. (This figure wavers between individual manufacturers but 1,000 cu. ft. was an accepted standard.)  This could make them a non-choice for some. However, such things as louvered and trimmed (bottoms) doors can ameliorate some concerns for indoor installations. And, engineers design heat pumps providing not only space heat, AC, but hot water also with units remotely installed.  But Pete hopes his article on heat pump water heaters will still prove useful to many readers.
 
 
How It Works
 
With a heat pump (in general) heat is moved from a cold space to a warm space. The author’s plumber friend and mentor Larry Weingarten will tell you: “Think of heat pumps and refrigerators as apparatus that concentrate and move heat from one place to another. A refrigerator extracts heat from its cold interior, making the inside colder yet, and moving that heat into the kitchen.“
 
As the author researched: a heat pump water heater moves heat from ambient air (inside or outside) into the water in its holding tank. Refrigerators depend on compressors and metal tubing to send gases to various places to keep food fresh. Heat pump water heaters also require compressors and tubing to move heat from the ambient air, into the water in the holding tank.
 
In a refrigerated system ambient warm air is ‘pulled’/sent (fan) across refrigerant-filled evaporator coils. These gaseous filled coils ‘pick up’ the heat from the passing air. The slightly heated refrigerant is then ‘sent’ (pumped) via compressor (which raises further the temperature of the refrigerant). This now really hot refrigerant is piped to the outside of the appliance (usually on side or back). The piping here is often ‘finned’ to greatly increase the exposed area. As the refrigerant moves through this exposed tubing, its heat is released back into the ‘air (kitchen).
 
The now much cooler refrigerant, losing more heat, condenses (liquid) and now at a very cold temperature is pumped through the cooling coils surrounding the ‘fridges’ interior, to maintain a cold and/or freeze temperature for the food it houses. As my friend Larry likes to put it: “A refrigerator extracts heat from its cold interior, making the inside colder yet.
 
 
Even Keel
 
As long as these mechanical components behave and stay on the job, our modern-day life ‘leaves a fine wake.”  When the machine (either water heater or refrigerator) stops working for some reason, some of us may actually suffer some levels of agitation. Yours truly, personally, would prefer to lose (for a protracted time) the benefits of his refrigerator than his hot water supply.
 
Unlike the refrigerator, the heat pump water heater is not sending a chilled liquid refrigerant to maintain a ‘cold box’. The heat pump water heater (with its compressor and tubing) moves the heat from surrounding air and infuses it (heat exchange via submerged tubing coils) into the water in its holding tank. Engineers have a term Energy Efficiency. A simplified way of thinking of this is: A process of reducing the amount of energy required to provide products and services*.  The heat pump water heater is providing a service.
 
*In our case it is the producing of convenient hot water. The efficiency of how this is done is referred to as “a co-efficient of performance.”  (COP).  When selecting a heat pump water heater its particular COP is listed. The higher the listed number, the more efficient that appliance is.
 
ENABLERS
 
There are four possible heat source variables a heat pump can operate on. One of them is: air. Most stand-alone residential heat pump water heaters operate on free air. Many homes space-heated and air-conditioned via air heat pumps may also use heat in the ground (geothermal) to accomplish their tasks. Other enablers are water and exhaust gases from various apparatus. These larger units also can add ‘capacity’ in their design to include the serving you of your hot water demands. As you might imagine, these units are complex.   In this article the author is solely concentrating on the residential, air served, stand-alone, electrically powered, holding tank heat pump water heater.  Illus.1.

The Energy Department’s Northwest National Laboratory, teaming up with: A. The Bonneville Power Administration, Portland, Ore.; B. General Electric Corp.; and C. 10 other Northwest Utilities, designed and administered a multi-year test comparing the electrical current draw between standard electrical resistance water heaters and heat pump water heaters. This test was performed at a load (demand power) rate of 90%.
 
In comparing the two types of water heaters the engineers discovered that ninety percent of the Evening Peak Load power could be reduced by eliminating standard electrical resistance water heaters and replacing them with heat pump water heaters. The study included ten weeks of data collected on 250 water heaters. Of these 145 were heat pump water heaters and 86 were standard electrical resistance water heaters. One of the surprising facts that came to light was heat pump water heaters could, on average, operate their water heaters at 60% of what it cost owners of standard electrical resistance water heaters. This is a remarkable cost savings. For the majority of U.S. households heating water is their second most expensive energy expense. Only top loading automatic washing machines use more hot water.
 
