QUESTIONS & ANSWERS from "Ask-the-Wizard":

ANSWER FROM HOME-WIZARD.COM:

To anonymous:

Here is a link to site that gives a fairly good description for how to replace a faucet:

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=howTo&p=Repair/RepFaucet.html

Hope this is helpful.
Home-Wizard.com
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QUESTION from "germil84": 

How to thaw frozen water pipe?

ANSWER FROM HOME-WIZARD.COM:

Dear germil84:

The first step in thawing out the frozen water pipe in your home is to locate the main water shut-off valve for your house. It is typically locate just inside your house near where water supply first comes into your house. If you are on public water supply, then this valve will be right downstream from your water utility’s meter. Make sure you have clear access to this valve, and that it is not obstructed by boxes, storage materials, etc.

The reason you will want to locate this valve is that if during the thawing process of your frozen pipes, that the ice blockage turns out to be upstream of where the pipe has cracked, then you will want to be able to shut off your main water supply ASAP.

The next step is locating all the locations where pipes have frozen. Go around your house and open up each faucet, flush each toilet, etc. If water does not come out (or just comes out in a dribble), then you likely have a frozen pipe located in the line coming to this faucet. Even if you have found one area of frozen pipe, it is a good idea to take an additional minute to check to see if there are other areas that have been affected by the same freeze.

The next step is to try to find the specific area in your piping where the frozen blockage is occurring. Open up the faucet where you have found that water is not coming out. Follow the pipe back from the faucet to where it runs through cold areas such as an exterior wall, unheated crawl space, cabinets, or in some cases an unheated basement if the pipe is near an outside wall. Sometimes the frozen area of the pipe will be frosted or have ice on it. If the situation is getting critical the pipe may be slightly bulged or look slightly cracked.

There are two kinds of situations that you might have to deal with: 1) the frozen pipe is exposed, where you can work on it; or 2) the frozen pipe is behind a wall.

If the frozen pipe is exposed, then there are several techniques that you can use to thaw it out. We recommend that you do NOT expose your pipe to anything hotter than you would put on your hand. Heating up a pipe too fast, for example using a torch, can actually cause the pipe to rupture from the steam that is produced and is potentially trapped between frozen sections of the pipe.

A couple of good choices for heating up your frozen pipe are:

- Hair dryer.
- Hot towels (just keep replacing them as they cool off).
- Space heater.
- Light bulbs, or better yet, a heat lamp.
- Well-grounded heating pad.

On trick you can use to speed up the process is to place tin foil or a cookie sheet behind the pipe to help reflect back the heat from your hair dryer, heat lamp etc., to the back side of your pipe.

If you find that you frozen pipe is behind a wall or ceiling, then you’ve got a little different problem on your hands. But you’ve got several options here:

- Place a space heater or fan near this section of your wall or ceiling, and allow warm air to circulate around this area.
- Use lamps or better yet, heat lamps to warm up this section (keep them back at least 8-18 inches from the surface).
- Turn up the heat in your house and wait (but if its cold outside and the frozen pipe is on an outside wall and inside of a cabinet, it may be a very long wait).

Note that the techniques that we described above can be used regardless of whether you have plastic or metal pipes in your home.

Hopefully this helps you with safely thawing out your frozen pipe.

Regards,
Home-Wizard.com
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QUESTION from liseleise on 3/2/2008:

Can you leave drano in pipes overnight without rinsing it down?

ANSWER FROM HOME-WIZARD.COM ON 3/2/2008:

Dear liseleiser:

Drano (by SC Johnson Wax) has several products for clearing drain pipes. Only one of their products, “Drano Build-up Remover”, is supposed to be left in overnight. All of their other products need to be flushed after much shorter times (for example, 15 minutes to an hour, depending on the particular product). You should be sure to EXACTLY FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS for the particular Drano product that you are using, otherwise you risk not allowing the product to work properly.

If you go to their website:

http://www.drano.com

they have a very good “Solution Finder” for helping you to select the product you need for the specific drain problem that you are having. And for each of their products, they have instructions that include how long they should be left in before flushing with the appropriate temperature water.

Hope this is helpful.
Home-Wizard.com
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QUESTION from crissy301 on 4/12/2008:

a home repair man brother clog my kitchen pipe by rinsing his tool off afther mixing powder plaster to do the wall now my sink is clog how do i unclog my sink since the plaster mix been sitting in the pipe for awhile. thank you

ANSWER FROM HOME-WIZARD.COM ON 4/12/2008:

Dear crissy301:

If your sink's drain has been clogged by plaster mix that went down your sink, and it has been sitting there for a while, then it may have set up in the trap of your drain below your sink. You sink's drain "trap" is under your sink where the pipe makes an "S" and turns back up hill. The purpose of this is so that water gets trapped in this section of the drain pipe, and it creates a seal to keep fumes from backing up into your house from your drain pipe.

