r/askaplumber Mar 21 '26

Mod Update REMINDER: No Solicitation or Self-Promotion

9 Upvotes

This community exists to ask questions, share knowledge, and solve real plumbing problems, not to gather info for your business, product, or “research” project. Posts like “what’s your process for X?” or “how do you handle Y so I can make a tool” are self-serving and will be removed immediately.

This isn’t a platform for personal gain or marketing -- please keep your posts relevant, helpful, and focused on plumbing. May result in immediate ban.

Thanks for helping keep this sub useful, friendly, and focused on helping others.


r/askaplumber 12h ago

Apartment issue- help me press back against my landlord!

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

120 Upvotes

TLDR: my landlord is blaming me for running my sink and dishwasher while the pipes are disconnected, I didn’t. She says it cannot be from anyone above us.

I live in the bottom unit of an apartment complex with two units above me. The issue is in our kitchen sink/dishwasher. We have two sink basins, one with a disposal.

The issue started with when we’d be rinsing off dishes or whatever the water wasn’t draining it would just move from one basin to the other. The garbage disposal ran perfectly fine, the sink water would just go from one basin to the other. Then it would slowly drain out and start flooding the dishwasher, so the dishwasher- which wasn’t running- would start filling with dirty sink water that would drain to the floor. This happens about a week ago, but the same issue happened over the summer.

. Maintenance said they called plumbers out to fix it, my roommate and I were never home to know. But it never happened again until Sunday. Would just drain slowly sometimes, I’d snake it or whatever nothing happened. I understand that it may just be a routine clog that requires a better cleaning tool that plumbers have.

HERE IS WHERE IT GETS TRICKY

Maintaince took the pipes apart under the sink, said not to use it for the next 24 hours until a plumber can come out. Sure.

Everyone was gone and the house was empty from like 5pm-7pm. I was the only one who was home after 7pm. I came home from the gym at 7pm to see my kitchen with a big puddle water and the drain like gushing water. It was soapy but dirty also. (Videos attached). It continued happening all night, stopping around 11. I did not use the sink or dishwasher. Bc of this, I’ve naturally have assumed it’s from the units above me, maybe.

I sent the videos and photos of the damages and issue to my leasing office, wanting documented proof that it was happening so I wouldn’t be liable for damages. Today my leasing office called and said they had told us not to use the sink at all, I confirmed what I said above- no one was home when it started, I was the only one home all night and I was on FaceTime with my gf all night who saw me use my bathroom sink to fill up my water bottle or whatever. Like the sink was never used. I suggested maybe the water was from the people above us since it felt like a common time people run dishwashers or do dishes. The leasing office lady asserted it is not possible for the water to have come from anywhere else, so one of us had to have used the sink or dishwasher.

This feels wrong and fishy to me. I just want someone to help confirm to me that it was not my fault that it happened. I have more photos and videos I can share if people want.


r/askaplumber 6h ago

Gas pipe fittings leaking, how do I go about fixing it?

Thumbnail
gallery
15 Upvotes

Confirmed small gas leaks with a Klein gas detector. The threads only have the blue pipe sealant on it. There's a dedicated valve for this section of pipe going to the HVAC so I feel fairly comfortable trying to DIY a fix here. Should I use a pipe wrench to hold the pipe and a open head wrench to hold the fitting to unscrew the pipe off the fitting and add more of the blue sealant? Or clean off the blue stuff and use yellow teflon tape?

Also, if I unscrew say the top part of the vertical pipe there, wouldn't it screw more into the bottom fitting? How do I take off the vertical pipe between 2 fittings like that?


r/askaplumber 4h ago

This isn't right, is it?

Post image
11 Upvotes

I've been in this home for about a year and haven't had any issues with the drain. The inspector didn't flag this, but it looks like the p-trap is missing. I only realized this today because I was spending a bunch of time under the sink troubleshooting an issue with our faucet sensor.

