Typical Plumbing Troubles: A Look at Frequent Challenges
Typical Plumbing Troubles: A Look at Frequent Challenges
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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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5 Typical Household Plumbing Issues as well as How You Can Fix Them
As a property owner, you will certainly run into various plumbing troubles that periodically make a problem. Some plumbing concerns are more typical and can be quickly taken care of. Doing the repair services yourselves on these simple plumbing issues can save you lots of cash. Have a look at 5 of one of the most common ones listed below:
Slow Draining Sink
This is the most typical complaint of home owners, with the sink gathering a great deal of hair, oil, particles, as well as other crud over time. The only means to get a smooth moving drainpipe again is to remove the debris. You can make use of a plumbing tool for angling out the particles. From there, you can utilize a store-bought drainpipe cleaner to clean the lines.
Slow-moving Tub Drain
This is another pesky annoyance because the bathtub is one of one of the most previously owned fixtures in your restroom. Just like the sink drain, hair, soap scum, dead skin cells, as well as other gunk pool in the drain frequently. You have to pop open the drainpipe cover and also use a bathtub claw to clear the particles. Do this ASAP prior to the drainpipe clogs up entirely. After making use of the claw, you can put drainpipe cleaner to rejuvenate the drainpipe lines.
Low Water Pressure
Is somebody from your family complaining that there's low tide stress from the sink? Inspect if this problem impacts both the cool as well as warm water lines. The issue is the aerator within the sink which might have a lot of sedimentation resulting in low water pressure if of course. This is very easy to repair as you just require to take it out as well as scrub away the mineral deposits.
Running Toilet
You might have experienced a running commode, which can be rather annoying because the storage tank won't fill. At the same time, leaving it alone equates to drainage and also spiking up your water costs. For beginners, figure out what's creating it to run. You might require to replace any of the following commode mechanisms:
Commode fill valve
Dripping flush shutoff
Commode flapper
Malfunctioning Garbage Disposal System
This aggravating issue is also high on the checklist of usual plumbing issues. Your device will certainly include a nifty key to unjam your maker. However if you lose it, you will certainly require an Allen wrench to take care of the trouble. You need to go under the sink and seek the place where you can place the key. Utilize your wrench to turn the machine to free the motor when you detect it. When functioning on your rubbish disposal system to avoid nasty mishaps, don't neglect to transform off the system and cut the circuit breaker.
You can constantly call in a plumber to obtain specialist aid if all of these sound tedious for you. Seeking expert assistance indicates conserving effort and time. You might also end up saving money in the long run due to the fact that you can feel confident that your straightforward plumbing trouble will certainly not rise. Just make sure you call a respectable firm with licenses and also accreditations since you will certainly be welcoming strangers in your home. Certainly, you need to ensure that you work with a person you can rely on.
As a homeowner, you will certainly encounter lots of various plumbing troubles that periodically make a hassle. Some plumbing concerns are extra common and can be conveniently dealt with. Doing the fixings yourselves on these basic plumbing issues can save you lots of money. You can make use of a plumbing device for angling out the debris. You might also end up conserving cash in the lengthy run because you can relax ensured that your basic plumbing problem will certainly not rise.
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