Pete the Plumber surmises that the hefty purchase and installation costs of heat pump water heaters are the major cause for the slow growth in popularity (more than the “atmospheric restrictions aforementioned). But it’s not just the upfront costs that are deterrents. Surrounding Space concerns; Size (height of heater); and Noise (of fan/compressor) and Power (electricity supply installed?) are the big factors that must be taken into consideration when weighing the choice of a stand-alone air enabled heat pump water heater.
 
 
Let’s Open the Box
 
In Photo 1 we see a Rheem air heat pump water heater Pete’s contractor friend Eddie M. recently installed on a major remodel. The owners not only wanted major space/architectural modifications but also wanted to ‘get off’ heating water with Natural Gas. So, the heat pump water heater was incorporated into their plan.

If you think the water heater in this picture looks a bit tall compared to the average standard electrical resistance (or gas) it’s not because of choice of camera lens. The heater is 4 to 5 inches taller than the average standard electrical resistance water heater of equivalent holding capacity. (Where an owner can have installed an air heat pump water heater may require some head scratching.)  Luckily those remodeling or creating a new structure encounter far fewer challenges to do so.
 
 The air heat pump water heater Eddie installed was wired for 30 Amperes on 240 Volts. Some makes/models can function on 120 Volts, but recovery times are much longer. Basically, if an owner chose a water heater with a holding tank large enough to provide approximately 16 gallons of desired temp hot water for each inhabitant, in a shower ‘chain’, a longer recovery time might not be as big of an issue.
 
 One factor that does need consideration is the noise associated with operating air heat pump water heaters. (To install one on one side of a not well sound-insulated bedroom wall would not be recommended.)  Builders of additions and new structures can purposely design and create quiet space to moot this concern. A second ‘must remember’ is keeping the air filter (for compressor cooling) clean. (Pet hair to cobwebs to sawdust). (Put up another ‘fridge’ magnet with a reminder?)

In Photo 2 the reader will notice hanging down in the center of the tank is the anode rod. We were introduced to anode rods upstream, in Conundrum. The reader may also recall in Conundrum, Pete the Plumber comparing water heater warranties. One extra anode added 5 years to the warranty. These are important components. (In Larry Weingarten’s book The Water Heater Workbook he shows the reader how to locate, replace and add anode rods to extend the life of installed holding tank water heaters.)  Now look at Photo 2 again. Where is the (single?) anode on this heat pump water heater?  Directly under the compressor!  (Pete would not covet the task of replacing that one.)
 
One worry that owners of standard electrical resistance water heaters and fuel gas water heaters do not have however, is the bother with a condensate drain line.* Heat pump water heaters (via compressor) produce condensation and need to always ‘pipe’ it away using a condensate line (drain line) (most always of easily assembled Schedule 40 PVC pipe and fittings.)  The trick involved with condensate lines is: Always Be Going Down Slope (to a legal final destination). If the plumber cannot arrange this by gravity flow, then a sump and electric pump must be included in a heat pump water heater installation. Don’t panic. There are manufactured such ‘plug-in’ collector/pump combo’s (just for this purpose) available at plumber and or builder suppliers.
 
*This issue of the condensate drain line is really no more fuss than what a conscientious plumber does when installing a gas or standard electrical resistance water heater inside a building:  Install heater in a properly sized drain pan with properly sized drain line, Code sloped to a final 90-degree bend, pointed down, 6 inches above grade (ground).
 
 
A Special Case
 
As mentioned upstream there are atmospheric limitations for air supplied heat pumps in general. It’s no different for heat pump water heaters. More than one manufacturer of air heat pump water heater has ‘the answer’ for the marginally sited: Hybrid air Heat pump water heater. These up-scale models are able to automatically switch back to using the standard electrical resistance heating elements when atmospheric conditions are not co-operating. This may be a game saver for those readers living in Northern latitudes.
 
 
Why?
 
The majority of we Yanks live from paycheck to paycheck. If/when our ‘silent, obedient, hot water servant’ suddenly gives up the ghost, are we going to spend maybe three or more times the money to get our hot water back?  (Even if you’re a Tree Hugger?)  For most of us the answer will be: “No, just don’t have the bucks for a heat pump water heater” (right now). Yours truly believes it will require generous rebates from both manufacturers and Government before we witness significant saturation of this energy saving water heater technology. The author’s upstream stated belief of new construction mandated acceptance will be tested.
 
There’s a hefty haul of information for those who would like to pursue this topic further, on their own. Pete has assembled the following list of inform-able sources on the subject of residential air Heat Pump Water Heaters:  Have fun. Dream.