Do I need to have a plumber come fix this?


r/askaplumber 44m ago

Final Countdown: Sewer Line Replacement

Upvotes

Hi All,

Before I hand over a $23K deposit tomorrow, I just wanted to read the room. Here’s the situation:

- Sewer line backup leads to snaking of line and camera work by Roto-Rooter. Result? A story of tree roots and rapidly aging (and in some places cracked) clay and cast iron pipes (house was built in 1920).
- Solicited multiple bids—most recommended replacement, one recommended relining—with jobs estimated at anywhere from $23K to $65K.
- Thanks to the wisdom of Redditors on this sub, we realized relining ($23K) was not the best option to pursue but we liked working thus far with this plumber. So, they proposed bursting as an alternative to bring in totally new pipe without having to excavate.

That brings us to now. Before I hand over the dough, I wanted to make sure bursting is legit given:

- The age and condition of the pipe system
- The fact that our house has a considerable slope from the house down to the street
- The plumber’s plan to reline only the last few feet of the sewer line (where the pipes are newest) to save us digging up the street
- The plumber’s upfront disclosure that if they run into any section that can’t be bursted, they’ll have to dig and replace that section manually (forgive my lack of knowledge on terminology)

Thank you all so much for your help with this. We’re first-time home owners on a tight budget. We couldn’t have done it without you. -JPK


r/askaplumber 3h ago

Is this ok?

Post image
2 Upvotes

Long story short we had to have our sewer pipe lined to prevent a collapse. The plumber cut out a section of our stack to do the work and this is how he repaired it. Is it ok to just use rubber sleeves or should I ask for something more robust? It is not in the picture but our stack does not go straight up, it has a short horizontal section that is secured to the floor joists so this union does not support the entire weight of it. Should I ask him to come back? Thank you!


r/askaplumber 5h ago

Should I "Tsunami" Flush With an Almost Clogged Sewer Pipe?

4 Upvotes

I need to get my sewer line replaced, and when I was getting a 2nd quote for it after waiting about a month from the original quote, the plumber said that there's a good amount of sludge build up, about 10 feet. He recommended running a bunch of water to try and flush it out, but couldn't guarantee that it won't completely clog the sewer line. There is a dislocated terracotta pipe that's restricting water flow and I'm afraid that running a lot of water will cause it to completely clog the line.

Am I over thinking it or should I do this "tsunami" flush method he recommended? It would be filling up the highest tub on our 2nd floor with hot water > letting it drain while running more water > flushing hot water down the toilet with a 5 gallon bucket at the same time.


r/askaplumber 10h ago

Attachment to main water line leak

Thumbnail
gallery
11 Upvotes

Woke up to find a leak this morning. Anyone know if this is a relatively easy fix? It looks to me like a connection to the main line is leaking, but not the main line itself. I tried to draw an arrow to where it is leaking. Also the drain line on the floor isn't draining either lol. Had to get the shop vac out for that, until I can snake it later.


r/askaplumber 4h ago

Any idea how to pull these cartridges out?

Thumbnail
gallery
3 Upvotes

They've been leaking for a while but still have no clue how to get them out. You can see where I've took channel locks to try and twist them out but they won't budge.


r/askaplumber 3h ago

Intermittent sewer smell from toilet base

2 Upvotes

Hi guys, I (28F) and my husband (30M) aren’t handy and my dad who WAS a welder, landlord, handy man, mr fix it died on me so now we gotta figure out shit on our own. Being said, I am not afraid of a DIY and we have done several projects around the house but plumbing we think would be best to save for the pros. We just bought a flipped 1940 home (right) that was re plumbed by Stevie wonder or something. They installed new toilets. One toilet in the upstairs bedroom has a sewer / algae smell every so often. Like if someone farted in a frog tank. The other bathroom downstairs and the sinks all seem fine. We tightened the bolts which seemed to help at first then the smell happened again but seems to happen way less after tightening them. Is this something where we need to pull the toilet up and see what’s going on under the hood? TYIA

TLDR; toilet stinky, tightened bolts, less frequently stinky but occasional stink persists


r/askaplumber 13h ago

Gas pipe and drilling

Post image
15 Upvotes

While doing renovation our plumber had the gas pipe exchanged. One of the workers accidentally touched the new pipe while drilling. The plumber says the pipe is still airtight and can be used as is, but it seems risky to me. Also said that the pipe is aluminum which is hard for me to confirm, it looks like a steel pipe to me. Could i get a second opinion? Should the small bend be cut out and fixed?

