Understanding Typical Plumbing Issues: A Guide
Understanding 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.
5 Typical Household Plumbing Issues and also How You Can Fix Them
As a property owner, you will experience several plumbing troubles that occasionally make a hassle. Some plumbing concerns are extra usual and can be conveniently taken care of. Doing the repair services yourselves on these easy plumbing troubles can save you tons of cash. Take a look at 5 of one of the most usual ones listed below:
Slow Draining Sink
This is one of the most usual grievance of home owners, with the sink collecting a lot of hair, grease, particles, as well as other crud with time. The only method to get a smooth streaming drainpipe once again is to get rid of the particles. You can use a plumbing tool for fishing out the debris. From there, you can make use of a store-bought drainpipe cleaner to clean the lines.
Slow-moving Tub Drain
Simply like the sink drain, hair, soap scum, dead skin cells, as well as various other substances pool in the drainpipe usually. After making use of the claw, you can put drain cleaner to refresh the drainpipe lines.
Low Tide Pressure
Is somebody from your house complaining that there's low water pressure from the sink? If indeed, then the trouble is the aerator within the sink which may have a lot of sedimentation resulting in low water stress.
Running Toilet
You might have experienced a running bathroom, which can be rather frustrating since the container will not fill up. At the exact same time, leaving it alone corresponds to losing water as well as spiking up your water costs.
Commode fill valve
Leaking flush valve
Commode flapper
Malfunctioning Garbage Disposal System
This annoying issue is also high on the listing of common plumbing problems. Your device will certainly feature a great trick to unjam your equipment. Yet if you lose it, you will certainly require an Allen wrench to repair the problem. You have to go under the sink and also search for the place where you can put the secret. Once you identify it, use your wrench to transform the machine to free the electric motor. When functioning on your garbage disposal system to stop horrible accidents, do not neglect to turn off the system and reduced the circuit breaker.
If all of these audio tedious for you, you can constantly call in a plumber to get specialist assistance. Seeking specialist help means conserving time and effort. Since you can relax guaranteed that your straightforward plumbing trouble will not escalate, you may also end up saving money in the lengthy run. Just make sure you call a respectable firm with licenses and qualifications because you will be welcoming strangers in your house. Certainly, you need to make certain that you deal with someone you can rely on.
As a property owner, you will certainly experience several various plumbing problems that sometimes make an annoyance. Some plumbing issues are a lot more usual and can be easily taken care of. Doing the repair work yourselves on these straightforward plumbing troubles can conserve you loads of cash. You can utilize a plumbing tool for fishing out the particles. You might even finish up saving money in the long run due to the fact that you can rest assured that your straightforward plumbing problem will certainly not intensify.
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