3 warning signs of a clogged sewer line
Imagine you’re taking a hot relaxing shower and sewage starts oozing out of your drain. Before your drains start spewing out slime, there are several warning signs that you have a sewer line problem. The earlier you catch this problem, the easier it is to fix and prevent damages to your home.
- Gurgling toilets: The most common warning sign of a clogged sewer drain is a gurgling toilet. If your toilet is gurgling while using water in other areas of the house such as using the dishwasher, than your sewer line is clogged.
- Slow drains: When a single drain is slow, than most likely there is an issue with that one drain. If all of your drains are draining slowly than you have a clogged sewer line.
- Leaking Drains: When using water throughout your house, if it causes water to come up through the bathtub drain, shower drain, floor drain, or between the commode bowl and floor, than you have a clogged sewer line.
Clogged sewer lines can cause very costly damage to your home. These damages can lead to expensive repairs or replacements. If you experience these warning signs it is extremely important to contact a professional immediately!
How does the summer affect your plumbing?
Summertime is great for being outdoors, family cookouts, and hanging out friends. These warm sunny days have a huge impact on your plumbing you may never have known about. Here are few plumbing disasters to avoid this summer.
Washing Machines
Kid’s are home for the summer and their adventures outside and by the pool create a lot of laundry. These extra laundry loads put additional stress on your laundry drain line and can cause it to clog and overflow. If a problem arises stop the cycle and immediately call a plumber.
Clogged Disposal
Summer is a great time for cookouts and barbeques with friends and family. After these gatherings there is normally a lot of food waste to get rid of. Disposing hard fruits and vegetables such as corn or watermelon can have a negative effect on your garbage disposal. Cooking oils can also damage your garbage disposal so avoid pouring dirty grease from grilling, down the drain.
Clogged Toilets
Household toilets are used more often in the summer with children being home throughout the day. It is important to show your kids the appropriate amount of toilet paper to use. Most clogs can be handled with a plunger, but if the problems persist or the toilet overflows, call a professional.
National Hug a Plumber Day – 4/25/17
Whether it is a minor leak or a major clog, a plumber will have the correct tools for the job. Without plumbers, our society would not be as we know it. They help us improve our lives and health in our modern world. We celebrate all of the hard work, skill and ingenuity of plumbers in our country on April 25th, by celebrating National Hug a Plumber Day! We remember that feeling when our sinks flow properly, the water damage in our basement is fixed and we have hot water on demand.
To celebrate National Hug a Plumber day, we encourage you to use #NationalHugaPlumberDay on social media to spread the word! If you happen to see a plumber on this day, you know what to do!
MMM…Bacon! Most say it’s one of the greatest breakfast, lunch, dinner or really whenever foods. Others say it is the best reason to wake up in the morning along with being the hardest thing to cook shirtless. Bacon satisfies any non vegetarian’s senses and taste buds. But after you cook this delectable treat, you are left with grease and you might wonder what to do with it.
NEVER, EVER pour bacon grease down your sink! It’s thick, slimy and can cause many problems to your pipes. The grease will harden along the inner walls of the pipes causing them to clog. The only way to remove the hardened grease is to scrape it out. No matter how quickly you pour hot water down the drain, the grease will eventually harden. Too much grease in your pipes will require the attention of a plumber. If this problem moves down to the sewer, it can cause even more problems. These kinds of build ups are responsible for about 47 percent of the sewer overflows that happen in the U.S. ever year.
The best way to dispose of the bacon grease is to let it cool in the pan and scrape it out into the trash. You can also pour the grease into a separate container and dispose of the container after the grease cools.
If you are a bacon enthusiast, instead of dumping the grease out, here are a few recipes to recycle the bacon grease, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/21/bacon-fat-recipes_n_1813057.html.
To get your pipes cleaned or repaired, contact the professionals at Rodger’s Plumbing at 972-931-1021 today!
Signs that your Water Heater is on its way out
Your water heater is one of the most essential parts of your homes plumbing. Many of your house hold appliances (washing machine and dishwasher) would be useless and you would be taking cold showers! Preventative maintenance of your water heater is crucial and can help to spot signs of trouble before anything serious can happen.
A few signs that your water heater will need attention:
- Drips, leaks or accumulated water underneath your hot water heater.
- If you are using a gas heater, it should burn mostly blue, not yellow.
- If using an electric heater, any scorching or soot colored areas.
- The water in your shower is either too hot or cold, or doesn’t show the temperature that it is set to.
- Rust or orange colored water coming out of your faucet.
- Bends or cracks in the water heater tank.
- A consistent popping or crackling noise.
Putting off Plumbing Repairs
There are a few reasons why you might put off performing a plumbing repair. You might not have time to do it yourself, or maybe your busy schedule does not accommodate a plumber. It’s sometimes easy to keep putting off that simple repair, but neglecting even the smallest issue can lead to a much larger and a more expensive issue later down the road.