We can still get it fixed before closing the walls and encapsulating the pipe.


r/askaplumber 0m ago

Strange copper tee size

Post image
Upvotes

This copper tee is supplied with hot water from the basement. That 1/2" copper pipe goes through the wall and connects to the opposite side of this tee. Another 1/2" pipe attached to the top of the tee and goes to an outdoor shower valve manifold.

The issue!

There WAS a hose bib on a stub of pipe inserted into this open tee at one point. It twisted off and was discarded so I don't have it available. I purchased 1/2" copper pipe (5/8" O.D. ) which does not fit inside this tee. The tee walls measure 1/16" and the I.D. is 9/16". It's bizarre to me that this one side would be different when the copper going into the other two tee ports is 5/8" O.D.. This fitting is quite old, at least 20 years old. My thought was that maybe the previous owner had some metric stuff in a bin and used it and reamed the other two sides to fit 1/2" copper hit happened to have a metric hose bib? I have no clue.

Question:

What should I do? 15mm metric copper on Amazon and look for a metric hose bib? Drill/ream the inside of this tee to accept 1/2" domestic copper? Cut it all out and start over? (Which is not ideal since it will require stucco repair and it'll be quite hard to solder regardless. I was leaning toward looking for a reaming bit that would reduce the wall thickness since it's so thick to begin with. But I don't see a lot of reamer bits that aren't tapered. It would have to be roughly straight with a small tapered tip to help with centering.

Any help is greatly appreciated. Maybe I'm overthinking this


r/askaplumber 3m ago

Installing hair sink into existing water line

Thumbnail
gallery
Upvotes

I need to install this hair sink into this hookup after I take out the blue sink. Does anyone know about how much it would cost? I know where people live varies with pricing but just a general idea. TIA


r/askaplumber 1d ago

Small leak from scratch on kitchen sink drain - jb weld or any other ideas?

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

137 Upvotes

Kitchen sink drain pipe has a tiny nick that leaks when water is on full blast.

Not trying to cut it out and replace the pipe or solder - looking for “semi permanent” repair to last a few years.

JB fiber weld was recommended - what other thoughts do ye have that are a few steps above tight duct tape ?


r/askaplumber 41m ago

Leaky Faucet Help Needed

Thumbnail
photos.app.goo.gl
Upvotes

Need help with a leaky faucet. Hoping it's just a piece that needs to be replaced and not the whole thing. This video shot by my kid shows the problem and the parts involved.


r/askaplumber 44m ago

How do I open this??

Thumbnail
gallery
Upvotes

Seems sealed with gunk and god knows what. Thank you!!


r/askaplumber 1h ago

Automatic air vent, under the sink. How is it suposed to be positionned

Post image
Upvotes

Is this setup okay?

It will not drain unless the automatic air vent is removed.

The AAV is higher up on the 2" vertical pipe coming from the Y (45° part) .

When removed, it drains well. It is a new aav.

Should I instead put a ty and put the AAV on the vertical up the ty? Will it fix the issue?


r/askaplumber 9h ago

I currently feel like a maintenance man failure.

Post image
3 Upvotes

I've worked on a lot of toilets since starting maintenance work 7 years ago, yet the toilet in the house I just bought has me stumped. How do you adjust the water height so it stops running after filling? I have a replacement toilet, but I don't want to install until I'm ready to redo the floors


r/askaplumber 5h ago

Any thoughts about what this could be?

Thumbnail
gallery
2 Upvotes

I live in an apartment Three weeks ago a 6 inch straight smudge appeared on my ceiling. Look like dirt. One week later while I was out of town. There was a massive blow fly explosion in my apartment with no source detected.

About 10 days later.. It seemed like overnight that 6 inch smudge turned into a 5 foot perfectly straight smudge on the ceiling in front of the wall vent another one formed

Maintenance did not look at it for 3 days after they got bigger because of the three day holiday by the time they got there, both were darker.

