Two plumbing dillemas, pictures included

[trevisgardne]

I highly recommend PEX Tubing and SeaTech push fittings. All you need to know is what diameter your existing copper is.

At the regulator yours will be 1/2 in. The fittings should be about $4ea and 5ft of PEX will be less than $5. Pickup a compact tubing cutter and get rid of any copper that is leaking and be done with it. If you replace anything wih flexible braided tubing you will always and forever have small dribbles no matter how tight you get them from seasonal heating/cooling expansion/contractions ****UNLESS**** you put a barbed fitting on the copper.. I know-I've tried.

Lowe's Home improvement, and RV Dealer that handles Coast, or www.dtiparts.com are good sources for the PEX SeaTech Combo.

Here are some pics. Not counting the reomoval of the copper. All of the pictured work only took about 30 minutes.

[wacnstac]

I want to put some kind of barbed fitting on the copper and use hose. I don't have the time to do a total replumb back there. As far as the valves go it goes from some very small diameter stuff into the valves, nothing you would typically see off the shelf. I was able to get the valve stems off without cracking them. This is what they look like:



Does anyone know if this is a common type of stem and where they could be bought? Doesn't look like there are replacable washer on the bottom of the stem so I assume the whole stem needs to be replaced. The material that is on the botton of these now doesn't seem to pliable which would explain the leaks out the bottom drain tubes.

[wacnstac]

Originally Posted by wacnstac

God you gotta love PO's. The things they will do to avoid fixing something right. The first picture shows where the pressure regulator from city water was removed and bypassed with garden hose and hose clamps. Of course this leaks and has rotted out the floor.



Now question to all you plumbers out there, how do I fix this the right way? Is there some sort of pressure fitting I could put on the end of those copper pipes that would get me a better seal on the garden hose?

The next picture show my other problem in the back end. Both of the valves to empty the water system leak and at least need to have new washers put in them.



Now I tried turning the top cap nuts on these things as hard as I could but I thought if I got out any heavier artillery on them I'd just crack them off. I don't know if these are the original valve or not but they look like it. Any suggestions on how to fix or replace?

HELP!!

Does it look to you guys like the entire valves are connected via some sort of screw on fitting?

[nickcrowhurst]

Originally Posted by wacnstac

Is there some sort of pressure fitting I could put on the end of those copper pipes that would get me a better seal on the garden hose?

If you want a quick and dirty fix, loosen the stainless steel clip, push the garden hose on another inch, and put an extra stainless clip on beside the original one, with the tightening screws staggered. This is sometimes done on transmission cooler lines as a temporary fix to get you home.
Nick.