Further Reading Links:
 
How it Works – Heat Pump Water Heaters:
https://www.energystar.gov/products/water_heaters/high_efficiency_electric_storage_water_heaters/how_it_works
 
The Pros and Cons of Heat Pump Water Heaters:
https://goodbeeplumbinganddrains.com/the-pros-and-cons-of-heat-pump-water-heaters/
 
Living With a Heat Pump Water Heater:
https://www.energyvanguard.com/blog/living-with-a-heat-pump-water-heater/
 
Heat Pump Water Heater Ultimate Guide:
https://sealed.com/resources/heat-pump-water-heater-guide/
 
Heat Pump Water Heaters as Clean-Energy Batteries:
https://www.nrdc.org/bio/pierre-delforge/heat-pump-water-heaters-clean-energy-batteries
 

 Pete will be back sooner than later with the third and final installment in this series. In the meantime, have many readers ‘picked-up’ (media) on major metropolises green lighting the addition of treated sewage water into municipal fresh water supply systems?   That practice might make for some future comments in The Pipe.
 
 
PtP

O.K…the author admits it. He’s been derelict (AWOL) in feeding his article stash. Part of the reason (I know, ‘no excuses soldier!’) was a lull in the author’s topics of interest colliding with his consciousness…, fishing and kayaking suffered not. “A Conundrum”, is this Pipe’s first of 3 installments involving domestic water heaters of/for the future. Your Rip Van Winkle-esk author hopes he can make up for his last spell of laziness? by sparing the reader (in the future) a lot of “head scratching” when ‘must-choosing’ one of 3 sanctioned, electrically powered water heater designs.
 
Why would someone be put in this situation of ‘must choosing a water heater?  Read on…
 
Of late, there was ‘zilch’ in the plumbing realm sufficiently inspiring Pete to nudge you. (He trusts the reader put the same time to good use?)  However/But, the author DID do some wrestling-on-the-couch:  “…..would it behoove the reader to know about some ‘plumbing things’ (politics included) that might prove, in the not-too-distant future, a possible lifestyle ‘upend-er’ for many. This change (the author believes) will involve HOT water. And, how the cold water turns into hot water might interest the reader.
 
Is your fresh water supply heated by using electricity or by burning natural gas or propane?  This question is the seed of Pete’s story. (“Oil-ers’ are excused from class.)
 
Because climate change is forcing human activities to become as *environmentally clean as we can do them, staying clean via hot water (using some form of heat energy) will not escape closer and closer inspection.
 
 
The Big 3
 
Today, three concerns of geo conservationists are causing elected officials to fret over continued use of fuel gas (Natural Gas and Liquid Petroleum Gas (Propane) to fuel stoves. Concern 1. Radiation in Natural Gas includes uranium and thorium.  2. Stanford University researchers discovered using gas stoves raises indoor levels of the carcinogen benzene to higher levels than secondhand tobacco smoke.
3. Global Warming concerns include methane (mother of natural gas) leakage in the oil & gas exploration and production. And, additional concerns involve air-pollution, possible asphyxiation and fires.
 
Presently gas stoves are the ‘hot’ target. (Yes. That was a pun.). But, the author thinks gas water heaters and furnaces won’t be that far behind. He expects only a grace period (once stoves have been banned) before we see legislation aimed at them.
 
 
Hot Nuts and Bolts
 
Because the topic of hot water heaters can encompass so many technical aspects, the author wants to narrow his focus to the why of this article: There’s a chance that in the future, in enough parts of the Country, Natural Gas (due to health concerns) (and a little politics) will be phased out and *electricity will be tasked with making/facilitating all the domestic hot water. Those readers presently being served hot water made with electricity will not be affected. Those making hot water by Natural Gas/Propane will have to purchase a new, electric water heater.  Of course those readers who use oil/kerosene will not be affected.
 
*Suburban dwellers relying on well pumps still need electricity (whether it be by solar or Utility), to live ‘on solar’.
 
Dive In
 
Pete the Plumber would now (in 3 Installments) like to describe and illustrate 3 popular designs of electric holding tank water heaters on the American market, today, and tell you their advantages and shortcomings. The author did not include “tankless” water heaters in this discussion because he admit-tingly has a bias, born of decades of experience. He is not a fan.
 
 
The Line-Up
 
Pete perceives 3 possible/probable ‘camps’ of questioning among the readership for this article on holding tank electric water heaters.
Camp 1. Bored-to-curious. Moot.
Camp 2. Individuals needing to replace an existing mass-produced water heater. (This could mean replacing a simple electric heater with another like it, OR replacing a gas water heater with an electric one.)
Camp 3. Individuals interested in 2 higher technological choices for a holding tank electric water heater either for replacement or new construction. *
 
*Pete thinks this new construction will be the arena where the political battles of banning the use of gas home appliances will find eventual traction.
 