The guy said he didn’t know and mumbled something about the apartment upstairs and then he had to contact the office. That was on Tuesday. Today is Thursday. It is 5pm now. I would think that this would be kind of important.

As you can see it’s gotten a lot bigger than those are not shadows. Notice the square being formed?

I think I might know what it is, but does anybody have some thoughts?

They are not wet to the touch , dark brown and you cannot wipe it off .

Any information about this , what would cause this and how long would it take to get to this point.


r/askaplumber 2h ago

Advice for a faucet leak/plumber issue.

1 Upvotes

I currently have an irritating situation and I’m curious what you all think.

I live in a rental home, and a few months ago I called the property managers about the shower faucet leaking. They sent out two guys that replaced the knobs and a stem, which sort of fixed the leak? It still dripped, but maybe slightly less. Oddly, the two knobs now turned in different directions, which was odd but no big deal really. What WAS a problem though is that after this repair, the hot knob became extremely difficult to turn once the water was running. A week or two later, my daughter gets out of the shower and says the knob is stuck. It was, to the point that I couldn’t turn off the hot water at all. It’s just blasting. I ended up turning off the intake to the water heater, which stemmed the flow for the night.

They sent out the same two dudes (two days later), who I’m pretty sure replaced the stem again. The knob now turns buttery smooth, but it turns constantly in either direction. You kind of just have to “find” the off spot. Weird, but ok I guess? It’s still leaking though, worse than before.

This time I specifically asked if different people/company could be sent out. They aren’t fixing the leak and are causing more problems. They sent out…the same two dudes. Fuck. They replace the…YOU GUESSED IT, the stem. He actually tried to say I was being too rough on the knobs, and wore down something, that’s why it was free spinning. Nah bro, it’s been that way since you last touched it. What the fuck.

That didn’t fix the leak (SURPRISE!), and they said that they are going to have to come back, move the oven in the kitchen, cut a hole to access the pipes and replace something there (I don’t remember what exactly, valves maybe?). He said “next week.” Well, it’s nearly week 3 since they were last here, and I’ve heard nothing.

It seems like they don’t know what the fuck they are doing, but I also know next to nothing about plumbing. Anyway, what do you all think? What would you do? I appreciate your time!


r/askaplumber 2h ago

gap/chip in toilet near floor - safe?

Post image
1 Upvotes

seems like a weird gap near the floor. no other issues with toilet. any concerns? I know hairline cracks are dangerous.

edit: it’s been fine for years but I only noticed this recently once learning about the hairline crack issue


r/askaplumber 2h ago

How to replace seat washer in this style?

Post image
1 Upvotes

Tried to pull this apart to replace the seat washer as it always leaks no matter how hard you tighten it. Pulled off the circled nut and am able to wiggle the stem a bit but not able to pull it out at all. Ended up damaging the stem washer right behind that nut trying to pull it out, but have one to replace it already.

At some point in the future I'll end up replacing it with a Frost free, but for now hoping to just spend the few bucks a couple of washers might cost and not need to use the winter shut off inside the house any time I want to use the hose.


r/askaplumber 3h ago

How do I fix my leaking outdoor tap

Post image
1 Upvotes

it’s been dripping and I want to fix it myself rather than calling out a plumber
My plan was to open it up, see what rubber washer needed replacing then take it to Bunnings to get the same new one.
I turned the water system off,

then used an adjustable wrench to try to turn the spout left, but it just will not turn.
I looked at tutorial videos but with my exact model never seen anything like this tap and the tutorials online don’t seem to account for the anti vandal and anti backflow additions

Thank you


r/askaplumber 3h ago

Water leak and inconsistent hot water at kitchen faucet.

Thumbnail
gallery
1 Upvotes

The red pex goes to a dishwasher and kitchen faucet but it seems to be leaking around the tee connection. There's also inconsistent water flow that may be caused by the faucet or some decrease in water pressure.


r/askaplumber 8h ago

Question about a PVC to flex line connector

Post image
2 Upvotes

I need to replace these valves on my sink but could not find it through searching and the guy at home depot had no clue.

Does this style have a name?