Ideally, I'd like to replace all my old galvanized piping, but it may
not be practical to do this for some time.

I just bought two identical new faucet sets for my bathroom sinks, and
on the boxes it touts:

"Drip-Free Ceramic Disk Cartridge Provides Outstanding Performance and
Long Term Reliability."

Each faucet set has two of those (hot and cold) and one spout. Brand is
Glacier Bay (Home Depot), and posts here say they are almost certainly
Delta made, with Delta replacement parts. They appear to be chrome
plated brass, and the popup's are solid brass.

I went into a local plumbing supply store in town yesterday. Although I
was unaware of the place for decades, I was told they are celebrating
their 100th anniversary this year! The one guy there said that unless I
have decent plumbing, I can't expect ceramic valve faucets to last long.
He said that with old galvanized plumbing (which sloughs off corroded
metal continually), the ceramic valves will fail just a soon as
compression valve's washers, and that in fact I won't be able to replace
them but will have to replace the faucets!

Naturally, I'm alarmed about this. One faucet set is yet to be
installed, but I installed the other a week ago. The hot water to that
faucet set is from a newly installed on demand heater (Noritz), and the
heater has a water filter in-line, just after the hot water comes out of
the heater. I can easily and quickly clean out that filter by turning
off the valve right next to the filter and opening it up (did so once
already).

There's around a dozen feet of old galvanized from there to the faucet,
however. The cold water, however, is sure to have sediment in it. Every
time I take apart the pipes here and inspect the pipes, I find them in
pretty bad shape. They pass water, but they are badly corroded
internally. If I were to not use a pipe for a month or two (or maybe
even a few days) the first time I used it, the water would come out
brown for the first few seconds.

So, I'm wondering if I can maybe get serviceable filters I can put
between the shut offs and the faucet sets in both bathrooms that will
protect the faucets. Or is that guy incorrect about the issues? TIA for
any guidance.

Dan

Dan_Musicant wrote:
Ideally, I'd like to replace all my old galvanized piping, but it may
not be practical to do this for some time.

I just bought two identical new faucet sets for my bathroom sinks, and
on the boxes it touts:

"Drip-Free Ceramic Disk Cartridge Provides Outstanding Performance and
Long Term Reliability."

Each faucet set has two of those (hot and cold) and one spout. Brand
is Glacier Bay (Home Depot), and posts here say they are almost
certainly Delta made, with Delta replacement parts. They appear to be
chrome plated brass, and the popup's are solid brass.

I went into a local plumbing supply store in town yesterday. Although
I was unaware of the place for decades, I was told they are
celebrating their 100th anniversary this year! The one guy there said
that unless I have decent plumbing, I can't expect ceramic valve
faucets to last long. He said that with old galvanized plumbing
(which sloughs off corroded metal continually), the ceramic valves
will fail just a soon as compression valve's washers, and that in
fact I won't be able to replace them but will have to replace the
faucets!

Naturally, I'm alarmed about this. One faucet set is yet to be
installed, but I installed the other a week ago. The hot water to that
faucet set is from a newly installed on demand heater (Noritz), and
the heater has a water filter in-line, just after the hot water comes
out of the heater. I can easily and quickly clean out that filter by
turning off the valve right next to the filter and opening it up (did
so once already).

There's around a dozen feet of old galvanized from there to the
faucet, however. The cold water, however, is sure to have sediment in
it. Every time I take apart the pipes here and inspect the pipes, I
find them in pretty bad shape. They pass water, but they are badly
corroded internally. If I were to not use a pipe for a month or two
(or maybe even a few days) the first time I used it, the water would
come out brown for the first few seconds.

So, I'm wondering if I can maybe get serviceable filters I can put
between the shut offs and the faucet sets in both bathrooms that will
protect the faucets. Or is that guy incorrect about the issues? TIA
for any guidance.

