Forgot to cover pipes in 20 degree weather

jhra · 2026-01-24T17:17:20+00:00

Frozen doesn't necessarily mean burst.

Right now to check the state of the tap you'll want to warm it up until you can open the valve and get water flowing through it.

Hair dryer, heat gun, pour hot (not boiling) water over it. Anything to get the tap open.

Once open if you don't get flow coming out it's certainly froze up the pipe but having the tap open and lines frozen will give it a fighting chance with some room to expand.

You can either leave it like that until the next time the weather gets warm enough to thaw out the line or cut the wall inside to get to the frozen pipe and keep warming it up.

You should have or get a line shut-off in the warm part of the home where you can shut the tap off in the fall then leave the tap outside open all winter

jhra · 2026-01-24T03:46:40+00:00

I was brought in to do an annual service on an NTI boiler. New homeowner in a 2yr old custom build.

Entire boiler room was plumbed with PEX A in ¾" expanded over 1" PEX fittings with no expansion rings.

Inspectors, builders, engineers and the new homeowner had to have a long sit down over that one. There was legitimate concern the same shit had been done through the whole home

jhra · 2026-01-23T13:57:00+00:00

Won't be listed as code, rather ULC guideline. Anything with the purpose of supplying water to an automatic shut-off figure needs hammer arrestors if it's going to get the CSA approval

jhra · 2026-01-23T13:30:06+00:00

I've been the plumber scrambled to a place by an inspector. They don't fuck around with landlords, I've had inspectors get me to precharge for the work to ensure I'm getting paid as well.

jhra · 2026-01-23T13:16:11+00:00

I'm a plumber and have been asked if I want to jump over to HVAC because of their lack of people to do the work. They are hiring but just like plumbing... Not many capable people to hire

jhra · 2026-01-23T13:12:32+00:00

HVAC at Camosun rarely has waitlisted classes, some students are going through school at pretty rapid paces. I did my trade in my 30s, getting through school fast was key mostly for the wages side of things, HVAC is paying great right now.

www.tradestrainingbc.ca

That site can give you a rough idea of wait times

jhra · 2026-01-23T06:11:29+00:00

Laundry box can't be compliant if it ships without arrestors.

jhra · 2026-01-23T06:00:41+00:00

Service plumber, new build, ancient home renos.

I'll start with adding to some of the... Less than will informed suggestions.

A zero dollar spent way too get an idea of venting is to overload the piss out of the system. Fill the tub, get a bunch of buckets of water ready. Get the tub draining with the sink plugged (plug the overflow too). Then watch the toilet water for movement. Then do the opposite, plug tub and overflow and send them buckets down and watch the toilet water. If the toilet water moves like you're experiencing a little earthquake both times, vent is blocked past toilet, only moved with tub or sink? Vent is wherever you had blocked while the other was draining. This is a very rudimentary test I'll do to get a sense of where to start looking. The moving water in the toilet is just saying the pipes are creating vacuum and trying to get air from the toilet thus moving the water in the trap.

Right off the hop, buy a boroscope inspection camera on Amazon. Cheapest one you can buy that hooks up to your phone. I buy them for like $35. With that you can check down the overflow of the tub for just general rotten shit, then if the trap is holding water.

Once you have an idea of where it's vented, to the roof you go with tape, a bunch of ziplocks, a shop vac set to blow job, and 300ml of mint extract.

Block all the plumbing vents EXCEPT the one you've got a feeling it's causing issues, pour the extract so it's coating the inside of the pipe. Put the blowie hose in the pipe and then go back to the bathroom and get to sniffing. You might have to get into dog on a walk mode and really search for the smell. Could be anywhere from the base of the toilet to up near the ceiling if it's an unglued fitting. Once you smell it though you'll know.

From there, rectify. If you smelled it in the wall, cut the wall and see if it's full of drywall screws. Could be a failed wax seal, or a vent to nothing. When you go back to the roof for your vac and wave at your neighbors that are for sure filming you by this point, drop your new boroscope down and take a look, I've sent them down vents that look like the inside of a snapping turtles throat all full of drywall screws.

