How to replace a water shut off valve

Description

Do you need to replace a water shut off valve? In this episode of House of Hacks, Harley shows how to fix a shut off valve under a sink.

Other plumbing tips.

Subscribe for more DIY videos.

Watch my most recent video.

For a written transcript, go to How to make a rustic table top

Music under Creative Commons License By Attribution 3.0.
Intro/Exit: "Hot Swing" by Kevin MacLeod at http://incompetech.com

Transcript

Do you have a crusty, frozen, broken shut-off valve that needs to be replaced?

Today at the House of Hacks, we're going to do just that.

[Intro]

Hi Makers, Builders and Do-it-yourselfers.

Harley here.

Today we're going to remove this old shut-off valve that doesn't work anymore and replace it a bright, shiny new one.

To do this should required just a few minimal tools.

First off, I've turned off the water and drained all the taps so there should be minimal water in the system.

However, there will still be a little residual water that will drain out when we cut into the pipe.

So, I have got a pile of towels to soak up any water that does come out.

We have a couple wrenches we will need.

This is a 15/16th inch open end wrench and this is a 5/8th inch open end wrench.

And we have a tubing cutter that we will use to remove the old one.

And we have our new valve.

Now these valves have compression fittings on them so they just slide on and then you tighten down the nut.

However, once a pipe has had a compression fitting on it, you don't want to put a compression fitting back on the pipe in that same location.

So on the old pipe, we are going to just cut it off since even if we did try to remove it and take off the compression fitting...

First of all it is going to be really difficult and second of all, even it we got it off, we would not be able to use that section of pipe.

So we are just going to cut it off.

It does have plastic lines going into it, so we will remove those plastic lines because those can be reused.

If you have plastic or braided lines going into the output side of the shut off valves, then those can be taken off and reused.

But if you have got hard, solid lines going in there, then again, those need to be cut off as well.

For this particular project, I will be removing the two plastic lines and then cutting off the valve from the main input line.

Put down a towel before opening up the lines to catch any water that might still be in them.

Then a 5/8" wrench loosens the connections until they can be removed by hand.

A small tubing cutter makes quick work of removing the old valve assembly.

Let the towel wick up enough water from the pipe that it won't make a mess when putting the new valve assembly on.

A cleaning brush makes sure we have a good connection to help prevent any leaks at the joint.

Put on the compression nut and then the compression ring.

Fit the valve assembly and make sure it's oriented the way that works best for your environment.

Thread the compression nut onto the valve and tighten it down.

It should be good and tight but you don't need to strong arm it.

Make sure the valves are closed and turn on the main water.

OK. That was a bit exciting.

I made sure before I turned the water on to have the valves all turned off because I have not hooked up the inputs on this yet. Or the outputs.

And I turned on the water because I wanted to make sure that this main input here was tight and did not have any leaks on it.

What I failed to do was turn off the faucet up above and it was turned on in the middle position.

So when I turned the water on, the cold water side got pressurized, went through the faucet, out the hot water side and came out through the unconnected connection.

So, lesson learned: remember, before you turn the water on, to turn off the faucet here if everything is not tightened up and buttoned up down below.

But the good news is we do not have any leaks down here.

And a good way to test that is to use a piece of tissue paper.

Tissue paper soaks up water really easily and just the tiniest drop will cause it to swell up and also change color.

So it is real obvious if there is a tiny leak, even if you can not see it or feel it, it shows up on the tissue paper real well.

And if I run this around here and get it up in the crack of that seal and run it around the top, it's completely, perfectly dry.

There is no change in it whatsoever.

So that tells me that this first connection has a good seal on it.

So let us continue with the last two connections.

OK. A lot of times plastic line on the end here has triangular shaped end on it that is designed to kind of go inside the pipe and provide a good seal on it.

This one does not though.

This one is just straight pipe and then has a compression fitting on it.

You should not really reuse compression fittings once they've been used once.

