Tureks Plumbing Services Blog: Posts Tagged ‘residential plumbing’

What Are the Signs of a Main Sewer Line Clog?

Thursday, August 11th, 2016

Main Sewer Line Clog

What Are the Signs of a Main Sewer Line Clog?

A main sewer line clog rarely occurs out of the blue. More often than not, an attentive homeowner will see warning signs that indicate that there will be an imminent clog. Knowing what these signs are and watching out for these can save you from the hassles and costs associated with fixing clogged main sewer lines.

But before listing the signs of a main sewer line clog, it is a good idea to know a little bit about the anatomy of your home’s sewer line. Think of your home’s sewer line as something similar to a tree. On one hand, you have the main line which is essentially like a tree’s main trunk. The main sewer line runs across your home. The secondary lines are just like branches that run from the main line. When you have a main sewer line clog, this will mean that your whole home will be affected. On the other hand, if the problem is with the secondary line, the clog will be confined to just one area in your home.

What are the signs that there is a problem with your main sewer line?

One of these warning signs that you need to watch out for is water backing up out the drain. Sometimes, you will hear gurgling sounds from the drains. You are likely to notice these signs after using one area in your home. For example, if you notice that your toilet or the floor drain in one part of your home starts percolating after you used the washing machine, it is highly likely that you have a clog in the main sewer line.

If you live in a home with several trees on your property, you have to watch out for pipes that have been crushed by the roots of the trees. Two tell-tale signs of this problem are gurgling sounds and the sluggish flow of drains.

On the other hand, if you live in a relatively new home and you notice these signs, the probable cause of this problem is clogging due to products like toilet paper and feminine hygiene products blocking the sewer line.

What should you do if you notice these signs in your home? It is important to release the pressure that has built up in the sewer line. To do that, you need to shut off the water at the main and then remove the cleanout cap. Avoid using chemical-based drain cleaners as these may cause more harm than good.

If you are hiring a Fox Valley sewer company and their employees cannot find the cause of the problem, they might recommend a sewer line camera inspection to pinpoint the underlying cause of the issue.

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Making the Switch to High Efficiency Plumbing Fixtures

Tuesday, August 2nd, 2016

High Efficiency Plumbing Fixtures

How High Efficiency Plumbing Fixtures Can Benefit You 

There is greater awareness of the need to conserve and protect valuable water resources within communities today. Every activity inside the household that involves the use of water can be done in a more mindful manner, using better-designed equipment and fixtures, in order to prevent wastage and contribute to the collective efforts in specific areas.

One positive practice that families can observe is to install high efficiency plumbing fixtures to replace more traditional provisions. If all households were to do this, according to the US EPA, the entire country would be able to save over 3 trillion gallons of water, plus more than $18 billion each year.

And because energy is used to treat water for better quality, deliver the water to homes, and heat the water for the residents’ use, saving water also means saving considerable amounts of energy. Just one American home out of a hundred that gets retrofitted with more water-efficient fixtures would translate to around 100 million kWh of electricity saved each year. Just imagine: That is equivalent to 80,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions prevented from entering the environment.

With these benefits, what household would fail to see the practicality and positive environmental impact of high-efficiency fixtures? If you’re interested to transform your home into a truly environment-friendly one, then consider making the switch to high-efficiency fixtures with the help of your trusted plumbing professionals.

Here is what you need to know about plumbing fixtures with ultra-low water use:

Fixing Faucets

Conventional faucets use more than 2.5 gallons per minute (gpm). You can replace these with their high-efficiency counterparts which have flow rates that do not exceed 1.5 gpm.

Alternatively, you can modify your current faucet with a flow restrictor or aerator if you’re in need of a less expensive water-saving option.

Saving On Showers

Taking showers accounts for about 20 percent of water usage in the average household. But if the goal is to save water, it’s best to stay away from fancy showerheads that mimic rainfall, for example, which can waste several gallons of water at once.

Slash your water use when showering by replacing your old showerhead with a more efficient ultra-low-flow. A good showerhead does not use more than 2 gpm (traditional showerheads use 2.5 gpm). You’ll cut your water use down by as much as 70 percent with this move alone.

Flush Smarter

Finally, you can save more water, time and money when you choose your toilets wisely. Flushing is the one activity that consumes the greatest amount of water in the average household.

The typical toilet (generally, one that has been installed before 1994) uses over 1.6 gallons of water per flush (gpf). You have three alternative options for saving water:

  • A high-efficiency toilet does not exceed 1.28 gpf.
  • A dual-flush toilet comes with two buttons: a lower-flush button for liquid waste and a higher-flush button for solid waste.
  • A composting toilet uses little or even no water for flushing waste.

If you would like more information about high efficiency plumbing fixtures contact the Fox Cities plumbing professionals at Turek’s Plumbing.