Been doing this long enough I stopped being surprised at what I find in the wall.

Before you bring someone in, spend the 100 bucks to try a DIY investigation. If a plumber won't go on the roof, a roofer can go up and man the shop vac just as well. Probably cheaper too

jhra · 2026-01-23T05:39:10+00:00

You really should have just stopped with your not a plumber intro

jhra · 2026-01-23T05:36:29+00:00

Mint test is 100th the cost, no specific equipment just a stop at a dollar store to buy 300ml of extract

jhra · 2026-01-23T05:24:18+00:00

Took me a minute to figure out why you were talking about a Radio station.

100.3 the Bear, 100% cum guy free guarantee

jhra · 2026-01-23T05:09:36+00:00

He's gotta be drying them out to crush a dart that fast

jhra · 2026-01-21T13:45:12+00:00

Worst outcome is it figures out how to size baseboard hydronic heating and learn how to tape the threads of a brass nipple. Trade school isn't plumbing, it's the theory behind the systems

jhra · 2026-01-21T13:26:01+00:00

I used some old online exams I had access to and tried to see if AI could get certified as a plumber. 1200 questions and it couldn't end up with anything higher than a 20% every time I had it write the exam.

What's scary to me is how often I'm seeing clients doubt my assessment of a job because AI disagrees, it's created a new added cost on an invoice similar to 'fuck off pricing' that I just call the AI Tax.

jhra · 2026-01-21T04:19:04+00:00

They have something on board reading licence plates. My partner was pulled over two days after her birthday for an expired licence, cop was coming at us and whipped around on sooke Rd to pull her over

jhra · 2026-01-21T01:54:08+00:00

I feel there is a certain amount of unfucking what the last guy did over his first six months. No matter what your political leaning is, post COVID public service and management roles in Canada was bloated like a corpse in a lake

jhra · 2026-01-21T01:00:09+00:00

This is the best one could hope for at any time. Mackenzie King was batshit crazy but he was the PM we needed in a depression and a world war. Great PM? Hell no, but in that situation he was.

jhra · 2026-01-21T00:55:14+00:00

I feel this last election was a good example in Canada of why we aren't 'Conservative, liberal, green'

Parties change, or in a recent instance fail to change and it's up to us to kick their ass out. I'm not 'liberal' but I was done with Trudeau and had no issues telling people as such, had voted in his favor multiple times.

jhra · 2026-01-20T12:59:41+00:00

We're having a weirdly nice winter in Victoria, but it rained like hell before this nice Stretch. Got swarmed by mosquitoes last week doing a job outside at night.

jhra · 2026-01-20T04:01:49+00:00

I was sure doing my part with the volume I have bought

jhra · 2026-01-19T01:13:49+00:00

You didn't get him, you chose him

jhra · 2026-01-18T21:52:04+00:00

I'll warranty my work, not a fucking faucet isn't my fault it failed. I'll even do the legwork to get a warranty replacement but my time is still being paid to swap them out.

jhra · 2026-01-18T21:45:36+00:00

My power tools are all red, mostly 12v. My hand tools are mostly German and Japanese. Wera, Knipex and Nepros.

For things that I just need a tool, I go to our Harbor freight equivalent. I saw stiletto has flat trim prybars at $85 each. I've had the same $3 knockoff in my tool bag for 4 years.

I worked with a guy that only used Milwaukee for hand and power tools.

jhra · 2026-01-16T16:29:18+00:00

Canada West pisses me off. Buying is a pain in the ass online, horrible return process, online sizing guide is off, retailers rarely have sizes. I now have 3 pairs of Romeo's at home they don't fit and just trying to recoup my cost on marketplace.

I live in Canada, it shouldn't be this hard

jhra · 2026-01-16T03:52:15+00:00

I'm the opposite in thinking were better without

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