Brooks Plumbing Co. Blog: Archive for February, 2015

Signs that You Need Professional Drain Cleaning

Friday, February 27th, 2015

When you clean out your bathroom, you try to get every nook and cranny. You can scrub the grout, bleach each corner of the tub, and reach behind the sink faucets with a small brush, but there’s one area of the home that you may never reach on your own: the drains. The drains extend all the way to the sewer line, and there is likely debris clinging to the lining of your drain pipes that you cannot clean yourself.

It’s important to remember as well that typical drain cleaning chemicals sold in stores are not a viable solution for clogged drains. In fact, these chemicals are some of the most toxic things available for homeowners to purchase. They are very harmful to your health if ingested and may cause injury to the skin and eyes. Furthermore, they can damage pipes, and they really don’t get rid of most of the things that lead to clogs.

Cleaning Slow Drains

Slow drains or drains that will not work at all deserve professional attention if a plunger will not do the trick. Plungers are some of the only safe items sold for drain removal, while plumbers have much larger equipment for clogs that are located further along in the pipes. As soon as you notice that your drains are not working properly—especially if it happens in multiple drains in the home—professional drain cleaning is the best option to keep backup from occurring.

Plumbing professionals have drain snakes that reach deep into the pipes to pull out clogs or to break up the blockage so that it can move down the pipes. Many experts use video cameras to assess the pipes in order to determine what type of tool to use and where the blockage is located, to repair the problem more accurately and quickly.

Schedule a Drain Cleaning

You may also choose to schedule drain cleaning in order to take preventive action against clogs. When there are minor blockages in your pipes, it may not be immediately apparent. But experts will inspect your pipes in order to make sure that there is no major blockage that could lead to a big clog in the future, and remove any blockage they can.

Call us today at Brooks Plumbing for quality drain cleaning in Tumwater.

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Signs that You Need to Replace Your Water Line

Friday, February 20th, 2015

Since the advent of copper pipes in the mid-twentieth century as the primary plumbing material, the life expectancy for plumbing systems has increased to almost 100 years. This newfound resilience has been a great gift to homeowners, who don’t have to worry about their pipes rusting out from under them anymore.

Copper pipes are not immune to all damage, however, and there are still plenty of older homes that don’t use copper pipes. Let’s take a look at some of the signs that you need to replace your water line.

Discolored Water

Common in homes with iron, steel, or lead pipes. If you notice red or brown water coming out of your faucets, it’s a sign of advanced oxidization somewhere in your plumbing system. Rust that is this advanced is dangerous, because it increases the chance that a pipe will rupture. If you see discoloration in your water, call a plumber right away. Honestly, if you know that you have an older pipe system, especially if it’s lead, you should probably replace your pipes anyway.

Loss of Water Pressure

A loss of water pressure can be caused by a number of plumbing issues, one of which is a leak or blockage in your home’s water line. Obviously, neither of those things is good for the health of your system. Depending on the size of the leak (or blockage) it may be possible to repair the issue without replacing the line. However, it is often less expensive to simply replace the water line.

Visible Corrosion

While most of your home’s plumbing is installed out of sight, there are many homes that have water lines that are at least partially visible. If you have any part of your plumbing system that can be visually inspected, make a habit of doing so at least once a year. You’ll want to look for any signs of corrosion, which often manifests as a white, chalky substance on the pipes. Depending on how widespread the corrosion is, you may have to replace the water line. Copper pipes are vulnerable to this condition, so be sure not to skip checking them as well.

If you think you may need to replace your water line, call Brooks Plumbing. We provide plumbing repair throughout Tumwater.

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Lupercalia: The Origin of St. Valentine’s Day

Saturday, February 14th, 2015

Many people may think of Valentine’s Day as a holiday essentially created by card and gift companies, but the truth is that the holiday has long-standing roots going back to the Roman Empire. The name “Lupercalia” has its origins in the word “lupus”, which means wolf, and the reason for this is that according to Roman pagan religion, the she-wolf Lupa nursed the two orphaned infants Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome.

The Festival

The Festival of Lupercalia spanned two days each February, from February 13th to 15th. The festival was about fertility and was led by Luperci priests, known as “brothers of the wolf”. The festival was serious with intention (fertility) but was executed as quite a romp for both the priests and citizens of Rome. The process was this: two male goats and a dog were sacrificed at the beginning of the festival by the priests; two young Luperci were then anointed with the blood from the animals, and the hides of the animals were cut into straps. As food and drink flowed, the male priests would run around the city wearing nothing but thongs made from the animal skins, and they also carried a strap from one of the sacrificed animals. The strap was used to strike the palms of Roman women waiting for the priests in the city, as it was believed that being hit with the strap could help with infertility issues and a safe, healthy labor for women who were pregnant.

