Plumber of the Year Awards for 2013

[Jim Koepke]

It is amazing how much one can get paid for such a lousy job:

http://www.weeville.com/plumberofyear.htm

jtk

[Shane Copps]

Classic, That is all I can say

[Jeff Erbele]

It is amazing how much one can get paid for such a lousy job:

http://www.weeville.com/plumberofyear.htm

jtk

Funny pictures :)
... but its really not funny as I see so many plumbing screw-ups all the time in hotel rooms and public rest rooms.

* More often than not the T.P. holders are mounted inconveniently, way low close to the floor, or one has to reach behind oneself, or too far away.
* Hot & cold reversed.

* Designing our new house, in the model home, in the master bath, one has to squeeze between the toilet and the wall just to close the door.
We requested they omit that door and the door to the walk in closet both of which are in the master bath area and add one door for the master bath.
Otherwise from the bedroom one would look straight at the shower with a clear window and a clear glass shower door. Get rid of two nuisance doors and add one that makes sense.

* A friend of mine, some years ago had a custom designed house built. About two years later they discovered by accident that the toilets were plumbed with hot water.

* Yesterday we ripped out the carpet in two bathrooms and replaced it with vinyl flooring. As I was resetting the toilets I flipped them on the side to make sure they were clean. I discovered the builder, Centex who operated in several states, or their plumber contractor, or some flunky, had no clue how to install a wax ring. My guess is they used two or three wax rings. Instead of sticking the wax ring on the flange, they made a ring of wax around the base of the toilet. It's amazing there was no water or sewage on the floor. Actually it was clean and dry. Things must have line up perfectly, and must have been in close contact.

I wonder how licensed plumbers get buy with some of the things they do, and equally how the building inspectors either miss the mistakes or let them go.

[Ryan Mooney]

I'm quite fond of the throne one :rolleyes:
I can't imagine toilets plumbed with hot water.. wow...

Personally I think these guys should win the plumber of the year award.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HG_wfMK7dko

[Myk Rian]

That video is just too funny.

[Frank Drew]

I can't believe how much plumbers charge, at least in this area. It's not like they're the most highly skilled or knowledgeable tradesmen or anything.

(No offense intended to any plumbers in the audience.)

[Myk Rian]

I can't imagine toilets plumbed with hot water..
My In-laws' house in Northern Michigan was plumbed with shut-offs to the toilets. Cold in summer, Hot if it got too cold outside. A precaution.

[Dan Hintz]

My In-laws' house in Northern Michigan was plumbed with shut-offs to the toilets. Cold in summer, Hot if it got too cold outside. A precaution.

Plus, if mixed in the correct proportion, it can significantly reduce sweating of the tank (which cuts down on mold).

[Brian Elfert]

I can't imagine toilets plumbed with hot water.. wow...

I managed to build an entire bathroom with the hot and cold water reversed. I didn't figure it out until the bathroom was 100% finished and realized the water in the toilet tank was hot.

What had happened was I had a house built with two bedrooms and a bathroom not finished when the house was built. The plumber had stubbed the water into the unfinished bathroom with valves in the warm part of the house. I started the project in the winter so I couldn't open the water valves to check which pipe was hot and which pipe was cold. I naturally assumed the left side coming into the bathroom was hot water and I was wrong. It took about half a day to get the required parts and fix the problem.

[Ryan Mooney]

Plus, if mixed in the correct proportion, it can significantly reduce sweating of the tank (which cuts down on mold).

That actually makes some sense, although I wonder because it seems like the tank would settle to room temp eventually while sitting unless you flush a lot - do you basically try to normalize the inflow to room temp to avoid that?

[Brad Adams]

I can't believe how much plumbers charge, at least in this area. It's not like they're the most highly skilled or knowledgeable tradesmen or anything.

If you saw how much we pay in license fees, insurance, continuing education, etc, I can keep going on you would understand. I guarantee most of the things in those pictures are homeowners, like you guys that installed that stuff. As a plumber you wouldn't believe the dumb stuff homeowners do.

[Jim Koepke]

I naturally assumed the right side coming into the bathroom was hot water and I was wrong.

I always thought the cold was on the right. Well except in my mother in law's kitchen. She is left handed and insists that it be backwards.


It took about half a day to get the required parts and fix the problem.

Every home project takes three trips to the hardware/home store.

First trip to pick up the parts and tools.

Second trip to pick up the RIGHT parts and tools.

Third trip to return all the stuff you didn't need.

jtk

[Brian Elfert]

I always thought the cold was on the right. Well except in my mother in law's kitchen. She is left handed and insists that it be backwards.


I meant to say left side for the hot. I edited my post. It was the opposite of what most folks would expect. I really should have traced the pipes back as far as I could to verify which side was hot and which was cold.

[glenn bradley]

Thanks Jim. I just knew this was gonna be good.

[Dan Hintz]

it seems like the tank would settle to room temp eventually while sitting unless you flush a lot - do you basically try to normalize the inflow to room temp to avoid that?

The tank does settle to room temp, but if you pour a lot of cold water into a ceramic canister with warm, high-humidty air surrounding it, it sweats. Think of how many times your toilet might get flushed when you have friends over, or a party. If you can get the water close to room temp to begin with (a bit too cold or a bit too warm is okay), significantly less sweating is involved.

[Chuck Saunders]

If you saw how much we pay in license fees, insurance, continuing education, etc, I can keep going on you would understand. I guarantee most of the things in those pictures are homeowners, like you guys that installed that stuff. As a plumber you wouldn't believe the dumb stuff homeowners do.
Every trade Brad, and most of these are probably homeowners, there are bad plumbers out there just like all the trades. The good ones take all the grief because they know they do a good job.

[Brian Elfert]

A number of those pictures would appear to be public restrooms so they were not done by homeowners, but it may not have a been a licensed plumber either. I know of a building that was built by professionals where the bathroom toilet stall is so small one can barely sit down on the toilet and this building was built maybe 15 years ago. I believe the real issue in this case was the bathroom had no handicap stall when built and had a handicap stall added later. This building was designed and built well after ADA so the architect or plumber should have realized at the design stage it didn't meet ADA. The better fix would have been to just create one large handicap stall rather than try to keep both toilets.

[Wade Lippman]

I will put this, on my house, up against any of them.
283878
The single pipe near the top is my water heater vent. It is too close to a corner, too close to a deck, and too close to my furnace vents.
(yeah, the furnace vents are bad too, but this is about plumbers.)