Why do they call it a STREET ell? why not an alley ell? Don’t ask what it is, if you don’t know What it is you don’t know WHY it is.Won’t be long before someone who knows what it is will reply with some logical reason. Then you’ll know and then your reason for why will probably make more sense than theirs.Meanwhile conjecturize .
Signitorily yours, Mr John
" Pardon me while I have a strange interlude."-Marx
I asked my dad the same question when I was a kid. He told me it was another way of saying “straight ell”. Meaning both ends are the same pipe size. (1/2x1/2, 3/4x3/4, etc).
Sounded ok to me.
Peace,
mangeorge
With all due apologies to your dad, man,but he is a COPMLETE JA uh Imean nope. If you ask for a 1/4" ell you’ll get an ell with 1/4" female threads on each end. you can ask for a reducing ell 1/4" to 1/2" say. Maybe they will have one. And there are male ells too. bet y’all didn’t know plumbing was so sexy. Male threads,female threads,couplings, sweating,screwing,pressure,release, dry sumps, wet sumps,suction,
ballcocks,butt joints,NIPPLES! Sorry got carried away. I’ll take a cold shower soon as I replace the street ell. But I really do want to know why STREET.
You’re pretty authoritative for someone who doesn’t seem to have a clue what he’s talking about, John.
Male on one end, female on the other? screw a pipe into it, it turns 90 deg, you still got male threads. Straight, get it?
Was it good for you too? 
BTW, what’s a COMPLETE JA?
Peace,
mangeorge
Iknow WHAT it is I wanna know why STREET ell
I have no experience in the field at all, but if I were to make a wild guess, I would say that perhaps the first use of them was as an easy way to tap off water mains, which are usually in streets. (Presumably alleys wouldn’t rate a special term.)
Ray
let me try that again “straight,get it?” nope I don’t. 90 deg. and straight? don’t see how straight =same threads at both ends Wouldn’t that be same ell, which would slur to sam ell. Which gets me right back What the sam ell does it mean? Or I could screw a pipe IN the other end and have female at both ends. Not sayin your wrong but it makes no sense to me. Seems a straight would just be a pipe.I asked a plumber this once we went back and forth with him tellin me WHAT it was, I couldn’t get him to understand I was askin, WHY. OK till someone else comes along I’ll take your Idea.oh That was gonna be jackass but I didn’t wanta insult you or your dad.Was uncalled for, I apologize,
just realized what I said, of course I wouldn’t have female at both ends if I screwed a pipe IN.
Nano that has always been my best bet . but I don’t know why you would need it especially for that. It is an ell , a short pipe that makes a 90 deg turn one end is female the other male. I will go look at my water meter in the morning. Now that I think on it I bet it attaches with a coupling . Only thing is of the dozen cities I have lived in this is the first one where the water main is in the street and this is the newest neighborhood.
It seems it would be more logical to call it a main ell, meter ell, basement ell up north maybe, or some such.
This is just a WAG, but I’ll bet that the guy that got credit for inventing it (or the factory that first made it widely available), was named Street.
Another of my theories, PMH, but it seems odd that there would be a well known INVENTOR for such a basic thing as a pipe. I,ll try some Who’s Who in plumbing sites.
Well, I figure you would use an ell out of a main in the street (or would’ve early on, at least) simply because it would be easiest to dig down to the top of the water main, but since you want your lead-in to head toward the customer’s premises, whatever you use to tap into the main should have to immediately make a right angle. A capacity / thread-size change wouldn’t normally make sense, so the elbow used ought to maintain the same capacity and thread but have a male thread at the main end and a female one at the other end, the latter ready to receive an ordinary length of lead-in pipe.
Ray
mmm nano I am almost convinced. I forgot how plumbing was done in the old days. Hand digging, cast iron galvanized pipes and all.
And I didn’t give any thought to tapping into an existing main.Still what you describe could be done with regular ells and nipples.
I sure didn’t find any Who’s who of plumbing. Off hand the only Great Name in Plumbing I can thing of is Thomas Crapper.
mr john:
[quote]
what you describe could be done with regular ells and nipples.{/quote]
Yes, but not as economically and compactly. V.:
http://nysupersclub.org/glossarysz.htm
which says:
"Street Ell - A threaded steel elbow with one side female, the other
male. Used to save space in tight spaces.
"
Let’s flush that guy. Apparently John Harrington had a hand in that sort of thing (hope he washed it well afterwards) centuries before that, although he was not a plumber:
http://www.robinsonresearch.com/TECHNOL/PLUMBING/the_toilet.htm
Hey, if you’re really such a frustrated plumber, try this:
http://www.rotorooter.com/rr_fun_pipedreams.html
Ray
“not as economically and compactly” granted (got something stuck in my copy and paste , a great long multi paragraph pun)
thanks for the links wasn’t planning on doing any plumbing,but(and I am not making this up) right after my rude reply to mangeorge, I started hearing a hissing sound. I thought it was one of the ceiling fans. Nope. Ah it is the icemaker stuck open again and gonna flood the kitchen. Nope. Walking around listening. What tha ell is it?Water coming out under refrgirator. Aha! It is the icemaker leaking out the back.Run around the wall to the garage to turn the water offopen the door. HOT WATER SHOOTING TO THE CEILING!4 INCHES OF WATER RUSHING TOWARDS DOOR! STEAM EVERY WHERE! GLASSES FOG OVER! WASHING MACHINE HOSE HAS BURST!CANT SEE THROUGH FOG ,STEAM, AND HOT WATER IN FACE!GROPE THROUGH HOT WATER FOR TAP! LONG TIME SINCE ITS BEEN TURNED! CURSING YELLING FINALLY OFF! Stand and look at water flow down garage,watch thre brand new oak planks bobbing.Think aw ef it, go inside contemplate karma.Vengence is yours man.
Hermaphrodite elbow?
Zymurgist
Carl, that name would solve everything.I have an extesion cord that is male on both ends, it is a homosexual wire. 'Scuse me i gotta go sit on the Hampton. Hey ,none a that zymurging while i am gone!
As an electrical engineer, Mr. John, I wonder just what exactly do you do with that queer extension cord. Sounds pretty dangerous to me – if it’s used for connecting to regular house power. Are you AC/DC? Hey, I thought this thread was about plumbing. I was always told that you shouldn’t mix electricity and water (except maybe in lead-acid storage batteries).
Ray
As an electrician (you know what we think of you guys ), I can answer that.
You use it to give power to your neighbor when theirs is cut off.
JUST KIDDING, DO NOT TRY THIS.
Peace,
mangeorge
Nano, it’s really a short jumper I made to power the outside “work light” on a camping gear trailer our troop inherited. the trailer had passed through countless troops before we got it and some awful strange stuff had been done on it. Trust me it was simpler.
Man, You’re right never do that.Use a street ell. BTW I know longer fear your vengance, I hung a crucifer over the door.