The Transition to St. Valentine’s Day

The Christian influence of the holiday came around the 5th century. The Roman Empire was still strong, but Christianity was rapidly taking hold throughout the world. It is believed that to try and remove the paganism from the holiday, the deaths of two men, supposedly both named Valentine, were added into the mix. During the 3rd and 4th centuries, a law created by Claudius II forbade young men eligible for military service to marry, because Rome wanted a strong army. The two men named Valentine were priests, and married young couples in secret. Both were found out and executed on February 14th, although in separate years. The Church made Valentine a saint (they chose one), and Lupercalia became St. Valentine’s Day.

Here’s wishing you and your loved ones a Happy Valentine’s Day!

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Ways You May Be Mistreating Your Garbage Disposal

Monday, February 9th, 2015

These days, it’s nearly unthinkable to build or remodel a kitchen without a garbage disposal unit. The garbage disposal helps to keep your pipes clear of clogs and it makes your work in the kitchen a lot easier.

The problem is that many people don’t actually treat their garbage disposals correctly. You may unintentionally inflict damage upon your garbage disposal and even put your plumbing system at risk if you don’t take the proper steps to keep it in check.

For garbage disposal replacement, plumbing repair, or drain maintenance with a team of trusted professionals, call Brooks Plumbing today!

How NOT to use your disposal

The following common garbage disposal mistakes should be avoided at all costs.

  • Putting non-food items down the drain. The garbage disposal is not as powerful as some people give it credit for, and for good reason. Paper, plastic, rubber, and other materials simply don’t belong in the plumbing system, and your garbage disposal won’t be able to break them down effectively. Be sure to inform family members that items like cigarette butts and plastic wrappers belong in the trash instead.
  • Leaving large chunks of food as-is. Your garbage disposal motor may wear down from large pieces of food as well. The motor can become overworked, and you may find yourself hitting the reset button underneath the unit frequently, and, eventually, replacing it too soon.
  • Pouring F.O.G. into the drain. Fats, oils, and greases all seem fairly innocuous, but these can be detrimental to the pipes. F.O.G. actually hardens as it cools down. And when this happens, they’ll collect in your pipes, leading to clogs. Additional debris gathers and sticks to the F.O.G., and you may deal with a major drain clog that needs professional repairs.
  • Throwing in these common food substances. Some things to avoid putting in the drains include hard food items (seeds, pits, bones, and popcorn kernels, for example), fibrous foods like celery and potato skins, and expandable foods. Celery could wrap around the impellers of the disposer, so be sure to cut it up if you do feed it into the unit. Foods like rice and pasta may expand in the pipes and should be avoided at all costs.

Be sure to take care of your plumbing system and call the friendly folks at Brooks Plumbing today to service or replace your garbage disposal in Olympia.

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Why Small Leaks Matter

Tuesday, February 3rd, 2015

A lot of people think that plumbing leaks are only worthy of professional attention if they’re very large. As though if a pipe isn’t threatening to rupture and flood your house, it isn’t worth calling a plumber over. In reality, the most dangerous leaks are often the smallest. Let’s examine these tiny leaks, and why they have the potential to actually become the bane of your existence if you ignore them.

Pinhole Leaks

The most common kind of small leak is called the “pinhole leak.” These leaks exclusively affect copper pipes, which also happen to be by far the most common pipes in American homes. Pinhole leaks are caused by pitted corrosion, which is where the pipe degrades from the outside in. No one really knows what causes pitted corrosion, though the EPA has been trying to figure it out for years. Eventually, an opening no bigger than a pinhole opens and begins leaking water, one drop at a time.

What’s the Big Deal?

Leaking one drop at a time may not seem like that big of a deal, in the same way that a dripping faucet may not seem like a big deal. However, those drops really add up over time. A dripping faucet can actually waste over a thousand gallons of water over the course of a year. A pinhole leak can waste that much water pretty easily, but it’s actually much worse.

Pinhole leaks tend to affect areas that are out of sight, which means they’re very likely to go unnoticed for a long time. The leak is not large enough to cause a drop in water pressure, and because of the pitted corrosion that causes it there won’t be any rust in the water to tip off the homeowner. So, pinhole leaks can go without being noticed for a very long time, wasting thousands of gallons of water without you even noticing.

The other issue is that pinhole leaks tend to occur in areas surrounded by things like insulation and support beams. The slow drip of water can cause these things to rot away over time, damaging the wall or ceiling in which the pipe is located and causing much more expensive repairs.

The best way to combat pinhole leaks is to have your plumbing frequently checked. If you haven’t had your home’s plumbing checked this year, call Brooks Plumbing. Our expert plumbers cover the whole Turnwater area.

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