EcoRenovator - View Single Post - Remodeling the office (new floor, ceiling & adding insulation) passive house retrofit

Daox · 11-03-12, 11:35 AM

So, updates for today. Well, I decided to replace the hot water line going to the upstairs bathroom while I have the wall mostly open. Just adjacent to the exterior wall is the wall which runs the plumbing to the 2nd floor. It currently has 3/4" copper line running the whole way. The upstairs bath is just a shower stall, toilet, and sink. I think that 3/4" line is quite overkill and getting hot water takes roughly a minute (50 seconds to warm, 55 seconds to hot). To improve this, I was thinking that I would run 1/2" pex the whole way (or at least as far as I can get. This should significantly reduce the time to get hot water and the amount of wasted water. Since I use a 1.25gpm low flow shower head (Niagara Conservation Earth 1.25gpm, love it, and its cheap!), I don't think shower pressure should be effected much. I don't really care if the toilet fills a little slower or water doesn't blast out of the sink as hard.

Here is where the water lines come up. You can see that the hot water line does neck down to 1/2" copper after it splits off to the sink/shower. The remaining vertical run is all 3/4" and uninsulated in the wall.

While digging around I also found these other possible issues. I have some drain lines running right on the exterior walls. It hasn't been an issue in the past, but I really never want it to be. I'd like some feedback on how bad this really is.

In this picture its hard to see, but you can see the bit of white pvc going up on the left side. I believe that is a vent pipe. I'm not sure if those are supposed to be in exterior walls.

This is the sink drain. Right in the exterior wall. You can see they tried to insulate around it.

Here is the toilet plumbing. It juts to the outside wall for a short section and comes back. I have no idea why this was done this way...

11-03-12, 11:35 AM	#110
Daox Administrator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Germantown, WI Posts: 5,525 Thanks: 1,162 Thanked 374 Times in 305 Posts	So, updates for today. Well, I decided to replace the hot water line going to the upstairs bathroom while I have the wall mostly open. Just adjacent to the exterior wall is the wall which runs the plumbing to the 2nd floor. It currently has 3/4" copper line running the whole way. The upstairs bath is just a shower stall, toilet, and sink. I think that 3/4" line is quite overkill and getting hot water takes roughly a minute (50 seconds to warm, 55 seconds to hot). To improve this, I was thinking that I would run 1/2" pex the whole way (or at least as far as I can get. This should significantly reduce the time to get hot water and the amount of wasted water. Since I use a 1.25gpm low flow shower head (Niagara Conservation Earth 1.25gpm, love it, and its cheap!), I don't think shower pressure should be effected much. I don't really care if the toilet fills a little slower or water doesn't blast out of the sink as hard. Here is where the water lines come up. You can see that the hot water line does neck down to 1/2" copper after it splits off to the sink/shower. The remaining vertical run is all 3/4" and uninsulated in the wall. While digging around I also found these other possible issues. I have some drain lines running right on the exterior walls. It hasn't been an issue in the past, but I really never want it to be. I'd like some feedback on how bad this really is. In this picture its hard to see, but you can see the bit of white pvc going up on the left side. I believe that is a vent pipe. I'm not sure if those are supposed to be in exterior walls. This is the sink drain. Right in the exterior wall. You can see they tried to insulate around it. Here is the toilet plumbing. It juts to the outside wall for a short section and comes back. I have no idea why this was done this way... Attached Images __________________ Current project - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. & To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.