Fried Chicken
ArboristSite Operative
I just got done doing some plumbing under the kitchen sink (including installing a new kitchen sink).
I had already redone much of the plumbing (poorly) as part of installing the butcher block countertop; now that I was again underneath the sink, I decided to do things right:
Plumbing:
The four valves coming out of the wall I had already replaced with quarter turn valves. Going from the top left clockwise, there's the hot water valve, the cold water double-valve (freshly installed), the fridge supply valve, and the hot water dishwasher valve. It's hard to make out on the photo, but the cold water valve has dual quarter-turn valves coming out of it. One leads up to the sink, the other goes down via some pex into the corner, then around and into the inlet of a 3-part water filtration system.
Installing that filter system has palpably improved my quality of life. Highly recommended.
The output of the filter system then splits off with a T where to the fridge feed line and then rest goes to a water dispenser faucet, that, through some clever plumbing feeds, an unpressurized mini hot water heater (the big thing on the left side). It promises to deliver piping hot water on demand for tea or soup or whatever.
Previously I had done some godforesaken abomination of plumbing using the included hardware with the filter and dispenser faucet. I made all sorts of basic plumbing mistakes, including putting teflon tape on crimp fittings, using ****** polyethylene tube, using brass compression sleeves on plastic piping, and not putting a brass support insert. I've now replaced the polyethylene with PEX, quick connects with brass compression fittings, and used plastic compression sleeves with the brass support inserts.
For the main hot and cold faucet valves I replaced the 3/8" copper pieces with new ones to give a little more slack and because I totally distorted and destroyed the old ones when removing them the first time. I had re-used them b/c I was intimidated by copper... needlessly in retrospect.
While I had the sink and faucet out, I went ahead and (poorly) polished/buffed the main faucet with a buffing kit I had bought from eastwood. I think I went too aggressive and should have gone with an even lighter compound and jeweler's polishing compound. There are some visible streaks, and I think I might have messed up the finish a bit. I rubbed beeswax over it afterwards to hopefully prevent some future tarnishing. I also went in and added Danco silicone grease on the moving parts, and Danco waterproof grease on the non-moving parts (like o-rings) so the whole faucet now operates buttery smooth, evenw hen under pressure.
Electrical
The two outlets to the left and to the right of the main valves, it turns out, were NOT GFCI PROTECTED. It's my understanding, the code from when the house was built only required that these outlets be on a separate breaker but not GFCI. I would greatly appreciate if someone with explain to me what the logic there is.
Initially I thought to replace these with GFCI outlet receptacles, but as I thought about it, I realized there would still be a hot wire around all that plumbing, even if the GFCI outlet tripped. As a result, I bought and installed two GFCI breakers on the breaker box. The process was very straightforward right up until I needed to find the appropriate neutral wire (GFCI breakers require the hot AND the neutral to function properly). The hots were all in order, and while not labeled, easy enough to find. The neutrals were randomly dispersed on the unified neutral/ground bus. I spent a good 15 minutes deliberating whether or not to find some special tool or even call an electrician, when I realized I can use an extension cord from the outlet to the circuit breaker panel along with my multimeter to measure continuity onto the ground/neutral bus. Then it was just a matter of disconnecting neutral wires until my multimeter stopped beeping at me.
The rest of the install was easy. (Quick advice on electrical work: it's easy and you can do it, but it's also IMPERATIVE you fully understand what's going on. As soon as you don't stop and either figure it out or call an electrician). Anyway, now both of those outlets are GFCI protected at the breaker, so if my plumbing fails, at least I don't have to be shocked to death while drowning.
It's really unbelievable just how much work and thought has to go into all of this. I thought this would be a 2-day exercise, and I'm now pushing close to a week. This new sink is somehow slightly different and needs longer drain sleeves, the existing ones don't work. I'm also waiting on parts for a soap dispenser that were kindly dispatched by the faucet company. Figuring out how to seal the sink is similarly a nightmare. SILICONE DOES NOT ADHERE TO WOOD! I ended up going with non-staining plumber's putty (butyl tape was also considered), but for some reason the sink doesn't sit perfectly flat on the countertop. I'm not sure if it's the sink, the countertop, or both that are the issue, but there's a good 1/4" gap between sink and the countertop.
For those interested:
The faucets I have are fancy shmancy Rohl and Newport Brass faucets that retail at ludicrous prices but can be had for hardware store prices on eBay. The quality is without compare. These are real fabricated metal, and not metalicized plastic crap (although the internals are plastic). One caveat: you can say bye bye to simply buying parts at the hardware store.
The mini-heater is a "Quick and Hot" by "Anaheim Manufacturing Company". I got mine for under $100, and it's not worth spending multiples of that for some fancy one: internally they're all identical AFAIK.
The filter thing I bought for $100 from "Apec Water Systems". They offer very good support, and I also buy my filters there.
