Plumbing Antiques

White gas furnace -- Blow torch -- Piece of lead pipe

Trap wiped by a plumber ... I will judge some time in the 1920's or before

Still in my possession

This lead bend was removed from a property on Hamilton Street in Allentown PA. This was in a real old home of an affluent citizen. Take note to the brass threads 4" soldered into the bend. The toilet that was mounted on this pipe had a 4" brass thread cast into the china. You greased the threads and screwed the bowl onto the piping. -- A former member of the PIPDL Rod Stein (now deceased) identified this type of toilet as being made by the Mott foundry in NJ

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The copper tube above dates back to the 1940's. Notice the little hole in the solder cup on the fitting. It was not realized that the solder would flow when heated and fill the cup. So installers in this time period had to clean the fitting and the little hole. Then the solder was added to the fitting through the hole and at the completion of the joint, the hole was filled.

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Above -- black tube with ball valve & hose. I used this to groute under w/pool tubs, shower bases whatever. The plug in the end had a air, quick connect. I mixed either brown coat plaster or morter cement -- filled the tube and then applied an air hose with the regulator set to 2-3 lbs. You would be surprised at what you can move with a little air behind it. The 2 pieces of wood with the all-thread rod ... This was used for undercounter lavatorys. The upper board spanned the tile, marble, granite -- whatever, the rod came through the drain hole. The bottom board spanned the bottom of the fixture, the nut with the handles was spun up the rod until tight. Now we could adjust for center and install the required clamps.

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Disposal Stand ... Good to have when you need it.

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H'mmmm what's this ? Up in the cold climates we sometimes have to walk on snow or ice.

This could be carrying a tool box, pulling a water heater up grade on a hand truck. When your feet slip or just slide out from under you. You could get hurt unless you have shoe chains.

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In remodeling when sheets of drywall or whatever must be held these adjustable "helping hands" do just fine. The notch shown in photo #3 is so they won't slip when against studs. On a concrete floor, usually I drill a 3/16 hole and use a tapcon to keep the feet from kicking out.

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Some Plastic Tube a heat gun and a vise makes some fancy caulk tube caps!

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I call this "Jet Attach" Used when a kitchen drain must be jetted .

Take the fernco apart, screw the female adapter on the marvel at the drain connection in the wall. reconnect the fernco with the tee facing down. Rope comes up loops around the faucet secure with a half hitch. Under the tee put a five gallon bucket. Jetter hose now goes in the short piece and through the tee as far as you can push it. Now turn on the jetter all the water that the jetter is using flows into the bucket. As soon as the blockage is penetrated the water then flows down the pipe. This works good no mess ... unless you dump the bucket or overflow it! This is not a tool for stupid users !!!

 





Tools for plumbers ,,,

I like to make my job easier. You might say "work smart -- not hard". Over the years I have made a lot of tools ... these are not patentable items just ideas that work. I look at this, as a little thing I once saw in "Bit's & Pieces" that was ... "If I had a penny and you had a penny and we exchanged penny's then we would still each have a penny. But if you had an idea and I had an idea and we exchanged ideas then we would each have two ideas". Now with this blog I can exchange all my ideas. Hopefully I will learn some ideas in

return.  Let me say that I have been on PDL and PIPDL for about 5 years. I also spend time on a tremendous plumbers forum.  About 3000 in the trade use the plumbing zone.com to keep up to date on products, problems and other items pertaining to the trade. If any members from the above listed lists are seeing this again,  call it a refresher ... First an acid reversing rig. When pumping a domestic coil and the hoses are connected, this unit allows you to reverse the flow of acid without disconnecting. Works very good and believe it or not -- cuts down on the time necessary to pump as you can work inlet and outlet sides alternately. When the hoses foam because the acid got too hot and the bubbles are traveling toward the pump volute. By opening the bypass valve the resultant pump failure is stopped you don't have to re-prime. In your mind close & open the valves see how the flow changes. Hint what is open now will have to be closed and visa-versa. By-pass stays closed until needed or can be used at start to prime with all the other valves closed.

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Lets continue ... This tool was made for a radiant staple up job in a crawl space. Kneeling on the dirt floor my head was in the joists, could not work comfortably. Lying on a pad I could not reach the joists or the sub floor above. The Rover shown below allowed me to lay with my head just about 6" below the joists. I just rolled back & forth uncoiling and stapling as I went.

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Some are simple -- stop scratching ... small pieces of 5/8 heater hose over pliers jaws.

More about pliers ... When setting a pedestal lavatory the problem is to get the trap nuts tight. Pasco maybe Jones makes a wrench to fit trap nuts ... Alas, I use Wolverine Traps, the nuts are bigger and the wrench doesn't fit. A channel lock with the jaws open to fit a 1-1/4 nut -- the handle can hit the wall and mar the wall finish especially it's wall paper. My fix see the orange handle pliers below. You might have to still hold the tool on an angle but it works for me.

Yep I cut an 1-1/2" off the handle.

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How about when you have to repair a Moen tub faucet Legend -- the balance spool is jammed. You insert a big screwdriver in the slot and the little cap comes off in your hand. Now you have a balance spool stuck inside the faucet with almost no way of grabbing it. Unless ... you have one of these in your toolbox.

Bookmark this blog there will be more ...

Interested in more tools? On the index click More Tools ...

Click on some of the other titles, also click on Seminar Information, here you are able to get a sample.

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