There are a lot of problems that can arise when dealing with plumbing. Some problems are a simple fix, others can be more complicated. Whatever the problem, you need to be educated about plumbing so you will know if you need to call a plumber, make sure you know a lot about plumbing so it can be fixed quickly.
To avoid frozen pipes in your home, never allow the temperature in your house to drop below freezing and insulate any pipes that are exposed to the elements. The pipes may freeze if the surrounding temperature drops below freezing. If you are lucky, you will only experience a minor inconvenience until the pipes thaw. But, they could also burst, causing a mess and a large repair bill.
Noisy pipes are an easy problem to fix.You must anchor any exposed pipes.
Do not attempt fixing your garbage disposal with bare hands. Even if the disposal is turned off, it can still be hazardous. Locate a diagram of the garbage disposal, or some sort of troubleshooter, online.
If a pipe freezes, turn on a nearby faucet so that thawed ice has a place to go. This can prevent damage to your house because it lets the pressure that is in the pipe out, and could prevent cracks from appearing.
Check the floor for soft areas around the toilet to determine floor damage. An easy way to test for floor softness is by straddling the toilet and shifting your weight. If the floor feels soft when you do this, you have floor damage. As with many problems, early detection can save you a lot of money.
Septic Tank
You should make sure not to put oils down the drain, such as grease and fat. When these oils cool, they become hard and create clogs. They’ll also muck up your garbage disposal and cause it to be less efficient. See to it that you dispose the oils away from your sink.
Have a professional flush your septic tank cleaned every five years or so to keep it working well. Although it could cost a good deal of money to pump out your septic tank, it is nothing compared to what you will have to spend on cleaning up a backup of sewage or repairing or replacing your septic system.
If you have well water and discover orange or pink discoloration on your bathtub or sink, you probably have iron in your water supply. A water softener can filter out unnecessary minerals, and leave you with clean, usable water.
Don’t use any colored tablets in your toilet.These products may well remove odors, but they have the side effect of damaging the rubber in your toilet, causing poor functionality or even complete breakdown of the fixture.
Should you spot unexpected water draining inside the dishwasher, you will probably need to check that the hose from the kitchen sink has been installed correctly. Your hose must run in a hill pattern to avoid water mixing. Think of the St. Louis Arch — start from your sink, go uphill with the hose, and then down before connecting to the dishwasher. This way, only pressurized water can travel through the hose. Leakage won’t be an issue.
If your toilet happens to be clogged, your plunger is not fixing it, and your water level inside of the toilet appears low, you may fix the problem by dumping warm water from a bucket into your toilet from about waist level. Repeat this procedure if necessary as the water goes back to a lower level.
If you have grout caught in your line, it’s most likely impossible for you to clean yourself. You can break the grout up and make it go further down the line. This works best if your pipes are plastic rather than metal. However, in the end you will see that a professional plumber is needed to fix the problem.
If your house uses well water and you start to see orange or pink stains in your tub and other water fixtures, this is because of iron in your water. This is something that needs to be taken care of by water softener, which can be bought at a store, or have a company come out to your house and take care of it for you.
Try to avoid the use of dry cleaners as often as you can. Drain cleaners are composed of extremely corrosive chemicals and can actually damage pipes with frequent use. If you do have a clogged drain, it is better to hire a professional to see what is causing it.
Schedule all your issues in one single visit. You might be tempted to call the plumber every time you need something fixed, but if you have problems repaired all at once, you will have time to save money for the fixes. Most plumbers charge an hourly rate and a flat rate for the trip: asking a plumber to fix multiple problems in one trip is cheaper than calling them more than once.
If you need to remove a clean out plug, and you are not having much luck, there are two methods used to help you do this. One way is to make the fitting looser with a hammer and chisel. You can also use your chisel to break the plug itself.
As stated before, plumbing problems can be miniscule or great. By taking the advice provided in this article, it does not always need to be a major drama when plumbing issues arise.
The toilet should never be leaking, so make sure. A good tip for this is to take food coloring and put a few drops in your toilet tank. Watch your toilet bowl closely, and if you notice colored water in a manner of seconds, you definitely have a leak that will need to be fixed.
