PRV Handyman Tips

PRV Handyman Tips and Other Important Unit Info
Electricity and Our Units Toilet leaks	Tub leaks Water stains and a painter's trick
GFI Circuit - the important of knowing what it is can save lots of time and money! Recently a unit owner report they had lost their electrical power. They called Mass Electric who inspected the electrical circuit breaker panel and then suggested that the problem was caused by the external power panel which had recently been replaced. The electrician who had replaced the power panel was called. The problem was found and corrected within 2 minutes-the GFI button had popped. Experience has shown the GFI circuit is very sensitive and pops for unknown reasons. Ours has popped several times over the years. The GFI (Ground Fault Interruption) is a button located between the electrical outlets located in the washer/dryer room. The purpose of the circuit is to protect people from lethal electrical jolts when holding power tools or other devices. The circuit detects when current is flowing to ground (perhaps through someone's body) and turns the power off. When electrical power is lost it is common to check the circuit breakers in the panel and overlook the GFI button. I thought alerting people to the GFI location and that it should be checked after a power loss. ~ Glen
Toilet leaks A toilet can last forever. However, the toilet's components (tank guts, tank-to-bowl gasket, and bolts & gaskets holding the tank to the bowl) will need to be replaced over the life of the toilet. You can buy kits for these repairs at Home Depot. Tub leaks There have been three sources of leaks from the upstairs tub. 1. NO O RING -- It appears that O rings were not installed in many of the units. The O ring is a rubber gasket that goes between the tub's overflow outlet and the waste pipe. This is an easy fix. Simply cut a small hole in the wall inside the closet directly behind the overflow outlet and install a new gasket. Save the piece of drywall you cut out so you can re-install it and seal it up nicely. If it appears that someone already cut a hole in the back of your closet, then it means that the O ring was replaced by the previous owner. This was a known problem in most of the units. 2. LEAKING SHOWER NOZZLE -- This is a $65 part, but it is easy to install. You do not need to open up the wall in the closet. Simply remove the face plate from the nozzle and you can remove the valve with a screwdriver. As the units are close to 20 years old, some people have had to replace this valve. 3. LEAKING DRAIN -- Our handyman for these tips has seen this problem in one unit so far. Chances are that your problem is either ITEM 1 or ITEM 2 above, which are easy fixes. If it's the drain, you need to open up your kitchen ceiling and install a new drain and cement it to the existing waste pipe. You will then need to get a good plaster man to fix your kitchen ceiling, which could run you $200.
Water stains and a painter's trick We had a water stain in our kitchen ceiling, about 6-9 inches in diameter. It was one of those things that we just didn't get around to fixing for about a year because we figured we would end up painting the whole ceiling! White is hard to match. The stain came from a leak in back of our upstairs toilet. We had replaced those gaskets so the stain wasn't getting to get worse. Well, we have some professional painters in our family and my daughter told us a painter's trick. She said just take regular bleach and mix it in a spray bottle with about 60% bleach and 40% water. Spray it on. It might take a few coatings, but that stain will disappear completely. So, Bob did it and it worked! The stain almost totally disappeared with the first coat, and the second and third coat totally removed it. We were astonished!