One of the most frustrating things about a home plumbing system is how difficult it is to detect problems with it. Most of the system is hidden from view, and most plumbing problems are subtle enough in their early stages not to give off any symptoms. This leads to a lot of plumbing problems being discovered only after they’ve started inflicting massive damage to the surrounding area. However, if you know what to look for there are certain signs that you can find that indicate a need for plumbing repair.
Saddleback Plumbing Heating & Air Blog: Archive for the ‘Plumbing’ Category
Signs That You Have a Plumbing Problem
Monday, March 7th, 2016The Problem With Slab Leaks
Friday, February 5th, 2016Leaks of any kind are bad news when it comes to your plumbing. They often go unnoticed for a long period of time, until they cause extensive water damage that marks their presence. That is, unless there’s a large rupture, which is more noticeable but causes just as much damage in a much shorter period of time. Slab leaks, however, are quite possibly the worst kind of leaks you can deal with in your home. Read on to find out more about slab leaks, and how to deal with them.
The Problem of Pinhole Leaks
Monday, September 28th, 2015Leaks have always been a problem for plumbing systems, and can never be fully prevented. However, the advent of copper pipes in the 1960’s was a huge step towards lessening the amount of leaks the average homeowner had to deal with. Copper pipes are highly resistant to rust, which was the number-one cause of leaks in the older iron pipes. However, copper pipes are not invincible. Let’s take a look at one of the biggest problems to afflict copper pipes: pinhole leaks.
Signs that You Might Have a Slab Leak
Monday, September 7th, 2015Slab leaks are one of the most damaging problems that can afflict a home’s plumbing. Unfortunately, they’re also one of the most difficult problems to detect and fix. The best way to protect against slab leaks is to keep an eye out for the signs that accompany them. The faster you can identify a warning sign that you have a slab leak, the faster you can have it repaired and the more damage you can prevent. Let’s take a look at some of the signs that you might have a slab leak.
Why You Should Install an Earthquake Emergency Shutoff Valve
Tuesday, August 11th, 2015Natural gas is a very big part of our society, far more than you probably realize. Every time you turn on a furnace, or a gas stove, or an oven, you’re making use of natural gas. Natural gas is so popular as a fuel type because it has a pretty high ratio of energy produced to the amount of gas burned. While this makes the highly combustible gas great for heating, it also makes it very dangerous under the wrong circumstances. That’s why you should install an earthquake emergency shutoff valve. Read on for more information on why earthquake emergency shutoff valves are necessary in Orange County, CA.
Why You Should Schedule Video Pipe Inspection at Least Once a Year
Monday, June 1st, 2015When your furnace or your air conditioner breaks down, you know it. The air stops flowing, or if it keeps flowing it’s the wrong temperature. Sometimes, the whole system may just refuse to start. With plumbing problems, however, it can be a lot harder to detect any symptoms. Sure, sometimes you may have a clogged drain or a burst pipe, but there are plenty of other common plumbing issues that can only be detected by actually examining the pipes. By the time these more subtle issues grow large enough to give off more identifiable symptoms, it is often too late to mitigate most of the damage. That’s why video pipe inspection is so important. Let’s take a look at what video pipe inspection is, and why you should schedule it at least once a year.
What to Do When Your Toilet Keeps Running
Wednesday, March 25th, 2015On average, the toilet accounts for a third of all indoor water use in a home. This is why it’s important that you make sure the toilets in your home receive attention from professional plumbers whenever they malfunction. If you let a problem like a toilet continually running go without repairs, you might end up with an enormous spike in your water bills. Worse, you might end up with a non-working toilet, which is never a pleasant situation.
At Saddleback Plumbing, we offer professional bathroom plumbing services in Mission Viejo, CA that will get any faulty toilet back in working order. Don’t try any DIY tricks beyond using a basic plunger: give us a call and we’ll see that you receive quality service, done fast and done right.
Is your toilet is running nonstop? Here’s what to do
If the toilet continues to run water into the bowl a few minutes after a flush, it could mean a variety of problems. Although the situation shouldn’t threaten your home with flooding or water damage, it will waste a great deal of water and needs to be dealt with right away.
The first thing to do is to flush the toilet again and see if the problem continues. If it does, turn off the water flow at the feed line so the toilet will not continue to waste water.
At this point, you’ll feel tempted to lift off the cover on the tank and attempt to figure out what’s causing the trouble. You should think twice about trying to tamper with the components in the tank, however, since it’s not always easy to determine the source of a malfunction. The problem could be with a tangled flapper chain, the float, a deteriorating flapper, or a defect in the fill valve. Some of these problems are easier to fix than others, but you don’t want to guess and end up trying to repair something that isn’t broken. If the problem lies inside the fill valve, repairing it is a job that requires professionals. In some cases, the whole overflow tube and flapper may need to be replaced, which is a tricky task that will require removing the entire tank to perform, and that’s something you only want a plumber to handle.
But in general, no matter what the trouble with the toilet is, you want to have a plumber investigate it and handle the repairs to make sure that they are done right. A plumber knows the correct parts for any necessary replacements and can take care of the job in a brief time. The next time your toilet starts to run without stopping and you need bathroom plumbing in Mission Viejo, CA, give Saddleback Plumbing a call and we will send one of our skilled plumbers to the rescue.
Why Am I Not Getting Enough Hot Water from My Water Heater?