Dan

I would relax. I don't know what you can and can not replace in the
faucets, but I would not expect any problems in the near future. Also, I
suspect that they came with warranties, likely long ones. At worse you will
get new faucets for free.

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit

do realize scaling means your about to leak

fix leak here, new one appears there.

If I were you I would be more concerned about the flood that is sure to
occur.

This happened to a budfdy of mine, re refused to replace the lines as
they clogged and flow slowed. Had a couple leaks then the big one oin
his bathroom wall when no one was home.

thousands of dollars damage he HAD NO CHOICE THAN TO REPLACE
EVERYTHING.

This is your future sorry for the bad news

On 18 Aug 2006 15:24:08 -0700, "
wrote:

:do realize scaling means your about to leak
:
:fix leak here, new one appears there.
:
:If I were you I would be more concerned about the flood that is sure to
ccur.
:
:This happened to a budfdy of mine, re refused to replace the lines as
:they clogged and flow slowed. Had a couple leaks then the big one oin
:his bathroom wall when no one was home.
:
:thousands of dollars damage he HAD NO CHOICE THAN TO REPLACE
:EVERYTHING.
:
:This is your future sorry for the bad news

I've been living here 23 years and the house was built in 1914. Really,
I'd never have known that the pipes were in bad shape if I hadn't done
some work on the pipes myself:

I installed a washing machine, which required replacing around 8 feet of
galvanized pipe. A new shower surround was recently installed, and in
doing so, the workers were obliged to replace the pipes going to the
shower. So, I had a look at the old pipes that they removed.

Looking into the interiors of the pipes, you could see heavy corrosion.
However, to my knowledge, none of this piping has leaked a drop. That
doesn't mean a flood won't happen tomorrow, of course. I have no idea of
the danger. There could even be leaks now. I must say, the crawl space
earth under the house looks damp. You know how dirt looks when it's not
dry? It is a lot darker, and that's what the ground looks like under the
house. I was under there just 2 days ago. Maybe it's just the water
table, maybe there's a leak of some kind. However, the water coming in
is above ground level, only the sewer stuff goes underground. AFAIK,
there's no leak in it, but who knows??

I figure the time to replace the plumbing is the same time that a new
electrical service gets installed and the electricity gets completely
updated in the house - i.e. when the walls are opened up, which should
happen AFTER the foundation is replaced and the house leveled, and new
siding put on. IOW, one BIG JOB! Unless it's important to do one of
these things earlier, I figure it's better to do them all-at-once (so to
speak).

Dan

On Fri, 18 Aug 2006 21:38:52 GMT, "Joseph Meehan"
wrote:

: I would relax. I don't know what you can and can not replace in the
:faucets, but I would not expect any problems in the near future. Also, I
:suspect that they came with warranties, likely long ones. At worse you will
:get new faucets for free.
:
:--
:Joseph Meehan

Yes, thanks. The "Limited Lifetime Warranty" states, in part:

"Glacier Bay Faucets & Sanitaryware warrants to the original purchaser
that this faucet will be leak and drip free during normal domestic use.
If this faucet should ever develop a leak or drip Glacier Bay Faucets &
Sanitaryware will free of charge provide the parts necessary to put the
faucet back in good working condition."

Dan

I figure the time to replace the plumbing is the same time that a new
electrical service gets installed and the electricity gets completely
updated in the house - i.e. when the walls are opened up, which should
happen AFTER the foundation is replaced and the house leveled, and new
siding put on. IOW, one BIG JOB! Unless it's important to do one of
these things earlier, I figure it's better to do them all-at-once (so to
speak).

Dan

Thats a good plan but you might begin by replacing with PEX, its easy
fast affordable and plastic.

You have funding for your this old house job? Doing it all at once will
cost a fortune

"Dan_Musicant" wrote in message
...
Ideally, I'd like to replace all my old galvanized piping, but it may
not be practical to do this for some time.

I just bought two identical new faucet sets for my bathroom sinks, and
on the boxes it touts:

"Drip-Free Ceramic Disk Cartridge Provides Outstanding Performance and
Long Term Reliability."

