How to Deal with Common Plumbing Problems: A Practical Approach
How to Deal with Common Plumbing Problems: A Practical Approach
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MOST COMMON PLUMBING PROBLEMS IN OLDER HOMES
Galvanized Pipes
The galvanic process means coating an iron pipe with molten zinc to prevent the iron from corroding. The zinc lasts a while, but not forever. As the zinc erodes, the exposed iron begins to rust. This can cause pipes to fail, but the warning signal is easy to spot: Your water will become discolored from the rust in it.
The answer is to have galvanized pipes professionally replaced by modern alternatives, such as copper or PEX (Cross-Linked Polyethylene). A well-trained plumber and assistant can perform this work in relatively short time, ensuring a constant water pressure, no odd taste or color to your water and no leaks.
Pipe Bellies
As your Phoenix home rises and falls in its surrounding soil, the pipes leading into your home will rise and fall, too. When they buckle or bow, they form a pipe belly, a low spot that defies gravity’s pull on sewage. While this settling occurs slowly, you will eventually notice poor drainage, slow-flushing toilets and, ultimately, a clogged sewer line.
Similar to pipe bellies are pipe channeling, where hard water carves its own channel in the bottom of a sewer pipe, rendering it very weak.
Polybutylene Pipe
Once thought of as a great water pipe product, polybutylene pipe (PB) was used from the late ’70s into the early ’90s because of its low cost and easy installation. It breaks down with exposure to water and water’s dissolved solids, so it is not acceptable anymore. As time goes on, homeowners experience more and more polybutylene pipe problems.
If you have an entire house piped in PB, you need the services of an experienced local plumber to replace every run, every elbow and tee, and every connection to fixtures throughout your house. Otherwise a leak could destroy furniture, furnishings, flooring and more.
Sewer Lines
Sewers and sewer lines are definitely at the top of a lot of people’s old house plumbing problems. Sewer lines take your home’s gray and black water from drains to the sewer main, where it travels on to a municipal treatment plant. Sewer lines are always wet, so they attract tree roots. Cast iron pipes are particularly susceptible to cracking and intrusion by tree roots, which can completely clog a line.
Professional plumbers can send a camera into your home’s sewer pipe to diagnose channeling and bellies, and they can find and fix tree roots that clog your pipe. This is a much more affordable option than the disgusting and expensive issues created by a sewer backing up.
Drains
Fifty years of draining water, soap scum, sewage and shampoo can take a toll on your older Phoenix home’s drains. Clogs develop in pipes in all drains, but toilet, kitchen, and bathroom sink drains are particularly prone to clogs.
Toilets are infamous targets for children, fascinated by the disappearing act. While you may never know a small action figure or toy car went down the toilet, you will know a backed-up toilet when it strikes. A small item could start a very slow-building clog.
Kitchen sink drains also tend to accept things that should not go down the drain, like kitchen fats, bits of food that should go through a sink strainer and even bone. You can do your part, of course, by keeping waste out of the kitchen sink or having a garbage disposal installed, but in an older home you will not know what others have stuffed down there before you.
Original Fixtures
While some original fixtures are notably sturdier and of better quality than their corresponding modern fixtures, many older ones simply wear out with time. Washers and valves degrade and cause leaks. Stems and handles break. If your home still has its original spigots, faucets, handles and valves, you may not notice the tiny leaks that lead to higher water bills and unpleasant smells.
A worry spot in any home is the shut-off valve for a toilet. This little-used valve attaches where the rigid pipe exits the wall, down below the tank, and a flexible metal and plastic tube connects the water supply to the tank. That shut-off valve can get stuck in its typical, open position, so any attempt to close it may actually cause it to leak. A trained plumber can replace not only the flexible tube to the toilet tank, but the antiquated or stuck shut-off valve. This means you never have to worry about turning off the water to the toilet should a bowl clog cause your toilet to back up.
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5 Typical Household Plumbing Issues and also How You Can Fix Them
As a home owner, you will experience several various plumbing troubles that sometimes make a nuisance. Doing the repair services yourselves on these simple plumbing issues can conserve you lots of cash.
Slow Draining Sink
You can make use of a plumbing tool for angling out the debris. From there, you can make use of a store-bought drain cleaner to clean the lines.
Sluggish Tub Drain
This is an additional pesky nuisance because the tub is just one of the most pre-owned components in your shower room. Just like the sink drainpipe, hair, soap scum, dead skin cells, and also other substances pool in the drainpipe usually. You must pop open the drainpipe cover and also use a tub claw to clear the debris. Do this ASAP prior to the drainpipe blocks entirely. After using the claw, you can pour drain cleaner to revitalize the drainpipe lines.
Low Tide Pressure
Is somebody from your family grumbling that there's low water pressure from the sink? Examine if this concern affects both the hot as well as chilly water lines. If yes, after that the trouble is the aerator within the sink which may have a great deal of sedimentation causing low water stress. This is extremely simple to repair as you simply need to take it out as well as scrub away the mineral deposits.
Running Toilet
You may have experienced a running toilet, which can be quite irritating since the storage tank won't fill up. At the exact same time, leaving it alone relates to squandering water and increasing up your water costs.
Bathroom fill valve
Leaking flush shutoff
Bathroom flapper
Malfunctioning Garbage Disposal System
This aggravating issue is also high up on the listing of common plumbing concerns. Your unit will certainly include a nifty key to unjam your maker. If you shed it, you will require an Allen wrench to repair the problem. You need to go under the sink and also look for the place where you can insert the secret. Once you identify it, utilize your wrench to turn the device to release the electric motor. When functioning on your rubbish disposal system to prevent awful crashes, do not fail to remember to turn off the system as well as cut the circuit breaker.
You might also end up saving money in the lengthy run due to the fact that you can rest ensured that your basic plumbing trouble will not intensify. Just make certain you call a trustworthy company with licenses as well as accreditations due to the fact that you will certainly be welcoming complete strangers in your residence.
As a property owner, you will experience numerous different plumbing troubles that periodically make a hassle. Some plumbing problems are more typical and can be conveniently taken care of. Doing the fixings yourselves on these straightforward plumbing troubles can conserve you heaps of money. You can use a plumbing device for angling out the debris. You may even finish up saving money in the lengthy run because you can relax ensured that your straightforward plumbing issue will not escalate.
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