Leaky faucets:
Just a few drops of water from your leaky sink might not seem like a big deal, right? Wrong. Delayed maintenance and repairs will come back to haunt you. According to the EPA Water Sense Program, a single leak can add up to 10,000 gallons of water per year. Your water bill will be severely affected by this.
Leaking water can cause other problems other than taking your money. If a leak occurs outside of a sink, toilet, or bathtub, moisture can end up creating mold or mildew causing rotten floors, ceilings or walls. It is important to address the issue before it’s too late.
How Plumbing Problems Can Affect Your Health:
Certain plumbing problems can also lead to health problems. Mold and Mildew can cause respiratory problems and Biofilm in your pipes can lead to harmful diseases. A simple leak around your toilet or a backed up sewer line, could mean that you and your family are being exposed to raw sewage inside of your home!
Mold and Mildew in your Bathroom
Mold and Mildew can occur in your bathroom when you have moisture build up caused by either a plumbing leak or water that remains on your tile. It can show up as black specs or floral bodies around your shower, sink, and toilet. These growths can look very unpleasant and can even cause health problems if they get serious.
Some ways to eliminate mold and mildew are with detergent and water mixes, bleach mixtures and spray cleaners. These will loosen the mildew allowing you to wipe away with a sponge, medium bristle brush, or cloth. Please use caution and protection when using any chemicals. A breathing filter and ventilation is also a good idea. It is not a good idea to let mold and mildew sit too long before removing it. The longer it sits the more chances of causing allergies and respiratory problems.
It is important to find the source causing the excess moisture in your bathroom. By using a squeegee or rag to wipe up excess water from your tub, wall, or counter after you shower will help. Also, having proper ventilation such as opening a window or a vent fan will also dry the bathroom quicker.
The Benefits of Professional Drain Cleaning
The drains in your home are a critical component of your homes plumbing system. Most people do not realize the importance of regular drain cleaning. Regular drain cleaning will help to preserve your plumbing system, but will also help to reduce your chances of having clogged drains.
Regular drain cleanings will help to maintain pipe efficiency and to ensure that they dispose wastewater quickly. There are quite a few things that can clog your drains such as mineral buildup, food, hair, and cooking oil.
A Few More Benefits of Regular Drain Cleaning:
- Reduce Blockages
- Limits Smells
- Clean Home
- Reduced Expenses
Hiring a professional plumber to clean your drains will save you money in the long run. By keeping up with routine drain cleanings, will help to prevent costly repairs. Trying to clean your own drains can be more expensive and can lead to problems and costly repairs. Rodgers Plumbing has the necessary tools to clean your drains.
Hiring a Professional Plumber Can Save You Money
Even if you have some DIY experience and can fix small plumbing issues around the house, there are times when you should call a profession plumber.
- Toilets: If a toilet won’t flush at all or if the water is draining slowly, something is blocking the pipes. If you cannot clear the blockage with a plunger, the problem is much greater. There is a possibility that you might have a septic problem or blocked sewer line. If this is the case, an average home owner will not be able to fix this problem and should call a professional plumber.
- Faucets: When you think ignoring the leaking faucet is not a problem, think about all of that water that is being wasted. It’s basically money going down your drain. Just one faucet drip per minute can waste up to 34 gallons of water in a year! This should be addressed sooner than later.
- Drains: Clearing a clogged drain with liquid plumber might be all that is needed, but chances are, the blockage will happen again. Next time it can be worse! Using liquid plumber too often can lead to problems and can lead to faulty pipes. Over time, it can corrode a hole through the bottom of the pipes, which can lead to more expensive problems down the road.
Plumbing Problems You Should Not Ignore
Blocked Drains:
A blocked drain might be the easiest plumbing issue to fix, but if action is not taken to fix immediately, it can become very serious. A blocked drain needs to be identified and removed, especially if it is your wastewater’s only path out of your house.
No Hot Water:
No one likes a cold shower, so naturally no hot water can be a huge annoyance. There are a number of things that can cause this. The number one culprit is usually an undersized or faulty water heater. Sometime it is as simple as adjusting the temperature dial on your water heater, but other times it is best to call a professional.
Leaky Water Heater:
A leaky water heater may seem like a small problem, but it can quickly turn into a big one. Even a small amount of water can damage your floors, sub-floors and walls. A leaky water heater may be a symptom of a much larger problem. It is recommended to contact a professional plumber to repair or replace your water heater before it leads to a much larger problem causing damage to the property such as flooding in the attic or onto the downstairs ceiling.
Toilet Won’t Stop Running:
A toilet that won’t stop running is not only an annoyance but a huge waste of water. This is something that you definitely do not want to ignore. Contact Rodgers Plumbing to help you fix your toilet before it leads to a bigger problem.
Faulty Garbage Disposal:
A faulty garbage disposal has many symptoms and it is recommended to contact a trained plumber if you start noticing these 5:
- Bad Smells
- Water Leaks
- Jammed Disposal
- Making Noises
- Disposal Stops Working