So I am going to cut this off and then use the new fitting that came with this to connect this up.

And in this case, for the other end, we have braided line, and that has a rubber seal on it, so it can just thread right back on.

And on this rubber stuff, you do not need to really torque it down.

You just need to get it snug.

And again the tissue paper test.

And everything is nice and dry.

And now we have everything connected down below and the valves turned on and we can see we have water on the cold side and water on the hot side, so everything seems to be good.

I didn't see any leaks with the tissue paper.

I like to leave it sit for a couple hours and then test again with the tissue paper because sometimes you have a little bit of seepage that you want to double check a couple hours later just to make sure that there is no leakage.

But I do not think there is going to be a problem with this.

It is rare that I have problems with this side of the plumbing.

Usually when I have leakage problems it is on drain sides, with p-traps, not on pressure sides, interestingly enough.

I am not sure why that is, but that has been my experience.

I believe everyone has a God-given creative spark and this involves making things with a mechanical or technical bent, and sometimes repairing them.

If this sounds interesting to you, I encourage you to check out the rest of the channel and see if this is something you are interested in, and if it is, go ahead and subscribe.

Click the bell notification icon and YouTube will let you know next time I have a video uploaded.

Until then, go make something.

Perfection's not required.

Fun is!

How to fix a fluorescent lamp

In this video, I show the basic parts of a fluorescent lamp and how to replace the ballast.

More online resources: http://www.edisontechcenter.org/Fluorescent.html

Transcript

Today in the House of Hacks, I'm going to try to fix the annoying buzz in this light fixture.

Hi makers, builders and do-it-yourselfers, Harley here.

I don't know if you noticed it or not in the last video, but there was a real irritating hum coming from this lamp fixture. And it got so bad as I was working in the shop over the holidays that I just turned the lamp off.

About fifteen years ago I installed four of these light fixtures and in the intervening years I've replaced all of the lights probably two or three times except for this one, probably four or five times. Each time I replaced it they work for about six months or so and then the light output dims down and they start humming until I just take the lights out.

Fluorescent lamps have been around since about the 1880s. They weren't commercially viable until the 1930s. It took this long to do the development of them because while conceptually they're really simple, you have mains lines coming in, going into a ballast, and then from the ballast, power going into the tube. Pretty simple, just two items. But from an engineering standpoint, what's going on in the ballast and what's going on in the tube, are fairly complex. Primarily, the ballast has to control a lot of details with starting the tube up. And then there's the physical design and chemical composition of the tube that's fairly complex also. So, while simple, they're also complex. That's why it took 50 years for them to go from research to commercially viable.

The purpose of the ballast is actually two-fold. First, it controls the rather complex startup of the lamp. And because of this complexity, there have been a number of strategies used over the years as fluorescent tubes have been developed. The second thing that a ballast does is simply deliver high-voltage, low current, alternating current to the tube to keep it running once it's been lit. For this reason, low voltage fluorescent lamps, like are found in RVs, and high voltage fluorescent lamps, like you might find in the shop, many times can use the same fixtures, the physical case, and the same tubes. The only difference is the ballast that's designed for different voltages to work from. But they all convert to the same output voltage for running the tube.

Interestingly, incandescent lamps start with a very low resistance and increases the resistance as they warm up. This creates a condition where it automatically limits the amount of current and keeps them from developing a short circuit. However, fluorescent lamps are exactly the opposite. They start out at a very high resistance and decrease resistance as they warm up. So, the job of the ballast is two fold. First of all it controls startup, warms the lamp up, gets it going. Then, as it does warm up, it decreases the current to the lamp to keep it from a self-destructive melt down.

There are two types of ballast: magnetic and electronic. The difference is kind of like the difference between a linear power supply, like you might find in a heavy component stereo amplifier, and a switching power supply, like you find in most consumer electronics these days. Older units like mine have magnetic ballasts. More recently, electronic ballasts have started to take over due to lower manufacturing costs and increased reliability. The rise of CFLs in the last decade or so is due in part to the development of these electronic ballasts.

