As a service plumber, one of the most common plumbing problems that I have been asked to diagnose is low “water pressure”.  The reason that I put “water pressure” in quotes is because what a customer thinks is low water pressure is quite often actually low flow.  There . . . → Read More:]]> As a service plumber, one of the most common plumbing problems that I have been asked to diagnose is low “water pressure”.  The reason that I put “water pressure” in quotes is because what a customer thinks is low water pressure is quite often actually low flow.  There is a difference, and that difference is very important when trying to figure out the best remedy for the problem.

Typical pressure regulator

So what’s the difference?  Pressure is the amount of force behind the water, pushing it through your pipes.  It is measured in pounds per square inch (psi).  Flow is the amount of water that “flows” out of an open outlet, like an open hose bib or faucet.  Flow is usually

measured (in the US) in gallons per minute (gpm).  The symptoms for low pressure and low flow can sometimes look similar, but it is usually pretty easy to diagnose.

Pressure

The hot and cold water in your plumbing system is under constant pressure.  The ideal pressure for an average home is between 55-75 psi.  If your water is supplied by a public utility company, the pressure to your home is determined by a number of factors – none of which you have control over.  If you have a private water source, you have a bit more control.  The first thing to do if you feel you may have pressure issues is to go to test it.

Most home improvement or plumbing supply stores have pressure gauges that you can buy for about $10 or so.  Get one that will screw onto a hose bib.  Screw it onto the hose bib that is closest to your water main, turn the bib on, and see what the pressure reads.  If it is between 55-75psi, you don’t have a pressure problem.  You should also check to see if you have a pressure regulator (PRV).  They look like the picture at the top of this article.

• 

  pressure gauge

  If you do not have a PRV and the pressure is too high, call a plumber and have them install one.

• If you have a PRV and the pressure is too high, the PRV is likely bad and needs replacement.
• If you have a PRV and the pressure is too low, you can try to adjust the PRV.  If that doesn’t work, check your neighbor’s pressure.   If theirs is too low as well, it is likely not your PRV, but a problem with the municipal supply.  If theirs is fine, your PRV is bad.
• If you don’t have a PRV and the pressure is too low, you can try checking your neighbor’s pressure, but it will likely be the same.  It’s a problem with the municipal supply, and there’s not much that can usually be done.

Flow

This is the category under which 75% of the problems I have seen have been.  If you keep in mind the way in which plumbing is run, figuring out what the problem here is can be fairly simple.  If the pressure to your home is fine, but you are not happy with the water supply to one or more fixtures, it pretty much has to be a flow problem.  I drew a simple example of how the water supply plumbing is run on a typical house.  Hot water is red, cold water is blue.

simple plumbing layout

By understanding the layout, it is much easier to figure out the cause of your flow problem.  Let’s look at some examples:

Let’s say, for instance that you have very little flow to the hot water side of you bathtub.  All other fixtures are fine.  That would mean that there is an obstruction of some kind either in the small section of line from the main hot water line to the fixture, or in the hot side of the faucet itself.  See below:

If, on the other hand, the hot water flow to the entire house is low, the obstruction would have to be either right at the water heater or in the short section of hot water piping between the water heater and the branch line for the washer.  There is a small possibility that the cold water plumbing feeding the water heater may be the culprit, but it is much more likely that the hot line is at fault.  See below:

One very common scenario is a single fixture with low flow (both hot and cold side).  This is almost always due to a clogged aerator. Calcium from the water heater and/or rust from galvanized water lines or the water heater will build up in the faucet aerators and reduce the flow to that fixture.  In this case, the solution is as easy as removing the aerator, cleaning it, and reinstalling.  That will usually be enough to restore flow to that fixture.

To remove the aerator, I recommend using small “channel lock” type pliers.  Wrap the jaws with electrical tape to keep the pliers from scratching the finish.  Remember “righty-tighty, lefty-loosy”.  Refer to the diagram below for further info.

One final point to keep in mind: An obstruction in your water supply lines will not lower your pressure; it will lower your flow.  Understanding this can really help with diagnosing your plumbing issues.  Do your best to try to narrow the problem down, and take care of simple things yourself.  Call a plumber to fix those things that you cannot handle yourself.  Either way, getting a jump start on the diagnostics can save you tons of time and money on your plumbing repairs.

