Solar Water Heater Leaking

Hi Folks, I have not blogged for a couple of months. I am working on a project in a small and the “most liveable” town called “City A1”. This small town has no traffic jam, no parking problem and no air or noise pollution. Hard to believe, but it is real.

My tranquil lifestyle was disrupted by a telephone call from my wife, with a panicky tone. “The solar water heater is leaking non-stop.” she exclaimed. I asked her to check for the source of leakage and called the solar heater vendor for assistance.



The picture on the right shows the leakage from the water heater intake tank. The picture on the left, with the yellow and red colour tapes, shows the leakage from the two PVC coupling joints.

The solar heater vendor quoted a fee of RM250.00 (USD70.00) just to inspect and identify the source of leakage. Repair charges and material costs will be billed in addition to the inspection fees.

As a DIY buff, I would not pay for the charges without attempting the repair myself. The water was leaking at a rate of about 6 gallons a day. This was tolerable.

The picture on the right shows the PVC coupling joints and the 9-inch PVC pipe removed.

There were two points of leakage. The first one was at the intake tank due to the ball float valve while the second point was the PVC coupling joint inside the ceiling. These can be repaired easily. Just replace the valve and the coupling joint and the leakages can be plugged.

The cost of replacing the complete set of Italian-made ball float valve was RM29.00 (USD7.60) and the copper coupling joints (two pieces) plus the 9-inch length of ¾ inches diameter copper pipe cost RM21.00 (USD5.50). The picture below shows the PVC pipe replaced with copper pipe.

The vendor would most likely charge RM500.00 (USD131.50) for the entire job. The whole task took about an hour to complete. Therefore, it pays to be a handyman at home.

A professional workman in Malaysia may not be as professional as you think! Can a professional plumber use a PVC coupling joint to connect insulated copper pipes for hot water? See the picture below. The pressure plus the hot water at more than 70 degrees Celsius oozed a hole at the PVC joint. So, it is useful to have some technical knowledge of things inside your house. Otherwise, you'll get conned by unscrupulous workmen!

Visit some of my link sites for more DIY tips.

MS Grille Maintenance DIY

Make Your Security Grilles to Last a Lifetime.

Security is a big issue for country like Malaysia. The crime rate is very high and the police is ineffective. The criminals are very bold due to poor policing. Even if a crime is reported, the police reaction is deplorable.

Citizen of Malaysia have no choice but to take crime prevention into their own hands. Their homes are secured with burglar alarm system, CCTV, high perimeter fencing and grilles to all windows and doors. On top of this, some communities implemented the guarded and gated community system, where all exit and entry points to the community are guarded 24 hours.

The homes of Malaysian are like a prison. In the event of a disaster like, fire, storm or tsunami, many of them will be trapped. In comparison with certain countries, like USA (State of California), Vietnam, Australia and New Zealand, the houses have no perimeter fencing, no grilles and no burglar alarm system. Except for those very rich and famous peoples, like the Beverly Hill community in Los Angeles.

The grilles for door and window use many type of materials. Some are stainless steel. Others are mild steel (MS), aluminium, cast iron, alloy and reinforced PVC (plastic).

The most common and the cheapest type of material is the MS grille. But MS grille has the problem of corrosion (rusting). The average cost of fixing or replacing the MS grille for a double-storey link house is about RM3,000 (USD860). For a semi-detached house the cost of the ms grille is approximately RM4,500 (USD1,280) and for a bungalow house is about RM15,000 (USD4,280).

Due to the Malaysian weather, the ms grille will corrode completely after five years and detached itself from the concrete wall, if not maintain regularly. For regular maintenance, if you can afford it, engage a contractor to treat and repaint all your ms grilles every 3-4 years. If not, DIY.

The picture on the right shows the ms grille with mild corrosion. If not treated, the grille will be damaged eventually.

The DIY ms grille maintenance is fairly easy and economical. Inspect the ms grille monthly for any sign of rust. Remove the rust with a sandpaper, apply a coat of anti-rust primer (usually comes in maroon colour) to the spot. One litre of anti-rust primer cost about RM8.50 (USD2.50). Wait for a day for the primer to dry and repaint over the area with the gloss paint (paint for metal and wood) of the same colour. A litre of ICI brand gloss paint cost RM25.00 (USD8.50). If you choose to, you can repaint the whole grille.

The tools and materials required are:

Ladder
Rags (to remove drips )
Plastic sheet (to prevent drips on the floor and window sill )
Hand gloves (cotton)
Mask (for sanding and if you cannot tolerate dust and the smell of paint)
Half inch paint brush.
Thinner (dilute paint and clear drips)
Anti-rust primer (half litre or one litre)>

Paint (buy small quantity, half or one litre, to prevent evaporation and dry up)

The paint should be diluted with thinner for easier application. Always pour out the required amount of paint to mix with the thinner. Do not dilute the whole tin of paint with the thinner, unless you want to use up the whole tin on the same day. If you wish to re-use the painting brush, clean the brush with thinner and rinse with soap water and let is dry. On re-use, if the brush is hardened, dip into the thinner to return to is original condition.

To prevent the dripping paint from your floor or window sill or doorway, place the plastic sheet to protect the areas before painting.

You can do this maintenance job at your own pace and leisure time, bit by bit, so that it would not drain your energy or bore you to death.

The cost of doing the ms grille maintenance DIY is only a small fraction of the price a contractor would charged you. Estimated DIY cost is 60% lower than engaging a contractor.

Water Tank Outlet connector broke.

