On Mar 26, 1:55 pm, "jay-n-123" wrote:
This is a follow up to the recent thread. I live in Northern NJ. So far, 3
different plumbers I talked to all quoted the same exact price of $350 to
replace existing crank-style washing machine valves with a Watts single
lever valve. Hard to believe this costs so much, since somebody here said
it is only going to take an hour to do and the part only cost $33 or less
and little bit of extra copper piping needed can't cost that much. I
suppose I could get a handyman to do this for a lot less but then this
person wouldn't be a licensed plumber....is it worth trying to save a couple
hundred by not using a licensed plumber?

The way I want it installed (described in next paragraph) doesn't involve
cutting into drywall. Just want to confirm this doesn't go against any
codes:

At some point (who knows when) somebody installed a single-handle watts
valve in my mom's unit. I'm looking to have mine done the same way since no
drywall work is involved. There are two eschuteons (sic?) against the wall
with about 3/4" exposed pipe sticking out. At my Mom's condo, it looks
like they removed the old valves and then added downward elbows and then two
sideward elbows and two small sections of horizontal pipe leading from the
sideward elbows which into the watts valve from the sides. Only difference
in her condo is that the pipes sticking out of the wall are 5 1/2" inches a
part vs. mine being 9", so that would mean that mine would simply need more
horizontal pipe. One of my pipes coming out of the wall is around an inch
higher than the other, but the same was true for my moms so I guess this
isn't going to be problematic.

There is nothing about that is goes against any codes, right?

Hey, Jay.

Your situation is exactly what I thought you meant the first time, and
I'm the one that said it would take about an hour and the valve cost
about $30. Getting three identical quotes from three different
plumbers is _extremely_ odd. I don't see how three different plumbers
could give the exact same price if they all eyeballed the job. By any
chance did you ignore the part I wrote in my earlier reply - the part
about getting prices over the phone? To refresh your memory:
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.h...d00164579eb d

Plumbers are more expensive then handymen. It is not a difficult
job. I'm sure there are handymen that would not have a problem with
doing the work. Your local code most likely restricts you to using a
plumber as northern NJ has some pretty strict local codes. You're the
only one that can make the determination if it's worth going with a
handyman - it's your house.

BTW, you do not need to, nor should you, start a new thread on an
existing open topic. If you add to your own thread, it pops to the
top in peoples' newsreaders so you don't have to worry about your new
information being lost in the mix.

R