Random plumbing pics

[Twowaxhack]

At my house the front bath is on the same gfci as the front porch and the master bath has its own dedicated GFCi. The 3rd bath is on the back porch gfci. All the gfci plugs that you reset are inside.

 

[BlueSkyHigh]

Makes sense. No need for a whole mess of GFCIs unless you are in the business of selling GFCIs.

 

[Mitchell-DIY-Guy]

Makes sense. No need for a whole mess of GFCIs unless you are in the business of selling GFCIs.

Until you "pop" one on a downstream outlet and have no idea where to go...

It's not my business to know what each local electrical code is regarding wiring. I do know that GFCI protection is required in any "wet" or possibly wet location; this includes kitchens, baths, garages.
One GFCI per bathroom, two per kitchen (you need two circuits in kitchen outlets), and one per garage makes a whole lot of sense. Senselessly long wire runs (I had those in my home in Michigan) from an upstairs bathroom to an outdoor outlet to save the cost of a GFCI just doesn't make it easy or convenient for the people living in the home. One 20A circuit serving all the bathrooms doesn't make practical sense either.

Today's products include WR (weather resistant GFCI outlets) and weather proof bubble covers are mandatory too. No reason not to put a GFCI where you need it. If I'm outside in my work clothes and boots and the GFCI pops for whatever reason (nuisance pops happen!) the last thing in the world I want to do is traipse upstairs to the bathroom to reset it, or change clothes to do so. Because the builder or electrician wanted to save $20?

@Twowaxhack 's home is "old school"; basically how my own home was wired in 1992. They tend NOT to do that so much anymore, at least NOT on new construction I've seen in North Carolina.

 

[Twowaxhack]

I don’t want my home littered with push button GFCI.

You know why ? I’ve replaced 3-4 in 20 yrs. Some I don’t even use went Bad.

More equals less.

I don’t even use outdoor electrical very much. My weed eater and blower is 18v Milwaukee and my lawnmower is propane.

Basically I only use the outside plugs for Christmas lights.

 

[Mitchell-DIY-Guy]

Take them all out. Nobody says you have to have any at all. Simplify your life.
If you have any AFCI breakers, remove them too, and sell them on eBay. Regular breakers are so much cheaper!

 

[havasu]

I understand 2 wax's dilemma. I once had a GFCI pop, and it took me 2 hours to find it. Seems I checked every outlet in the house except the one that tripped.

 

[BlueSkyHigh]

It's always the last place you check whether it's if you've lost something or if you are troubleshooting. My Brother P touch label maker came in handy when I needed to remember where things were. To this day I still seem to forget to read the labels!

 

[Twowaxhack]

Take them all out. Nobody says you have to have any at all. Simplify your life.
If you have any AFCI breakers, remove them too, and sell them on eBay. Regular breakers are so much cheaper!

I don’t want to take them all out, just keep it reasonable, like it is now.

 

[Jim Jensen]

Thanks. I appreciate the thought. Friend said he's going to come out and help when he gets someone to watch the kids. Hopefully soon.
I tried digging the water pipe up with limited success, there's a concrete block under the ground near it and I had to break a tree root nearby. Not much space to work with. How do you guys deal with dirt falling in a vertical water supply pipe while it is cut off? Friend said he'd bring an extension cord to warm stuff up in there if possible and I figured I can use my wet/dry shopvac to get at least some of the mud out of the pipe.

Zanne: I think if it were me, I would just make sure EVERYTHING in the house is turned off, including TOILET supply lines, then open an outside faucet, and let that take care of any remaining dirt in the supply line to the house....??

 

[Zanne]

Jim, the problem was there were no working outside lines. Only outside lines are on different pipes (the ones that had to be reconnected with pex). However, my friend managed to fix it without getting dirt into the line. I turned on an inside faucet that is going to be replaced to let it clear the water out before I flushed toilets or used other fixtures.
Because the outside waterlines had more of a tendency to freeze/break, they were put on separate runs.

Now the problem is I have to either replace or re-connect a leaking check valve. But, there are no shutoffs before it and a 200gallon cistern will start dumping water out as soon as the pipe is cut. Given how the water shot out when the other line was cut while the pump was off, pretty sure it would blast whoever cuts it in the face unless the cistern is already drained.

I think everything linked to the same line in bathrooms is what was done in my house. The builders didn't use the best quality materials to begin with. The people who renovated cut corners (and floor joists) so the electrical is a hot mess. Nothing is grounded. Need to re-do all the wiring in the entire house pretty much. But we don't have drywall that can be patched. We have wood panels. The cheap ugly ones in the kitchen can go, but I've grown attached to the blue striped printed panels in my bathroom. LOL.

 

[havasu]

It's always the last place you check

If one thinks about this, why on earth would anyone continue to check for anything after you found the issue? In my opinion, it better be the last place you check, right?

 

[BlueSkyHigh]

If one thinks about this, why on earth would anyone continue to check for anything after you found the issue? In my opinion, it better be the last place you check, right?

Indeed but, then, there are those of us that after we find and fix the problem we think we can engineer a better solution and on and on it goes and so forth and so on.

 

[havasu]

You sound a bit like me, or as others tell me...."Umm, are you OCD much?"

 

[BlueSkyHigh]

Absolutely and proud of it!

 

[Zanne]

When I was having health issues in 2016, I was looking for something, found it, forgot what I was looking for and that I'd found it and it was in my hand, and continued looking for it-- but didn't remember what I was looking for, just that I was looking for something. I also searched for my phone while using my phone's flashlight to look. And was looking for my fork while it was in my other hand. Fortunately the meds I take have helped so my memory isn't that bad anymore, but I still have brain farts where I walk through a door and can't remember what I was doing or going to get.

The finding something and stopping reminded me of when my Mom took computer science and had to program in COBOL on punch cards. The machine would find the first mistake & kick the program out and say it needed to be fixed. Once fixed, it would then find the next one and kick it out rather than go through the hole thing and find all of the errors/bugs. It had to be resubmitted every single time for every single error. And the college didn't have the machine to check. The punchcards had to be sent to a nearby air force base. I took the typed version of COBOL and despised it.

To keep on topic, I found this pic online

 

[Zanne]

Saw this while looking up platforms/shelves for pressure tanks.

 

[Twowaxhack]

99.9999% of well house system piping I find are cobbled together POS……

 

[TomFOhio]

I like that sink drain going into the toilet. I'll have to remember that one.

 

[PrecisionPlum]

Looks like electrical code violations are here as well.

 

[BlueSkyHigh]

I like that sink drain going into the toilet. I'll have to remember that one.

I trust it's on a swivel because, if not, it might just get in the way..........