Oh! No! ....What should I do now? The water outlet connector broke when I turned the stopcork valve at the bottom of the tank and the water was flowing out uncontrollably.

That happened on the 31 August 2008, a Sunday afternoon. It was also a public holiday and a long weekend. Where can I get a

plumber at that moment? How to stop the water wastage?

Those were the two questions that popped up in my mind immediately.

My immediate reaction was to stop the water from flowing out of the tank. Being a DIY buff, I have used a rubber or cork stopper before. I yelled at the top of my voice from the roof of the house to my family members to find a stopper.

And this little wine bottle cork prevented the lost of 1,000 litres of water.

Next, I shut down the inlet stopcork valve. So that the water in the tank would be used up in two days' time and the tank's outlet connector can be replaced.

All I needed were a new PVC tank outlet connector(right side of the picture), sealing tape(centre) and a new ball valve stopcork valve (left side of the picture).

All these cost less than RM20.00 (USD6.00).
One set PVC connector RM2.40
One roll of sealing tape RM0.50
One piece stopcork valve RM13.00
One can of PVC glue RM2.50

The above items are easily and readily available at any DIY or hardware shop.

As for the tools, two pieces of pipe wrench or plier to dislodge and remove the old and rusty connector and replaced with the new PVC connector.

Removing the old outlet connector was problematic due to the rust but I managed to get it done.

If you were to engage a plumber, this would cost you easily RM250.00 (USD80.00) for a simple job on a public holiday. Furthermore, by the time the plumber arrived, the 1,000 litres of water would have gone down the drain.

This locking plier on the right is a very useful tool for plumbing maintenance job.

It pays to have some handyman DIY skills. You can acquire these skills easily by watching the workmen at work or read any DIY manual or book. DVD and online DIY guides are also available on the internet..

Electricity tariff going up. Mati loh! See liao! Die lah!

Fuel price up. Food price up. Now, electricity tariff has also gone up, effective from 1 July 2008. Tenaga Nasional has announced the tariff revision. How big a hole is Tenaga going to drill in your pocket? Wait for the bill at the end of this month.

With the electricity increase, this will set off another round of price increase for lots of other goods. Mati loh!, die lah! See liao!

Don't have to mati, die or see. You can reduce the impact. Analyse the high electricity consumption items in your home. Top the list are electric iron, hair dryer, kettle and rice cooker. Let's look at these later.

Lighting consume less electricity than those mentioned above, but because of the number of light units used, this can be a big sum of money involved. Today, I am sharing with you how to cut down on lighting cost. Again, you do not need an electrician to do this. You can DIY. You can easily change your standard bulb to energy saver bulb (mostly screw type). If you have an old bayonet bulb bolder (with two-pin type)you can change this for less than RM5.00.

The standard bulb (incandescent bulb) and the florescent tube consumed more electricity than the new energy saving lighting. The standard bulb used in home are usually 60W, 75W or 100W and the florescent tube is either 20W or 40W. You should replaced all these. Energy saver(called PLE ) bulb of 18W can give you brightness equivalent to 100W standard bulb and the energy saver tube (called PL or PLC tube)give you the comparable saving. Energy saver bulbs/tube also come in 9W, 11W and 14W

There are two reliable brand of energy saver in the market, namely Philips and Osram.These two brands cost more but give you longer life span, about 3 years. There are cheaper substitute from China but very short life span. You decide which is more economical. Experience will tell.

Coping with Rising cost of living.

Fuel price up. Foods prices up. What else is going up? Everything else that you need to live is going up. You cannot escape from this. One way to cope with these spriralling prices is to cut down your own cost of living. How? Just spend a few minutes each day to analyse your expenses. Create a list of "must have" things and "nice to have" things.

The "must have" list are the things like food, clothing, children's education and a roof over your head. The "nice to have" list are the things that you have a desire for them but you can live without them.

My focus today is on the "must have" list. Let's go back to the basics. For foods and clothing, buy on quality and value for money stuff not brand. Branding is a marketing tools to make you pay more for the same product. A popular brand and more expensive products is not always equal to better quality. Many product in the market today are produced by contract manufacturers with the same ingredients but differentiated by brand, packaging, flavour and fagrance. So, be a smart consumer.

The biggest "must have" expenditure is your home. The capital cost, i.e. the cost of purchasing or building your home, is a long term commitment that you cannot avoid. The maintenance cost of your home can be substantial. This varies with the type, size and facilties in your home. You can manage the maintenance cost with a little bit of thinking and know-how. It is not difficult.

How to minimise and save cost on home maintenance? This is where I am sharing my skills with you on DIY home maintenance.

There are many maintenance jobs in the house that are fairly easy to fix. You do not need special skills to do those. Just some basic knowledge and the right tools will do. With the high cost of fuel, the base charges for any workmen to come to your home is RM60.00 (USD20.00) for transport cost. Thereafter, the labour charges and material cost is added.

For example, if you have a leaking tap. The cost to fix this by a workmen will be:-
1) Transport cost 60.00
2) Labour cost 40.00
3) Material 5.00 (rubber valve) (if it is a catridge, may be 30.00)

Just change a rubber valve or the cartridge valve cost you easily more then RM100(USD35.00). This is only a 20 minutes job. It is very simple. Just open the lever cap with a spanner and screw driver. Remove the damaged valve and replace with a new valve. You don't need a plumber for this simple task. (see the picture).

There are only three type of valves. The traditional rubber valve, ball valve or the more complex catridge valve. These are available from your neighbour hardware stores or DIY stores.

I will come back with more DIY tips.

Pylim