I was laid off Friday. I am a plumber and just as I was about to load my tools into my truck to start my own business I paused, realized I don’t ever want to be the worker bee again and am now going to spend my summer as a nomad. 2015 3.0 diesel. Here is my blank slate.

5yr ⋅ ⋅

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So I spilled some H2O on wifey’s rug doing my weekly 30% water change. Well I told her I would fix it so that we wouldn’t have that happen again. Luckily I am a plumber so when she wakes up she will see this nice sink I installed last night. She is going to be so happy!

5yr ⋅

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Work in progress, temporarily closed. As promised I retired. Room for a motorcycle a couple bunks and the dog crate without all those tools, and now, for my curtain call, time to go on a sabbatical. Later my friends. Keep the poop in the pipes. Peace, out!

5yr ⋅

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Plumbing service work is like being a social worker. At a certain point you’ve seen the bowels of humanity one too many times. I am announcing my retirement from service work. 20 solid years, 50,000 hours according to my pension. This was me at my last call, I just can’t.

5yr ⋅

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I “retired” from plumbing and said I would turn my van into an RV. You have no idea how hard it was mentally, to remove the partition. Out it went yesterday. I had no idea my seat could go so far back. I am free. It went from crowded to spacious. Vanlife is good for me.

5yr ⋅

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Who rolls a Rubbermaid cart at work? I do service. Lots of condos and office buildings. It’s pretty basic with a pipe vise and a piece of pipe to hold my little acetylene bottle. This is the top of the line coffee cup holder version.

5yr ⋅

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1000 miles underfoot/paw with my buddy, Balance. When I came home with him my best friend told me I didn’t have the lifestyle to have a dog. I told him I’d change my life then. 2-1/2 years later and I’m certain I made the right choice.

5yr ⋅

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Called out for a “burst pipe” at an apartment after hours. Me:were you drilling holes? Tenant: no, not down there. Me: so it just burst? Tenant:yes!! Crazy right?!?!

5yr ⋅

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I see your Transit vans and raise you with a 3.0 turbo diesel bio-fuel swilling Pro-Master with a hammock. Plus, a truck drivers bouncy seat, load leveling anti-sway w/ solid cab partition to keep the service smells in the back. Pardon the wooden shelves, they will be upgraded some day.

5yr ⋅

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Vintage 1956 toilet set with putty. Pulled and reset it for a customer yesterday. That was about 5# of putty, maybe more. I also replaced the front hose bib and the plumber had used candle wicking on the threads. Old school methods.

5yr ⋅

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Plumbing is an art, and is art. McMenamins Grand Lodge Hotel, Forest Grove, Oregon. Even the new plumbing is done with hub and spigot to keep the artistic canvas the same. I do all their service work, I’m hoping I have a reason to cut some of this out.

5yr ⋅

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My Christmas present to my boss. His hat is an overflow cover with our company name from 1928. His feet are faucet knobs from a hotel installed in 1898.

5yr ⋅

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“Hey buddy, one last service call on the way home? Just a plugged toilet!” The bottom of the 4” cast iron is rotted out under the wall between the lav and toilet. It’s 6:40pm and I just called two more plumbers in with a jackhammer, shovels, buckets and it’s time for me to go home. Tag, you are it.

5yr ⋅

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I’m re-plumbing my new house and will now will have fully adjustable water temperature for water changes along with a fish room sink.

5yr ⋅

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How much rat poop is too much? Ask me! I told the general contractor this is unacceptable. I can’t do a rough in for you until this is properly abated. He said “you should have seen it before!” I couldn’t believe I would have to tell another human that this is unacceptable. “No plumbing for you!”

5yr ⋅

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Scooby doo route with my dog. I was trying for a pitbull.

5yr ⋅

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Because every plumber should hard pipe his own aquarium stand. A few details to fine tune, then I’m stuffing a 75 gallon tank on bottom after I move. The base is 1-1/2” and the 1-1/2” tees are nice nos iron tees for galvanized waste pipe.

5yr ⋅

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Haven’t gotten much shop time so I made a helper, Howard. He is 24” tall and weighs 11#. Made from scrap plumbing parts I recycled from my day job.

5yr ⋅

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I keep a plumb bob in my tool back-pack. I use it a ridiculous amount and I’m mostly a service plumber. Any of you guys use one? What other old school tools do you guys use? I have a large wood handled perfect screw driver and a small 8” adjustable wrench from the early 1900’s I use as well.

