Sunday, May 23, 2010

Home Plumbing Resources

Continuing in this week's series on plumbing information, I found several quality articles that I thought would be worthy to share with all of my readers. Let's start with an article from a cool site called Home and Garden Wisdom. The article is entitled Hiring the RIght Plumber or Plumbing Company. As you might guess, the article gives consumer tips on what to look for and how to screen plumbers in your area. Some of the information you may have seen presented on this blog or others but it never hurts to get a refresher on important topics like this. It's a great read and its not too long so it shouldn't take too much of your time to check it out.
Another similar article I found was on a site called A - Z Home Centers. This site also gives lots of cool home improvement information just like you see here. The article on their site was called How to Research a Plumber. This has some great complimentary information that I think goes well with the information presented on Home and Garden Wisdom. You all can check it out and let me know what you think.
In addition to these resources, I'd like you to check out a post on Home Columns called Surviving a Plumbing Disaster. Now in the event that you do have a major issue with a sewer line, septic tank, or other waste water problem, you will want to have a clear game plan on how you are going to deal with the issue. As you have heard me say many times before an ounce of prevention/preparation can make all the difference in the world. As always, avoid panicking or acting in a hasty manner. Of course depending on the nature of your problem you may or may not have the luxury of time on your hands so don't exacerbate the situation by making a bad series of rash decisions at just the wrong time.
Now that we've discussed some potentially costly items, lets look at things that can be handled independently by most anyone. Remember that taking the time to learn how to do a simple task on your own might not necessarily be the most exciting or fun usage of your time but it could be a huge benefit for you down the road in terms of saving you money. Now I'd like to share with you some information from a site called House to Home Guide. Now I am pretty fond of this site and you can see that I have listed them on the right as one of my recommended Home Improvement Resources. In one particular post I read called Basic Plumbing Tips: Drain Screens, they go over some very valuable information about the importance of using drain screens in all of your indoor drains. You would be absolutely shocked at how many people just remove the screens for one reason or another. Not having a screen is a sure fire way to ensure that your drain will become clogged sooner rather than later.
OK well that's all for today folks, I want to thank you again for reading my site and I look forward to interacting with all of you in the comments.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Plumbing Advice from Atlanta Plumbers

For those of you who don't know, my buddy Carson runs a plumbing website called Atlanta Plumbers. This site provides some really useful information for anyone out there who is need of locating a reputable plumbing company in the Atlanta, GA area. I was talking to Carson about what he plans on doing with the site and he told me that he has some big plans including providing a potential plumbing marketplace where consumers could negotiate directly with licensed plumbers. He is the ambitious type so it will be nice to see what comes of it. If you haven't checked out any of his sites before I would suggest that you take a look at it and let me know what you all think. He is pretty much the best plumber I know and anytime I have a problem I call him. He can usually walk me through how to fix the issue right over the phone and if he can't he's always willing to help in any way he can.

OK so enough about Carson, let me give you all some bit of useful information for taking the time to read today's post. You probably saw the title and saw plumbing advice and may now be thinking where the heck is my plumbing advice? Well patience, patience young grasshopper, here it comes. If you are new to cold weather climates you may be unaware of the fact that pipes can freeze and burst causing major water damage on cold winter nights. To prevent this from happening there are a variety of things that can be done. One of which is to leave your faucets dripping when you know the temperature is going to drop below freezing that evening or will be freezing throughout the day. Even the smallest trickle of water from a faucet can keep water flowing through all of your plumbing pipes and this will prevent those pipes from freezing, bursting, and causing you a major headache.

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Kitchen Items Could Give Your Sewage Grinder Pump Troubles

Many people whose homes happen to be below the level of the local sewer lines will require a sewage grinder pump to transfer their sewage water into the municipal sewer lines. This is very common, and many of these pumps will work effortlessly for many years. However, there are times when these sewage pumps will start to show signs of trouble and cause backups of sewage water. One of the biggest offenders in causing these problems are generally related to kitchen scraps.

Many people who have garbage disposals in their kitchens will send nearly anything they can fit down the drain through these garbage disposals. They reason that if it will go through garbage disposal then it is okay for the rest of the sewer line. This could not be further from the truth. Many of the items sent through these disposals will end up in the water basin of the sewage grinder pump and cause problems down the road.

