FAQs

If you notice a sudden increase in your water bill that does not correspond to an increase in the amount of water you know you were using in the house, you probably have a leak somewhere in your system. Without proper experience and diagnostic equipment, you will have a hard time pinpointing the source of the leak on your own. Your best bet is to call an experienced plumber who can inspect your whole plumbing system easily and figure out where the leak is and what to do about it.

Particularly if you live in an area with very harsh winters, freezing pipes can be a big issue. In order to prevent your pipes from freezing, you should turn off all outside faucets, disconnect the hoses attached to these faucets and drain the excess water from the system. Finally, wrap the faucets and outlets with dry cloth to further insulate them from the cold.

A bad smell coming from your garbage disposal is a common problem, but luckily it is usually easy to fix. The smell is the result of the buildup of food residue on the blades and in the garbage disposal chamber. A good deep cleaning is often all that is required to get rid of the smell. Before you start, make sure that all power to the unit is completely cut off. You do not want anyone accidentally flipping the switch and turning on the unit while you are working on it.

Next, take out the blades carefully and thoroughly wash them. You can also scrub out the inside chamber so that you are sure there is no residue left there. However, be sure not to use any harsh chemical cleaners, as these can damage the inner workings of the machine. Instead, use biodegradable soaps or natural cleaning agents like vinegar and baking soda to get the job done. Once you have thoroughly cleaned out your garbage disposal, you can help keep odors from coming back by periodically putting half a lemon and some baking soda down it and running it.

If your plumbing has never been inspected or you do not know when the last inspection took place, it is a good idea to have it done as soon as possible. Depending on your particular circumstances and the overall state of your plumbing system, a professional plumber can make recommendations about how often the process should be repeated.

If you live on a property with a lot of trees, for instance, you may need to have your plumbing lines inspected more often because of the chance that roots could begin to infiltrate the system. However, if there are no extenuating circumstances and your plumbing is otherwise in good shape, you could probably wait longer between inspections. In general, though, a plumbing system should be inspected annually.

A white buildup around your shower head and faucets is most likely mineral deposits that settle out from your water and accumulate over time. These can be cleaned off easily enough by soaking the fixture in vinegar overnight and then thoroughly scrubbing it. But that will not keep the problem from recurring. If your problem is severe or you would like to avoid future occurrences, you may want to look into having a water softener installed that can take those minerals out of your water before it reaches your taps.

Despite the treatment that just about all drinking water gets at the municipal level, there are plenty of ways that contaminants can infiltrate your home water supply. The only way to know if they’re there and what they are is to have your water tested by a professional. Testing will identify the presence of things like excess minerals, chemicals and bacterial agents.

Once testing is done, you’re in a much better position to determine what type of water treatment system you need for your home. If your water is too hard, you’ll want a system to soften it. If there are excess chemicals in the water, filters can be put in place to remove them. And if it’s bacterial agents you have the biggest problem with, UV antibacterial lights can be installed to neutralize them on contact.

Your water is hard if there is an excess of minerals in it, most commonly calcium and magnesium. These minerals are not inherently harmful, but when their concentration in your water supply is too high, they can do a lot of damage to your pipes and appliances.
Once you know you have hard water, however, it’s quite easy to remedy the situation. There are plenty of great systems on the market and your water treatment technician can help you determine which one is appropriately calibrated and sized for your home and water needs.

Just like any other piece of equipment in your home, your water treatment system can’t continue to work properly forever. Often when it stops working effectively, you’ll have very few warning signs that a problem exists. So the best way to ensure that your system is always doing exactly what you need it to do is to keep up with regular maintenance visits from a professional.

During these visits, a technician or plumber will thoroughly inspect your entire system to find any problems and clean out whatever sediment and debris may have built up over time. They’ll also change or clean all of your filters. With this attention, your water treatment system should have no trouble keeping your water safe and clean, and you won’t have to worry about how well it’s working from one month to the next.

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While both water filtration and softening remove certain elements from your home water supply, they go about it in very different ways. Water softening equipment makes use of ion exchange to get excess calcium and magnesium out of your water. In the process, water softeners typically insert sodium ions in place of the unwanted minerals.

Water filters, on the other hand, actually catch and absorb particles floating in your water. Once these particles are trapped in the filter, the remainder of the water can continue on, free of contamination.

Bacterial contaminants can be especially tricky to get out of your home water supply. Because of this, installing UV antibacterial lights after your main filtration device is essential. These lights work because the bacteria absorb the UV-C radiation as they pass by the light. This radiation scrambles the DNA inside each microbe and ends their ability to reproduce. Once they can no longer reproduce, bacteria are not a threat to the health and safety of your family.

There are many symptoms of a clogged sewer line. The first thing you should look for is slow drainage of your fixtures. If only one or two fixtures drain slowly, it is likely due to a local clog and can be fixed with a plunger or auger. However, if the problem persists or if you notice that all of you fixtures are draining slowly at the same time, it may be because of a clog in your sewer line. In extreme cases, you may notice a smell if the clog is severe enough. Call a professional immediately for assistance in diagnosing the problem.

All products that can safely be flushed down the toilet will tell you so on their packaging, so if it does not say “flushable” do not flush it. However, for general reference, avoid flushing any paper products other than toilet paper. Paper towels, napkins, tissues, and sanitary wipes are all problematic. The issue is that they don’t dissolve the same way that toilet paper does. Instead of breaking down (something toilet paper is designed to do), they absorb water and grow heavy, eventually clogging the drain, if not in your home, in the sewer line. Also avoid flushing any food, dental products or hair down the line.

