You don’t need to panic if you have a plumbing issue. While hiring the right plumber can seem daunting, there are actually a few definite times that you should be looking to hire one. AVH Plumbing is the perfect choice when trying to hire a plumber.
When your water is not flowing as usual
When it comes to the flow of water, it is important to find a balance between your water pressure and water volume. If you have too much water pressure, your pipes will burst. However, if you have too much water volume, you will end up with low pressure. This can jeopardize the stability of your home, damage your plumbing, and turn your house into a damper. Things start to break down when you have a backlog of cold water from at least 6–12 hours. A couple of accumulate cold days can turn your typical 12-foot system into a 25-foot system. This is a recipe for an unhappy customer, and a frustrating plumber. Your water meter measures the quantity of water flowing through your homes pipes. (We can get a little technical here — meters generally gauge how much pressure your plumbing system draws from the underlying water table, and will sometimes report pipe pressure in addition to the actual water level.) While in the past, a single high-pressure day could ruin a small home, today’s water systems can handle multiple flushes safely. All systems use water at a set point during the flush, and the warmer and softer the water becomes, the lower the flushing point will be. One of the best ways to find the right water level is to use circulating water to dramatically increase the volume of water flowing through your system. This allows for a higher water pressure, which will result in no overflowing basements and prevent plumbing from bursting. You can accomplish this by: While there are cheaper ways to find this out, we like to do it ourselves. You have 1) a water tank on your property, or, 2) you’re changing over from an outside tank to a spring water system. Take a tap and run it really hot, about 120–150 degrees, and stream some cold water through it. You can do this right in your home if you have a cooler like a water barrel or evaporator.
When your toilets are clogged
If your toilets are clogged, it’s important to be careful in how you fix it. First, close the drain and flush the toilet to make sure the blockage is in the toilet and not in your home’s sewage pipes. You should also make sure you use cold water when using a plunger.Cold water will break up plumbing clogs and allow you to drain them more easily. Next, you should use enough cold or hot water to dissolve the blockage. If it’s clogging up both ends of the toilet, you must use cold water to melt the blockage and then use hot and/or steam to force it out of the pipe. It’s really important to follow the directions on the product. Flush the toilet(s) as directed — and then flush them as often as your floor drain could hold them to. Once the blockage is removed, ensure you replace the filter and sanitize the toilet using a good solution with chlorine bleach.
For more detailed information, there are many excellent YouTube videos on the subject. Obviously, if a floor drain is clogged before the toilet, there will be no use in flushing the toilet that runs on hot water — which will most likely burst the blockage. Flushing the toilet as directed tells the pipes to empty themselves, which is exactly what is needed at that time. However, if the toilet is clogged after the toilet, this situation can become more confusing. In order to ensure you don’t have to flush the toilet, you can use a pressure washer to force the blockage out. You can also have a plumber install a system that defrags your floor drains. This is done to stop the blockage from excessive accumulation in the future. The first time you notice a problem like this, chances are your pipes will be clogged for a while. Right now, while most of us are concentrating on line problems and potential sinkholes, a poorly located floor drain can become a bigger problem — and need to be dealt with very soon. If you don’t want to do it yourself, please hire a plumber and save some frustration.
When you have any drainage issues
If you have a clogged sewer line, there really isn’t anything that can be done. They are hard to remove anyway, so it’s best to just wait until things clear up. If the clog is plugged, in the ground, or stuck in the lines, just get someone out there right away. If you need to have new sewer lines and redo your drain pipes because they are cracked or worn out, you should definitely stop and hire a plumber. This not only helps save you time, money, and hassle in the future, but it also prevents future issues. Your investment will be much easier and less stressful if you know that someone is going to come out and fix it. Every time there is any sort of problem in the kitchen, (quite often), the kitchen sink and bathtub sink tend to be the first ones to go. This is because clogged drains, (possible) back problems, large pieces of wood or shingles that have detached from their supports, and other potential problems will come up if you have wood-based sinks. This is why hiring a plumber is extremely important. Even if you aren’t a contractor, plumbers are very handy and may have the experience needed to help you out. While this is a great place to ask, remember to interview the plumbers a few times before hiring them. (They should be willing to answer any questions you might have).
When you need a new water heater installed
If you are looking for a new hot water heater, look for a heater that has an Energy Factor of at least 2.0. Energy Factor is a rating that represents the annual energy consumption of a water heater, compared to one with an Energy Factor of 1.0. For example, a water heater with an Energy Factor of 2.0 will consume two times more energy per year than the average water heater. When you are looking to replace your heating system, your first step should be to try and determine which one consumes the most energy. This can help narrow down your search substantially. Was your traditional hot water heater a 1.0 or a 2.0 system? Was it new or was it used from a long time ago? This information is invaluable when you are trying to hire a plumber for a fix. When you can determine the efficiency of the heating system, you reduce the little energy penalty that the next plumber will take for the job. For instance, if your heater was a 2.0 and your next plumber can only supply a 1.0, that little extra may not be a deal breaker, especially if both parties have experience with the system. Should I be worried about my waste water? This is a question that many people ask themselves if they have an old water heater. Before you replace your plumbing, there are a couple of points you should be concerned with that focus on how toxic your water really is.
According to the EPA, household waste water can contain materials such as copper, lead, arsenic, and fluoride. The chlorination of household water can reduce heavy metals and pesticides in runoff, but can also increase the toxicity of the waste water. If you have an older boiler or systems for your hot water heater, it would be wise to have them inspected by a professional plumber. If the plumber can determine that your system has high lead levels, you should consider stopping using the hot water and replacing with either radiant heating or de-electrified systems. To save yourself the headaches, hire a plumber like AVH Plumbing.
Finding the right plumber can seem like an overwhelming task, but it doesn’t have to be that way! You’ll know when it’s time to hire a plumber
Finding the right plumber can seem like an overwhelming task, but it doesn’t have to be that way! You’ll know when it’s time to hire a plumber, and this guide will show you how! If you live in a high-end apartment complex or have a basement with a deadbolt lock, you may have three separate entrances that all require power to enter or exit. While it might seem like one plumber will be sufficient, many plumbers specialize in work in this kind of locations. While a professional plumber will almost always come into your apartment during business hours, they may also be able to go to these entrances on a limited schedule. If this is the case, they will charge a lower price than if they were coming during most other hours. Therefore, you should always be looking for a plumber who is specialized in this manner. Other plumbers with this kind of availability are generally cheaper than those who only have access to your building during certain hours. While all of us would prefer to be able to keep logs and bills so that we don’t need to look them up, it’s quite common for someone who owns a plumbing business to be approached by someone having plumbing issues. While you can usually get a contractor to rewrite your existing ordinance or hire a plumber to perform a basic inspection, many times, it’s simply too time-consuming to rewrite an ordinance or come up with a scheme that failed a basic inspection. You also shouldn’t be stuck with a plumber if you do not pay your bill! While a basic inspection can save you time, it is likely that they will find damage that you didn’t even know existed. To avoid any future issues, always pick a professional that has worked in your area where you live to perform any necessary repairs and avoid any nasty surprises down the road.
If you want to hire a plumber, AVH Plumbing makes it easy. Set an appointment now by using our scheduling form.
