Posts Tagged ‘Chesapeake City’

Warwick Plumbing Guide: Types of Water Filters

Wednesday, January 4th, 2012

Water quality is an important issue for many Warwick homeowners. We all use water every day to bathe, cook, drink and clean. No one wants to worry about whether that water might be unhealthy for their family.

For those who aren’t fortunate enough to live in areas where the water supply is naturally clean or properly filtered before reaching their faucets, a water filter is an important and valued investment. It can mean water that not only tastes better, but is also free of potentially harmful contaminants.

But with so many kinds of water filers on the market, how are you to know which one is right? Let’s take a look at a few of the different types available.

One of the simplest solutions is a faucet-mounted water filter. The installation is simple, and most models allow for easy switching between filtered and unfiltered water. They are quite effective at removing most large contaminants. However, there are some drawbacks. These filters don’t work with some faucets and the cartridges need to be replaced, meaning an ongoing expense.

A countertop model sits alongside the existing tap and has its own tube for dispensing water. These are also fairly simple to install since they require no modification to any existing plumbing, and they work better for large quantities of water than faucet-mounted types do. Like faucet mounts, however, they also don’t work with all faucets.

Moving from the top of the sink to below it, you have under sink options. These also work well for filtering large volumes of water and have the added advantage of hiding out of sight. As a downside, they are more difficult to install than the previous two options, since the plumbing must be modified.

All three of these options are good solutions for a single sink, or you could get a few of them if you only need to filter water in some parts of you Warwick house. For a more extensive solution, consider a whole house filter. These attach to the main water line and filter all water that comes into the home. The cartridges last a long time and they remove dust and sediment well. However, installation needs to be done by a Warwick professional and these filters usually can’t handle other contaminants, like metals.

Depending on your filtration needs, one of these filters should work great for you and your family.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Plumbing | Comments Off

A Question from Georgetown: What is the Difference Between Water Filtration and Water Softening?

Monday, December 26th, 2011

If you’ve ever considered installing a water filtration system for your Georgetown home, you probably ran across water softening and wondered how this is different than normal filtration. The two are similar in that they improve the quality of your water, protecting both you and your home’s plumbing system. However, filtration and softening are two very different things and you may not need both of them.

Water Softening

Water softening is a process designed to minimize the impact of hard water on your home’s plumbing. Hard water occurs when certain minerals like iron and magnesium are present in high levels in your water supply. The problem occurs when those mineral settle on your fixtures and pipes, leaving behind a residue that builds over time and can block the pipes or ruin the fixtures.

Hard water isn’t generally dangerous to your health, but if it is bad enough, it can result in poor tasting water and will cost you money as it does an increasing volume of damage to the system. To fix the problem, you soften the water with a chemical treatment that keeps the minerals from settling on their way through. They simply go straight through the pipes and fixtures and no damage is done.

Water Filtration

Filtration on the other hand is designed to remove key contaminants from your water – things like sediment, bacteria, mold, nitrates, and arsenic – things that can actually cause harm to you and your family if not properly treated.

While water filtration is not the same as water softening, the two often go hand in hand. Not only does water softening have the potential to add unsafe levels of sodium to your water (which then needs to be removed through filtration), but usually when water is hard, there are other contaminants as well that can cause harm if left unchecked.

The only way to be truly sure of which problem you have and which solutions are best is to have a full test of your water supply done. This will help you determine which of the many water cleaning solutions on the market will be best for your home.

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Plumbing | Comments Off

Question from Elk Mills: Why Does My Sink Backup When I Run the Washing Machine?

Monday, December 12th, 2011

Every now and then something strange happens that is simultaneously baffling and frustrating. Gray water from your washing machine backing up into your sink is one such problem and for many Elk Mills homeowners it can be an ongoing source of annoyance.

Why does this happen? To start with, know that your sink and washing machine drain lines tend to run congruent to each other. This means they combine at some point on the way to the main sewer line. So, if there is a problem after they combine, it can affect both systems.

How to Fix the Problem

First, you must pinpoint the problem. More often than not, a washing machine backup will occur in one or more sinks during or after the drain cycle of your washing machine. This may not happen every time or it may get progressively worse. It depends on why it is happening in the first place.

