We’re used to doing things on our own here in Olympia, WA. That often extends to plumbing problems, which many people feel they can solve themselves with store-bought tools. Nothing can be further from the truth. Homeowners hoping to perform repairs themselves often cause more damage than they solve, and can turn relatively minor problems into very large ones. Here are 3 reasons not to repair your own plumbing, which you should seriously consider before climbing under your sink.
Brooks Plumbing Co. Blog: Archive for the ‘Plumbing’ Category
3 Reasons Not to Repair Your Own Plumbing
Monday, May 25th, 2015How Do Plumbers Conduct Sewer Line Inspections?
Monday, May 18th, 2015Inspecting a sewer line used to be a serious operation, involving heavy equipment, burly construction teams and your front yard transformed into a muddy pit. Considering our wet weather in Olympia, WA, the process becomes all the messier whenever the next rainstorm rolls in. But those days are long gone. Thanks to advancements in technology, plumbers can conduct sewer line inspections cleanly and efficiently, and determine the problem with your line without having to excavate it. How do they do it? Techniques vary, but the basics come down to one factor: video cameras.
When Is It Time to Call for Commercial Plumbing Help?
Monday, May 4th, 2015No building can operate without a properly working plumbing system, and this is especially true for commercial properties. While many commercial property owners are handy, or have staff that are, it is always best to call for trained commercial experts when you need help with your business’s plumbing. When is it appropriate to call for help? Here are some examples of when it’s time to contact your Brooks Plumbing expert:
Benefits of a Low-Flow Toilet
Monday, April 6th, 2015If you’ve been looking for ways to save water in your Olympia, WA, home, we may have a very easy solution for you: consider the installation of a low-flow toilet. Why? It all comes down to water usage, and if you have a toilet or toilets that aren’t low-flow, then these toilets comprise over 25% of your home’s total water usage. Putting this another way, if you have a toilet that is a 5 or 7 gallon toilet, and you average 5 flushes a day, your toilet uses between 9,000-12,000 gallons of water per year. Low-flow toilets use a maximum of 1.6 gallons, cutting this amount down to just over 2,900 gallons of water per year – an amount 3-4 times less that of 5-6 gallon toilets.
How do low-flow toilets manage this? First, they have some simple yet key design differences from higher-flow toilets, starting with the bowl outlet hole. In a regular toilet bowl, the outlet hole is located toward the back of the bowl; in a low-flow toilet, the outlet hole is located in the center of the bowl so that waste can more easily and directly exit the bowl. Another modification that you’ll find with a low-flow toilet is that the balance of the water in the bowl is toward the front of the bowl; this helps move waste quickly and effectively. The last difference you’ll find between a low-flow toilet and a regular one is that the flush valve is larger. Having a larger flush valve creates a stronger flush, which helps push waste out of the bowl and into the outlet pipe.
Now that you know the differences between a low-flow toilet and a regular one, let’s take a look at the benefits:
- Water conservation – as we discussed in the top paragraph, you can save a great deal of water by switching to a low-flow toilet
- Space-saving – because low-flow toilets use less water, most are smaller in size, particularly the tank area
- Easier installation – a smaller toilet means a less cumbersome toilet, so low-flow toilets can be easier to install
Interested to see what a low-flow toilet can do for your home? Call the plumbing experts at Brooks Plumbing today!
What Is a Pinhole Leak?
Monday, March 23rd, 2015The advent of copper as the main material for plumbing pipes was a major upset in the industry in the mid-twentieth century. Prior to the widespread use of copper, plumbing pipes were mainly composed of lead or iron.
Iron, of course, was extremely susceptible to rupturing from rust. Lead, meanwhile, was flat out poisonous. Copper piping, on the other hand, is almost immune to the types of corrosion that plagued its predecessors. The key word there is “almost.” There is one type of corrosion that can still affect copper pipes, and it can cause all sorts of damage to your plumbing and home. Let’s take a look at pitted corrosion, and the pinhole leaks it causes.
The Cause of Pinhole Leaks
Pitted corrosion is a type of corrosion that degrades copper pipes from the outside inward. The corrosion is always focused in a very small area, allowing it to eat through the pipe more quickly. Eventually, it opens up a tiny hole in the pipe. This hole is called a “pinhole leak” because of its small size. Pinhole leaks are only large enough to leak one or two drops at a time, so you might think that they’re not that big of a deal. Unfortunately, they can inflict damage far beyond their small size.
The Dangers of Pinhole Leaks
With most plumbing issues, like pipe blockages or ruptures, there are symptoms that the homeowner can detect. Sudden changes in water pressure, discoloration, and other signs serve to warn the homeowner that something is wrong with the plumbing system. Pinhole leaks are so small, however, that they don’t cause any detectable symptoms. This means that the first warning a homeowner usually gets that a pinhole leak is present is when they come across the damage that leak has already caused.
Most of the plumbing pipes in your home are installed in the walls, surrounded by insulation, sheet rock, and support studs. Over a long enough period of time, even the slow drip of water from a pinhole leak can rot out the area around it. By the time a homeowner notices the damage that the pinhole leak has caused, it’s too late.
The best way to counter pinhole leaks is to have your plumbing inspected by a professional at least once a year. If you haven’t had your home’s plumbing inspected in a while, call Brooks Plumbing. We provide plumbing services throughout Olympia.
Signs that You Need Professional Drain Cleaning
Friday, February 27th, 2015When 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.
Signs that You Need to Replace Your Water Line
Friday, February 20th, 2015Since 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.
Ways You May Be Mistreating Your Garbage Disposal
Monday, February 9th, 2015These 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.
Why Small Leaks Matter
Tuesday, February 3rd, 2015A 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.
Should You Include a Garbage Disposal with Your Kitchen Remodeling?
Monday, January 26th, 2015If you’re remodeling a kitchen on a limited budget, you may look for ways that you can cut corners here and there. There are lots of ways to save money during a kitchen remodel, such as choosing an inexpensive tile, installing an energy efficient dishwasher and refrigerator, or focusing on only one area of the kitchen at a time. But one item that you cannot afford to skip over is the garbage disposal unit.
At Brooks Plumbing, we recommend you work with a contractor throughout your kitchen remodeling project so that you don’t end up missing out on any necessary plumbing equipment. Call us for your next Olympia remodeling project.
Misconceptions about the Need for Garbage Disposals
There are a couple of different misconceptions about garbage disposals that lead some homeowners—and even a few contractors—to believe that garbage disposal installation isn’t always needed. Some people think that a garbage disposal is simply unnecessary since drains seem to clog anyway or because the motor often gets stuck, but this generally happens only when you misuse the disposal.
The second misconception is that you can always install a garbage disposal later on. Attempting to save money now by leaving garbage disposal installation for another time still puts your plumbing system at risk. Even if you put in a temporary drain trap, this won’t necessarily prevent all foods from moving down the drain. Garbage disposals break up food and even some fats and oils so that you won’t end up with a serious drainage issue on your hands.
How to Properly Care for Your Garbage Disposal
If you want to make sure your garbage disposal doesn’t run into problems later on, be sure to use a professional for installation. You should also avoid dumping certain items down the drain, including fibrous foods like celery, F.O.G. (fats, oils, and grease), expandable foods like pasta and rice, and hard foods like meat bones. Run the cold water while using the disposal so that any fat and oil that does manage to move into the sink can break up more easily. Of course, you should throw non-food items in the trash, and you should always try to break large chunks of food up first.
Professional garbage installation helps to protect your plumbing and makes food preparation and cleanup much easier. Call Brooks Plumbing today to work with a plumbing specialist on your Olympia kitchen remodeling.