 
You’re Busted
 
O.K. Assuming the worst. Let’s say (in the future) one or more of my readers were informed that they need a new water heater. And…the County has successfully banned all new gas appliances. What would then go into the decision to choose an electric water heater?
 
Those readers presently served by an electrically heated hot water appliance wouldn’t feel the crush like the ‘gas-ers’ will, when/whenever fossil fuel hook-ups are banned for all new construction. And with a possible quick sunset on existing installations. Today’s basic tech level, mass produced holding tank electric water heaters could simply replace a worn out one. For an unfortunate “gas’er” how and what their choices are, are thoroughly discussed in the trio.
 
 
Confession
 
Yours truly was raised in homes with natural gas stoves and furnaces. He and wife, Katherine, also raised four children in a house with a gas stove and gas furnace. As a result, the author prefers gas cooking appliances over electric ones but understands the rationale for retiring the ‘blue flame’.  
 
In some parts of the Country (especially mountainous and/or remote), fuel oil/kerosene can figure into the equation. Which energy gives the reader hot water?  Yours truly has loved ones living in the ‘far flung’ whose homes and fresh water are heated by appliances burning fuel oil. This article will not discuss the merits or de-merits of fuel oil.
  
For all dwellers presently living in communities served by NG gas, with a future total ban successfully implemented, those hot showers the reader is presently enjoying are going to have to originate in an electrical or solar water heating appliance. This spells considerable expense, and the author hopes this article will aid them in choosing the ‘right’ hot water servant for their needs and budget.
 
 
Factoids
 
The number of ‘gas’ holding tank water heaters versus the number of electric holding tank water heaters manufactured today (2023) is approximately 50/50.
 
There are three major American water heater manufacturers: A.O. Smith; Bradford White; and Rheem. Between these majors and a few independents there are hundreds of different brand names on the market. It’s not unlike the food canning business. One cannery might produce the same can of peaches with twenty different labels.
 
 
Hot Oil
 
As mentioned above many readers may be employing “oil” for heating needs, both water and space. The author has a friend, Becky B., living in a mountainous location in his State who cooks with electricity, heats water with an oil-fired water heater and space heats with propane. Sometimes when living in extreme weather locations where electrical utilities routinely suffer outages it can pay not to ‘put all your eggs in one basket’. The author feels that this “out there” group may/should be the last ‘made’ to make ‘changes.’
  
For the rest of us living in gentle climes and hospitable topographies, and perhaps already employing (or with an option to) an electric water heating appliance, and whose life/styles are not at risk of bans, Pete’s piece also has some information you might find of some interest. (And possibly some money saving in the future). For our poor ‘gas-ers’, this article is more focused on your having (at some future date) to choose an electric water heating apparatus.
 
Just for the record, the author resides in a living space surrounded by steep, heavily forested terrain. Because of heavy snowfall and high winds, the electrical utility serving Pete’s abode can be expected to lose power, winter and summer. (And now and then for an extended period). Pete’s neighbors have electric water heaters. Pete has an LPG (propane) fired holding tank water heater. With extended power ‘outs’ the author’s unwavering hot showers are a source of considerable neighborhood want.
 
Pete’s electric water heater ‘stories’ begin with a basic (graphics supported) description of today’s economically priced, electrical element, mass produced, steel holding tank water heater. And how it works. The author reckons this basic, lowest cost (electric) water heater will be around for some time to come. Two other described designs of electric holding tank water heater the author considers advanced and are ‘expensive’, relatively, will also be discussed. But, Pete’s suspicion: at some point in the future, one of the advanced choices, the heat pump hot water heater may become the mandated design in all new construction and replacements where physics and weather allow. Were this to happen (politics) the reader might have no choice but to install the expensive, technologically advanced heat pump water heater. That is why it is included in this Pipe.
 
As was with toilets, when super efficiency models became available many communities’ Water Utilities gave rebates that enabled many customers to afford swapping their old water wasting designs for the new, super low-flow models. Pete believes similar programs will be made available for advanced/more efficient water heaters, when “push comes to shove”)
 
 
An Outlier
 
In the third tale-in-line for this Pipe, the author describes an advanced version of the ‘basic’ holding tank electric water heater with a lifetime warrantee, for those readers who today or in the future will be staying put in their homes for “the duration” and who need or want a new water heater. This heater is the Rheem Marathon, a fiberglass tank version (with no need for dielectric anode rods, as discussed, following). You could bequeath this Rheem water heater to your children.
 