If the sink doesn’t back up on its own when you do the dishes or run the faucet, the clog is probably deeper in the pipes and only responds to the large volume of water being drained from your washing machine. In either case, you probably have a clog in the drainage pipe after the two combine.

Do NOT use any chemicals to clear the clog. Not only do chemicals cause damage to your pipes, which can lead to cracks and leaks later, they are not always effective at actually removing the problem – they simply minimize it in the short term.

To solve the problem, you’ll either need to plunge the sink and hopefully clear out the clog or have someone snake the line to pull the clog out of the drain pipe. If you cannot clear it on your own, it may be a good time to call a plumber for a more in-depth attempt to fix the problem.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Plumbing | Comments Off

Shower Installation: Prefabricated vs. Tile

Wednesday, July 27th, 2011

There are quite a few things to consider when you are choosing a type of shower installation. Whether you are simply redoing an older shower or are having a new one completely installed, you will have to decide whether you want to go with a prefabricated installation or a more traditional tile interior. Both of these types of installations have their own sets of advantages and disadvantages, so determining which one is right for you will have a good deal to do with the particulars of your situation.

Prefab installations are generally made out of fiberglass or acrylic, making them lighter and less expensive than the tile alternatives. This is always great if you are on a budget, and it can benefit you in other ways as well. For instance, if you are trying to install a shower in an area without substantial floor support, a prefab installation is ideal because the shower stall simply does not weigh that much.

But prefab shower installations also have their drawbacks. They are not as versatile, particularly the one-piece installations, and they are only available in a set number of sizes and styles. And while you can touch them up to a certain extent when cracks develop, the likelihood is higher that you will have to replace a prefab unit sooner than you would a tiled one.

Tiled shower installations are certainly more labor intensive to design and install. And this, of course, means that they cost more overall. But they also offer you a much wider range of design and installations possibilities. They can be made to fit any space and are especially convenient when you are remodeling your home because the materials used can easily be carried through spaces large and small.

If you are looking for a do-it-yourself project, however, a tile shower installation may not be for you. While it is possible to complete this type of project on your own, there are a lot of factors you will have to take into account. Also, the work takes much longer than a prefab installation would. The end result may be much more pleasing, but you will definitely have to work for it.

And even if you have professionals install your tile shower, it will take more than the one day the prefab installations usually take. So before you set your shower installation choice in stone, take some time to carefully consider the pros and cons of each.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Plumbing | Comments Off

How Much Water Will I Save with a Low Flow Toilet?

Wednesday, July 13th, 2011

There are many reasons why you might want to save water in your home. Not only does it save you money, cutting down on your annual water bill, but it allows you to do your part in reducing the impact of modernity on our environment. And of all the appliances and plumbing fixtures in our homes, the toilet is among the worst offenders when it comes to wasting water.

That is why the advent of the low flush toilet has been very well received. While the 1.6 gpf toilet (standard toilets are 3.5 gpf) was originally invented in the 1990s, it is only now becoming more widespread as issues with things like clogging and multiple flushes were commonplace with the earliest models.

So, how much water can a low flush toilet actually save you? On average a 3.5 gpf toilet uses around 27,300 gallons of water per year. By comparison the 1.6 gpf toilet uses only 12,500 gallons per year. That is less than half as much water. With the average toilet using up to 30% of the daily water flow in a home, it is a fantastic way to cut back on your environmental footprint, and if your water bills tend to be high, it will severely reduce them as well.

Other Ways to Save Water

Low Flush Toilets are a great way to cut back on the amount of water we use in our homes, but there are other ways as well. In terms of fixtures, low flow shower heads are very popular right now and can help to cut back another 15% of your annual water use. You can also purchase lower flow faucets for your kitchen and bathroom sinks. High quality hot water heaters that provide hot water as needed are also good for reducing water use as you will not need to leave the faucet or bath running for any period of time.

Whether you want to cut a few dollars from your monthly bill or simply want to do your part to protect our environment, a low flush toilet is definitely the way to go, especially if you are remodelling or moving into a new home and the choice is there for you to take. It may still be good to compare the price of a regular to low flush toilet if you already have a working toilet in your home, but for new installations it is almost always a good deal.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Plumbing | Comments Off