Guidelines For Plumber - An A-2-Z

Tackling Plumbing Projects - Ideas To Help You Succeed

Did you know that you can use the same antifreeze that you use in your car to help prevent your home plumbing from freezing? To find out how and why, as well as other great tips for how to maintain your home plumbing, read the following article right away.

Make sure you know where your home's water shutoff is located. You never know when there might be an emergency involving a broken pipe or damaged connection that requires you to turn off the water right away. In addition, knowing where the shutoff is located is vital before you start any plumbing project, in case anything goes wrong.

Routinely check your appliance connections and faucets around the house for any kind of obvious leaks or nearby signs of moisture. Not only do even the smallest leaks lead to a large waste of water and money, they also can lead to damage to your home or even the development of harmful molds.

To winterize a house that will sit unused during the winter months, you must completely drain all of the pipes. After turning off the main water supply, let all of the water drain from the faucets, toilets, and water heater (turn off the gas). Add a quart of antifreeze to sinks and the tub to prevent water from freezing in the drain trap.

Keep your bathtub drain running well by pouring a cup of baking soda followed by a cup of vinegar down the drain each month. Cover it with a plug or rag, because a chemical reaction is sure to occur in your pipes. Allow some time to pass, then follow up by pouring down boiling hot water. Doing this will probably void your pipes of hair accumulations and soap scum.

To avoid sediment buildup, drain gallons of water from your water heater to flush any corrosion. This will help your heater to run more efficiently therefore saving you regular energy costs. Make sure to read your heater's instructions before attempting this, and do this periodically to make sure that your heater is running as well as it can.

In any DIY plumbing project, make sure that you always test the drains and the supply lines before you close up the walls. It is a lot easier to find and solve problems if you look for them while you are still in the process of actively doing the job.

Avoid using harsh chemicals to clear clogged drains by purchasing a hand-held manual auger. A drain auger is a one-time purchase as opposed to purchasing a new bottle every time a drain is clogged. This is especially helpful for people who deal with clogged drains often, such as people with long hair or kids who like to drop things down the drain.

Do not, under any circumstances, put lemons down your disposal. Although the lemon smell will give your disposal a great smell, its acid can corrode the metal parts in it. Instead, use products that are made specifically for this use. You can purchase these products at most hardware stores or wherever cleaning products are sold.

Do you have a frozen drainpipe? You can use a garden hose to thaw it out. First of all, remove the trap from the drainpipe and insert the hose until it will not go any further. While lifting up the other end of the hose, pour hot water down it. Keep pouring hot water down the hose until the drainpipe thaws. To save time with cleanup, keep a bucket underneath to catch the water that overflows.

If you have an underground leak in your pipes, it is possible to detect the leak before digging. Today's leak detection equipment is very sophisticated and modern, allowing technicians to detect and pinpoint exactly where leaks are before they go about trying to fix them with professional grade equipment for you.

Copper piping tends to slightly expand when hot water is run through it. When they do, they can rub against the pipe hangers, causing pipe damage. To help reduce this wear, wrap a piece of pipe tape on the pipe and put it back inside the hanger.

Never flush menstrual products, such as pads or tampons, even if the box says it's okay. These products can cause major clogs in your plumbing that cannot be removed with a simple plunger. Ensure that all women in your household understand the importance of placing these items in an appropriate receptacle.

Before it gets cold, you want to make certain your outside faucets aren't dripping or leaking. If the faucets have these problems, they will have to be repaired before temperatures reach the freezing point. Frozen water will back up in your pipes and crack them, whether they are PVC, copper, or even steel. Even a very small crack can cause significant water damage or even can flood your entire home.

A plumbing snake is an essential tool in any homeowner's tool box. Snakes can be used to unclog kitchen and bathrooms drains and toilets when clogged with hardened debris. They are useful as well for grabbing hold of items dropped down sink drains. Snakes come in a variety of sizes for home use and heavier-duty models can often be rented for bigger jobs.

When looking for a new toilet, you may want to consider getting a pressure assisted toilet. These kinds of toilets deliver water directly to a jet in the bottom of the toilet. This jet is very powerful and helps to remove waste quicker and more efficiently than other toilets do.

If you have to shut off your plumbing system for maintenance, fill up a few buckets of water so you can still flush your toilet. Fill the bowl with a full bucket to flush it. This will prevent click here your toilet from clogging if you need to maintain your plumbing system.

If you are the kind of person who travels a great deal, then remember that different countries may have very different kinds of plumbing systems available. If you are not sure of how things work in the region where you experience problems, then you should either do research or avoid fixing the problem yourself.

If you are starting a plumbing project due to a leak be sure to tighten all the nuts first. Loose areas are the number one cause for leaks. If after tightening all nuts in the area you find that the leak continues, it is then time to search for possible holes.

As you know, plumbing can have lots of different things go wrong with it. Use these tips and you will discover that it is not necessary to stress over plumbing problems. There is always a solution.

Cold snap keeps plumbers busy with frozen-pipe calls

For some homeowners, having a plumber show up on their doorstep on Christmas Eve was better than having Santa come down the chimney.

Plumbing companies have been inundated with calls for help with frozen pipes, backyard irrigation lines and even some water mains during the cold snap.

“We had 60 calls over the Christmas weekend. It was crazy,” said Wade Roberts of Wade Roberts Plumbing. “On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, we had one technician on call and another one helped out the one on call. They did a little bit of work together to help keep things going, but it’s impossible to keep up with that kind of call volume. It’s wild.”

It’s a bit of a sacrifice to be on call and away from family during the holidays, said Roberts.

“But the reward is great in the reaction you get from clients when you show up and fix their problem on a night like Christmas Eve,” he said.

“One of the technicians who was on all this Christmas was on call last Christmas as well and he wanted to be back out there because of the reaction and the thankfulness.

“One of the hot-water tanks he did last Christmas Eve, he put a big bow on it for the clients and wore a Santa hat and they were just thrilled. It can be rewarding for sure.”

To keep the plumber from your doorstep, Roberts strongly advises people to disconnect hoses from their outside taps and make sure the outside taps are shut off.

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