Plumbing

Plumbing is the installation of devices like pipes, valves and drains for the distribution of water within a house or a building. This includes the elimination of water wastes and the repair of such devices or fixtures in case of leaks or clogs.

Plumbing Tools

The Radiator valve key helps radiators to run smoothly by letting the air out of the water system. This is cheap and small; however, it is easy to get misplaced and hard to turn with bare hands. Some complained about its small size, it is better to make this bigger or get a bigger one in case it is available on the market. The brass valve key seems harder than zinc; the latter is easy to get deformed. With its small size a small wrench or pliers can be used to tighten it on the valve or to ease off.

The Tap washer is used to keep the tap from dripping. There are three kinds of washers that can cause dripping: the o-ring, the body washer and the jumper valve.

The Fiber washer is used for sealing the joints tightly. However, some fiber washers don’t last beyond 18 months. Others prefer the rubber washer more than this fiber washer because the former is easy to tighten by hand and never leaks. The rubber is exceptionally waterproof.

The PTFE tape is wrapped around the end of a pipe before it is inserted into a valve or a joint to make sealing really tight.

Pipe clips help keep the pipes in place. They come in different sizes and styles. There are the hinged clips that are manufactured in the UK offering 360 degrees pipe support and with self-locking top and are claimed to survive a million flexes without breakage. Hinged clips can either be single-hinged or double-hinged. Flexi-clips can fit any pipes of various diameters. Hinged clips can be made of Nylon for any unpleasant temperatures or weather situations. Nail-in clips are zinc plated while the timber clips have a timber color in case you will fix them to timber. There are also the snap-in open clips which need a No. 8 or 10 woodscrew when installed. The screw-in saddle clips are installed permanently and can be screwed in timber or into concrete with a fixing plug.

The Pipe cutter cuts the pipe smoothly, quickly and leaves it clean. It is better than a hacksaw. There are two kinds of pipe cutters, the plastic tubing cutter for thin pipes or tubes and the pipe cutter for thick pipes that has a sharper wheel and jaw grip that can be adjusted. Hacksaws can cut any metal or plastic pipe with various sizes.

The Pipe bender can bend the pipes up to 90 degrees. There are pipe benders that don’t need filling or heating. Some of these pipe benders are Hand Pipe Benders, Hydraulic Pipe Bender with Hinged Frame or with Separate Pump; Hydraulic Motorized Pipe Bender and one with Bar and Strip Bender, Hydraulic Pipe Bender with Double Frame Open Bending, Compact Bar and Strip Bender and Conduit Pipe Benders. These are all in the market depending on your needs and the size of the pipes or tubes.

The Copper pipe is used when adding a new appliance and fixture to the plumbing system. This is used for plumbing and for air conditioning. Pipes for houses are 1/8 inch shorter than the actual outside diameter. K is for underground burial, L is for normal uses, M is for light walls, normally for drainage and low pressure application. These K and L can be “drawn temper” which is hard or “annealed temper” which is soft. The DWV stands for drain waste vent which is sold in drawn temper that is up to 8 inches and with 20 ft length. The ACR is for air conditioning and refrigeration that comes with 20 ft for drawn temper and 50 ft coil for 50 soft temper.

The Pipe freezing kit is used to make the water solid of up to 30 minutes while doing some pipework. You don’t have to drain the water line or the sprinkler or the hot water system before you cut any pipe or tube. The freezing kit freezes all kinds of liquid in whatever kind of pipe whether steel, aluminum, iron, copper or plastic. The liquid freezes in five minutes and you can start your pipework. Pipe freezing kits can be a refrigerator type, a bag type or a freeze head that uses carbon dioxide in dip tube cylinders like the Cold-Shot pipe freezing kit which is more popular and less expensive.

The Lead-free solder wire is used with a soldering connection and a soldering torch. It is around 95% tin to 5% antimony. This is normally used due to intense temperature change and vibration. Some advertisement pictures show that a whole spool of solder is being sold but it won’t be the whole thing that you are paying for. So you might be surprised to receive just a short piece of wire for the money that you send to an online store.

The Flux paste is applied to joints before any soldering is done. It is for copper plumbing system. It typically comes in syringe dispenser that leaves no residues and it has a no-clean formulation.