Common Plumbing Problems: What Every Homeowner Should Know
Common Plumbing Problems: What Every Homeowner Should Know
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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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Exactly How to Fix Common Household Plumbing Issues
Doing the repairs yourselves on these straightforward plumbing troubles can conserve you lots of money. As a property owner, you will encounter several various plumbing troubles that sometimes make a problem.
Low Water Pressure
Is somebody from your home complaining that there's low water pressure from the sink? Examine if this issue affects both the cold and warm water lines. The problem is the aerator within the sink which might have a great deal of sedimentation resulting in low water pressure if of course. This is very simple to deal with as you simply require to take it out as well as scrub away the natural resource.
Running Toilet
You may have experienced a running commode, which can be quite irritating due to the fact that the storage tank won't fill. At the same time, leaving it alone relates to drainage and also surging up your water bills. For starters, identify what's creating it to run. You may require to replace any one of the complying with toilet devices:
Commode fill shutoff
Dripping flush valve
Toilet flapper
Malfunctioning Garbage Disposal System
This annoying problem is also high on the listing of common plumbing problems. Your device will feature a nifty trick to unjam your device. If you shed it, you will need an Allen wrench to deal with the trouble. You need to go under the sink and search for the spot where you can place the secret. As soon as you spot it, use your wrench to turn the machine to free the motor. Don't fail to remember to turn off the system as well as cut the breaker when working on your garbage disposal system to stop horrible accidents.
Slow Draining Sink
This is one of the most typical problem of homeowners, with the sink gathering a lot of hair, oil, particles, as well as other gunk over time. However, the only means to obtain a smooth flowing drainpipe once more is to remove the debris. 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 cleanse the lines.
Slow Tub Drain
This is one more pesky annoyance considering that the tub is among the most previously owned components in your bathroom. Much like the sink drain, hair, soap scum, dead skin cells, and various other substances swimming pool in the drain frequently. You must stand out open the drainpipe cover as well as use a bathtub claw to remove the debris. Do this ASAP before the drainpipe congests totally. After using the claw, you can put drainpipe cleaner to revitalize the drainpipe lines.
You can constantly call in a plumber to obtain professional help if all of these audio laborious for you. Seeking specialist aid implies conserving effort and time. You may also wind up conserving money in the future due to the fact that you can rest assured that your basic plumbing problem will certainly not intensify. Because you will be welcoming unfamiliar people in your residence, just make certain you call a reliable business with qualifications as well as licenses. Certainly, you have to see to it that you work with someone you can rely on.
Some plumbing issues are more common as well as can be quickly taken care of. Doing the repairs yourselves on these easy plumbing issues can conserve you bunches of cash. As a property owner, you will experience many different plumbing problems that periodically make a hassle. You can make use of a plumbing device for fishing out the debris. You may also finish up conserving cash in the lengthy run since you can relax ensured that your straightforward plumbing issue will not escalate.
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