Friday, March 20th, 2015You’ve been relying on the same water heater for years. It has always delivered the right amount of water to keep your family happy: every morning, everyone gets to enjoy a hot shower (as long as they don’t stay in too long). But then one day, the hot water starts to run out earlier. There is more of a rush not to be the last person to hop in the shower each morning. And perhaps you’ve started to notice the hot water running out at other times of the day.
What’s wrong? Does your water heater need to be replaced? Or does it only need repair work?
To answer these questions requires professional plumbers with experience repairing water heaters. You can call Saddleback Plumbing and talk to our experts in water heaters in Orange County, CA to find out if you need repair work—or a new water heater.
Water heater repairs
There are a number of malfunctions that can cause a water heater to start to lose its supply of hot water. One of the more common is a broken dip tube. The dip tube is responsible for drawing in cold, fresh water into the storage tank, and then depositing it at the bottom of the tank where it receives heat. If the dip tube breaks, it will mean the cold water will start to gather at the top of the tank, where the pump removes the rising heated water to distribute it through the house. If cold water starts to mix at the top of the tank, it will soon replace the hot water, making it seem as if the system is running out of heated water too quickly.
Another problem that can result in a loss of the hot water supply is trouble with the burners in a gas furnace. If the burners are not igniting or not receiving sufficient natural gas, they will struggle to warm up enough water for your needs. If you have an electric water heater, loss of hot water can occur if one of the two heating elements fail.
Water heater replacement
At a certain point, a water heater will simply start to work inefficiently due to age. If your water heater is at or past its manufacturer’s estimated lifespan and it starts to lose heating power, you should probably have it replaced. Consult with a water heater professional to make sure that this is the best choice.
Call Saddleback Plumbing today for answers about water heaters in Orange County, CA. We have more than 30 years of experience installing, repairing, and maintaining water heaters in the area.
What Exactly is the “Sump” in a “Sump Pump”?
Wednesday, March 11th, 2015You may know the purpose of a sump pump, which is the removal of excess water from a low part of a house, usually due to flooding or moisture gathering from a high water table. The pump part of the name is obvious enough, since these devices pump the water away and into the wastewater system. But what is the sump part of the name mean, and is it important to know?
Saddleback Plumbing has installed sump pumps in Orange County for decades now, so we can give you some details on what a sump is and why it’s important. If you want a sump pump in Irvine, CA or elsewhere in Orange County, you only have to give us a call and let us know. We have the experienced technicians capable of handling any plumbing job, no matter the size.
The Sump
The simplest definition of sump is that it’s a low space created to collect any liquid for removal. It can also refer to a place inside a cave where water naturally collects. When referring to an actual sump pump, the sump is a containment area created during the installation of the sump pump. The sump is placed at the lowest point in the basement, where the excess water flows. Depending on the type of sump pump, the pump will either sit above the sump and draw water up into it (a pedestal sump pump) or lie submerged in the sump and push the water up out of it (submersible sump pump).
The size and the location of the sump basin varies. They are usually 2 feet across and 2 to 3 feet deep, holding up to 15 to 25 gallons of water. The professional installer must determine the spot in the basement where the natural sump occurs, and then create the sump basin using a container of plastic, metal, or concrete sunk down into a hole excavated at the location.
This isn’t work an amateur can do; the excavation part alone is too difficult and requires too high a level of precision. If you have a home that is experiencing problems from water in the basement, you need to contact experienced plumbers to take care of finding the right kind of sump pump and then creating the sump basin that will do the job necessary.
Call Saddleback Plumbing today if you have issues in your house from water damage and you want future problems eliminated. We will find the right sump pump in Irvine, CA to suit your needs, and installing it correctly.
Hard Water and Your Water Heater
Wednesday, March 4th, 2015Modern water heaters are built to endure, and they will resist corrosion and other damage for many years, provided that they receive annual maintenance visits from professionals. However, one factor in your home that may threaten your water heater with damage and even an early replacement is hard water coming from the municipal supply. This is a serious issue, and if it’s occurring in your home you should contact Saddleback Plumbing right away. We not only provide excellent repair service for water heaters in Orange County, but we can also install water softeners to eliminate hard water trouble.
Why hard water is a problem for water heaters
Hard water is water that contains a high amount of minerals suspended in it, principally magnesium and calcium. These minerals often enter the water supply on its way from the municipal treatment plant through ground water seepage. Hard water is almost never harmful to drink, but it can cause major issues for your home’s plumbing and its water heater.
The high temperatures inside a water heater tank will create a substance called limescale from the minerals inside hard water. Limescale will begin to build up along the inside of the tank. Because limescale acts as an insulator, it will prevent heat from escaping naturally from the tank. The result is a temperature imbalance inside the water heater that will often lead to overheating and high pressure that can damage the system. In addition, limescale deposits will start to block valves and connections in the water heater, creating additional pressure problems that can lead to leaking.
Repair technicians can de-scale a tank to remove the deposits from hard water and restore the water heater. However, if you are encountering hard water issues, you will need to go a step further and get to the root of the problem with the installation of a whole-house water softener. This will both protect your water heater and the rest of your plumbing, which will suffer from calcite deposits in the piping that will create spikes in water pressure.
Saddleback Plumbing is experienced with working on water heaters and installing and servicing whole-house water treatment systems. If you are experiencing trouble with your water heater due to hard water, give us a call right away. You can trust to our more than 35 years of experience with servicing water heaters in Orange County and finding solutions for water quality problems.