Common Plumbing Nuisances: How to Cope with Them
Dealing with plumbing issues is one of the unavoidable things in our lives. Sun is rising every morning, grass is green, we will eventually grow old and sooner or later, something will go wrong with our toilet. There is no other way around it, storm is coming and the best we can do is to be prepared. Fortunately, plumbing system operates on fairly simple logic and as much as those problems occur frequently, they are manageable. Here are few tips of how to deal with those little disasters.
Leaking Tap
Recurrent as much as rainfalls, leaking taps are not only annoying, if left unchecked for prolonged periods of time, they can waste thousands of litters of water, which has its affect on water bill. So before this problem shows its sinister consequences, check does the tap have a warn washer, because this is the most frequent cause of this problem. If the leak comes from around the spindle or the tap vibrates when used, you should replace the gland packing or even the O-ring seals. When reassembling the tap you should apply some silicone grease to spindle, to make its removal easier in the future.
Clogged Drains
Out of all things we will cover, this is the one for which we can easily claim that it is unavoidable at some point. It happens as a consequence of buildups of hair, grease, food particles, etc. While chemical drain cleaners are certainly helpful, using them doesn’t necessarily have to be your first choice. Plunging your drains and cleaning the traps under the sink will be more than sufficient most of the times, so there is no need to use chemicals which can be harmful to your pipes and eventually damage them.
Noisy Pipes
This problem manifests as the sound your pipes produce after the water is used. If your pipes produce banging noise, whether you are using hot or cold water, chances are that one of them is loose and bangs against the wall or another pipe but the noise will help you to easily locate that loose pipe. If this problem occurs only when you are using the hot water, it usually means that your heater is turned too high and that your water causes steam. Hammering sound you hear when you turn off the tap means that you are dealing with waterlogged air chamber. Pipes can be tricky though, and if any of this problems continues after you check everything we counted, you can always seek professional advice from, say highly-rated plumbers from Monmouth County.
Toilet Issues
Finally, we will cover centerpiece of every bathroom, the toilet. One of its most common problems is an incomplete flush, usually caused by waterlogged flapper valve and easily dealt by replacing the flapper. Other thing we face very often is the double flushing which can be solved by lowering the water level in the tank. Sluggish flush is most of the time caused by partial or even the complete clog in the toilet. Dump fairly large bucket in the toilet and then flush. If you see the water backing up, there is a clog and it has to be dealt with, so put the plunger to good use.
As you can see, probability of some plumbing issue doesn’t have to be discouraging. If we know how to deal with them, we will manage any problem with ease and return to our lives, at least until the next time when our expertise will be called upon.