Talked to a plumber at Rona who made me rethink my whole approach to pipe glue

Was grabbing some supplies for a bathroom reno in my 80s house in Mill Woods. This older plumber, maybe late 60s, sees me eyeballing the cheap purple primer. He just goes 'you know that stuff cracks on ABS in cold weather, right? Use the clear stuff instead, it flexes.' I always thought primer was primer. He even showed me a joint he did 12 years ago that still looked new. Never thought temperature played that big a role. Anyone else get schooled by a hardware store employee like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

avery_lopez2d agoMost Upvoted

That reminds me of the time I was at Home Depot looking for a new toilet flapper and this old-timer in the plumbing aisle spent twenty minutes explaining why the wax ring is almost always better than the rubber ones they push now. He said he'd seen rubber ones squirm out of place on old cast iron pipes. I just stood there holding a wax ring and a rubber one, feeling like a kid caught with their hand in the cookie jar. Those guys have been doing it since before half these products even existed.

kaid592d ago

Wait, he seriously stood there for 20 minutes explaining wax rings in the plumbing aisle? That's either dedication or pure boredom, man.