Healthy isn't always good for some plumbing tricks!

[Kev]

You Know I finally got to installing our new water softener and had to extend the main water line (cu) loop to the location I wanted. My last two sweat joints were at the lowest point and so, had a little water in them. You know that old trick of stuffing white bread into the line to hold the water back? When you turn the water back on it dissolves and your happy and done.

Well, we've been fairly health conscience for some time now and no longer buy white bread. As it was 9pm I thought it too rude to call my neighbor to see if they had some and I didn't want to go all the way to the store to buy a loaf for one slice so I used what we had ...... 9 grain bread .... 9 whole grain bread ..... Yup!! Hey, the soldering went great, without a hitch! And when I turned the water back on, not a single leak!

Then I went to three of the sinks to bleed the air out, one downstairs and two up. That's when I found out for sure that it really was whole grain bread! The faucets sputtered for a few moments and then stopped completely. When I pulled off the aerator tips they were all clogged with numerous little grains!

[illumina]

Hehehe...I need to install a new water softener in my house. The one that came with my house is like 15 years old and is not living up to its job.

[Kev]

Hi Mike!

The good news for you is that it should hopefully be an easy replacement and not a new installation. My house is looped for soft water and the previous owner use a service, tanks only, not a full system and the loop wasn't near a drain so I wanted to move it next to the washer and dryer. It's a better location there anyway.

[EcSTSatic]

Heh, heh. That fiber is great for humans but...

My home is an amalgamation of CU, PVC, CPVC and now PEX. It was originally galvanized steel. I do everything in PEX now.

[Kev]

Originally Posted by EcSTSatic

...... I do everything in PEX now.

That's because you have to worry about freezing your nuts off out there as well as your pipes. We don't have that much of a pipe freezing problem here on the Central Coast!

I will say that the idea of flexible tubing sounds good unless it's exposed.

Great quote from the movie "Moonstruck"

Originally Posted by Cosmo Castorini

There are three kinds of pipe. There's aluminum, which is garbage. There's bronze, which is pretty good, unless something goes wrong. And something always goes wrong. Then, there's copper, which is the only pipe I use. It costs money. It costs money because it saves money.

[EcSTSatic]

Originally Posted by Kev

That's because you have to worry about freezing your nuts off out there as well as your pipes. We don't have that much of a pipe freezing problem here on the Central Coast!

I will say that the idea of flexible tubing sounds good unless it's exposed.

Great quote from the movie "Moonstruck"

Moonstruck is one of my wife's favorites. It came out before PEX though. Copper prices have gone sky high. There are thieves stealing wiring to harvest it.
Flexible tubing is great because you don't have nearly as many joints to make and you can route it to avoid drilling in structural and nonstructural framing. Nothing like seeing floor joists looking like swiss cheese after a plumber has been there. It isn't supposed to be exposed to UV.