So yeah, it's still a work in progress; I have to install the drain pipes, and for that I have to wait to find extended drain sleeves that will fit. Additioanlly, I'm waiting for some hardware from Newport Brass for a soap dispenser that will fill the empty hole in the sink. Finally, I have to do more finishing work to the butcher block countertop. Here's how it sits looks as of writing:
I had already redone much of the plumbing (poorly) as part of installing the butcher block countertop; now that I was again underneath the sink, I decided to do things right:
Plumbing:
The four valves coming out of the wall I had already replaced with quarter turn valves. Going from the top left clockwise, there's the hot water valve, the cold water double-valve (freshly installed), the fridge supply valve, and the hot water dishwasher valve. It's hard to make out on the photo, but the cold water valve has dual quarter-turn valves coming out of it. One leads up to the sink, the other goes down via some pex into the corner, then around and into the inlet of a 3-part water filtration system.
Installing that filter system has palpably improved my quality of life. Highly recommended.
The output of the filter system then splits off with a T where to the fridge feed line and then rest goes to a water dispenser faucet, that, through some clever plumbing feeds, an unpressurized mini hot water heater (the big thing on the left side). It promises to deliver piping hot water on demand for tea or soup or whatever.
Previously I had done some godforesaken abomination of plumbing using the included hardware with the filter and dispenser faucet. I made all sorts of basic plumbing mistakes, including putting teflon tape on crimp fittings, using ****** polyethylene tube, using brass compression sleeves on plastic piping, and not putting a brass support insert. I've now replaced the polyethylene with PEX, quick connects with brass compression fittings, and used plastic compression sleeves with the brass support inserts.
For the main hot and cold faucet valves I replaced the 3/8" copper pieces with new ones to give a little more slack and because I totally distorted and destroyed the old ones when removing them the first time. I had re-used them b/c I was intimidated by copper... needlessly in retrospect.
While I had the sink and faucet out, I went ahead and (poorly) polished/buffed the main faucet with a buffing kit I had bought from eastwood. I think I went too aggressive and should have gone with an even lighter compound and jeweler's polishing compound. There are some visible streaks, and I think I might have messed up the finish a bit. I rubbed beeswax over it afterwards to hopefully prevent some future tarnishing. I also went in and added Danco silicone grease on the moving parts, and Danco waterproof grease on the non-moving parts (like o-rings) so the whole faucet now operates buttery smooth, evenw hen under pressure.
Electrical
The two outlets to the left and to the right of the main valves, it turns out, were NOT GFCI PROTECTED. It's my understanding, the code from when the house was built only required that these outlets be on a separate breaker but not GFCI. I would greatly appreciate if someone with explain to me what the logic there is.
Initially I thought to replace these with GFCI outlet receptacles, but as I thought about it, I realized there would still be a hot wire around all that plumbing, even if the GFCI outlet tripped. As a result, I bought and installed two GFCI breakers on the breaker box. The process was very straightforward right up until I needed to find the appropriate neutral wire (GFCI breakers require the hot AND the neutral to function properly). The hots were all in order, and while not labeled, easy enough to find. The neutrals were randomly dispersed on the unified neutral/ground bus. I spent a good 15 minutes deliberating whether or not to find some special tool or even call an electrician, when I realized I can use an extension cord from the outlet to the circuit breaker panel along with my multimeter to measure continuity onto the ground/neutral bus. Then it was just a matter of disconnecting neutral wires until my multimeter stopped beeping at me.
The rest of the install was easy. (Quick advice on electrical work: it's easy and you can do it, but it's also IMPERATIVE you fully understand what's going on. As soon as you don't stop and either figure it out or call an electrician). Anyway, now both of those outlets are GFCI protected at the breaker, so if my plumbing fails, at least I don't have to be shocked to death while drowning.
It's really unbelievable just how much work and thought has to go into all of this. I thought this would be a 2-day exercise, and I'm now pushing close to a week. This new sink is somehow slightly different and needs longer drain sleeves, the existing ones don't work. I'm also waiting on parts for a soap dispenser that were kindly dispatched by the faucet company. Figuring out how to seal the sink is similarly a nightmare. SILICONE DOES NOT ADHERE TO WOOD! I ended up going with non-staining plumber's putty (butyl tape was also considered), but for some reason the sink doesn't sit perfectly flat on the countertop. I'm not sure if it's the sink, the countertop, or both that are the issue, but there's a good 1/4" gap between sink and the countertop.
For those interested:
The faucets I have are fancy shmancy Rohl and Newport Brass faucets that retail at ludicrous prices but can be had for hardware store prices on eBay. The quality is without compare. These are real fabricated metal, and not metalicized plastic crap (although the internals are plastic). One caveat: you can say bye bye to simply buying parts at the hardware store.
The mini-heater is a "Quick and Hot" by "Anaheim Manufacturing Company". I got mine for under $100, and it's not worth spending multiples of that for some fancy one: internally they're all identical AFAIK.
The filter thing I bought for $100 from "Apec Water Systems". They offer very good support, and I also buy my filters there.
So yeah, it's still a work in progress; I have to install the drain pipes, and for that I have to wait to find extended drain sleeves that will fit. Additioanlly, I'm waiting for some hardware from Newport Brass for a soap dispenser that will fill the empty hole in the sink. Finally, I have to do more finishing work to the butcher block countertop. Here's how it sits looks as of writing: