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Blowing the BIG ONE

Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2011 4:39 pm
by DannyBob
:D

..... over the past few years, living in South TEXAS, *I* have noticed that a couple of the inside sink faucets, and one outside BIB now run slowly ...

So, *I* bought MARKs book, and some air compressor adapters and prepared to blow water / air back down the lines in hopes of clearing the pipes ...

Then *I* remembered my High School Physics [ pressure in a closed vessel is constant throught the vessel ]... while *I* may blow the silt out of the line, *I* am not removing it from the system ... this can be corrected ( *I* hope) by leaving a BIB "open", thus causing the BLOWN air / water to exit properly ...
IF this idea works, *I* think *I* should start @ fitting fartherst from the BIB and work towards it, thus constantly pushing water / air towards the exit point ...

With my normal pressure of 40PSI, *I* think *I* can double that from my compressor to blow the silt from the faucet line back into the main line and out thru the open BIB ...

??? Am *I* missing something, or will this work ???

Re: Blowing the BIG ONE

Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2011 6:51 pm
by JD
I have never been asked to do this and have never had to do this for myself but I found this very interesting post that tells how to flush the hot water side of the plumbing lines without disconnecting water lines. While the instructions seem to be a good concept, the post does not say to open the "plugged" faucet's hot water valve. Seems to me that that would be necessary for this procedure to work. Maybe it did say that and I just missed it. Anyways, a very good read for your question.

http://www.mosbybuildingarts.com/servic ... ater-he-16

Re: Blowing the BIG ONE

Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2011 5:07 pm
by Greg
Since you are going through all the trouble, I think I would disconnect the main inlet line and try pushing everything out where it came in.

Greg

Re: Blowing the BIG ONE

Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2011 7:04 pm
by DannyBob
Greg ... "good theory / bad application".

IF *I* disconnect the water source, where am *I* to then get the water needed to FLUSH the pipes ???

Re: Blowing the BIG ONE

Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2011 8:19 pm
by Greg
I would use air only to break things loose, you will still have some water in the system also mixed with the air.

Greg

Re: Blowing the BIG ONE

Posted: Tue Apr 19, 2011 8:56 am
by flcruising
Where is this silt accumulation? On the pipe walls or at the faucets? I would think that simply removing all the aerators and flushing your hot water tank would remove the sediment without going through this convoluted process. But that's just me.