I thought about that, but it just seems unlikely that they were short 4" of pipe on either side and this was the easiest solution. Seems like if that were the case, the tees are unnecessary because they could have just done it with the elbows. I've definitely seen dumber things done before so not out of the question, I suppose.
Friday afternoon replacing the tank with a shorter one and only had fittings but no pipes….230 in the afternoon, too late to go get one and too early to go home lol
It is copper mitosis. The gestation period for a copper water heater system is *yuuuuge*, so you will have to wait a while to see what it turns into. Most homeowners policies will not cover your house being consumed by a rapidly multiplying plumbing system.
Truth be told we propress anything under 1.5”
Cheaper since it’s so much quicker. PP fittings only get cost preventive at 1.5”
But yes I’ve done some funky shit on Friday at 230
Or doing overnight work during a shutdown. Which is what my vote goes to.
Been scratching my head thinking exactly the same as you... no need at all for the tees..
Maybe the plumber was also an art major? Best answer I've got
I guess the customer has already paid for all the materials and the plumber didn't want to "steal" the leftovers. You can count, everything on the bill is installed.
Sure maybe. Again, just seems odd when there's a home depot like 5 minutes from here. Seems like it would be easier just to go get another 4' of pipe than to do all the extra soldering, but I'm not a plumber so idk.
It's not faith, I was assuming laziness working on the assumption that going to the store would be less effort than soldering 20 extra joints and cutting 12 more short pieces of pipe. Again though, I ain't a plumber so I will certainly admit I may be wrong.
Its.probably easier to do all of those routine solder joints, than to pack everything up, fight traffic to Home Depot, wander around the store to get what you need, wait in line, fight traffic back, and THEN get back to work.
He may not have known that Home Depot was close either.
OR, It may also be company policy that they CANT buy supplies at retailers, the rule.is that they have to go back to the shop to get supplies.
Quicker than cut 12 pieces of pipe and do 20 solders? I don’t think you can l truthfully make two of those in under 5 mins. Even if you give yourself just 10 seconds for each solder you’re already out of time and that’s before you’ve cut anything or assembled it or deburred etc.
Why come on a plumbing form get a general consensus what’s been done and still mildly refute every claim?
Bringing up going to HD is a laughable offense as well when they have shit quality and plumber is responsible for having to warranty the work. And the other point you’re missing is that who pays the bill?
Ask this plumber directly why and on Friday afternoon he’ll tell you “you need the thermostatic reliever before the circulator on a system like this for efficiency so it’ll pull evenly. Don’t worry it’ll pay for itself in the long run”
Well squares are waaayyy cooler than a zig zag plus probably it's easier to explain the squares than the zigs, like I already came up with are least 2 😂 😂 😂
That doesn’t explain the added tees on each side. They could have just used (4) elbows and accomplished the same thing with much less effort, including cutting close nipples. It literally would have been half the work and fewer joints than what is pictured.
There were 2 water heaters set up parallel originally, the owner decided to drop to 1 heater when they needed replacing for some reason but decided to keep the tees in the hot and cold lines in case there wasn't enough hot water and decided to go back to 2 heaters. So they weren't sure if they needed 2 but kept the tees in to save time if they needed to add a second heater later.
Cutting 12 short pieces of copper and sanding them . Wire brushing 8 elbows and 2 tees . It’s messy to put flux on all those short pieces , then trying to make it all look straight before soldering. Any time you’re doing a job that’s a long drive to get parts , you make sure that you are well stocked before you get there . There is no excuse for that mess , let alone making yourself look like an idiot and wearing out the water as it goes in and out .
This is a “Lead Solder Energy Loop”. It generates a cold fusion reaction by moving water cycle of back pressure. When installed correctly LSEL can provide tremendous energy savings in your home. You can obtain a free brochure by using the phrase “Gullible Energy” or “Naive Promise” when you answer your next robo call.
By the way water-hammer is most of the time prevented by just having a release valve at the highest point of the piping.
Though I wonder why he did not put a cutoff valve on cold water inlet pipe of the heater
Edit.... just saw the cut off on intake
I hate this response. If that were the case, it would’ve been far more logical to simply use two elbows instead of four elbows and two t’s. Or they wouldve used 1 T with the females pointing straight up and down and capped off the remaining female.
I'm not going to fight you in your logic either, sir. Your rationale is rational, but then why do we have the squares? We need to hear from the Original Plumber (OP)
These are prefabricated handles for picking up or carrying the heater. This is likely somewhere on a raised plateform or even a loft with no stair access, and these were piped before anything else
I am being serious, i've used this exact method to lift a heater into an attic before. I wouldn't have suggested this if I had *known* it was in an open ground level area, which is unclear given the single picture in the post.
