Recognizing Common Plumbing Problems: A Guide
Recognizing Common Plumbing Problems: A Guide
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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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Just How to Fix Common Household Plumbing Issues
Some plumbing problems are much more common as well as can be easily dealt with. Doing the repair services yourselves on these simple plumbing troubles can save you lots of money. As a house owner, you will run into many different plumbing issues that periodically make a problem. Have a look at 5 of one of the most common ones below:
Low Water Pressure
Is somebody from your house grumbling that there's low tide stress from the sink? Initially, check if this issue influences both the cold and hot water lines. The trouble is the aerator within the sink which might have a lot of sedimentation resulting in reduced water stress if yes. This is really simple to repair as you simply need to take it out and scrub away the natural resource.
Running Toilet
You may have experienced a running bathroom, which can be quite irritating due to the fact that the tank will not fill out. At the same time, leaving it alone equates to drainage and also spiking up your water costs. For starters, find out what's creating it to run. You may need to replace any one of the adhering to toilet devices:
Toilet fill shutoff
Dripping flush shutoff
Bathroom flapper
Malfunctioning Garbage Disposal System
This frustrating trouble is likewise high on the listing of common plumbing issues. Your unit will certainly include a cool key to unjam your machine. If you shed it, you will require an Allen wrench to fix the trouble. You have to go under the sink and also search for the area where you can put the secret. Once you detect it, utilize your wrench to turn the maker to free the electric motor. Do not forget to shut off the system and also cut the circuit breaker when working on your garbage disposal system to avoid horrible crashes.
Slow Draining Sink
This is the most common complaint of homeowners, with the sink accumulating a lot of hair, grease, particles, as well as other substance in time. The only method to obtain a smooth streaming drain once more is to remove the debris. First, you can use a plumbing tool for angling out the debris. From there, you can utilize a store-bought drain cleaner to cleanse the lines.
Slow Tub Drain
This is one more pesky annoyance because the bathtub is just one of the most secondhand components in your restroom. Much like the sink drainpipe, hair, soap residue, dead skin cells, and other substances swimming pool in the drain frequently. You should pop open the drain cover as well as utilize a bathtub claw to remove the particles. Do this ASAP before the drain blocks completely. After using the claw, you can put drainpipe cleaner to revitalize the drainpipe lines.
You can constantly call in a plumber to get expert support if all of these sound laborious for you. Seeking expert aid implies conserving effort and time. Due to the fact that you can relax guaranteed that your basic plumbing issue will not rise, you might even end up saving money in the lengthy run. Simply see to it you call a reputable firm with licenses and certifications since you will certainly be welcoming complete strangers in your home. Of course, you have to ensure that you deal with somebody you can trust.
Some plumbing concerns are more typical and also can be conveniently fixed. Doing the fixings yourselves on these straightforward plumbing issues can conserve you tons of cash. As a house owner, you will come across many different plumbing issues that periodically make a nuisance. You can utilize a plumbing device for angling out the debris. You might also end up saving cash in the lengthy run due to the fact that you can relax assured that your simple plumbing issue will certainly not intensify.
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