Plumbing clogs are a common occurrence and residents of Olympia, WA may be tempted to address them with a store-bought solution. Most hardware stores sell drain snakes, for instance, and chemical cleansers are available in any supermarket. Unfortunately, those products adopt a one-size-fits all approach which doesn’t always solve the problem and may even create new ones. A professional plumber armed with specialized drain snakes can address your clog the right way and ensure that your pipes are functioning exactly as they should.
Brooks Plumbing Co. Blog: Archive for the ‘Plumbing’ Category
Why Should I Use Professional Plumbing Services for Clogs?
Monday, June 29th, 20153 Differences Between Commercial and Home Plumbing Systems
Monday, June 15th, 2015In some ways, commercial plumbing differs little from the plumbing you use at home. There are pipes, there are faucets and fixtures, and there’s a need for both hot and cold water on demand. But beyond the fundamentals, the two types both respond to vastly different needs. A good plumbing service should be able to respond to both types of plumbing, and that starts with knowing the differences between commercial and home plumbing systems. Here in Olympia, WA, that distinction can determine how successful your plumbers are at doing the job assigned to them. Here are some key differences between the two types of system that you should be aware of.
Signs That You Need Water Heater Repair
Monday, June 8th, 2015Your water heater is one of the great unsung heroes of your household, tirelessly doing its job year in and year out without complaint. That lets a lot of homeowners take their water heater for granted, which can catch them by surprise when problems arise. That doesn’t need to happen to you. In Olympia, WA, trained professionals are on hand to help repair any problems with your water heater quickly and efficiently, and when you spot the signs that you need water heater repair, you can call them in before it becomes a major issue. Here’s a quick list of red flags you should keep an eye out for.
Signs of a Leak in Your Plumbing
Monday, June 1st, 2015Plumbing leaks can stem from a variety of causes, but unless they involve something very obvious – such as water spreading across your kitchen floor or a lack of water pressure when you turn on the faucet – the chances of your being able to detect it are fairly small unless you know what to look for. Quiet drips and pinhole leaks can go undetected for years, and with the amount of rainfall we get in Olympia, WA, stray outdoor water is apt to get overlooked. Luckily, an astute homeowner can still pick up on signs of a leak in their plumbing, then summon a qualified service professional to take care of the job. Here’s a brief list of some of the things to watch for.
3 Reasons Not to Repair Your Own Plumbing
Monday, May 25th, 2015We’re used to doing things on our own here in Olympia, WA. That often extends to plumbing problems, which many people feel they can solve themselves with store-bought tools. Nothing can be further from the truth. Homeowners hoping to perform repairs themselves often cause more damage than they solve, and can turn relatively minor problems into very large ones. Here are 3 reasons not to repair your own plumbing, which you should seriously consider before climbing under your sink.
How Do Plumbers Conduct Sewer Line Inspections?
Monday, May 18th, 2015Inspecting a sewer line used to be a serious operation, involving heavy equipment, burly construction teams and your front yard transformed into a muddy pit. Considering our wet weather in Olympia, WA, the process becomes all the messier whenever the next rainstorm rolls in. But those days are long gone. Thanks to advancements in technology, plumbers can conduct sewer line inspections cleanly and efficiently, and determine the problem with your line without having to excavate it. How do they do it? Techniques vary, but the basics come down to one factor: video cameras.
When Is It Time to Call for Commercial Plumbing Help?
Monday, May 4th, 2015No building can operate without a properly working plumbing system, and this is especially true for commercial properties. While many commercial property owners are handy, or have staff that are, it is always best to call for trained commercial experts when you need help with your business’s plumbing. When is it appropriate to call for help? Here are some examples of when it’s time to contact your Brooks Plumbing expert:
Benefits of a Low-Flow Toilet
Monday, April 6th, 2015If you’ve been looking for ways to save water in your Olympia, WA, home, we may have a very easy solution for you: consider the installation of a low-flow toilet. Why? It all comes down to water usage, and if you have a toilet or toilets that aren’t low-flow, then these toilets comprise over 25% of your home’s total water usage. Putting this another way, if you have a toilet that is a 5 or 7 gallon toilet, and you average 5 flushes a day, your toilet uses between 9,000-12,000 gallons of water per year. Low-flow toilets use a maximum of 1.6 gallons, cutting this amount down to just over 2,900 gallons of water per year – an amount 3-4 times less that of 5-6 gallon toilets.