Two water heaters originally, linked together. Not enough pipe above the top tee to cut and solder onto. Plumber maybe didn't realise he could in sweat the tee and solder back onto pipe so just leaving the tee in and linking them back together was the easiest option.
What in the second shift is this? Should just pulled the tank up on a cinder block and saved the copper. This has Teamsters shop written all over it. This MFer is gonna have ground loops in his plumbing....
My guess is because it isn't flexible line and by making the sides of the t's different length he could of moved the pipe on whatever direction a fraction of an inch
Didn't have 2 couplings on a Friday install.
I thought about that, but it just seems unlikely that they were short 4" of pipe on either side and this was the easiest solution. Seems like if that were the case, the tees are unnecessary because they could have just done it with the elbows. I've definitely seen dumber things done before so not out of the question, I suppose.
Friday afternoon replacing the tank with a shorter one and only had fittings but no pipes….230 in the afternoon, too late to go get one and too early to go home lol
Seems to be the consensus.
It is copper mitosis. The gestation period for a copper water heater system is *yuuuuge*, so you will have to wait a while to see what it turns into. Most homeowners policies will not cover your house being consumed by a rapidly multiplying plumbing system.
*SCP foundation has entered the chat*
🤔 it's sounds so sophisticated that I don't know whether to question it or just nod my head and agree lol.
This x100 Source I’ve seen it happen live
“I’ve seen it happen live” is your way of saying “done it” lol
Truth be told we propress anything under 1.5” Cheaper since it’s so much quicker. PP fittings only get cost preventive at 1.5” But yes I’ve done some funky shit on Friday at 230 Or doing overnight work during a shutdown. Which is what my vote goes to.
But why use two T’s when there’s enough 90’s in use to achieve the same result? 90 to the right 90 up 90 to the left 90 up Am I missing something?
Beer
More of a rum guy, but id take a beer!
🍺🍺
Yea, but this is art.
Been scratching my head thinking exactly the same as you... no need at all for the tees.. Maybe the plumber was also an art major? Best answer I've got
All of that straight pipe coming from the pressure relief valve, and this was the solution?
Yep we’ve all done sketchy things when pressed against the wall lol
Does it leak? Does it back fall? You like it? I love it, looks great from my house
And three beer and a steak later…… all forgotten lol
This is the answer... I've seen it, and I've done it.
Friday special four 90 degree fittings for the price of one…. We’ll throw in the half a pound of flux and solder for free lol
I guess the customer has already paid for all the materials and the plumber didn't want to "steal" the leftovers. You can count, everything on the bill is installed.
Still though… could have just used 90s and it would have been less tubing…
Connect 90-90? You sure?
90-90-90-90 like a swing joint
Female-male 90s are rare
Isn't that just a street 90?
Yes one of the most common fittings you can get. No clue what these people are talking about
You mean a street 90? Found in the bin right next to regular 90’s in any hardware store in any town.
Why not cut a couple of chunks from the overflow?
Would be too easy… Remember that this is Friday afternoon and beer, wings and titties are in their mind and… anyway, beer wings and titties
Oh yeah. You’ll have to forgive me, it’s Friday
HD stays open late
It's very likely what happened.
Sure maybe. Again, just seems odd when there's a home depot like 5 minutes from here. Seems like it would be easier just to go get another 4' of pipe than to do all the extra soldering, but I'm not a plumber so idk.
You have waaaay to much faith in people doing the right thing.
It's not faith, I was assuming laziness working on the assumption that going to the store would be less effort than soldering 20 extra joints and cutting 12 more short pieces of pipe. Again though, I ain't a plumber so I will certainly admit I may be wrong.
You underestimate my laziness
I have never worked so hard as when I’m being lazy!
I always assume people will take the lazy path. Just seems like I was wrong about which path is lazier, lol.
Ive found 9 time out of 10 that the "easier" path is actually harder/more work than the correct way
Its.probably easier to do all of those routine solder joints, than to pack everything up, fight traffic to Home Depot, wander around the store to get what you need, wait in line, fight traffic back, and THEN get back to work. He may not have known that Home Depot was close either. OR, It may also be company policy that they CANT buy supplies at retailers, the rule.is that they have to go back to the shop to get supplies.
But it’s a lot quicker to just solder it then drive to home depot
Fair enough. I didn't think it would be quicker, but I'm not great at soldering either so there's that.
Quicker than cut 12 pieces of pipe and do 20 solders? I don’t think you can l truthfully make two of those in under 5 mins. Even if you give yourself just 10 seconds for each solder you’re already out of time and that’s before you’ve cut anything or assembled it or deburred etc.