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Trenchless Sewer Repair – No Need to Dig Up the Yard

Tuesday, July 12th, 2016

Trenchless Sewer Repair

Trenchless Sewer Repair | What You Need To Know 

If your sewer pipe broke, you should consider hiring a company that does trenchless sewer repair. This solution will certainly enable you to avoid the usual disruption and costs associated with the traditional method of sewer repairs. Traditional sewer repair normally involves digging trenches in your yard. This will mess up everything from your landscaping to your driveway and other structures that may stand above the damaged sewer lines.

The cost of traditional trenching usually includes payment for digging up the portion of street in front of your home. Sometimes the repair can even cause traffic to be rerouted to accommodate the work being done. This could mean anything from a few thousand dollars to more than $20,000 in sewer repair work. 

Trenchless Sewer Repair Options

The option of trenchless sewer repair has been available for about 15 years. Pipe lining and pipe bursting are the most common kind. A pipe liner or cured-in-place pipe is a flexible tube with resin coating. It is blown or pulled into the problem pipe and inflated. When the resin hardens, it results in a pipe within a pipe effect with the new pipe jointless and corrosion resistant. Pipe lining will result in the diameter of the lateral pipe being reduced by about a fourth of an inch, but this won’t impact its capacity to remove waste from the home. The method does require digging one hole for access. It also has some restrictions. For instance, it might not work if the lateral has joints or if it has collapsed.

Pipe bursting, on the other hand, is still possible even in the case of a collapsed lateral as long as there’s room for a cable to be dragged through the old pipe. This method involves pulling a new pipe through the damaged pipe, fracturing the latter outward in the process. This requires digging access holes on each side of the lateral pipe. Both pipe lining and bursting are proven effective and durable solutions for damaged sewer pipes.

Trenchless Sewer Repair Costs

Trenchless sewer repair costs vary depending on factors such as soil type, materials used, and how deep the pipes are buried. The work itself can be more expensive than conventional digging. Sometimes costing about 30 to 50 percent more. No dig sewer repair options are still the more cost effective option long term. There won’t be any need to spend thousands of dollars on restorative work.

There are situations, of course, that still call for trenching. Depending on the location as well as the condition and configuration of the pipes. If you are looking for the best advise for trenchless sewer repair in Fox Cities, call the plumbing professionals at Turek’s Plumbing
. 

 

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How Often Should You Have a Plumbing Inspection?

Thursday, June 9th, 2016

Plumbing Inspection

How Often Should You Have a Plumbing Inspection? 2021

As you know, your plumbing system is a crucial part of your home. It can be extremely frustrating when plumbing problems arise. To avoid any plumbing emergencies, we recommend hiring a professional plumbing company for a plumbing inspection. It’s important to have the system inspected regularly, even when there’s nothing wrong with it yet. In the article below, we answer “how often should you have a plumbing inspection?”

Why Plumbing Inspections Are Important

The Fox Valley plumbers that residents turn to say that a plumbing inspection is a must. Your plumbing system is constantly exposed to all kinds of elements that can corrode or create clogs in the system. Over time, this constant exposure can reduce the plumbing system’s efficiency and create problems for your household. Common plumbing problems include a toilet that won’t flush and leaky pipes that waste excessive water. Clogged drains could be breeding bacteria harmful to your family’s health. From an inspection, not only will you learn the current state or condition of your plumbing system, but you’ll also get to implement the right preventive measures to keep it in tip-top shape to serve your household well.

Q: How Often Should You Have a Plumbing Inspection?

Once a year is good enough, according to the plumbers in Fox Valley. But more often (say, seasonally) would be better, especially in Wisconsin where weather changes can really affect the efficacy of a household’s plumbing system. Over the winter, in particular, a plumbing system takes a serious beating because extreme temperatures force the system to work harder than usual, and it becomes prone to damages.

Yearly Inspection by a Plumber

With a yearly inspection, you’ll already be able to avoid big issues with your plumbing that could potentially set you back by thousands of dollars on repair and replacement. The inspector will provide you useful information on what needs to be done in order to keep the system running smoothly.

Most people decide that spring would be the perfect time for a plumbing inspection, but any other time of the year would be good as well. Basically, people often set it for spring due to concerns that winter may damage the plumbing system. If you’ve never had a plumbing inspection, our friends at McQuillan Bros, a St Paul Plumber, recommend getting on a plumbing inspection schedule immediately. 

However, if you sense something wrong with your plumbing system, don’t waste time in setting a schedule for an inspection. Are you hearing banging, rattling, tapping, and squealing noises from your pipes or drains? Call your Fox Cities plumber at Turek’s Plumbing right away for a plumbing diagnosis. This will help prevent the issue from becoming a bigger problem that would be more challenging to resolve. We also offer residential plumbing services, commercial plumbing services, and drain and sewer services.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in November 2016 and has been completely revamped and updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness. 

 

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