Because your sewer line is probably installed under your lawn, it is surrounded by soil. Normally, tree and shrub roots will stay in their own area. The person who installed your sewer line likely did not place a tree right next to it. However, over time, especially if water is scarce, the roots will begin to seek out a source of water, which is exactly what your sewer line is. In some cases, roots will simply wrap around the pipes. However, if the material used for your pipes is susceptible to cracking, the roots may even get inside the line. PVC is a good replacement for metal pipes that can allow this.

Normally, smells should not escape back into your home through drains. All fixture drains use a simple P-trap that creates an air vacuum through which sewer gasses cannot return. As long as that trap remains clear, it’s a stopgap between strong smells and gasses getting into your home. However, in some cases, the vacuum disappears. When a fixture is not used for a long time, the water in the trap evaporates and leaves an open space for gases to return. The easiest solution is to pour water down the drain to refill the trap. If you notice the smell does not go away after doing this, call a professional immediately to inspect your trap.

Most of the time, the sewer lines located on your property are your responsibility. If a problem persists into the main sewer line or off your property, there may be issues of city, county or government agency responsibility as well, but you should check with your local municipality first. Most plumbers and drainage technicians can easily find this information and help you determine what repairs you are responsible for in your sewer lines. It is safe to assume that any problems on your property are issues you will need to have repaired, however.

Tankless water heaters are rapidly gaining in popularity these days. They are efficient and effective at providing hot water in a variety of settings and are a great alternative for many people. But tankless water heaters are certainly not for everyone either, and figuring out if one is right for you can be a complicated process.

The best thing you can do if you are trying to decide between tankless and tank water heaters is to consult with a professional who can help you evaluate your options. Tankless water heaters are great for low-demand households. However, they can have difficulty keeping up with demands from multiple locations in a home at once. If you think that this is a likely occurrence in your household, you may want to consider having multiple tankless water heaters installed, or you may be better off with a tank model.

Tankless water heaters do have many benefits, though. They use less energy than tank models because they do not have to keep a reserve of water hot all of the time. They also take up much less space than tank water heaters, making them an excellent option in houses where space is at a premium.

Different types of water heaters come with different recommendations for the frequency of service they require. In general, though, a traditional tank water heater should be serviced about once a year. Many tankless water heater models do not require service this frequently, but it is a good idea to follow the manufacturer’s recommendations even if your water heater is brand new. There is no substitute for proper maintenance service and it will likely save you a lot in the long run.

You should consider replacing your water heater if you have noticed persistent problems with getting hot water when and where you need it or if you are calling for repairs on a regular basis. Even if this is not the case, however, you may still want to replace your water heater if your current unit is more than 12 years old. This is about the average lifespan of a water heater anyway, and a model this old is likely much less energy efficient than the ones on the market today, meaning you’re spending more on monthly energy bills than you need to.

While it is true that water heaters are not a particularly complicated piece of equipment, it is not a good idea to try and install one on your own. Proper water heater installation requires knowledge of local building codes and the ability to attach your unit safely to the appropriate power source. This is delicate work and something best left to a professional. And if you have your water heater installed by an outside agency, they will take care of removing and disposing of your old system and necessary permits as well.

Most water heaters come preset to maintain the water in the tank at 120°F. However, if you would like to save a substantial amount of money on your monthly energy bill, turning the thermostat down to around 100°F is the way to go. This is still high enough to make the hot water you get out of your tap comfortable, but it will cost you much less in the long run and can reduce the wear and tear on your unit as well.

While most people don’t think of solar hot water heaters as a mainstream option, they are quickly becoming a popular solution for many households. Changing your entire house over to solar power will take a great deal of time and initial investment and require lots of space for solar collectors and other equipment. But simply adding a solar hot water heater isn’t nearly as ambitious a project and can save you quite a bit of money on home energy bills.

A solar hot water heater works just about anywhere there is direct sunlight. The solar collectors needed to power this type of system can be fitted to a roof section that isn’t shaded. By choosing our solar hot water heating system, you’ll benefit from reliable and cheap hot water any time you turn on one of the taps in your home.

While solar hot water heaters are a viable option in many more areas than you probably realize, they might not be the right choice for everyone. If you’re unsure whether a solar hot water heater is the right choice for your home, the best thing to do is to talk to a professional. They can give you expert and unbiased advice and help you evaluate your options for inexpensive home hot water.

Most residential hot water heaters maintain water at a temperature of between 120°F and 140°F, although it’s really only necessary for your hot water to be about 120°F. Solar hot water heaters are more than capable of maintaining and storing water at these temperatures and higher, so you won’t notice any difference when you switch from a conventional hot water heater to a solar powered one.

The vast majority of the time, your solar hot water heater will take care of all of your home’s hot water needs with ease. However, in case of emergency and during cloudy weather, it’s always a good idea to have a backup system in place. For instance, if a storm diminishes direct sunlight for a considerable length of time or if your solar collectors become damaged, a backup system will provide hot water until the sky clears or your system can be repaired.

The most efficient way of backing up your solar hot water heater is to integrate it with a traditional system which typically is included in out installation. That way, as long as there is enough solar power coming from your system to keep the water hot, you won’t use any fuel or electricity. If for some reason your solar power is interrupted, you’ll still have access to traditional power sources to heat the water you need.

The specific amount you’ll save by installing a solar hot water heater depends on how much hot water you use and what your previous rates were. Because there are so many variables to take into account in this equation, it’s hard to pinpoint an exact figure or range for your expected savings.

There are a few factors to take into account. If you require backup heating during winter months, the savings won’t be as great at all times. However, in most cases, solar hot water heating pays for itself in very little time. Discussing your options with a solar installation professional is the best way to determine what your actual savings will be.