How do low-flow toilets manage this? First, they have some simple yet key design differences from higher-flow toilets, starting with the bowl outlet hole. In a regular toilet bowl, the outlet hole is located toward the back of the bowl; in a low-flow toilet, the outlet hole is located in the center of the bowl so that waste can more easily and directly exit the bowl. Another modification that you’ll find with a low-flow toilet is that the balance of the water in the bowl is toward the front of the bowl; this helps move waste quickly and effectively. The last difference you’ll find between a low-flow toilet and a regular one is that the flush valve is larger. Having a larger flush valve creates a stronger flush, which helps push waste out of the bowl and into the outlet pipe.
Now that you know the differences between a low-flow toilet and a regular one, let’s take a look at the benefits:
- Water conservation – as we discussed in the top paragraph, you can save a great deal of water by switching to a low-flow toilet
- Space-saving – because low-flow toilets use less water, most are smaller in size, particularly the tank area
- Easier installation – a smaller toilet means a less cumbersome toilet, so low-flow toilets can be easier to install
Interested to see what a low-flow toilet can do for your home? Call the plumbing experts at Brooks Plumbing today!
What Is a Pinhole Leak?
Monday, March 23rd, 2015The advent of copper as the main material for plumbing pipes was a major upset in the industry in the mid-twentieth century. Prior to the widespread use of copper, plumbing pipes were mainly composed of lead or iron.
Iron, of course, was extremely susceptible to rupturing from rust. Lead, meanwhile, was flat out poisonous. Copper piping, on the other hand, is almost immune to the types of corrosion that plagued its predecessors. The key word there is “almost.” There is one type of corrosion that can still affect copper pipes, and it can cause all sorts of damage to your plumbing and home. Let’s take a look at pitted corrosion, and the pinhole leaks it causes.
The Cause of Pinhole Leaks
Pitted corrosion is a type of corrosion that degrades copper pipes from the outside inward. The corrosion is always focused in a very small area, allowing it to eat through the pipe more quickly. Eventually, it opens up a tiny hole in the pipe. This hole is called a “pinhole leak” because of its small size. Pinhole leaks are only large enough to leak one or two drops at a time, so you might think that they’re not that big of a deal. Unfortunately, they can inflict damage far beyond their small size.
The Dangers of Pinhole Leaks
With most plumbing issues, like pipe blockages or ruptures, there are symptoms that the homeowner can detect. Sudden changes in water pressure, discoloration, and other signs serve to warn the homeowner that something is wrong with the plumbing system. Pinhole leaks are so small, however, that they don’t cause any detectable symptoms. This means that the first warning a homeowner usually gets that a pinhole leak is present is when they come across the damage that leak has already caused.
Most of the plumbing pipes in your home are installed in the walls, surrounded by insulation, sheet rock, and support studs. Over a long enough period of time, even the slow drip of water from a pinhole leak can rot out the area around it. By the time a homeowner notices the damage that the pinhole leak has caused, it’s too late.
The best way to counter pinhole leaks is to have your plumbing inspected by a professional at least once a year. If you haven’t had your home’s plumbing inspected in a while, call Brooks Plumbing. We provide plumbing services throughout Olympia.
Signs that You Need Professional Drain Cleaning
Friday, February 27th, 2015When you clean out your bathroom, you try to get every nook and cranny. You can scrub the grout, bleach each corner of the tub, and reach behind the sink faucets with a small brush, but there’s one area of the home that you may never reach on your own: the drains. The drains extend all the way to the sewer line, and there is likely debris clinging to the lining of your drain pipes that you cannot clean yourself.
It’s important to remember as well that typical drain cleaning chemicals sold in stores are not a viable solution for clogged drains. In fact, these chemicals are some of the most toxic things available for homeowners to purchase. They are very harmful to your health if ingested and may cause injury to the skin and eyes. Furthermore, they can damage pipes, and they really don’t get rid of most of the things that lead to clogs.
Cleaning Slow Drains
Slow drains or drains that will not work at all deserve professional attention if a plunger will not do the trick. Plungers are some of the only safe items sold for drain removal, while plumbers have much larger equipment for clogs that are located further along in the pipes. As soon as you notice that your drains are not working properly—especially if it happens in multiple drains in the home—professional drain cleaning is the best option to keep backup from occurring.
Plumbing professionals have drain snakes that reach deep into the pipes to pull out clogs or to break up the blockage so that it can move down the pipes. Many experts use video cameras to assess the pipes in order to determine what type of tool to use and where the blockage is located, to repair the problem more accurately and quickly.
Schedule a Drain Cleaning
You may also choose to schedule drain cleaning in order to take preventive action against clogs. When there are minor blockages in your pipes, it may not be immediately apparent. But experts will inspect your pipes in order to make sure that there is no major blockage that could lead to a big clog in the future, and remove any blockage they can.
Call us today at Brooks Plumbing for quality drain cleaning in Tumwater.
