Brooks Plumbing Co. Blog: Archive for April, 2014

3 Different Ways to Clean Your Drains

Wednesday, April 30th, 2014

Be honest: when you first read the title of this post, did you immediately think of a bottle of liquid drain cleaner, the type sitting on a grocery store shelf near the mops and sponges? That’s what most people conjure up in their heads when they hear “drain cleaning.”

But the truth is that there are few methods worse for cleaning your drains than using a store-bough bottle of corrosive, toxic chemicals. These liquids will damage your drains, leave behind poisonous fumes, and can hurt your skin and eyes. Avoid them at all costs.

Let’s look at three ways that professional plumbers will handle cleaning your drains. These methods not only won’t damage the drains (or you) but do a much more thorough and dependable cleaning job. For a plumbing company that can offer you superb drain cleaning in Olympia, WA, call Brooks Plumbing today.

Effective Methods for Draining Cleaning

  1. Drain snakes: Think of drain snakes (also known as “drain augers”) as long corkscrews that can go down a drain pipe and drill into a thick clog. The twisting action of the metal ends of a drain snake screw into blockage, and then either removes the block or breaks it up. Although you can purchase manual drain snakes from hardware stores, you should allow a professional plumber armed with a motorized drain snake to take care of those clogs you can’t remove with a standard plunger.
  2. Hydro-jetting: This drain cleaning method uses high-pressure blasts of scalding hot water from a nozzle to scour the inside of drains. Hydro-jetting is extremely effective at breaking up clogs, but also at fully cleansing drain interiors of grease, fat, oil, soap scum residue, and all the other sorts of debris that will build up inside drains over time and lead to further clogging and spikes in pressure. Because of the potential danger of high-pressure water involved in hydro-jetting, leave this job to trained plumbers with the right protective gear.
  3. Targeted cleaning with video pipe inspection: This last one isn’t so much a drain cleaning method as it is an approach to effective drain cleaning. Video pipe inspection equipment is the result of miniaturization technology that allows a plumber to send a small digital video camera with a LED light down into plumbing at the end of a length of fiber-optic cable. The camera returns a video feed to a monitor that allows a plumber to examine problems with drains and where they are located. This is useful for targeted drain cleaning that must address specific issues. Video pipe inspection eliminates the guesswork that once went into drain cleaning, streamlining the process to save time, money, and materials.

If you need a heavy clog cleared away, or if you want cleaner plumbing in general, call Brooks Plumbing today. We offer expert drain cleaning in Olympia, WA with the finest technology available.

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Why Trust Professionals When It Comes to Drain Snakes

Tuesday, April 29th, 2014

Drain clogs occur more often than any plumbing issue, and so homeowners want to have solutions on hand to eliminate them quickly. A plunger will often do the job for basic blockages in sinks, showers, and bathtubs. But if the plunger fails, people ill often reach for one of two other tools: chemical drain cleaners and drain snakes.

Let us make this very clear: Do not use chemical drain cleaners on drain clogs! (Or anything else in your pipes.) The acidic action of these chemicals can cause severe harm to your drains, and they leave behind toxic residue that isn’t good for you either.

Drain snakes on the other hand… these are excellent tools for removing or breaking up clogs. You can purchase them in hardware stores and most large general merchandize stores. However, you should leave them on the shelf and turn to professionals when you need drain snaking.

For drain cleaning in Olympia, WA from a plumber armed with the best drain snakes and other unclogging tools, call Brooks Plumbing.

The reason you should allow plumbers to take care of handling drain snakes is that misuse of the standard commercial drain snake could damage the inside of pipes. Most commercial-grade drain snakes (also called drain augers) use manual cranks to turn the coils of the line that corkscrew into the clog to either withdraw it or break it apart. This manual power is often inadequate for the task, and if you’re unused to operating a drain snake, they can scratch the pipe interior.

Professional plumbers use more advanced manual drain snakes and have the training to get the job done without harming your pipes. They also use powered drain snakes, which are hooked up to electric- or gas-powered motors, to handle the difficult clogs. There are few drain blocks that a powered drain snake can’t handle—but few people can handle a powered drain snake without the right training. (They’re also too expensive and bulky for most consumer use; it’s less expensive to hire a professional plumber than to purchase a mechanical drain snake.)

A drain snake is not the only way a plumber can eliminate serious drain clogs. When a plumber comes to your home, he or she will inspect the pipes and the clog (often using video inspection equipment) and figure out the best way to tackle the problem. Rely on their expertise rather than troubleshooting the issue on your own and possibly coming up with the wrong solution.

