Household plumbing questions

[brooksmoses]

Why is it that old rubber gaskets, such as the ones that exist in the clean-water side of toilet plumbing, transmute into semi-permanent black ink when one touches them? And why is it that plumbing manufacturers continue to manufacture ones that do that?

Also, why is it that simple 10-minute plumbing jobs take an hour and a half?

And, finally, why do I seem to have three times as many metric wrenches as imperial ones and can never find the half-inch one, even though I actually have a nearly complete set of both in the drawer and two half-inch ones?

Comments

[wcg.livejournal.com]

I use 13 mm on 1/2 inch nuts. Works pretty well.

[mopalia.livejournal.com]

1. Because if they made them out of more durable materials, there would be less profit, and they want their kids to go to Harvard. Do you think only dentist's kids should go to Harvard? Really, now.
2. Because there is no such thing as a simple 10-minute plumbing job. They all take and hour and a half, except for the ones that take 3 days.
3. Because there is a little known law in the universe that states that in order to have a half-inch wrench available, it is necessary to have at least 3 in the house. This is true whether you are talking about box ends, sockets, or even adjustable wrenches - having adjustables just means you need 3 of those. This is known as the Half-Inch Anything Multiplicity Principle. This principle does not apply if you own only Ikea furniture. In those households, it becomes the "WTF is an Allen wrench?" principle.

[brooksmoses]

The weird thing is that the gaskets seem mostly reasonably durable -- it's just that they emit difficult-to-wash-off black ink when touched. That's the part I find so strange....

[johnpalmer.livejournal.com]

"Also, why is it that simple 10-minute plumbing jobs take an hour and a half?"

I started to ask the union rep that very question, and decided to tell him to take an extra half hour for lunch, instead. Maybe I shouldn't have asked that question in a town so well known for, uh, vigorous union support.

[argh128.livejournal.com]

May be to late, but I was about to throw out such a gasket... (including flange and handle)

[quercus.livejournal.com]

10 minute plumbing jobs do only take 10 minutes.

Then it's another hour, and a drive to the merchant, to fix the separate job of fixing the next pipe along, which broke while you were working on the first piece.