5yr ⋅

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Two pulling machines. This is my gramps’ wide front A. He’s got it set up for fun. He had his own land leveling business for 50 years clearing desert sagebrush and rock turning it into flood irrigated fields. He was a master of contouring land to conserve water and topsoil.

5yr ⋅

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My daughter’s snail/shrimp tank and my 10gallon with shrimp, snails and Celestial Pearl Danios. There had to be two tanks to keep the fluorescent stuff out of mine.

5yr ⋅

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Can I fix it? Yes I can! New flush tube and fill valve coming.

5yr ⋅

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48”x24”x80 black iron pipe multi-aquarium stand is done except the shelves. The base is 1-1/2” pipe, 1” in the middle and 1/2” up top.

5yr ⋅

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Replacing 47’ of 6” galvanized hot water lines for a bank of 4 commercial clothes washers. We have 8 chainfalls and 3 come-alongs to snake the 21’ and 16’ pipes out past the steam, air, water and electrical then reverse the process installing the new pipe.

5yr ⋅

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Work in progress. Some shelving to add. A couple more cross braces, hard piped ss 1/4” tube Co2 and compressed air and electrical all ran in conduit as well.

5yr ⋅

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Multi-Aquarium stand WIP 2.0 with 40g/36” tank for scale. I have to run the electric, air and Co2 hard piping as well as a a side cabinet, Co2 bottle holder and built in LED lighting. https://imgur.com/gallery/NG14w71

5yr ⋅

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Gimp approved lighting from Milwaukee Tool. I don’t think I’ll be using my teeth/mouth/tongue as a plumbing tool holder/activator, thank you very much. That said I like it and got one for my pocket to replace the flashlight on my phone.

5yr ⋅

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Just say no to crawlspaces! Friday afternoon service call. Closet flange is too high for the new flooring. Used my trusty Reed pipe reamer and two minutes later the flange is off. Gluing up a new flange now. No need to crawl under the house to install a coupling and pipe.

5yr ⋅

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It’s like birthing a baby. 5# of paper towels came back on my Spartan 100 through the 1-1:2” trap adapter. I had one foot on the wall to pull my cable from a main line blockage in a warehouse 75’ out. I retired but it takes a couple weeks for the paperwork. Gah.

5yr ⋅

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Aquarium rack WIP update, 40, 20, 10 and 1.5 gallon tanks on it. One last cross brace for the upper shelves then I’ll mount them properly. I’m making a pipe cabinet to mount on the side to hold a couple canister filters. Each shelf gets electrical, Co2, and air hard piped.

5yr ⋅

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Customer: “I only flipped the breaker for the water heater once”...30 minutes before on the phone, “that water heater doesn’t work! I flipped the breaker a thousand times!!!” Me:”Let’s call the property manager and his electrician, I tap out.”

5yr ⋅

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I’m going to finish the upper shelf for the 20long tomorrow and flood it. It’s going to be a peapuffer tank. The 40 is a Betta tank for my angry boy Ketchup. I may pop a 75 gallon on the bottom this weekend. Should I?

5yr ⋅

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50% of my job is repairing bad work. I’m sick of it. Even this wall hung carrier set is sick of it. Look at his face. He puked. 10 hours today resetting 12 toilets with 48 new 5/8” nuts and washers, new Smith bolt kit, and Zurn Neo-seals. Then a lot of caulk. All better.

5yr ⋅

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250 gallon storage tank solo install. This is fed by two tankless water heaters at a stadium for the commissary kitchen and wash down hoses for all of the trash cans. Sometimes help just gets in the way.

5yr ⋅

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3/4” and 1” CPVC catastrophic failure during 4th floor condo water heater replacement last year. Only 2 gallons on the floor. Moral of the story be prepared. Bonus moral, don’t use CPVC. Details in comments.

5yr ⋅

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What do you do with your scrap copper? I haul a bunch to the scrapyard and what I can re-use I make into art and jewelry. These are peapods for keychains. The marbles spin and give you something to fidget with.

5yr ⋅

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This was almost a problem. Got sent to set finish in a office. Unsweating the 1-1/2” cap and the pipe came out of the socket in the wall behind brand new sheetrock and cabinets . I buttered up a new piece and soldered it and a trap adapter back on. All better now

5yr ⋅

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