But, before spending time talking the advanced models, let’s dissect, as promised, the ‘long-on-the-job’, basic, 30 to 50 gallon, steel tank, electric, holding-tank, residential water heater.
 
 
Wrapped In Blue
 
Ever wonder what factor most threatens the common ‘holding’, steel tank, water heater?  (Yacht owners already know.)  Aggressive Water is the culprit. When fresh water is heated to high temperatures, it starts behaving badly. (Like it’s meaner sister, salt water.)  It’s molecular ‘arrangements’ play musical chairs, and someone always loses. The water is then ‘hungry’ for molecules it no longer owns. This is now aggressive water. It’s going to fight to get back what it lost.
 
It just so happens that the steel walls of the tank suffice as nutrient for the aggressive water. Over time aggressive hot water can eat all the way through the walls, floor, or the top of the tank. Major Leak time. Catastrophic, National, property damage results annually.
 
 
Davy Jone’s Salvation
 
For the yachtsman, clamp-on zinc shapes are placed on the hulls underwater metal components, to protect them from ‘being eaten’ (while they are submerged). These added shapes sacrifice themselves to the hungry aggressive water for the sake of the hull. (And need to be replaced cyclically.) To protect the steel tank of the water heater from heated fresh water, its interior is coated with a layer of vitreous (molten) (mucho hot) glass, many times dyed blue,  
 
Somewhat like the saltwater yachtsman protecting their hull with zinc, water heater makers introduce ‘sacrificial’ metal rods (anode’s) into their tanks. These (preferably) magnesium rod forms are replaceable, usually by un-threading them where they were installed. (Sometimes tricky to find where). As the rod is eaten by aggressive water, all’s well. When it’s totally consumed, the aggressive water goes on the warpath and looks at any ‘soft defenses’ in the vitreous tank lining protecting the steel of the tank. The aggressive water likes the steel underneath almost as much as it likes the factory installed magnesium anode rod. As long as the anode is replaced ‘in time’, the heaters life can be extended considerably.
 
Moons ago the advertising of one competing water heater manufacturer claimed it gave their tanks a ‘Second Coat’ of ‘…Glass Lining…’.   When and how (in the manufacturing process) does the steel tank get this glass coating?  The tank was complete when molten glass was ‘sprayed’ through existing threaded holes. If the apparatus that applies the molten glass fails to maintain its precision and ‘misses’ or only ‘lightly’ applies the vitreous in one spot or two, that leaves the tank vulnerable to early failure. So, some savvy manufacturer, in their ads, claimed it performed a ‘second coating’. The most thorough job of applying the glass could mean a longer-lived tank. To this day, when I watch my friend Larry the Plumber (larryweingarten.com) use a sawz-all and perform a water heater autopsy for his plumbing class, the inner tanks are often blue (like us?)
  
Pete’s good friend and mentor, plumber Larry Weingarten, has written a ‘home run’ of a manual showing in easy to understand text and illustrations) how to care for and repair the basic water heaters. His website is: larryweingarten.com. Here you can order a copy, and the curious can also enter Larry’s amazing on-line world of hot water.


Dive In
 
O.K., Illus. 1 is the theoretical, standing -‘half’ of the modern day, residential electric water heater. 

​Steel tanks are made by rolling flat sheets of steel into a desired diameter, forming a tube, and then seam welded. The concave top is a separate piece, stamped or spun, and welded to the tube. On it are threaded openings, usually three or four, depending upon model. #3 The Cold Inlet /dip tube; #1 Hot Outlet tube; #2 the magnesium Anode Rod and possibly a last one for T&P.
 
Our tank (the ‘Yellowstone’) has the T&P on the upper side, left.  #7.  
 
The tank bottom is also a separate part, welded to the tube. Welded to the tank bottom is its base, another separate part.
 
The walls of the tank will host its own share of holes. Two are for the thread in electrodes #4 & 5. Another is for the T&P Valve (temperature and pressure relief device) #7.  #6 Is the threaded hole for the tanks drain valve.
 
Some water heater’s (depending upon the make and model) will have two extra threaded holes on the side of the heater for cold water-in and hot water-out.  This is a tremendous help when the heater needs to be placed in tight quarters. Needless to say, it is a luxury paid for. Equally beneficial is the manufacturer who provides 2 possible locations for the T&P Valve.
 