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 . . . → Read More:]]>  

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.

Plumbing Drain-lines (Remodle)

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.

Common problems

Kitchen/Laundry backups

Symptoms – The kitchen sink won’t drain, the laundry stand pipe overflows, or both.  The toilet flushes fine without adding to these symptoms.

Causes – Laundry and kitchen lines are often tied together.  The cause of their backups is usually grease.  Grease from pots, pans, dishes, clothes, etc. build up in the line and cause debris to accumulate (food particles, lint, etc.).

What you can do – Check to make sure your disposer is functioning.  Look outside your kitchen area to see if you have a small cleanout.  Look in your garage for a cleanout.  Try to determine if multiple fixtures are affected or just one.  Clean out the underside of your sink if the kitchen sink is affected.  Do NOT use drain cleaning chemicals.  They will not dissolve grease related back-ups, even if they can reach them (which is doubtful), and many plumbers will charge you more to clear drain lines with Drano in them.

Remedy – If the blockage is in the p-trap under the kitchen sink, the repair is simply a matter of removing the waste lines under the sink and cleaning them out.  If not, the plumber must access your drain lines and attempt to cable them clear.  I personally recommend that the plumber also treat the line with a degreasing agent and perhaps cable the line a second time, to help get the grease out.  This extra step will cost a little more, but will usually at least triple the amount of time it would have otherwise taken to back up again.  This should save you money in the long run.

Some lines may be so stubborn that they require high pressure jetting to get the grease out.  I also recommend visual inspection of the pipes under the home if the plumber feels anything out of the ordinary.  Grease is a corrosive and can eat away pipes.  You will want to know if that is happening before it creates a lake under your home.

Tubs, showers and lavatory sinks

Symptoms – Back ups of one or more of these plumbing fixtures without toilet problems.

Causes – Usually soap scum, sludge and hair

Remedy – You can try chemical drain cleaners here, if you feel bold.  They will usually do a decent job of dissolving the hair that is causing these problems.  Remember though that these chemicals are not good for your plumbing.  They can eat away at your drain lines like crazy.  Other than that, clearing these drains is usually pretty straight forward. A plumber may elect to use a degreasing agent if he feels the sludge is really bad to prolong the time between the next back up, but that’s a judgment call.  Tubs can be tricky because of the special drain piping they have (called a waste/overflow).  Older waste/overflows can be brittle and cabling through them can be all it takes to bust them free and have a leak under your house.  It never hurts to have your plumber peak under the house and check it out.

Sewer main back-ups

Symptoms – Since water always finds the lowest point to escape, a sewer main backup will usually show itself by toilets backing up into the shower or tub.  If your tub or shower starts to back up, check your toilets.  If they are “burbling” or backing up into the tub or shower, it is the main.  We are assuming, of course that they are both on the bottom floor.  The rule of thumb here is that if a toilet affects another fixture – it is a main back-up.  If you have an outside 3” or 4” cleanout that is holding water or overflowing, that is another sign that it’s your main.

Causes – In my experience, the most common cause of sewer main back-ups are roots.  Roots need barely more than a microscopic hole to start growing into your main.  From there, they just grow and grow and grow.  Roots can be so strong that they can literally break your sewer line up into pieces!  Other common causes are “bellies” in the line (flat spots that cause debris to build up), offsets (sections of the line shift under ground and become misaligned), and breaks that actually allow the surrounding soil to enter your pipe.  There are other potential causes, but these are the most common.

What you can do – The only really productive thing you can do in this situation is check for proper access points.  If you can find an outside clean-out that is 3” or 4” in diameter, it will save you and the plumber time.

Remedy – This depends upon whether or not you have a cleanout.  If you do not, I highly recommend that you install one.  There is no such thing as a one time sewer back-up.  If your sewer is backing up, it usually means there is a problem with it.  There are other ways to access the line, but you are very limited without having a cleanout.

Once a cleanout is found or installed, or another access is found (pulling a toilet, etc), the next step is to attempt to free the blockage with a sewer cable.  You want your plumber to use the biggest blade possible on his cable to do as thorough a job as possible.  If he cannot clear your line with the proper sized blade, the roots are either very strong or you have an offset.  If he needs to resort to a smaller blade, so be it, but you need to get the line clear for the next step.

