Learning a Few Plumbing Tricks
It might be the time to learn a little more about Okc plumbing or plumbing okc. You probably thought about it before now, but you didn’t get around to trying it. If that is the case, our article will teach you some of the different tips and the tactics you can use to help solve your everyday problems that you find around your house.
It will be easy to fix the noisy pipes that squeak or sound like like they are hammering. Your exposed pipes will need to be anchored properly. If the pipes are located in the walls, floors or ceiling you will probably do best by calling a contractor to do the project.
When you need to winterize your home you will need to turn the water off at the source. This will not always be the case but you may need to call a good company to shut off the water at the meter located outside in the ground. When you have the water shut off the water, then you need to open all faucets. This will also include the outside seal cocks and it will allow some of the water to drain out of your water system. This will help relieve the pressure in your pipes and help to prevent them from freezing and bursting, which can prevent major damage to your home. Also you will need to hook up a compressor to the lines and try to blow out the rest of the remaining water. This is very important so you may have to call us if you need to get it done. You will want to use a shop vacuum to suck out any water that is remaining in your toilet tank and bowl as to prevent the porcelain from freezing and cracking. It takes a special antifreeze you have to put into all of your sinks, tub and shower pee traps to prevent damage to the drain pipes also.
Only pay the contractors once the job is done. Sometimes it will be required to put some money down before they start the job, but you should never pay for everything before you know the job is done correctly. If you do go ahead and pay everything up front, you will have no recourse if they don’t finish the job or they don’t do it correctly.
You always want to avoid the use of any kind of tablet or odor remover within your toilet. They may be somewhat effective for deodorizers, they will damage the rubber parts in your toilet and will rot or rust out the bolts. If they become corroded, your toilet will also leak or not operate properly, and will require you to hire us to either repair or replace it.
If you have a toilet that is plugged and the water is low along with the toilet being clogged, don’t try to pour some extra water in the bowl and try to make the plunger work again. This will over flow the toilet and possibly flood your bathroom. Turn the water off at the stop that is located behind the toilet to prevent flooding. At this point you should either call a plumber in Oklahoma City or go to your local big box store and purchase a 6’ closet auger. Insert it into the toilet and push the auger head while rotating clock wise to attempt to push the block through or snag the obstruction and pull it out. If this all fails call your plumbers in Oklahoma City because you have a clog further down the main line.
Plumbing hard water tips
Iron can cause an orange or pink stain in and on your sinks and faucets if you have a well. Its some time hard to get rid of this problem, you can either have a local plumber to install a water softener to soften the water, or do a water test to see if you need to filter. In fact any one that will sell you a water filter system without first testing it does not know what he is doing. You can’t filter out what is not there so your just wasting money. Most water filters will only filter specific chemicals and minerals. No single filter will filter it all and each filter will be specific for what it is to filter.
You will save a lot of money and also energy with the use of efficient shower heads. Your hot water usage is mostly from the shower. You will save up to a few hundred dollars a year if you simply install shower heads that are more efficient and rated at 1 gallon per minute. Most of the new shower heads come with the flow restrictors already inside to maintain this GPM no mater what your homes water pressure. The older shower heads did not come with these features or have been removed to increase the flow if the head is clogged. If you do have a clogged head that does not spray well or evenly, you have to unthread it from the shower arm and soak it in hot water and a cleaner called santeen. This product is found at locke plumbing supply and will eat the calcium, lime, and or rust built up inside the head. After you soak it for at least 30 to 60 minutes, you can replace it and see an increase of pressure and flow out of the shower head.
Plumbing cleaner tips
If you have clogged drain pipes, you should try to unclog them with an enzyme based cleaner. This cleaner uses a natural bacteria to eat the sludge and turn it into liquid that makes it drain out of the pipes. The enzyme cleaners are mostly preferred by us rotor guys to clear your clogged drains. Please be very careful, and as a contractor we would recommend calling some with experience to do the drain cleaning because there is chance of damaging the drainpipes and bodily injury. Chemicals are extremely toxic and will burn and destroy skin if contact is made.
Remember to always keep your dryer vent clean. This will prevent problems, it can catch on fire. Always check the dryer vent and make sure that there are not any rips or holes. This will cause problems like clogs.
A secret to lower or even no repair bills from your drainage issues is to do preventative maintenance. The majority of the repairs are usually clogs and leaks. Almost anything can get stuck in these drain lines and can cause them to clog , including foreign objects, hair, grease, and sediment. Always use a screen cover to keep the hair and other objects from going down your drains. Removing the hair from off of the screen and disposing of it will always be easier and cheaper than removing it from the drains.
If your having solids, a collapsed drain, or root obstruction in the line, you usually won’t be successful trying to cleaning it by yourself. Having PVC drains rather than cast iron drains will always work better because they wont corrode and they will maintain the smooth passage way for wastes traveling down the drain lines. They are also some what self cleaning as they cause the water to run on a criss cross pattern that helps keep them clean. It is up to a pro to fix these other issues as in most states they will require a license to correct these problems by law.
Well learning a little bit about your houses mechanics can be a very valuable tool to have. You can also offer your new knowledge to your family and friends , while saving yourself a lot of money on your other repairs. Hopefully understanding some of these basics now and having a little fun learning them.