Assuming that the plaster from the cleaning of your repair person's tools has settled in the trap, then you might want to try removing the trap and cleaning it out. Here is a webpage that describes how to remove and clean a trap in a drain pipe:

http://www.mrrooter.com/plumbing/guide/drain_traps.aspx

Note: Do not remove the trap without wearing protective gloves and eyewhere if you have added any drain clearing chemicals into your sink.

If the plaster mix flowed further into your drain pipes before it settled and created a clog, then you may need a professional to run a "snake" through your drain pipes to clean it out.

Hope this is helpful.
Home-Wizard.com
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QUESTION from CHERYL MCKENTY on 4/7/2008:

My bathroom sink has a stopper that will not come out. (My house is 5 years old and has Moen fixtures). I have 2 questions: how to unclog it when it's slow, and, is it possible to change the system to one where the stopper is removeable? Thanks.

ANSWER FROM HOME-WIZARD.COM ON 4/7/2008:

Dear Cheryl:

Regarding your first question about how to unclog a bathroom sink when it is draining slowly, if you haven't already, you might want to try Drano, by SC Johnson Wax, which is "guaranteed" to get your drain flowing again. Well actually, by "guaranteed" they mean that if it fails to clear your clog, Johnson Wax will gladly refund what you paid for their product (so save your receipt). But depending on what is clogging your drain pipe, it may actually require a professional to remove the obstruction if Drano doesn't work. But a product like Drano is a great place to start. 

Please remember to READ ALL DIRECTIONS CAREFULLY. In particular, you do not want to use a plunger on your sink and have any Drano splash back on you.

Hopefully Drano will solve your current clog problem, but if you want to avoid this kind of problem with your sinks in the future, you should follow the routine maintenance tasks for your plumbing that are described in the Home-Wizard Maintenance Library: 

http://www.home-wizard.com/maintenance/plumbing.asp

In particular, every six months you should treat your sink drains with baking soda and hot water. Which not only will help keep your drains flowing clear, but also is alot better for the environment that pouring Drano down your drains.

Regarding your second question, without seeing your particular bathroom sink, its hard to tell if the stopper can be replaced with a removeable one. But here is the toll-free number for Moen's customer service: 1-800-289-6636. If you can give them a description of which one of their sinks you have, hopefully they will be able to tell you what can and can't be done for you.

Hope this is helpful.
Home-Wizard.com
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QUESTION from pauline on 1/15/2008:

Determine if Drano is an acid or base and describe how it works to clean clogged drains.

ANSWER FROM HOME-WIZARD.COM ON 1/15/2008:

Dear Pauline:

Is this something that you are working on as part of your Burlingame HS WebQuest (http://bhs.smuhsd.org/bhsnew/academicprog/science/vaughn/ChemDocs/acidbasewebquest.html)?

But anyway, here is a link to some info about Drano that you might find helpful:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr%C4%81no
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QUESTION from mike.cooley on 12/19/2007:

Trying to replace a bathroom tube restrainer. The existing one is giving me hell as I try to unscrew. Any recomendations?

ANSWER FROM HOME-WIZARD.COM ON 12/19/2007:

Dear Mike:

I'm not exactly sure which pieces you are working on. But if its metal pieces in the bathroom that you are trying to unscrew, you might want to try spraying them with "Liquid Wrench" (or another such penetrating / dissolving oil), then letting it soak in overnight.

And now here's where you need to be careful. When you are trying to break free parts that are stuck together like what you've described, its better to give a sharp pull on the wrench, rather than a long strong tug. But be careful, if you give it too sharp of a tug, you could break or strip the threads.

Hope this is helpful.
Home-Wizard.com
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QUESTION from Willie on 3/10/2008: 

Why does my hot water tape bang when i shut it off or turn it on?

ANSWER FROM HOME-WIZARD.COM ON 3/10/2008:

Dear Willie:

I assume that you mean water "tap" note water "tape".

Since you say that you hear a bang when you turn the water ON, then your problem is probably NOT a water hammer effect in your lines (which more typically occurs when a valve suddenly closes. Please see the answer to a question back on 1/15/08 for possible water hammer solutions.

But since you hear a bang turning your water tap ON, the problem could be:

1) A pipe to this tap is running through a hole in a wall, etc. that is too tight, which doesn't allow sufficiently for the pipe's thermal expansion.

2) Pipes coming to this tap are not supported properly, such that when they turn on, they bang into one another or into other things.

3) Air is trapped in the line, which needs to be bled out.

Hope this is helpful.
Home-Wizard.com
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