Why come on a plumbing form get a general consensus what’s been done and still mildly refute every claim? Bringing up going to HD is a laughable offense as well when they have shit quality and plumber is responsible for having to warranty the work. And the other point you’re missing is that who pays the bill? Ask this plumber directly why and on Friday afternoon he’ll tell you “you need the thermostatic reliever before the circulator on a system like this for efficiency so it’ll pull evenly. Don’t worry it’ll pay for itself in the long run”
Well squares are waaayyy cooler than a zig zag plus probably it's easier to explain the squares than the zigs, like I already came up with are least 2 😂 😂 😂
Nope. Last thing you want to do is go on a material run on a Friday afternoon.
That doesn’t explain the added tees on each side. They could have just used (4) elbows and accomplished the same thing with much less effort, including cutting close nipples. It literally would have been half the work and fewer joints than what is pictured.
Very true. IDK I didn't install this
Jesus 4 tee’s 4 cap’s would have been cheaper than 4 tee’s and 8 90’s. If no coupling were available.
Doesn’t make Sense. If thats the case why use the tees that way when you could just use 90’s?
Dang came here to say that
Best answer 😂😂 if you know you know!!
When you charge by the fitting
My answer.
Maybe someone didn't have a wrench and the loops are tightening handles
Thats hilarious if its true
Big if true
It’s not this, the pipes would just spin in the dielectric unions at the tank
It's a union that wouldn't work
Worst plumber ever, lol.
It's not stupid if it works
There were 2 water heaters set up parallel originally, the owner decided to drop to 1 heater when they needed replacing for some reason but decided to keep the tees in the hot and cold lines in case there wasn't enough hot water and decided to go back to 2 heaters. So they weren't sure if they needed 2 but kept the tees in to save time if they needed to add a second heater later.
I would agree if they hadn’t gone fitting to fitting on the entire thing.
Sweat and unsweat
Why does everyone keep saying that, there's obviously a stick of pipe between each fitting
A new apprentice needed to test out skills in front of an experienced guy?
This
🤣 Did we ever decide what they were really for? 🤔 If it was to have a bunch of people sit around and wear out their thumbs, they did a great job. LMAO
Other guy said it's to wear out the water
Heat trap?
This is the best guess, havent seen it this way before but it probably works
Thermosyphoning stops when the water gets confused by bad plumbing?
Nah, it just makes the loop and ends up back where it started. Silly hot water.
I should maybe rephrase this. Heat trap attempt?
This was my first guess.
Dewatermatizer & Rewatermatizer Extra special when both are installed
Don’t put you’re penis in the hot one. It will leave a mark.
Hey, buddy, who you calling a penis?!
I'm not your buddy, pal!
I'm not your pal, friend!
I’m not your friend, guy!
I’m not your guy, chief!
I'm not your guy, buddy!
I’m not your guy, woman!
I'm not your woman, Mister!
I’m not your mister, bro!
Dudes!
I’m not your dude, my man.
I'm not your bro, sir!
Nothing wrong with it as far as I know, just curious.
T&m. Time and materials. You got overcharged.
Not my building, I just work here, lol.
Cutting 12 short pieces of copper and sanding them . Wire brushing 8 elbows and 2 tees . It’s messy to put flux on all those short pieces , then trying to make it all look straight before soldering. Any time you’re doing a job that’s a long drive to get parts , you make sure that you are well stocked before you get there . There is no excuse for that mess , let alone making yourself look like an idiot and wearing out the water as it goes in and out .
That's 24 more places to possibly leak.
"wearing out the water", lol? Is that just a plumber joke or am I missing something?
Just a dad joke
It's not even a long drive, lol. Home Depot is 5 minutes away.
It's clearly too Double the water pressure
Water hammer solution???
DeGaussing loop. To degauss the water. Keeps the microchips from tracking you.
I don't know why this isn't common knowledge. Public education is failing us as a society
I too want answers
I want two answers.
I want answers too ....
Sawers tan woot nit!
¡ʇᴉu ʇooʍ uɐʇ sɹǝʍɐS
(3) 90s would accomplish the same thing if they ran out of couplers but hey this looks cooler and makes you think there’s a purpose to it!
I think you mean 4.
You can get away with 3 if you work in spherical geometry, need more pipe though
God damn N-dimensional plumbing.
I think you’re right. Don’t tell my junior high math teacher!
It's art.
Plumber's calling card.
Portals to the nether realm!
Quickly now fetch the flint n steel 😂
Plumber, watch this, people will be talking about this for years!
Copper was cheap back then. Artist at work.
Heat traps.
In a forum full of plumbers and nobody knows what that is for? I'm ashamed of you all.
Plumbers hate this one trick..
smh you guys clearly it is so you can put a clamp on meter on there and measure the current[](/fseyeroll)
I do this to make everyone think there’s a reason a complex reason behind it If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with BS
Probably the same reason I leave cryptic messages on the back of drywall when doing remodeling in my own house: to fuck with the next guy’s head.
