Recognizing Typical Plumbing Issues: A Guide
Recognizing Typical Plumbing Issues: A Guide
Blog Article
What are the most common plumbing problems?
Clogs
Clogs are arguably the most common type of plumbing problem that homeowners run into. Drains clog all the time. Most of these clogs are pretty minor—you clear out a sink clog by running the disposal, or a toilet clog using the plunger.
But, many other clogs are much tougher to clear out. Some can even be a sign of a sewer line blockage—something that should never be taken lightly!
How to deal with clogs
This is how most homeowners approach a clog. They’ll try to clear it themselves and—should that approach fail—they’ll bring in a plumber.
After all, plumbers have access to specialized clog-clearing tools that most homeowners don’t have under their kitchen or bathroom sink. This includes a variety of snake tools, specialized plungers, augers, and more.
Should you use drain cleaning products?
When confronted with a clog, most homeowners are tempted to run out to the grocery store and grab a drain cleaning product. After all, this is typically cheaper than bringing in a plumber.
However, these drain cleaning chemicals don’t always work as well as they should. In many cases, they only partially clear the clog, which means you’re going to be dealing with a clog again very soon.
Plus, these harsh chemicals can be tough on your pipes. Repeated use can actually weaken and damage them.
Frozen Pipes
Throughout much of the United States—including here in Chicagoland—frozen pipes are a major problem in the winter.
All it takes is a particularly cold night and your heater going down for several hours (which are often related) for your home’s pipes to freeze. If your home has an electric furnace, a power outage could also lead to this problem.
What happens when pipes freeze?
For obvious reasons, pipes in exterior walls are at the greatest immediate risk. As the pipes freeze, the water inside of them expands.
If you’ve ever left a can of soda pop in the freezer overnight, you know what comes next: the expansion of water into ice puts immense pressure on the pipe.
Luckily, your home’s copper or PVC pipes are hardier than an aluminum can, but there’s only so much of this sustained pressure they can take. Your pipes are at risk of bursting at any time.
How should you thaw out frozen pipes?
Thawing these pipes out is trickier than you might think. Most homeowners instinctively reach for the hair dryer, but that can actually bring on a pipe burst, since rapidly heating the pipe’s surface may weaken it.
You’ll really want to bring in a plumber. We have specialized thawing tools designed to safely raise the temperature of the water inside of the pipe, defrosting it without damaging the pipe itself.
Leaks
Water leaks are a big deal—and a common problem. Whether they’re caused by frozen—and then burst—pipes, or just by aging pipes, water leaks can cause thousands of dollars in water damage to your home, relatively quickly.
For this reason, every leak—no matter how small it starts—needs to be treated like a major threat to your home.
Do you need leak detection?
Not all leaks start in convenient, easy-to-access places, either. Some leaks start behind walls, in ceilings, or underneath floors. Finding and accessing the leak actually might be the toughest part of the job.
This is where a professional plumber can really save you a lot of time, money, and headache. Using professional leak detection equipment—such as acoustic leak detectors—the plumber will pinpoint the location of the leak.
From there, they can make precision cuts into your drywall or slab to access and repair it.
Leaks and water damage
If you’ve got a leak, you’ve probably also got water damage and, potentially, mold growth. Once your plumber has fixed the leak, you’ll want to speak to a restoration and mold remediation specialist to make sure there’s no long-term, lingering damage to your home.
How to Fix Common Household Plumbing Issues
Some plumbing issues are more usual as well as can be easily taken care of. Doing the fixings yourselves on these simple plumbing issues can conserve you tons of cash. As a home owner, you will encounter many different plumbing problems that sometimes make an annoyance. Take a look at 5 of the most typical ones below:
Low Tide Pressure
Is a person from your home whining that there's low tide pressure from the sink? Inspect if this issue influences both the warm as well as cold water lines. If yes, after that the problem is the aerator within the sink which may have a great deal of sedimentation leading to low tide stress. This is really simple to take care of as you simply need to take it out and scrub away the natural resource.
Running Toilet
You may have experienced a running bathroom, which can be fairly bothersome since the storage tank will not fill. At the same time, leaving it alone relates to wasting water and increasing up your water bills. For starters, identify what's causing it to run. You may need to replace any of the complying with commode mechanisms:
Bathroom fill shutoff
Dripping flush shutoff
Commode flapper
Malfunctioning Garbage Disposal System
This irritating trouble is likewise high on the checklist of common plumbing problems. If you shed it, you will require an Allen wrench to deal with the problem. You have to go under the sink and also look for the place where you can insert the secret.
Slow Draining Sink
This is one of the most usual problem of homeowners, with the sink collecting a lot of hair, grease, particles, as well as other gunk in time. Regrettably, the only way to get a smooth streaming drainpipe once more is to remove the debris. You can make use of a plumbing device for fishing out the particles. From there, you can use a store-bought drain cleaner to clean the lines.
Slow-moving Tub Drain
Simply like the sink drain, hair, soap scum, dead skin cells, and also other substances swimming pool in the drain often. After using the claw, you can pour drain cleaner to freshen the drainpipe lines.
You might even end up saving money in the long run since you can relax guaranteed that your straightforward plumbing problem will certainly not rise. Simply make certain you call a credible firm with licenses and also qualifications due to the fact that you will be welcoming complete strangers in your residence.
Some plumbing issues are more common and also can be conveniently repaired. Doing the repairs yourselves on these straightforward plumbing troubles can save you tons of cash. As a home owner, you will experience many different plumbing problems that periodically make a nuisance. You can utilize a plumbing device for angling out the debris. You may even end up saving money in the long run since you can rest assured that your basic plumbing problem will not escalate.
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