The fluorescent tube contains a low pressure mix of mercury vapor and an inert gas, typically argon. The inside of the tube is coated with a mixture of phosphorus. The ballast creates and maintains an arc going through the tube. The arc going through the mercury causes an emission of ultraviolet light. The ultraviolet light is absorbed by the phosphorus which then turns around and emits visible light. This process of absorbing one frequency of light and emitting a different one is called fluorescence. Hence the term "fluorescent tube." And can be found in other places besides just lights. And finally the color temperature of the light is controlled by what other chemicals are mixed in with the phosphorus in that coating on the inside.

So that's a summary on the theory of operation of fluorescent lamps. A great resource online that has a lot more detail can be found at Edison Tech Center and I'll leave a link in the description below.

Since fluorescent lights are so simple, about the only thing that can cause this kind of constant failure is a bad ballast. So, that's what I'm going to replace in this fixture.

This is a new ballast I picked up at the big box store down the street. And this is an electronic version to replace the magnetic version that came originally in the lamp.

Before starting a project like this, if the fixture is wired into the circuit, make sure the power is turned off.

Or simply unplug the fixture if it's plugged in.

In this model of fixture, I have these little clips that hold the cover on. Some models have screws that you have to remove. But, in this case, all I have to do is a 90 degree turn and the cover comes right off.

Ok. I've got everything buttoned back up. The lights are in. The power is turned on. And we'll flip the switch and see what happens. Yay! They work. Brilliant.

That's pretty much it for this job. The proof will be in about eight months or so to see if the lights are still bright and the hum's still gone. But, I've done this before on other fixtures and it's worked pretty well. So I have pretty hight confidence that it'll work.

So, until next time, go make something. It doesn't have to be perfect, just have fun.

How to rebuild a lamp

Description

A quick overview showing how to replace the switch in a shop lamp.

Transcript

Hi Makers, Builders and Hackers. Harley here.

I've got this nifty little shop lamp that I picked up a number of years ago. I think I got it when I got either my band saw or my drill press. And it's really handy. I think I got it a Woodcraft for like $20 or something like that. And it's got a magnetic base so you can stick it on the metal table of the tool or on the side of the tool itself. And it's got multiple points of articulation so you can move the light where ever you want it. Extend it out or crimp it in. It's got a couple points where it pivots on the base and on the lamp itself so you can move the lamp where ever you really want it. It's just a really handy little lamp and inexpensive. Last time I went to use it however the switch just would not switch. It was completely frozen up for some reason. So I'm going to take it apart and see if I can see what's going on with it and see if I can fix it.

In taking everything apart, I can not see from visual inspection what's going on. It's just... It doesn't really come apart any further than this. There's a couple rivets in here and if I really wanted to get ambitious I could drill it out, but then I'd never be able to put it back together. I did notice in taking it apart that there's some plastic melted looking bits right here where it looks like it got really hot and melted the plastic a little bit. I'm guessing... As I was taking it apart I noticed I have a 100 watt bulb in here and I also noticed that the... inside here it says "use 60 watt type... or smaller bulbs." I think I may have just overheated it and melted the thing. So, the moral of the story here is... use... don't put a larger bulb in here than it was designed for.

I did go to Home Depot, or Lowe's I guess it was, and picked up another switch. I'm going to take it apart and see if it will work. It's the same type of switch. It looks on the surface like it's a good match. In fact, as I look at it now, it looks like an exact match. So, I'll take it apart and see if it fits in the fitting and hopefully it'll be working here in a minute.

Yay! It works. It was an absolutely perfect fit. This piece I got at Home Depot looks like it was exactly the same part and it fit without any problems whatsoever. And so, I'm glad. Got my little lamp back and I can start doing some band sawing now. Awesome.

Until next time, keep on hacking. It doesn't have to be perfect, just have fun.