[james dilley]

I Always seem to be short on P V C fittings, I have 60' of 3/4 inch pipe, Never enough fittings, I even have 3 bottles of Glue. This got me to thinking. Who else has Extra supplies to fix water leaks?? I Am thinking I need 50' more of 3/4 " pipe. Plus 6 of each fitting. Any thoughts???

 

[Rocky Fields]

Hey.

I try to keep extra of everything because it's a long way to town. You also never know when something will screw up in the middle of the night when stores are all closed. I have boxes of various copper,cast iron,pvc, and black iron(gas) fittings stored. Same for the different types of pipe. Always have a couple extra toilet flush water control kits on hand too. The little bit of cash to buy the extra is a small price to pay to be equipped in an emergency and avoid the stress.

I hope you're feeling better James!

RF

 

[WayneR]

Have extras like RF too. Am considering getting a spare water heater and well pump. Am expecting the locals to begin requiring "inspections" with sales of such items. The stores usually want your name and address with the sale of these items now. If they start wanting to see a photo ID, that would be a problem.

Eventually,homeowners won't be able to buy items like this. Too much extra money to be made with "professional installation" and "government inspection (intrusion)" :soap:

 

[fishhead]

LOL!!!!!!!!

I busted out laughing when I read the OP because no matter how many fittings I buy I never seem to have the right size. At the end of the year I total up my expenses from receipts and I'm amazed that year after year the number of receipts showing "fitting" seems to outnumber the rest and I spend about $1,500 a year at that store. Where do they all go???

I just recently turned over a new leaf and decided to retake control of my garage. The first thing I did was get some boxes and everytime I picked up a fitting that I didn't need it went in the box. The same with electrical and poly fittings.

I can't count the number of times I've had to make an hour round trip to buy a $.30 fitting.

 

[Jim S.]

You got that right, fishhead! Or I will have ONE of a fitting when I need TWO! Seven miles to town for a 29 cent part. And I have jars full of them, since I have been DIYing for over 25 years now.

Helpful Hint on the glue: Store it upside down. The glue resting against the cap when the bottle is upside down does a much better job of sealing, increasing your chances it won't all be dried out or goopy when you come home from the hardware store with all your parts but haven't bought more glue "cuz I already got some." LOL...been there, too!

 

[woodsrunner]

I worked in a wholesale plumbing supply house from 1988-1992. Working in that environment you often get "helper" sidework. After a while you start learning enough that landlords will put you on call of sorts. Because of those four years I have buckets and buckets of fittings. Pipe on the other hand takes up too much room for me to store much of. I keep a couple sticks of 1/2" & 3/4" L around plus some odds and ends 1-1/2" & 2" PVC. That should be enough to get me through any emergency repairs I'd have to do.

 

[OkieDavid]

Just like screwdrivers and open end wrenches.....a shop can NEVER have enough fittings. Like everyone else, I can't count the number of times I've driven 20 miles for a SINGLE $0.25 fitting. I now minimize that during the planning phase....If my "plans" show 6-90degree elbow fittings needed, I buy 10 (that accounts for two do overs and two oops, forgot that turn). One standard I recommend for EVERYONE is to keep on hand two "dresser couplings" in each size PVC line they have and two compression fittings for each size copper line they have. These can be a lifesaver on those quick fixes until you can schedule a trip to town. They save you on many of those primer/glue gone bad emergency repairs as they can be installed with simple hand tools.

David

 

[chuckhole]

I buy all of my 1/2", 3/4" and 1" PVC fittings of all types in the contractor bags of 10 each. Once I get down to about 4 fittings of any type or shape, it goes on my buy list next time I am at the hardware store. They are real close to my house in Houston but real far away from my place in the country. And I only have weekends for the country and I don't like to spend my weekend driving all over the place using up $20 in fuel to buy $10 in parts.

We are still running water lines and irrigation lines so I keep lots of pipe handy too. I have a total of about 600' feet of various sizes on hand all the way up to 2". It is expensive to keep so much stuff on hand but weekends are too precious to my wife and I to not do it this way.

Plumbing and electrical is kept well stocked on our place.