Plumbing

We used the Pex plumbing to run water to everything in the Ambassador.  We didn't really take a long time to decide this for several reasons.  The first was that the only copper tubing had cracks everywhere and was even not attached in places.  Secondly, we both thought that the Pex looks better and cleaner.  Also, because the Pex is flexible, we were able to put it everywhere, without making extra joints.  We figured, the less joints, the less leaks we would have.

Initially, we fretted about the Pex tool that would cost $100 to clamp the Pex, but my husband found that one of his CV Boot Clamp Pliers worked for it.  (This was a tool he had in his posession for working on cars, but one could be found for around $30.)  We were very excited about this savings.  Although my husband did think he'd get more use out of the Pex tool, it was nice to not have to spend as much on the tool as we would on the tubing.  All tubing was purchased at Menards.  If you watch sales, you can get some good deals.Here is another vew of the plumbing.  This is in the closet.   To the left is the toilet - if you see that tan line of fiberglass, that is the black water tank.  It is enclosed in a step under the toilet and into the back sink cupboard.  To the right, you can see the original water heater.  It works and fires, but needs a replacement controller, but does work in the mean time.  That's our next project at some point.

Just to give you a picture of what the plumbing from the kitchen sink looks like (and also under the tub & bathroom sink.  We really didn't change anything as far as the original.  Where the pipes were bad, or disconnected, we just bought the same to replace it.  We tried to use as much of the old as possible, to save money and the environment!  You can see that under the sink, the white is the new and the black and grey is the old.    The only thing that we did change was the exhaust on the kitchen sink.  Instead of running the entire pipe through two beds and out the roof in the original spot, we used an inwall cap to vent it inside.  Because it is used for nothing other than the kitchen sink, there really is no smell and the hole that leaked buckets of water in the ceiling was able to be capped off permanantly.  The cap is just on the inside bed in a corner.  You can't find it unless you are looking.  I hope this answers any questions that people had about how to do the plumbing.  Please leave a comment if you have questions or comments.