The fuse protected electrical power cable #9 in our illustration brings 220 Volts and (in our case) 30 amperes of electrical power to the two thermostatic controls, #10 & 11.
 
*Unlike thermostatic controls on gas powered water heaters, with a built-in, multi-inch probe, the thermostatic controls on electric water heaters #10 & 11 are flat and mount to a flattened surface on the tanks outside wall. Electrical wiring connects the two thermostats to the two thread-in electrical resistance heating elements #4 & 5.
 
 
The Ins and Outs
 
Cold water enters the tank through #5 the blue dip-tube. Notice the tube hangs down into the tank a long way. It’s that long because designers of the water heater want incoming cold water introduced near the bottom of the tank. (Cold water is ‘heavier’ than hot water.)  About the upper 1/3rd. of the tank holds the ‘desirable/useable’ amount of heated water in a cycle. It would not be a good idea to let cold water dilute the temperature of the existing hot water. This would happen if not for the cold-water dip tube.
 
What else ‘hangs down’ from the top of the tank?  Components #1 & 2.   Number One (Red) is the hot-out tube. Number Two (White-ish) is the magnesium anode rod. *
 
*Pete has a confession. The anode rod as drawn is about one-half the length it would be.
 
The red, hot-outlet tube is much shorter than the blue cold inlet-tube, as one can see. And for a good reason. The longer the tube length is, the cooler the water it will be tapping. Some smart people are the reason lengths are ‘what they be’.
 
 
Recycle
 
The author thinks/hopes the reader is game to witness a full cycle operation of the modern (electric) two electrical element, holding tank water heater. As mentioned upstream about one-half of the water heaters operating in the U.S. are this type.
 
Let’s pretend your domicile makes its hot water with a facsimile of the water heater in Illus. 1. And, it’s early A.M. and you get outta bed and head for the shower. Uh Oh. No hot water!!!!  (Not a good way to start the day). The heater is eventually (hopefully timely) replaced with a new one. And it is filled with COLD water on its first filling. Then the power is turned on. What happens next?  The water heater’s upper e.element (green) #4 is energized. The work performed by the upper e. element heats the water at its level (height) and above, to the set temperature on the thermostat. As the water temperature reaches the setting on the thermostat, power is cut off and it is now sent to the green lower e. element #5.
 
The water at this lower level of the tank is now heated to the temperature set on the lower thermostat. With this accomplished, the water heater is now at rest and waiting to serve.
 
  
Crossed fingers
 
A theoretical Someone (again) takes a shower. (This water heater has resting hot water.)  By opening the hot port of the shower valve, cold water starts entering the heater (through the dip tube) #3 to the bottom of the tank. The lower thermostat feels it and and sends power to the lower e. element, #11. All this while the therapy of enjoying a hot shower is happening. With the shower valve turned off the reader is now energized!
 
O.K./ However, if someone else takes another shower right away, the top thermostat #10 will send power to #4 the upper e.element. ONLY ONE Electrical. ELEMENT IS POWERED AT A TIME.
 
If the water heater’s tank is ‘sized’* correctly, about 90% of the heating will be accomplished by the lower e.element. The Department of Energy has an easy to follow guide to sizing a water heater. You can find it at: https://www.energy.gov/energy saver/sizing-new-water-heater
 
 
A Little, side-History
 
When Pete the Plumber was an apprentice in the late 50’s, water heaters were widely available in four warranties. The first was a 5 yr. warranty with a caveat or two. Next was a 10 yr.  Third choice was a 15-year warranty and 4th and last, you could get a 20 yr. warranty. Today?  No longer.  *caveat
 
*The author does, though, in the 3rd. discussion involving the Marathon water heater, ‘talk’ you through the construction of this Lifetime Warranty electrical, fiberglass holding tank water heater. It’s his choice and he will tell you why.  (Admittedly it is priced for those ‘staying in place’.)
 
Back to the reasons for the discrepancies (then) in the water heater warranties. These included: tank wall thickness; glass glazing: coats/thickness; number of anodes; number of female iron pipe ports; thickness (and type) of thermal insulation and quality level of heat producing/regulating source. Today, because of Larry Weingarten’s book: The Water Heater Workbook, the reader can ‘assemble’ their own 20 yr. (or more) hot water servant. (Every shower thereafter renews your DIY pride.)
 
 
Spit It Out
 
Because the cost of initial purchase and/or replacement of any holding tank water heater is what it is, a sane person would prefer not to be subjected to it for as long as possible. (It’s a shame that all manufacturers (both gas & electric) are guilty of ‘short-circuiting’ your chances of a long-lived water heater by supplying an inferior drain valve (orange) #6. See: The Water Heater Workbook.
 
