plumbing Archives - Page 3 of 14 - Charles Buell Consulting LLC

July 6, 2015 by Charles Buell

Dead Legs might not kill you but they can make you sick.

A dead leg is any part of your house water supply where water cannot circulate. They are most common in extensions to the plumbing system for future use.

An example of a dead leg would be plumbing installed for a future bar sink in the basement. Over the life of the home, as those pipes sit full of water—not circulating with the rest of the house water supply—there is a risk of bacteria growing inside the pipes. The same can happen with bathrooms that are not used very often.

Circulating loops, especially on the hot water supply side is one way to avoid this stagnation of water in the pipes but honestly there is no real easy answer to the problem. When you consider that a dead leg is considered to be anything more than 2 pipe diameters away from the flow of water, it does not take very much to create a pocket of water where water can stagnate. Contaminated watering holes come to mind.

There are increasing numbers of Legionella cases being attributed to Dead Legs and the number of actual illnesses is likely much higher, with many cases of flu-like symptoms going unreported or un-diagnosed.

Recommendations for how homeowners should deal with dead legs is evolving, but certainly any sections that are intended for future use should be properly isolated from the house system until such time as the installation can be completed.

For further information: Promoting Water Quality and Hygiene

By Charles Buell, Real Estate Inspections in Seattle

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January 29, 2015 by Charles Buell

Frost free and not frost free all at the same time!

Most parts of the country are well into the throes of winter, and hopefully everyone has already taken care of their outside hose faucets to protect them from freezing. It is still a good time to talk about frost-free outside faucets–or hose bibs–or sill-cocks–or whatever you call them in your neck of the woods.

This is a good time to talk about them because there is one particular defect that you may not be aware of related to frost-free type faucets.

Working on plumbing pipes when it is 10 below zero is no fun (ahhhh the flip side of hot & humid–gotta love it–is it any wonder there are so many bars and churches in New England?) but it beats working on them after they have broken and flooded your home.

A frost-free faucet works by having the part that actually shuts off the water way inside the wall where it is (theoretically) always warmer. The piece of pipe that connects the shut-off to the handle at the outside is supposed to be installed at a little angle so that it can drain out when you shut the water off. If you look at any frost-free type faucet the handle is always going to be perpendicular to the wall because it is attached to a long rod that runs through the pipe to the shut-off that is inside wall.

These things actually work very well.

Unfortunately many people are either clueless or they think the faucets are “frost-free” by some kind of magic. Leaving a hose on them during the winter essentially makes them a non-frost-free type faucets as water stays in the pipe all the way out through the hose–typically. This fact is apparently lost on most people given the number of hoses that I do not reconnect between September and March.

Another way to make one of these faucets non-functional is for the valve to be installed so that it can’t drain. I have taken the previous picture and drawn lines to show how this valve actually points upward at the outside at almost the angle it should be pointing downward–clearly trapping water against the valve deep inside the wall.

To test your frost-free type faucets, just turn them on and then turn them off. If some amount of water continues to come out after you shut it off–there is a good chance it is draining. You can also look at the valve from the side and see if the body of the valve points down–as in the red dotted line of the picture below.

If it looks like the picture above—have it fixed.

The faucets come with a little triangular shim that the installer can use to assist in keeping them sloped properly.

Of course, like anything—one can get a little carried away.

By Charles Buell, Real Estate Inspections in Seattle

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November 1, 2014 by Charles Buell

How can your water heater be too hot and not hot enough all at the same time?

Having plenty of hot water is not just a convenience, it is considered a necessity in modern homes.

However, there are competing concerns related to having plenty of hot water. On the one hand we want to prevent scalding. On the other hand it is a good idea to keep water hot enough to prevent water-borne bacteria from flourishing. It is actually quite complicated to accomplish both goals with storage-tank type water heaters. This is further complicated by Washington State Home Inspector Standards of practice that require us to report when the tested water temperature is above 120 degrees Fahrenheit (including a statement that the generally accepted safe temperature is 120 degrees Fahrenheit).

This information however only address one of the safety concerns–and can actually make the other concern worse. Temperature below 120 degrees Fahrenheit is considered ideal for the growth of harmful bacteria inside the tank–such as Legionella. Keeping the tank temperature between 135 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit can greatly reduce the risk of growing bacteria in the tank but is not a guarantee. For example, Legionella Bacteria can survive extreme hot water and chemical treatment by forming a parasitic relationship with amoebae that are not affected by these treatments. While rare, it is still considered prudent, given the current state of knowledge, to maintain the tank water temperature between 135 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit to at least provide some degree of protection.

Electric water heaters are considered to represent the highest risk, while gas fired water heaters represent the lowest risk. Resolving this difficult issue is perhaps the strongest argument one can make for on-demand type water heaters that do not have this issue as no stored water is present. Homes with copper type pipes are also at lower risk while areas with hard water are considered at greater risk. Non-chlorinated water supply systems are at higher risk (wells).

While “generally-healthy-people” are fairly resistant to infection, some patient populations (organ transplants, diabetes, cancers, kidney disease etc), immunocompromised persons, heavy smokers, heavy drinkers, the elderly and infants can be expected to have higher death rates or incidence of more severe illness if the bacteria is present in sufficient numbers. Some authorities assert that an increase in incidence can be expected with an increased focus on conserving energy (lowering the thermostat on the water heater). The science around all of this is ongoing and new information should be anticipated.

But what about scalding? Preventing scalding requires a multifaceted approach. #1. We must resort to common sense: • Never leave a child or the infirm alone while drawing water in a bathtub, and check the water temperature before putting your child or the infirm in the tub. • Test the water temperature before bathing or showering. • Turn the cold water on first, then add hot water until the temperature is comfortable. • Teach children to turn the cold water on first, and the hot water off first. #2. Provide a mechanical means (Thermostatic mixing valve) of lowering the temperature to below 120 degrees Fahrenheit at either the points of use or at the water heater itself to protect the whole house. Because these devices can fail, we must always keep #1 in mind.

For additional information on this issue please check out the links below:
http://EPA/Legionella: Drinking Water Fact Sheet
http://EPA/Legionella: Drinking Water Health Advisory
https://OSHA/Domestic Hot Water Systems
http://Wikipedia/Legionella
http://Wikipedia/Legionnaires’ Disease

Charles Buell, Real Estate Inspections in Seattle