Each faucet set has two of those (hot and cold) and one spout. Brand is
Glacier Bay (Home Depot), and posts here say they are almost certainly
Delta made, with Delta replacement parts. They appear to be chrome
plated brass, and the popup's are solid brass.

I went into a local plumbing supply store in town yesterday. Although I
was unaware of the place for decades, I was told they are celebrating
their 100th anniversary this year! The one guy there said that unless I
have decent plumbing, I can't expect ceramic valve faucets to last long.
He said that with old galvanized plumbing (which sloughs off corroded
metal continually), the ceramic valves will fail just a soon as
compression valve's washers, and that in fact I won't be able to replace
them but will have to replace the faucets!

Naturally, I'm alarmed about this. One faucet set is yet to be
installed, but I installed the other a week ago. The hot water to that
faucet set is from a newly installed on demand heater (Noritz), and the
heater has a water filter in-line, just after the hot water comes out of
the heater. I can easily and quickly clean out that filter by turning
off the valve right next to the filter and opening it up (did so once
already).

There's around a dozen feet of old galvanized from there to the faucet,
however. The cold water, however, is sure to have sediment in it. Every
time I take apart the pipes here and inspect the pipes, I find them in
pretty bad shape. They pass water, but they are badly corroded
internally. If I were to not use a pipe for a month or two (or maybe
even a few days) the first time I used it, the water would come out
brown for the first few seconds.

So, I'm wondering if I can maybe get serviceable filters I can put
between the shut offs and the faucet sets in both bathrooms that will
protect the faucets. Or is that guy incorrect about the issues? TIA for
any guidance.

Dan

I'm in a similar pickle. All my galvanized is about rusted shut, so what
I'm doing until its feasible is replacing small sections one at a time with
PEX. It's cheap and quick to replace with PEX. I'm not the strongest
proponent for it, however for short term repair its perfect for me. It
doesn't look nice, but its better than rusty galvanized.

Basically all I'm doing for now is replacing what I can get at with the PEX
and once my situation settles out I'll do the whole thing at once with PEX.
It won't be much more work and all the repairs will give me sufficient
experience to know what works and what doesn't. Also every section of
galvanized you remove cures your problems that much faster and removes that
much danger from the situation. If you can replace the galvanized by the
faucets that will trap the majority of the rust and scale before it get to
the faucet.

pex has a big advantage one faucet etc per line if installed properly

makes service easy in future, just turn off valves to place you need
not entire home

On 18 Aug 2006 17:05:15 -0700, "
wrote:

:
: I figure the time to replace the plumbing is the same time that a new
: electrical service gets installed and the electricity gets completely
: updated in the house - i.e. when the walls are opened up, which should
: happen AFTER the foundation is replaced and the house leveled, and new
: siding put on. IOW, one BIG JOB! Unless it's important to do one of
: these things earlier, I figure it's better to do them all-at-once (so to
: speak).
:
: Dan
:
:Thats a good plan but you might begin by replacing with PEX, its easy
:fast affordable and plastic.
:
:You have funding for your this old house job? Doing it all at once will
:cost a fortune

Funding is a problem. If I'd signed with the GC I had inspect the house
shortly before I bought it in 2000, it would have cost a fraction of
what it would cost today. I am not given to regret, but this is one
exception. He was good and thorough, but nowadays he has no stomach for
a project like my house. To hard, too much work, too dirty. He's 6 years
older now and pretty much sticks with the easy stuff - windows, for the
most part.

Doing it all at once will cost a fortune, but I think the fact probably
is simply that it will cost less to do it all at once, and it will be
done BETTER as well.

The PEX replacement if plumbing? Thing is, I figure that will entail
opening up the walls, right? That might be best done at the same time as
installing updated electrical. Maybe it will work to do the plumbing and
electrical before the foundation/siding job. I can afford those now.