 
Though this Pipe was intended as a comparative study, repairing water heaters is too large of a topic to include. However, the reader faced with a water heater replacement or repair would be wise to own a copy of Larry’s book.
 
At/with the final word of “Conundrum” a coffee/tea break is recommended. For those who didn’t perish on this rocky word journey, Pete hopes to ‘see’ you jump in, slide, or fall into “Heat Pump Water Heater’s”, following.

​Well…Piper’s…It’s about that time…Again.
 
The old man is off the couch (and has been thinking of you.)
The urge to share finally overcame stasis.
 
Since Pete the Plumber last burdened your ears, several fresh water scandals have made the author feel a tiny bit: “I told you so”. (He’s preached in past blogs). The Always Question: Are you prepared for interruptions? Always a good question. But, before going any further on that topic, Pete wants to ‘talk’ about an idea which has ‘cooked’ long enough to demand escape... It (idea) was sparked when a nephew (who is in the ‘biz’ in Orlando) sent the author a brochure on an industrial Stainless Steel DWV system designed for industries like breweries, laboratories and food processors. Pete couldn’t help but see the possibility for a future residential version. This possibility is the focus of this Pipe. (Disclaimer: The author does not expect to still own consciousness if or when such a new product line materializes.)
 
Ever since the early development of “push-together” pressure fittings for Fresh Water (Photos 1 & 1a), the author has seen the Trade’s acceptance for this technology grow, and even extend to Fuel Gas. What were figments of plumbers’ imaginations fifty years ago are now ‘old hat’ plumbing practices. (Did P.O.A.’s (Plumbers of Antiquity) have dreams of advanced technology?)

​An early developer (1980) of the “Push” fitting type was the British manufacturer Hepworth Building Products which was founded in 1936 in Doncaster. They were originally made of plastic and trade named: Hep20. Today in the U.S. we find brass versions sold under the names Sharkbite, PlumbBite, and Nibco Push.
 
 
Unfounded Fears
 
Oh, the author recalls “off the clock” discussions amongst his brethren disparaging ‘college students in tennis shoes’ taking our jobs when ABS was newly sanctioned for residential DWV. “Anyone with a hand saw and can of cement could work the material.”  Of course that was a naïve perspective. ‘What to do’ with the pipe and fittings (essence of being a journeyman plumber) was not automatically dispensed along with your receipt from the supply house. A familiar sense of superiority and disdain accompanied the development of “push” fittings for Water Supply. “Anyone can merely cut the pipe and jam the components together.”  A novice could install an entire FWDS (Fresh Water Distribution System) using a tubing cutter and “push” fittings. No flame & flux/ solder; no ratchet dies and oil; no primer and cement. Same rational response: “Don’t be silly.” It’s what you know.
 
When Pete (as an apprentice) was on his knees in a trench pouring molten lead joints on sewer laterals could he see what was coming (in a few short years): No-Hub pipe and couplings?  He thinks he might be in a similar situation presently: another ‘college students in tennis shoes’ plumbing revelation. This time around it is again (he thinks) (any bookies?) a DWV involvement/development. This time the surprise is a DWV fitting and piping system made of stainless steel that employs a “Push” joinery methodology. Being made of stainless steel it is of course very expensive. Only money making enterprises who can recoup the purchase cost can afford the stuff. But that is the way many innovations become mainstream. Start out as specialized answers for specialized industries and through time and acceptance become a ubiquitous item/system in the Big Box warehouse stores.
 
As the author noted the stainless steel DWV  “push” system he is bringing to your attention is prohibitively expensive for residential applications, but he believes there is a chance that this technology could become commonplace in the DWV practice with a materials substitution to Schedule 40 PVC.  With the same jaundiced eye yours truly earlier viewed ‘No-Hub’ and FWDS push fittings, methinks the result may be the same: eventual industry wide acceptance of ‘push DWV’ (in plastics).
 
 
The Line-Up
 
The pictures of the BLÜCHER (a Watts Company Brand) SS DWV system the author employed for this Pipe: (Photos 2, 2a, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, & 8) at the end of the article, are cropped iPhone shots by yours truly taken from the manufacturer’s paper sales media.
 
*Pete has not worked with this material. But from his exotic metals experience in R&D steam plumbing he recognized immediately the limitations of sheet-welding compound curves Photo 2a.
 