Survey the line – Have your plumber run a camera survey of the line to determine its condition.  Some plumbers will cable your line and tell you that you need to replace it.  That may be true, but you can never know for sure until the line in surveyed.  Once the camera survey is done, you will know what to do next.  Sometimes the roots are small and you have some time.  Sometimes a spot repair will do the trick.  Other times it is better to just replace the line.  The point is that once a camera survey is done, you will have a better grasp of your options, and it is always best to make informed decisions.

While trying to DIY is always a sound idea, sometimes a 4 AM toilet or drain problem can best be solved by calling a company like this emergency plumber Toronto service. They’ll show up any time of the day or night and tackle the situation right away.

Well, I think I cover most of it here.  If you feel I missed something, please feel free to leave a comment or sign up to the plumbing forum and post your questions there.

See you next time!

Steve

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 . . . → Read More:]]>  

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.

There are basically two types of service plumbers (new construction/remodel plumbers are a different breed).  They usually work under different pay structures, but the structures do overlap some. They are:

• “In and out” techs
• Up-sellers

In and Out Techs

They want to get in, figure out the quickest way to get you a result, collect their money and get moving to the next plumbing call.  The reason is that they are usually either paid by the hour with bonuses for completing x amount of calls, paid according to how many calls they take (paid per call), or they are paid per billable hour.  Paid per billable hour means that since each job is billed to you with a 1 hour minimum charge, if they can finish your job in less than an hour and hurry on to the next job, they are still getting paid for yours.  Using this method makes it possible for the plumber to actually get paid for 10 or even 12 billable hours in an 8 hours day, depending upon how fast they are.  Some of these guys are commission-based as well

The good thing about in and out techs is that if you know that what you need done is a quick, easy fix, they will take care of it quickly and be out of your hair.  A lot of them will quote you an hourly rate over the phone, so you pretty much know what you are going to spend before hand.

The bad thing about them is that they are usually specialized in 1 or 2 areas.  They may be great at clearing your sewer line, but will fumble over other work that they do not do as often.  Also, these plumbers do not really care about performing anything other than a quick fix.  They just don’t want to spend the extra time.  They also have a tendency to make a mess wherever they are working.

Up-sellers

These are the best plumbers to have deal with the majority of your plumbing issues; they are also the ones you most need to be careful of.  These guys are almost all commission-based employees, or they own the company.  Either way, the more they charge you, the more they get paid.  That statement sounds kind of scary, but let’s look at both sides of it.

Most plumbing issues are not a simple, quick fix.  You almost always have options.  The only way to get those options fully explored is with an up-seller.  Their specialty is to get in, get started at relieving the symptom of your plumbing problem, then approaching you with a more permanent solution.  If that is what you want, then you can okay the further work.  If not, you can tell them “no thank you”.

Up-sellers are masters at finding everything that is wrong with your plumbing and spotting things that can go wrong in the future.  Whether you want them to fix it all is another story.  I believe, however, that it is always better to have too much info than not enough.

The bad thing about up-sellers is that they can be quite persistent.  They are also more likely to try to take advantage of you – either by overcharging, or trying to sell you work that you don’t need.  This is where the article “Before You Call a Plumber” is helpful.

So which way to go?

Well, I spent most of my career as an up-seller, and I truly believe that they give the best service.  Let me explain why.  Let’s take what would seem to most people to be a fairly straight forward plumbing issue that most would think is a quick fix:

Let’s say that every six months to a year, you notice that your kitchen sink drain starts draining slowly.  You call out an “in and out” company every time it happens and they charge you $100 to clear the line. It is good for another 6 months to a year.  Let’s say you call me out next time it happens.  I am going to ask about your experiences and offer a more complete solution.  If you decide that you are happy with $100 every 6 months to a year, I will do that for you. If, however, I can jet your lines for $300 and that’ll keep your drains open more than 3x as long, that saves you future time, inconvenience, and money. I make more money and you get a better product.  That gives us a win/win.  A good service plumber always wants the win/win.   Although, if you are in a hurry and just want something done quickly, an in and out tech is what you want.

In my next article, I will cover how to know which plumber you are getting, and the best way to maximize your results with each, to make sure you are getting the best value for your plumbing dollar.  Talk to you then.

