Plumber Tips: In With The Good Water, Out With The Bad Water: Keeping Your Plumbing Flowing Right | Mesa, AZ
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Just like breathing, your plumbing system takes in clean water, uses it for a variety of purposes, and sends wastewater back out. Your incoming water line is key for the first part, your sewer line for the second, and in between are all sorts of valves and fixtures and appliances, followed by drains and traps and junctions and branches on the way out. There are a lot of ways for this jungle of pipes to have problems, some due to age, others due to corrosion, and of course, things getting stuck on the way out. Our plumbers at Schroeder Plumbing in Mesa, AZ would like to share with you some ideas about how to keep your plumbing running smoothly, and what to do when it doesn’t. Most of all, our professionals want you to be as informed as possible to avoid leaks, backups, and backflow that can be expensive and messy to clean up afterward.
Leak Detection Saves Water and Prevents Costly Damage
On the way into your home, leaks in your water line will cost you money in wasted water, and they may produce strangely abundant grass or landscaping growth above the leak as well. Once the pressurized water enters your home, leaks get more complicated and the water can cause wood and plaster damage, mold growth, corrosion of electrical components, and other harm that adds up. The water tends to flow a bit before it becomes evident in a damp patch or drip, so chasing down the origin can be quite a job. In the past, it used to involve multiple cuts in the wall to inspect and search for the leak. Now, technology has given us video and ultrasonic options that help visually and sonically pinpoint the leak and then go in close to the origin to make the repair. This technology can also help with leaks in quite inaccessible places, such as under the concrete slab, saving a lot of time and cost of repairs.
Drain Cleaning Service, an Underrated Home Maintenance Item
A lot of drain problems have origins beyond the sink or toilet drain and trap. Clogs can occur anywhere in your drain plumbing, based on chance, corrosion, clinging materials, and buildup much like a beaver’s dam. When a backup occurs, you can get a single-sink problem that doesn’t seem to respond to localized solutions, or even multiple-sink problems, including the famous “flush the toilet and the sink or shower drain geysers” routine. Drain cleaning service resets the accumulations throughout your drain system, allowing clear and quick flow and making buildup and clog formation more difficult on the newly cleaned pipe insides. Video inspection and hydro jetting are typical parts of this service, checking visually for issues and also reviewing pipe conditions, and blasting loose stubborn material that mechanical clog-cutting devices would leave behind. Annual visits by our plumber to clear your drains can help reduce the number of clog and backup calls you make during the year.
Sewer Cleaning and Repair
Our plumbers are also experts at clearing material that’s accumulated in your sewer, which can often gather a large clog of items that were supposed to be flushable, but really aren’t good for your drain pipes’ health. Flushable wipes are included in that list, as they are turning out to be the source of large lumps in public sewers as well. Pretty much everything but human waste and toilet tissue should not be going down the toilet, and definitely non-organic items like plastics, maxi-pads, cleaning items, even food. Particular trouble comes from rice, pasta, and kitty litter, especially the clumping kind, which all expand and block traps and drains along the way. Whether they go down the toilet or the kitchen sink, the problem’s the same. And yes, we did say sewer repair, because these days, once our plumber has identified the issue, it’s quite possible that relining the pipe or making a durable patch will serve about as well as replacing the pipe, and with a lot less digging and mess.
Healthy Pipes and Appliances with Soft Water
Corrosion from hard water is a system-wide problem for your plumbing, affecting your water heater tank life, pipe wear, drain clogs due to the roughness of corroded interiors, damage to washing machines, and dishwashers, and so on. Having our plumber install a water softener device also helps make your shampoo and laundry soap be more effective, lathering better. One good place to check if you have hard water is your coffee machine, which will need frequent cleaning from the accumulated minerals.
Vent from Above for Flow Down Below
Another factor in the smooth flowing of your pipes, notably your drains, is the plumbing vents that help balance the system and let draining water go down freely by allowing air to be drawn into the system. At the same time, they also allow foul sewer gases to escape, so if you’re having drain problems and smelling something nasty, it’s probably time to get the plumber over pronto to correct a possible vent problem. The way that vent issues simulate drain clogs, but actually suspending the water instead of blocking it, is a good example of why it often takes a professional plumber to sort out the dynamics of your home’s plumbing systems. Sometimes the fix is easy, sometimes not, but knowledge is the key.
Keep the Flow Going with Expert Plumbers from Schroeder Plumbing in Mesa, AZ
If you’re like most homeowners, when a toilet circles too long or a sink empties slowly, you’re thinking about what you can do, and when it’s time to call in a professional. Thorough plumbing repairs and drain cleaning are what our Mesa, AZ plumbers do, giving our customers peace of mind and a much lower chance of problems recurring. We welcome your call for expert plumbing help on current problems and discussion of your plumbing upgrade and replacement projects as well.