Items which should not be sent down your garbage disposal include seafood shells, coffee beans, and animal bones. These items can damage the garbage disposal and accumulate in the sewage basin. Also, never send dangerous chemicals down your drain such as paint thinners and antifreeze. Again, these will be held in the sewage basin until they are pumped out, but they can also cause problems at waste water treatment plants also.

One of the biggest offenders for causing problems to a sewage grinder pump is cooking grease. Never send any cooking oil or liquid grease which could harden later after cooling. Many people with traditional sewer lines will send hot grease down the drain and then run hot water for several minutes to flush it from their system. These people have the mindset that once it reaches the street it is not their problem. However, for homes with sewage grinder pumps this grease will accumulate in the basin where it can congeal. This can cause a messy problem later on.

Finding a Submersible Sewage Pump Online

Whether you are a homeowner in search of a submersible sewage pump for your house or you are a manager for a municipal sewage treatment plant searching for a commercial grade sewage pump, there are a variety of choices to find the correct pump for your situation online. More and more people are skipping the traditional trip to a plumbing supply store or local home improvement store in order to search for items they need online. Searching online can often turn up several relevant results and allow easy price comparison before making your purchase. In order to do a correct price comparison there are a few sites you should visit before making your choice.

For individuals searching for commercial great submersible sewage pumps there may not be as many alternatives as there are for homeowners. However, there are many industrial supply manufacturers to be found online. Many of these manufacturers can be contacted directly to get pricing for a new sewage pump. However, many of these manufacturers will only sell through distributors which may carry several different brands. Check many of these different distributors and contact many manufacturers to get the best price.

For homeowners, searching for a new submersible sewage pump can be quite easy. Many of the big home improvement websites will carry a select few pumps. Many of the prices on these pumps can be great even if the selection is quite small. Other sites to check out would be specialty plumbing sites. Many of these types of sites will carry many different brands, but their prices may be higher since they do not have the bargaining power of larger stores. Finally, specialty farm and home stores will often cater to rural buyers and carry a variety of items targeting this market such as sewage pumps. Many of these farm and home stores are large chains and will have prices which can be quite good.

Getting a Sewage Pump Installed in Your New House

If you are building a new house you know how many decisions are involved on a daily basis. Colors of paint for walls and stain for the trim are relatively easy choices which will have little effect on the performance of your home in the future. However, there are many larger decisions to be made which require much more in-depth decision making. An item such as a sewage pump is one of these. If your house is being built at the bottom of a hill or is in any way lower than the main sewer lines or septic system then your home will require a sewage pump.

A sewage pump is installed in order to move sewage from an area of low elevation to an area of higher elevation. This sewage system consists of the basin which all drains in the home empty into. Once this basin reaches a certain level, a float will activate a pump which will remove the raw sewage and force it through the main sewer line into the septic system or a municipal sewer system.

If you are having your home built by a general contractor it is a good idea to be able to talk to the plumber they use yourself to be able to discuss what kind of pump they will be installing and what kind of warranties it carries. If you find out the brand in which they will be installing you can easily do some research online to see what kind of reliability this pump offers. If this pump seems to be inferior you may ask them to install a different model.

If you are handling the subcontractors yourself you will want to do plenty of research to find a good plumber. Referrals are the best way to locate a reliable plumber who does quality work. Start by asking other homeowners in the area who has installed their sewage pumps and what kind of work was performed. The local area Chamber of Commerce is also a great way to obtain referrals to trustworthy plumbers. In addition to the chamber of commerce check out local review sites like Atlanta Plumbers that offer unbiased reviews of local companies. Taking the time to do a little research can make a big difference in the long run.

There is little maintenance to be performed on sewage pumps once they are installed. However, much more care must be taken to keep these sewage pumps working properly than a traditional gravity feed sewer system. The only items which should be flushed down a toilet are urine, feces, and toilet paper. Anything else could cause the sewage pump to jam and raw sewage to back up. Also, avoid sending too many table scraps down the drain in the kitchen. Large food items should be composted or thrown in the garbage, and smaller food scraps should be sent through a garbage disposal before being sent on to the sewage pump.