Carefully clear a 6ft. area of your garage floor, and lay some rugs around the perimeter. clear off the work bench. Then, carefully, use a small screw-driver and pry off the ring, keeping your hand over it, and shielding your nose from flying parts! As the ring starts to come off, watch it dioesn't fly off onto the garage floor, or maybe under the work bench, thereby necessitating an hour or so of peering under there with a flashlight, trying to find the errant keeper ring. If you manage to get it off--good luck getting it back on! Any way, after you get the new pieces on correctly, then squeeze the ring carefully back into a reasonable facsimile of how it should look. Using a dab of heavy grease on the end of the shaft, place the ring in position. Using a socket that will just fit over the shaft, smack it with a BFH and it should go back on into the slot! Then squeeze it to tighten it up, and it should be good to go! From the fertile mind of Rusty Jones

The initial material cost differences between copper and plastics are significant. A article comparing costs for different plumbing pipes can be found here: http//:www.southce.org/ajwhelton. A US government funded study to investigate what chemicals leach out of American plastic plumbing pipe is also underway. Go to that same web page and type in 'plastic pipe'. There has been quite a bit of work done in Europe but American materials have not been equally publicly scrutinized. Some of the study data has already been released and testing included actual buildings and testing of new pipes purchased at local building supply stores. Here is a link that might be useful: Informational research website

Don't use "L" for AC it is for water plumbing If you decide to go ridgid as some do, you can make some nice straight runs, pitfall is many more fittings to braze properly (notice I say braze and done properly with nitrogen purging) As far as the pipe goes you must use ACR tubing that is cleaned, dryed and capped. The weights of this tubing is available in "L" or "K" Make sure you also use refrigeration fittings not plumbing fittings and it is best to use long sweep elbows. Most residential installs use coils for ease, preinstalled insulation, and no or less fittings.

It depends upon what parts or materials you are purchasing. For the basic "nuts & Bolts" of the plumbing trade, I.E. pipe & fittings the quality of the product is specified by code and will be the same no matter where you purchase the item by example: While we commonly think of the word "Schedule" as a timetable of events, technically the definition of the word Schedule is-"a printed list or table" thus when we examine pipe we see it is specified by Schedule such as sched 20, sched 40, sched 80 etc. The plumbing code specifically states that ALL PIPE used to make the DWV (Drain, Waste & Vent) system MUST BE sched.40 pipe and must be labelled as DWV grade. All sched.40 PVC pipe is labelled for DWV service therefore it would be identically the same no matter where you purchase it. All DWV grade fittings are also manufactured to the same standard no matter where you purchase them. PVC pressure pipe may be used to make the water supply (line (line from the municipal water main or well to the house main shutoff valve) however the actual sched. of pipe here may be regulated by your local code but in any case, the quality remains equal. Copper pipe is manufactured in both "hard drawn" (rigid lengths) and "annealed" (roll pipe). While both hard drawn and roll pipe are interchangable in general use roll pipe is used for direct burial or under a slab to minimize the number of joints required. (all joints under a slab within a structure must be made by means of wrought copper fittings and brazed joints-soldering is not permitted.) Copper pipe is made in three or grades if you will, Types K,L & M. TYPE "K" is a heavy wall copper pipe generally only used in heating or high pressure applications-generally considered overkill for residential water supply. TYPE "L" Medium wall pipe- While code will permit the use of thin wall pipe type L medium wall is generally considered the industry standard for professionally installed copper pipe systems. TYPE "M"- Thin wall-Type M is listed as approved for all plumbing applications where the pipe is a minimum of 6" above the floor. This is the pipe most often found in the big box stores although some do carry the heavier type L. Copper Tubing Types: GENERAL PURPOSE- suitable for water service such as making supply tubes from the angle stop to a fixture or for ice maker or dishwasher supply lines. SUITABLE FOR GAS: Where copper is permitted for gas service you may only use copper that is specifically labeled as "Suitable for Gas". (Copper may only be used for natural gas if the gas is certified to contain less than 0.3 grains of hydrogen sulfide per 100cu.ft of gas and requires certification from the gas supplier). ACR -Air Conditioning & Refrigeration- more expensive because it is certified to be moisture free. Generally it will be factory sealed and purged with nitrogen gas for shipment. OXY/MED- Certified to be moisture free and oil free- primarily used to run oxygen lines or medical gas lines. While all these grades may be used for water service the specialty grades would generally be considered cost prohibitive for residential water applications. To this point it is basically a level playing field so prices are determined by the buying power of the wholesaler or the percentage of discounts they may offer your contractor. When we consider end use fixtures it is an entirely different scenario: When comparing fixtures you cannot rely upon just the style name but you must check the part numbers carefully as well. If the complete manufacturers part number is the same then you can expect the product to also be the same but such is not always the case. Generally the big box stores can offer a low price because they have the buying power to purchase in truckload lots from the manufacturer and they use their own trucks to transport the material to their stores whereas the supply house purchases in smaller lots and must pay commercial freigth rates, often LTL (less than truckload) rate which is the highest freight rate. In this instance the advantage goes to the big box store however: For many items the big boys have the buying power and they flex their muscles. Instead of just relying upon the purchasing power of truckload lots in many instances they make one annual purchase from the manufacturer to meet the needs of all their stores. In so doing that one contract may ammount to a substantial portion of the annual production from the manufacturer but there is a trade off here. Quite often the big boys do not pay the factory price for the item but instead they dictate to the manufacturer what they are willing to pay per unit. The manufacturer is then left with a hard descision, do they hold out for thier price or do they find a way to meet the big boys offer? Understanding that the big boys are going to buy the item somewhere they must then decide if they can meet the price or loose the contract to a competitive manufacturer. Quite often the manufacturer is forced to sharpen their pencils and cut costs where they can to meet the price offered thus they make the same style but maybe the finish plating is a bit thinner or high quality internal parts are switched for less quality components. When they must degrade the item to meet the contract they manufacture the item as a proprietary production run for the specific big box store and they then attach an additional code to the part number to indicate this is the proprietary unit thus you may get a faucett set from the supply house with a brass valve but the same style and design from the big box store may have a plastic valve. In many instances the manufacturers warrant for the prime item sold in the supply house also includes a labor allowance if service should be required during the warranty period whereas the same item purchased at the big box store is a cash & carry purchase and warranty only extends to a store exchange for the item. Having said all of this, ask yourself a really tough question. What becomes of all the defective items that are returned to the stores? In many cases the manufacturers simply give the store a wholesale credit and the store is instructed to discard the item rather than pay the freight cost to return it to the manufacturer. Sometimes the item is tossed in a dumpster but more often than not they go in a super discount bin somewhere and are sold for pennies on the dollar. Sometimes the consumer may find these items and get a bargain but more often than not they are wholesaled out in pallet lots to the super discount stores or what we are finding now, then end up on Ebay and the purchasers is led to believe they are getting that great online bargan only to receive a defective item which may or may not come with a rebuild kit packed in the deal.