Posts Tagged ‘plumber’

What is an Emergency Plumbing Repair?

The question of what constitutes emergency plumbing is an interesting one. It is also important for a number of reasons. Let’s start with the most broad definition, and its application.

Here in California we have a law that states that any time someone comes to your home to sell you a good or service that is valued at over $300, you have the right to cancel that transaction within 3 working days after signing the contract. That means that if someone comes to your home and you buy a vacuum cleaner from them (for more than $300), you can notify the seller in writing that you wish to cancel the sale up to 3 full working days after you bought it. The seller, by law, must accept the vacuum back and issue a full refund of the purchase price (without penalty). The same is true for a plumber that performs more than $300 in service.

Unfortunately for the plumber, if you should cancel that transaction, you cannot “return” the service. In this case the company must still provide you with a full refund. In some cases, such as water heater replacements, the company can opt to uninstall the new unit, but only if they reinstall your old unit. Most companies will not do that, so you will usually wind up with a free service, and the company eats the costs.

Read more...

Plumbing 101|Residentail Drain Plumbing

Quite often a home owner’s first experience with a plumbing problem is when a drain in their home backs up. Knowing how your drainage system works and the most common causes of back-up problems with different drain lines can really help you when it comes time to get your drains serviced. This information will make it easier for you to get the right solution to your problem, and make life easier for the plumber who is trying to explain it all to you.

Let’s begin with a little plumbing theory. Please keep in mind, that depending on your area, your lay-out may be different. I will give you a simple layout to give you an idea of how drains tie together. Your plumbing may be a bit different, but the theory will be the same.

We will start with a 1 bathroom home, for the sake of simplicity. Let’s say that the toilet is at the back of the house. That is the end of your house sewer line. Your toilet will connect straight into that main line (3 or 4 inch), go towards the front of your house, and continue through your front yard and into the street where it ties into the public sewer. Maybe you have a septic system, and the line runs straight to the back of your house where it ties into the septic tank. Either way, the thing to remember here is that your main will usually run from the furthest toilet, as straight as possible, until it reaches whatever it ties into (public sewer, septic tank, etc.).

All of your other plumbing fixtures will drain into smaller drainage lines (1 ½”- 2” lines called secondary lines) that tie into the main at different points. Your bathroom sink may tie into your shower line before it goes to the main, or your laundry line tie into your kitchen line, but they all tie into the main. The only plumbing fixture with direct access to the main is the toilet. A 2 bath house is the same, but with more tie-ins.

Read more...

Know Your Plumber Part 2

Hello again! In my last plumbing info article, I talked about the two different types of plumbers and the pluses and minuses of using each. I also revealed my opinion on the best kind to go for to deal with most plumbing issues. In this article, I am going to tell you how to make sure you are getting the best value for your plumbing dollar.

This article is going to focus almost entirely on up-sellers. These are complete plumbers, and the true plumbing professionals will be in this group. There are a LOT of impostors though, so I want you to know how to tell the difference. You want a professional working on your plumbing.

Read more...

Know Your Plumber Part I

An interesting thing happened today. I joined a plumbing forum. The forum rules said that I could have a link to my website in my signature, so I put the link to the PlumbingInfo.org home page. I went to the part of the forum where new members can introduce themselves and created a post that basically said, “Hello! Steve from California here. I am dropping in to say hello”. After several people from that site went to view this website, I was banned from the forum!

Just proof that most plumbers do NOT want you to be an informed consumer! They are afraid of you knowing what this site is telling you. My girlfriend assures me, however, that I am doing the right thing. Now, on to the topic at hand…

In this article, I wanted to cover plumbers themselves and how to know whether or not you have the right plumber for your plumbing needs. Most of you don’t know the difference, so I hope this helps.

Read more...

Before You Call a Plumber

So you have a plumbing issue that you need taken care of, or maybe you just want to get some plumbing remodeling done. What do you do first? You look for a plumber, right? Wrong! The first thing you do is read this article and the articles that it points to.

You need to be prepared, before you ever even think of picking up the phone and calling a plumber. Believe me when I say that it can prevent all kinds of bad things from happening. I know this first hand.

In this article, I am going to outline some of the things that you should do to be prepared for your visit from the plumber. Many of these points will link out to additional articles, as I write them. Just look for the underlined phrases. Clicking them will take you to the relevant article.

Read more...