Plumbing - U-Trap Pipe Replacement

A few weeks ago, our family noticed water coming out of the cabinets around the kitchen and bathroom sinks. With a little inspection, we discovered the same problem in each case was at fault. The U-trap pipe was leaking due to being worn out from years of use. The pipe as its name suggests is U-shaped.

The importance of the U-trap other than keeping your floor dry and getting rid of water is that because some water is in the bottom of the pipe at all times, this helps prevent sewer gases from entering your home and harming you or your loved ones.

After diagnosing the problem, the next step is to go to the hardware store and get a replacement. Other than a flashlight (no matches or open fire source!), you will need a pipe wrench(only if you can't use your fingers to remove the nuts holding the pipe) and replacement pipe (either metal or PVC). You should check the pipe to see if you can remove it without a wrench, thus saving you some money if you don't need one, providing there is not one in the toolkit already. A word about pipe wrenches: You know that number they give such as 18"? That refers to the handle length AND the full opened width of the wrench jaws. Confusing, huh? Just be sure you pay for what you need.

After getting what you need from the store, unscrew the collars or nuts around the pipe, gently move it a bit to see if it moves, then pull out of position, and insert the new pipe and appropriate hardware. See that it is secure. Turn on the water. Check for leaks. If you have anymore problems with leaks from the same source, recheck all pipe connections for the U-pipe and P-pipe. The P-pipe is the one that leads from the U-trap pipe into the wallpipe connection, which, as the name suggests is the pipe leading into the wall and from there the sewer.

C. O. IRBY, III
bingle42@yahoo.com
I learned home improvement by doing it myself, but since I'm still learning I would be glad to hear from you any tips you have. I live in a 50+ year old house.

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The Bad Calories

It is known that human beings need a certain number of calories per day in order to maintain their weight and health, but what are empty calories, and how do they harm us?

Calories are units of measure for energy. They are primarily used to measure the amount of energy found in foods, and the representation of a calorie (actually, kilocalorie, or C) is the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 kilogram of water by 1C. While this is one way to explain a calorie, it isn't really that important in terms of everyday usage of the word. It is more important to understand a calorie in relation to how many calories per day we need to consume.

The average, healthy adult female should consume about 2000 C per day. This assumes that she is active, does not need to lose or gain weight, and is not suffering from any illnesses that might affect her metabolism. The average, healthy adult male should consume slightly more calories, around 2200 C. This is due to the fact that men are usually more active than women, their metabolisms tend to be higher and they also tend to be larger in weight and height. The amount of calories that we need to consume each day is actually quite small, especially if you think of it in terms of food for instance, one yogurt is about 180 calories.

So, what are empty calories? Empty calories are one of the biggest ways that people can go over their recommended daily amount of calories because empty calories often come into our bodies in covert ways. Empty calories are calories (foods) that we eat or drink that do not have a lot of nutrition within them. One of the biggest offenders is soda and other soft drinks. One eight ounce glass of soda has about 110 calories in it and no nutritional value. Considering most people will drink at least 16 ounces of soda at a time, that is 220 empty calories per glass.

There are other foods that are not so great for us so what are empty calories in these foods? Fats are often considered empty calories, especially oils that are used to fry fast foods and other snacks. They add relatively little to your nutritional value, but add many calories to the end product. Other snacks that are empty calories include candies, cookies and all of those snacks that are mostly sugar, with no whole grains, fruits, vegetables or nuts.

It is important not to consume too many empty calories, because they can add up making it so that foods you need to eat will bump your calories for the day up too high. Stick to foods that are low in calories and high in nutrition.

Walter Taguchi writes about weight loss for WeightLossLodge.com

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