Steve

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 . . . → Read More:]]>  

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.

Whether or not you are sure you need plumbing work done, these are the steps that everyone should take, prior to calling a plumber, to be sure that the experience is as productive and stress-free as possible.  They are as follows:

Understand your plumbing problem. This can be a problem for many who do not consider themselves to be mechanically inclined.  It is extremely important, however, that you do your best to get some kind of understanding about what is going on.  If you can tell the plumber that you have a “supply side” leak, and your tests seemed to indicate that it was between the meter and the house, you will immediately gain that plumber’s attention and respect (as long as your logic is sound).  This will save you time and money.

You knowing what’s going on will also keep your plumber honest.  Believe it or not, there are plumbers out there that will cheat you if they can.  If you know what is wrong, it makes it much harder for them to take advantage of you, and most will not even try. There are also times when you will be able to diagnose and repair problems yourself, without ever having to call a plumber.

Know what you want. This sounds kind of silly, but hear me out.  There are always options to fix any problem.  Good plumbers will let you know your options and give you a choice.  Most plumbers will not.  They will offer to fix your problem they way they want to.  That is not always what is best for you!  You need to know if you are looking for a quick fix to get you by (which I rarely recommend, but sometimes that’s what you need), a fix that will last you for longer than a quick fix, or a permanent solution.

Plumbing is rather unusual because it is all tied together in a system.  Parts of the system depend on other parts of the system.  Sometimes you need to replace most or all of the system in order to affect a sustainable result.  You need to know beforehand if that is a route you are willing to take.  This leads us to the next point:

Know your budget limit. Very simply put, you need to know how much you are prepared to spend on your plumbing today.  You need to be willing to spend at least $500 if you are looking for anything other than a quick fix.  Permanent solutions could cost you in the thousands (depending, of course on what you actually need done).

Know your outs. You need to know how to say no.  Sometimes it will be because you just don’t like the plumber, or you don’t feel like they will do a good job.  Maybe you feel like they want to charge too much, or want to do more work than you are ready for.  For any of these reasons or a litany of others, you need to be able to say no.

To put it bluntly, if you are prepared, you will be able to just tell the plumber the truth about why you are saying no, and that should end it.  Good plumbers can see through excuses.  For instance, if you were to tell me, “Well, that’s more expensive than I thought it would be.  I need to discuss it with my husband/wife.” I would respond with, “That’s fine, let’s give him/her a call and I can help to explain why we need to…” or “No problem, when would you like me to drop back by so we can discuss it together?”  If you told me that you are fine with the amount of work that was done to this point and need to budget for the additional work, I would understand and respect that.  I may ask if it is okay if I call in a month or 2 to follow up, but that’s about it.

Know what to expect. This actually covers a few different areas, but I will sum it up here as best I can.

• Know what you want out of your plumber – Do you just need someone “quick and dirty” who can clear your drain from outside and be gone in 30 minutes or do you want a clean, professional who you can trust to not destroy the inside of your home?  There are times for each, and they each charge different rates.  Actually, you can get a dirty plumber that charges a lot (but has no business doing so), but you will never get a clean professional that works cheaply.

• Know what they are going to charge you – This can be tough as more and more companies do not want to give prices over the phone.  There’s no problem with that, as most give free estimates.  You do need to know how much they SHOULD charge you though, so you know when someone is asking too much.

• Know the company.  Before calling a plumbing company, do a little research on them.  Check their license status, look for online complaints, etc.  Keep in mind that people will leave bad reviews far more often than good ones.  Don’t choose not to hire, because of a bad review or two (some people complain about everything), but keep the complaints in mind when dealing with them.

One of my readers, who happens to be a plumber made a very good point that I do need to stress here.  It is very important that you thoroughly check the license status of the companies that you call to make sure they are in good standing and have all of the necessary forms of insurance.  Make sure that either the plumber that they are sending out is an employee and is working under the company’s contractors license, or that the plumber himself is licensed.  Ask the company about the qualifications of the plumber they will send out.  If they are not willing to spend some time with you on the phone to ease your mind, call someone else.  Thanks, Jim!

I apologize that this article was so long, but there was a lot of ground to cover.  I am not sure that I covered it all here, but I’m sure that future articles will pick up the slack.  See you next time for more plumbing tips!