Discussion with a plumber- part 1/4- Preventing problems.

 

Hi gang.

 

Part 1 in a 4 part series on “discussions with a plumber”

A friend of mine, Tanner Mansfield, is the owner of Damascus Road Services, LLC

https://www.facebook.com/DamascusRoadServices

804-306-2706

 

I spent 45 minutes one evening talking to him about the issues that come up in home plumbing problems, that result in him being called.

Today, I am talking about what maintenance you can do to prevent the need for excess calls.

1-      Flush your water heater at least once a year. This removes the grunge and grime and buildup on the inside of your hot water heater. Not hard to do, just hook up a ordinary garden hose to the drain valve on the bottom of your hot water heater, and run the hose outsides. Turn it on. When it runs clear AND the water is cool, turn it off, and you are done. Disconnect the hose, and you are good for a year.

2-      If you have water filters under your house (and you may not know. Many houses on city water have filters, but they were installed by the prior owner, and you have no idea.) check the filter at least 2 or 3 times a year. You may notice that your water pressure in the house drops, and this indicates that the filter needs to be changed.

3-      The aerator caps on your faucets need to be removed intermittently and cleaned. They can be replaced if they are too bad,  but usually, just take it off, and use a tooth brush to clean it off. You will be able to see the sand and grime and gunk. If you have hard water, let it sit in white vinegar to remove the hard water stains. (if you have hard water, talk to a plumber about getting a water softener.).

4-      Check the pipes under your house in the crawl space. Make sure they are insulated, and not exposed to the cold. If they freeze, they can burst, and that is a nasty problem. Also, make sure your crawl space closes, so there is not that much cold airflow.   Closed cell foam insulators are an inexpensive way to do that.  They look like a pool noodle, but are made for insulation rather than floatation.  If you suspect that the pipes may freeze, crack a faucet to keep the water running, as running water does not freeze as easily. Won’t do much at negative 40, but in the 15-30f (-1 to -10c) range, it will help a lot.

One of the things that was entertaining was a discussion of what NOT to put in your garbage disposal. There were some funny ones that are real problems..

1.       Fish tank gravel. Seriously. Its rocks. Your disposal will not turn the rocks into powder.

2.       Coffee grounds. I know that sounds counter intuitive, but its too fine, and won’t get ground up. Besides, they belong in your garden.

3.       Pasta. What? Its edible, right? But it expands, and absorbs water, and get stuck. Ever  try to remove dried on pasta from a plate? Yeah..

4.       Bones. Beef, pork, chicken, turkey, lamb, etc. Your grinder is not powerful enough to crush their bones and drive them from their lands and hear the lamentations of . .. oh wait.. wrong movie.

5.       Oatmeal. Same as pasta, only stickier.

6.       Nuts. How is peanut butter made.. How does a disposal work.  See how that’s similar? Maybe putting peanut butter down your drain is not such a good idea.

7.       Onion skins. The rest (chunks, etc) goes down, but the skins act like a cargo net in a pickup, and catch everything going down. Either trash them or cut them into smaller pieces.

8.       Egg shells. Surprising, right? They do nothing for the blades, and they get caught just like onion skins. And they are really good for your garden. Crush them up and put them in the compost pile or garden.

9.       Trash. Yeah, all the paper towels and bags, and candy wrappers belong in the trash. Banana peels belong in the compost or garden. Don’t be an idiot.

10.   Fibrous vegetables, like pumpkin, celery and rhubarb. Fibers, in a whirly thingy. So they can get tangled up. Yeah, great idea….

11.   Potato peels. First, this (again) belongs in the compost or garden. Second, this is bad because of the strainer effect, again. Its not a problem if a bit gets in there, but not too much.

12.   Pits (peach, plum, etc). Its called a stone fruit for  reason. Your disposal will not grind that up.

13.   Some cleaning chemicals, like draino. Its actually bad for your drain lines, and can cause corrosion. Bleach will not (that’s a rumor I have heard, and according to the professional plumber, if you are using enough bleach to harm your copper, cast iron or PVC pipes, then then we need to buy stock in Clorox. A cup in your dishwasher will take so long to corrode your pipes that your grandchildren will still not have to worry about it.)  You can put a little ice down the disposal to clean off the blades, and hot water with dish soap to clean the grease build-up.

14.   Paint. What? Really? People put paint down the drain? I mean, if you are cleaning out a paint brush, that’s one thing, but you KNOW its going to create a buildup on the inside of your disposal and pipes.

15.   Corn husks. Same as fibrous vegetables, it belongs in the compost or garden. Its really good for your garden.

16.   Seafood shells (oysters, clams, crabs, etc) . Because again, hard stuff going down the drain.. Its just not good for it. Try the trash can.

17.   Grease. Grease is a liquid when warm or hot, but once it goes down the drain, it hits a cold pipe, and solidifies.. on the inside of the pipe. And creates a blockage.
Some restaurants will take your leftover grease.  Alternatively, let it cool, put it in a leak proof container and put it in the garbage.   Hmm. Disposal of grease may be a whole separate entry on the blog.

 

 

As usual, if you like this, feel free to share this. If you are a recipient of a forwarded copy and you would like to be on the distribution list, please send me an email, and I will be glad to add you to the list.

 Jason