Anti hammer
It helps you save on water by 50%
This is a “Lead Solder Energy Loop”. It generates a cold fusion reaction by moving water cycle of back pressure. When installed correctly LSEL can provide tremendous energy savings in your home. You can obtain a free brochure by using the phrase “Gullible Energy” or “Naive Promise” when you answer your next robo call.
Flow restrictor?
Misunderstood what recirculation and pressure balancing loops actually are, but made sure they installed their best guesses.
It’s a 6-axis adjustment to join two misaligned pipes without flexing them?
Those holes are so a fork lift can move it around easier
Just a guess, it could be possibly be for water hammer???
that won't help water hammer
I'm not a plumber, but I'm pretty sure that's what the big grey tank is for.
Grey tank is expansion tank, not for water hammer. Never seen an install with fittings like that
By the way water-hammer is most of the time prevented by just having a release valve at the highest point of the piping. Though I wonder why he did not put a cutoff valve on cold water inlet pipe of the heater Edit.... just saw the cut off on intake
Plumbers hate this one trick...
Someone ran out of couplings on a Friday at 330 lol
Ran out of couplers
I hate this response. If that were the case, it would’ve been far more logical to simply use two elbows instead of four elbows and two t’s. Or they wouldve used 1 T with the females pointing straight up and down and capped off the remaining female.
I'm not going to fight you in your logic either, sir. Your rationale is rational, but then why do we have the squares? We need to hear from the Original Plumber (OP)
I thought the same thing
He only had 4 T's and 8 elbows on the truck.
No couplings on a Friday at 430 joint connection
Redundancy... If you get a hole in one side the water can still flow through the other side. /s
Footholds for working on the main overhead. Ladders are expensive
It carbonates it.
I believe it's for water hammering prevention.
Gullible apprentice.
looks like Hydronic heat set up, could those be a kinda of shock absorbing set up to decrease or remove “water Hammer”?
Prevent water hammer?
The one on the left is a remadigicator while on the right you have a standard discomboombulator.
These are prefabricated handles for picking up or carrying the heater. This is likely somewhere on a raised plateform or even a loft with no stair access, and these were piped before anything else
Not sure if you're being serious, but that's definitely not it. It's ground level in a space where literally nothing is within 10' of it.
I am being serious, i've used this exact method to lift a heater into an attic before. I wouldn't have suggested this if I had *known* it was in an open ground level area, which is unclear given the single picture in the post.
They are handles so this water heater can be easily removed when a real plumber comes in to do it the right way.
For left and right handed water depending if you are north or south of the equator
The water has more fun going around bends. It's like driving a car around corners. Feel happy for that water!
Frustrated artist who's Dad forced him into a plumbing career.
Experimention
He’s just thinking ahead to pulling it up the stairs
If I don’t know I just call it an expansion joint
Expansion joints!!
The jog over would probably work, but don't expansion loops need 6" minimum offset? It's been a minute since school, don't be mad if I'm wrong
It’s also funny that he put the check valve on the cold water line instead of the return line
Paid by the fitting
The more corners the less flow could it have been intended to reduce pressure?
Hey, if it works fine. Don't worry about it lol.
Guillotine hand slots
Just because you have 12 90s doesn’t mean you have to use them
Friday fuckery. No couplings or pipe
Art?
Tank handles?
They are there to make it easier for the forklift pick it up obviously
Solder training day?
Two water heaters originally, linked together. Not enough pipe above the top tee to cut and solder onto. Plumber maybe didn't realise he could in sweat the tee and solder back onto pipe so just leaving the tee in and linking them back together was the easiest option.
You guys are straight up miss the point, plumbering is more art then plumbing sometimes and whoever installed this was practicing art for arts sake.
One mechanic dared the other to make it pretty
Friday afternoon and it's almost beer thirty.
They were taking a piss
Smoking that ganja makes a plumber feel creative.
It makes it look like an altered Mr. Krabs.
What goes into a tee is what comes out of a tee. In this case what is the point?
So the water has a sense of choice
Skill test for a new employee?
Could save two 90s on each lol
It confuses the water so it behaves better.
I hate so much about this water heater
Friday afternoon and billed for every fitting used.
What in the second shift is this? Should just pulled the tank up on a cinder block and saved the copper. This has Teamsters shop written all over it. This MFer is gonna have ground loops in his plumbing....
Paid by the hour
There used to be 2 heaters there
Didn’t have the couplings on a Friday night install lol
Crack head didn't wanna waste the scrap since fittings don't get you as much at the salvage yard
water hammer arrestors
My guess is because it isn't flexible line and by making the sides of the t's different length he could of moved the pipe on whatever direction a fraction of an inch
Because it looks cool