For the drain cleaning in Olympia, WA that clears the clogs and keeps them from coming back, trust to the 20 years of experience at Brooks Plumbing.

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See our ad in ValPak

Tuesday, April 22nd, 2014
Check your mailbox for your Valpak coupon envelope! Look for our coupon with exciting offers for your plumbing needs.
We specialize in residential plumbing repairs and installations. This includes the replacing or fixing of faucets, toilets, and water heaters. We are also experts in whole house pipe replacement, including clear and repair drain systems.
Brooks ValPak

ValPak Coupon (sample image)

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Why Are There Gurgling Noises Coming From My Water Heater?

Wednesday, April 9th, 2014

Generally speaking any unusual noise from a major appliance is cause for concern. This is just as true for your water heater – which rarely receives any attention except when something’s wrong – as it is for any other appliance. Gurgling sounds, in particular, are common signs of a significant problem with your heater. “Why are there gurgling noises coming from my water heater?” you ask. Any plumber in Olympia can give you an answer en route to making speedy repairs.

Gurgling noises usually result from water passing through sediment and build-up on the bottom of the tank. The sediment builds up slowly over the course of time, fed by mineral deposits in hard water that enters the tank. Hard water is usually harmless, but the minerals (usually calcium, magnesium and the like) will settle into the bottom of the tank and may even create strange little structures as they form. When water moves through them, it will gurgle and bubble, creating the noise.

This might not sound like a big deal – and indeed, the water heater will usually still function – but it constitutes a significant problem. The sediment forms an insulating layer between the water in the tank and the heaters intended to warm it. That means your water heater must burn more gas to do its job, costing you money and increasing strain on the bottom of the tank. If left untreated, it could eventually cause a breach in the tank, forcing you to replace the entire unit.

The good news is that a trained plumber in Olympia can help. Draining the tank and cleaning off the sediment is a fairly standard operation for most plumbing services, and some companies can install water filters in your home to cut down on the build-up. If you’re wondering why there are gurgling noises coming from your water heater, then contact the plumbing experts at Brooks Plumbing. We’ll fix the problem and can help you take steps to prevent it from recurring in the future. Pick up the phone and give us a call today. You’ll be glad you did!

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3 Basic Considerations of Bathroom Remodeling

Friday, April 4th, 2014

We often give little thought to how much use our bathroom receives through the day. But after you have a full remodel done, you’ll understand how central it is—and how much better it is thanks to the work of professional remodelers. A complete bathroom remodeling job is an excellent way to enhance your life.

A bathroom remodel doesn’t have to occur just on the surface, with new cabinets, faucets, wallpapers, and window frames. With the right plumbers working on the remodel, you can re-vamp the basic way that the room functions so you’ll have fewer future repairs and lower water bills. Here are 3 basic ideas for remodeling your bathroom that you might overlook.

Our specialists in bathroom remodeling in Olympia, WA at Brooks Plumbing can help you with these upgrades and many more. Contact us today to start designing your ideal new bathroom.

  1. Replace your pipes: During a bathroom remodel, the construction work exposes most of the plumbing. This provides an excellent opportunity to replace aging or outdated pipes, such as galvanized steel pipes that may have started to corrode. The remodelers can also put in flexible and easy-flow plastic CPVC piping, which will permit more creative re-design concepts that won’t have to work around fixed rigid pipes.
  2. Install a low-flow toilet: Standard toilets consume a large amount of water with each flush. Your standard toilet probably uses between 4 to 7 gallons of water each time you pull the handle. But if you have a low-flow toilet put in during a remodel, you can reduce water waste a tremendous amount: current low-flow models consume around 1.6 gallons of water per flush. Factored over a year, or even a month, that translates into enormous savings in water use.
  3. Upgrade your tub: The largest new installation you can make in a bathroom is a new bathtub/shower, so you’ll feel tempted to leave your current one in. But this is a good chance to upgrade both the look of your bathroom and the quality of your time in the tub. Contoured tubs, whirlpool tubs, water jet tubs, or even a retro-free standing tub are all possibilities for your remodel that may fit your vision for a new bathroom.

Professional bathroom remodeling

Brooks Plumbing offers full-service bathroom remodeling in Olympia, WA. We can handle all the plumbing and repiping you need, and install any new fixture you desire. To help guide you, we offer a wide range of fixtures from which to choose, and our staff of experts will help you select the furnishings that will work best together. We can make your remodeling move smoothly and quickly toward a final product that will meet or even exceed your expectations.

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