I’m sure you have all been in the shower when someone else flushes the toilet and been shocked by the sudden loss of hot water. I am working on an older (50+) year old home. The wife wants to stop the shower shock, the husband tells me that it is a plumbing problem. It seems to me that new houses with 3/4″ plpe feeding the fixtures have plenty of water. It also seems that when the toilet flushes it uses cold water and you would be scaulded in the shower, not frozen. Has anybody had this problem before? Is there a solution to shower shock? My other question is about old house galvanized drain pipe. Thai same house is three story with baths on 3rd, kitchen and bath on 2nd, bath and laundry in basment. The kitchen sink drain will not handle the dishwasher drain full flow without backing up in the sink, the garbage disposal cannot be used for fear of clogging the drain and flodding the basment, and the floor drain near the laundry room has had sewage back up onto the floor a few times. i think it all has to do with galvanized pipe. Is there a chemical to pour down the drain that will eat away the corrosion in the pipe and restore the drain pipe to it’s original size. without eating holes in the pipe? Thanks, John
Discussion Forum
Discussion Forum
Up Next
Video Shorts
Featured Story
This centuries-old paint offers vapor-permeabiity, maintainability, and longevity with zero VOCs, but know its limitations before you get to work.
Featured Video
How to Install Cable Rail Around Wood-Post CornersHighlights
"I have learned so much thanks to the searchable articles on the FHB website. I can confidently say that I expect to be a life-long subscriber." - M.K.
Replies
I'd be planning on replacing those drain lines. It even sounds like th eproblem could continue on out of the house too.
The supply lines can be run as home runs from a manifold near source to each fixture. See, if the balancing happens in only six or eight feet between toileeeet and shower, the change is felt instantly. But there is some flow restriction over a longer distance when running all the way back to source and then out again. Larger lines do help too.
But on mny hoiuse, I have 1/2" copper runing the extra 20-25' back and never get scalded. Same idea is present in the new syustems with Hypex and supply manifolds.
Or - You can get a mixing valve that comtrols the mix automatically at the showerhead
Excellence is its own reward!
Did that 50 year old house have a working GD and DW in it when it was new?
Even if the pipes did not have a clogs and was sloped properly and there is no damage to the main drain (all of which are likely prooblems in this case) what makes you think that the drains where designed to handle this load?
Replace shower handles/control valve with a pressure-balancing valve, like a Moen Posi-Temp. Whether hot or cold water is demanded by another outlet, the valve automatically balances showerhead flow to maintain original temperature.
You'll need to cut a hole in the shower wall to access the piping/valve behind the current handle(s). Use a Rotozip saw with a carbide bit to cut the hole if ceramic tile.
You cover up the enlarged hole with a Moen (or Delta, or...) remodelling plate, an oversized plate that matches your new handle(s).
As for galv pipe...rust could be blocking valves/drains. Or, years of hard water scale buildup could be lining pipes. You could try lots of CLR (Calcium, Lime, Rust remover), but more than likely you'll need to replace pipe to truly solve the problem. Galv pipe just doesn't seem to last long.
Regards,
Tim Ruttan
All new construction around here is required to have pressure balancing shower/tube valves to prevent just what you are talking about. You might want to look at replacing some of those old fixtures with the newer pressure balancing type. Moen, Delta and American Standard have some attractive and good products to look at.
My personal preferance on the galvanized drain/waste would be to remove all of it I could get too. Every threaded fitting is suspect after 50 years, because the galvanizing was removed durring the threading process. Replacing it with pvc is straight forward, but you need to forwarn them that the pvc is going to be noisier than the old stuff. You can also use the rplacement procedure to correctly size the pipes for dishwashers and disposals as Bill suggest.
The floor drain backing up could mean a lot of sludge buildup in the waste line, but more importantly indicates there is no check valve in the line. They are not always required on septic waste system, but are a good idea. They were not always required on older sanitary sewers either, but are now for most areas. A concrete saw, Brute breaking hammer, and a soil pipe cutter can make adding a backflow preventer simple work. If they don't want that expense right now, at the minimum get a sewer cleaner snake run through the main line and floor drain.
Dave
Hey, Thanks alot for the replies. I'll try the chemical on the drains. The kitchen sink is above a basment apartment, but I guess patched GWB to replace a clogged drain is better than patched GWB and floor to replace a broken & clogged drain line. As for the pressure balancing shower valve, what a great idea! I wish I would have thought of it! And the backflwo preventor for the main line sounds pretty good as well. I don't think anybody in town has a rooter style snake, one that rotates and cut thru the clogs, but I'll check. Thanks again all, John
John,
I had a similar problem in my 40 year old house. The double kitchen sink(IMHO) would not drain properly, and I have tried every chemical there is except Tri- nitro -toulene. Solution was use pressure washer and drain cleaning head in vent pipe on roof. Stationed DW to watch sink in kitchen, put P/W down vent about 8', sink backed up. Shut off p/w and waited for sink to drain. Second time around head went in a lot further before backing up. Third time it went all the way to septic tank and with slow withdrawal drain line was clean. Now when you drain the sink it will almost pull dishes out of the drying rack :- )
George,
Remember The early bird gets the worm BUT it's the second mouse that gets the cheese
Hi George. Where did you find the Tri- nitro -toulene? Is this a common soulution that most any hardware store might have? John
Tri-nitro-toluene= TNT and not available in hardware stores.
Now watch out for the black helicopters buzzuing around our homes!
Honest guys....it was a joke :-)
Dave
Hey Dave, You should have seen the look on the guy's face at the hardware store when I asked him for 10# of TNT. I'll give the CLR a try. Thanks, John
After 50 or so years the old galvinized pipe is realy blocked bad, in SLC,Ut. You can cut out about 10' of 1/2" and not see light at the end. On a couple of occasions I have taken a snake with no head and actually done the water lines. Not a permanent cure but the first time around they went for 50+ so ---, make sure to flush them out after the snake.
Hey some time you do what you gotta do.
Clay