 
The Pit In The Olive
 
It may be the realization of the possible superior shape/formed injected molded plastic fitting (by comparison) that the concept of economically producing “push-together” PVC DWV fittings for Residential construction is why the possibility is so intriguing.(ABS pipe would be disqualified because of the foam core.) The beautiful specimens shown are works of art, but their cost reflects that fact. Why?  It’s the material/labor costs. The beautiful specimens are made of stainless to handle chemicals of multitude stripes in multiple industries. But for housing?  PVC (Poly Vinyl Chloride) pipe and fittings have already proven themselves in this industry. It is of the author’s opinion that with the necessary hub modifications of present, cemented, PVC fittings… to DWV PUSH fittings, another ‘kids in Keds’ revolution may unfold.

​Now, yours truly knows from laying large diameter “push” plastic sewer line (gasket-ed bell) (Photo 9, above)  that successful pipe-end-to-fitting hub and pipe-end-to additional pipe bell joinery requires that a certain amount of precision be maintained on pre-assembly pipe edge chamfer. Almost any cut-to-length plastic push-together joinery is possible (with a lubricant ) to accomplish in the field, with some skill and quality made hand tools. For a residential sized application with custom cut Schedule 40 pipe, Pete realizes that, tooling (either with power or by hand) which will produce a rather precision chamfer on male, custom cut to length Schedule 40 PVC  pipe ends, needs to be in the plumber’s tool kit. (It would simply take too much time (to compete with ‘cemented’ joinery) to hand shape acceptable pipe end chamfers with simple files. Photos 10, 10a, 10b, 10c & 10d are examples of available specialized manual tooling.

For a plumber who would choose to pursue PVC DWV Push installations there are drill powered chamfer tools which accommodate the common diameters of DWV piping. Photos 11, 11a & 12 are two examples of easily affordable drill powered options.

What’s That Terrible Smell
 
Now. What would we gain with a push joint versus the popular primer-cement joining method for plastic residential DWV?  Well, to begin with, the avoidance of working with dangerous (to the plumber) vapors/gasses escaping from PVC Purple Primer and PVC cements (in all of their viscosities) which is also a serious health concern to societies who must deal with strict disposal rules (and $$$$) for abandoned and dumped surplus chemicals (and sometimes a costly surprise to an errant consumer offender). And, a possible ability to “swivel fit” the components. With cemented DWV the plumber only has a second or two (ambient temperature) to ‘twist’ pipe and fitting to final “set”. With elastomeric seals in push fittings, rotation is not time-limited. The plumber would be able to create DWV of improved performance.
 
With a PVC DWV “Push” fitting, current and past measuring and cutting tools would also still remain relevant. Of course plumbers would encounter situations where due to structural realities they have no choice but to substitute a space saving cement cured fitting. (An analogy exists for plumbers employing the larger press copper fittings in FWD (Fresh Water Distribution) due to tight space conditions : revert to a sweat joint. 

Just for fun, let’s do a parts cost estimate by using BLÜCHER SS Push DWV catalog figures and re-creating a DWV pattern from Plumbing A House. Let’s go with Pattern 1, page 102, Photo 13.

This pattern is a very common one. For fittings we have:

1. 4-in. x 2-in. Wye . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $233.00
2. 2-in. 45 degree elbow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$ 82.25
3. 4-in. 90 degree elbow (longest radius possible) . . . . . . . . . . . . . $185.00
4. 2-in. 90 elbow (no radius concern) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $115.00
5. 4-in. Closet (toilet) adapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $185.00
6. 4-in. x 10-in. pipe length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$110.00
7. 2-in. x 24-in. pipe length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $178.00
8. Story height 2-in. pipe length (vent) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$561.00

                                                                                                               Total: $ 1,649.25

​Now, the BLÜCHER Company’s price is the material, in all of its pro’s and con’s, and their labor (including machinery costs). The author in no way is demeaning the manufacturer. He’d wager that for what you want (in that material), their price is very reasonable.
 
A plastic injection moulding set-up (to the contrary) producing Schedule 40 PVC pipe is not much more bulk than several modern washing machines resting side by side. The author confesses he has not observed plastic ejection equipment popping out DWV fittings. But, he questions not that the manufacturing square footage required and cost to produce equivalent sized residential DWV components, in each material, would be drastically less for the PVC. And thus drastically more economical for the less technically challenging residential market.
 
 
Yours truly had fun with this Pipe. It is fun to daydream new plumber’s tools and fittings, and guess at what’s coming next. And water, in all its possibilities, constantly ‘floats his boat’. If/whenever plumber Pete sees a ‘new angle’ (possibility), rest assured he won’t spare you bending your ear.
 
Until Then,
PtP