Not so fast Plunger Puss (that'd be Ralph, not Chris).  :-)

I too was introduced to the "mixing valve on a toilet" concept, mounted high
above the basement floor when I became a POSSLQ.

It sounds like Chris' installation just needed a couple of check valves.

As far as the munged up seats go it seems to me there is a tool for dressing
the seats, a sort of a grinding wheel or machine tool that has a bit of a
shaft below the machining face that goes into the hole where the stem goes
to guide the tool.  I suppose you use the stem to get the right size
(diameter guide shaft) tool.  This should work provided it hasn't been tried
so many times already that there isn't anything left to clean up.

Not a plumber but I fake it from time to time...

-----Original Message-----
From: Ralph Walter [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, August 31, 2001 7:48 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Nickel Plated Death Sentence


Heh heh heh heh.

Looks like we now have a humor plumber, in addition to a humor czar. Showed
you city slickers right good, he did.  A-yup. Now you can kiss his ass with
a
big fat check. No, make that cash.

Never heard of no mixing valve on a water supply system, except right at the

fixture, in which a common spigot provides water of the exact (more or less,

approximately) temperature you want.  Come to think of it, I've only heard
of
mixing valves being used on NEW showers.  Never heard of one on a line in
the
basement to prevent condensation on the pipe.  The pipes just sweat, unless
you insulate them, although I suppose you COULD spend money heating water so

you dont get water droplets in your basement. Backflow preventers aren't
used
on anything but waste/sewer lines, as far as I know.

He may or may not be right about being SOL on your nice nickel plated
faucets, but his description of the problem is full of shit . One can
replace
seats in some faucets, using a seat tool which is essentially an inverted
wrench (one end has a tapering hexagon, the other a tapering square, that
you
stick into the faucet (after removing the stem) and you unscrew and then
replace the seat.  You may or may not be able to find replacement stems for
a
dinosaur faucet, but it's worth a try.  You'll need to go to a real plumbing

supply store with clerks who know things, rather than a warehouse full of
morons (Home D-pot), however.

Let's see what our more manually-inclined colleagues have to say about this.

You're not going back for another year, anyway.  BTW, the Humor Czarina asks

whether we can come sponge off you (not sponge you off) on your island next
year.  But she doesn't know about your plumbing problems, so don't worry
about us showing up on your waxy doorstep.


Glad to have you back, but not nearly as much as the plumber was.

Ralph