Common Plumbing Problems Explained: What You Need to Know
Common Plumbing Problems Explained: What You Need to Know
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MOST COMMON PLUMBING PROBLEMS IN OLDER HOMES
Galvanized Pipes
The galvanic process means coating an iron pipe with molten zinc to prevent the iron from corroding. The zinc lasts a while, but not forever. As the zinc erodes, the exposed iron begins to rust. This can cause pipes to fail, but the warning signal is easy to spot: Your water will become discolored from the rust in it.
The answer is to have galvanized pipes professionally replaced by modern alternatives, such as copper or PEX (Cross-Linked Polyethylene). A well-trained plumber and assistant can perform this work in relatively short time, ensuring a constant water pressure, no odd taste or color to your water and no leaks.
Pipe Bellies
As your Phoenix home rises and falls in its surrounding soil, the pipes leading into your home will rise and fall, too. When they buckle or bow, they form a pipe belly, a low spot that defies gravity’s pull on sewage. While this settling occurs slowly, you will eventually notice poor drainage, slow-flushing toilets and, ultimately, a clogged sewer line.
Similar to pipe bellies are pipe channeling, where hard water carves its own channel in the bottom of a sewer pipe, rendering it very weak.
Polybutylene Pipe
Once thought of as a great water pipe product, polybutylene pipe (PB) was used from the late ’70s into the early ’90s because of its low cost and easy installation. It breaks down with exposure to water and water’s dissolved solids, so it is not acceptable anymore. As time goes on, homeowners experience more and more polybutylene pipe problems.
If you have an entire house piped in PB, you need the services of an experienced local plumber to replace every run, every elbow and tee, and every connection to fixtures throughout your house. Otherwise a leak could destroy furniture, furnishings, flooring and more.
Sewer Lines
Sewers and sewer lines are definitely at the top of a lot of people’s old house plumbing problems. Sewer lines take your home’s gray and black water from drains to the sewer main, where it travels on to a municipal treatment plant. Sewer lines are always wet, so they attract tree roots. Cast iron pipes are particularly susceptible to cracking and intrusion by tree roots, which can completely clog a line.
Professional plumbers can send a camera into your home’s sewer pipe to diagnose channeling and bellies, and they can find and fix tree roots that clog your pipe. This is a much more affordable option than the disgusting and expensive issues created by a sewer backing up.
Drains
Fifty years of draining water, soap scum, sewage and shampoo can take a toll on your older Phoenix home’s drains. Clogs develop in pipes in all drains, but toilet, kitchen, and bathroom sink drains are particularly prone to clogs.
Toilets are infamous targets for children, fascinated by the disappearing act. While you may never know a small action figure or toy car went down the toilet, you will know a backed-up toilet when it strikes. A small item could start a very slow-building clog.
Kitchen sink drains also tend to accept things that should not go down the drain, like kitchen fats, bits of food that should go through a sink strainer and even bone. You can do your part, of course, by keeping waste out of the kitchen sink or having a garbage disposal installed, but in an older home you will not know what others have stuffed down there before you.
Original Fixtures
While some original fixtures are notably sturdier and of better quality than their corresponding modern fixtures, many older ones simply wear out with time. Washers and valves degrade and cause leaks. Stems and handles break. If your home still has its original spigots, faucets, handles and valves, you may not notice the tiny leaks that lead to higher water bills and unpleasant smells.
A worry spot in any home is the shut-off valve for a toilet. This little-used valve attaches where the rigid pipe exits the wall, down below the tank, and a flexible metal and plastic tube connects the water supply to the tank. That shut-off valve can get stuck in its typical, open position, so any attempt to close it may actually cause it to leak. A trained plumber can replace not only the flexible tube to the toilet tank, but the antiquated or stuck shut-off valve. This means you never have to worry about turning off the water to the toilet should a bowl clog cause your toilet to back up.
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5 Typical Household Plumbing Issues and also How You Can Fix Them
As a house owner, you will certainly run into several plumbing troubles that sometimes make a problem. Some plumbing problems are a lot more common and also can be conveniently taken care of. Doing the repair work yourselves on these straightforward plumbing troubles can save you tons of money. Take a look at 5 of one of the most typical ones listed below:
Slow Draining Sink
This is the most typical problem of property owners, with the sink collecting a great deal of hair, grease, particles, as well as other crud in time. The only method to obtain a smooth streaming drain once more is to remove the debris. You can make use of a plumbing tool for fishing out the debris. From there, you can make use of a store-bought drainpipe cleaner to cleanse the lines.
Sluggish Tub Drain
This is another pesky nuisance considering that the tub is just one of one of the most secondhand fixtures in your restroom. Similar to the sink drain, hair, soap residue, dead skin cells, and also other gunk swimming pool in the drainpipe frequently. You have to stand out open the drain cover and also use a bathtub claw to remove the particles. Do this ASAP before the drain congests completely. After making use of the claw, you can put drain cleaner to freshen the drainpipe lines.
Low Water Pressure
Is somebody from your house whining that there's low water pressure from the sink? Examine if this issue impacts both the cold as well as hot water lines. The issue is the aerator within the sink which may have a great deal of sedimentation resulting in reduced water stress if indeed. This is extremely simple to repair as you just need to take it out and also scrub away the natural resource.
Running Toilet
You may have experienced a running toilet, which can be quite aggravating because the container will not fill out. At the same time, leaving it alone equates to wasting water and surging up your water bills. For beginners, determine what's triggering it to run. You might require to change any one of the complying with commode mechanisms:
Bathroom fill shutoff
Dripping flush valve
Commode flapper
Malfunctioning Garbage Disposal System
This annoying problem is likewise high on the listing of common plumbing problems. Your device will certainly come with a cool secret to unjam your equipment. If you shed it, you will need an Allen wrench to deal with the trouble. You need to go under the sink and also look for the spot where you can put the secret. Once you find it, use your wrench to transform the equipment to release the electric motor. Do not fail to remember to switch off the system and cut the breaker when servicing your waste disposal unit system to avoid awful crashes.
You might even end up saving money in the long run due to the fact that you can rest assured that your straightforward plumbing issue will not intensify. Just make certain you call a trusted firm with licenses and also qualifications due to the fact that you will be inviting unfamiliar people in your residence.
As a property owner, you will experience lots of various plumbing issues that periodically make a hassle. Some plumbing concerns are more usual as well as can be easily repaired. Doing the fixings yourselves on these simple plumbing problems can save you heaps of cash. You can make use of a plumbing tool for fishing out the debris. You may even end up conserving cash in the lengthy run because you can rest assured that your easy plumbing issue will certainly not rise.
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