Plumbing myths stick round due to the fact they sound innocuous or effortless. I listen them each week on jobs around Southern California: a customer swears through lemon peels for the disposal, any individual else thinks blue tablets will shop the rest room spotless without end, an additional avoids calling a pro simply because “it’s only a little drip.” Those shortcuts develop into callouts for jb rooter and plumbing your complete time. Some myths waste water and vigor, a few quietly break furniture, and some can flood your own home.
I’ve pulled together the so much power myths we see at JB Rooter & Plumbing Inc. Think of this as a container instruction written after crawling thru crawlspaces, snaking vents on scorching roofs, and fishing jewelry out of traps greater occasions than I can remember. If you’ve ever searched “jb rooter and plumbing near me” whilst ankle-deep in water, this one’s for you.
Myth: “Lemons easy your rubbish disposal stronger than the rest else”
A lemon wedge freshens the air for an afternoon, and that’s about it. The oil from the peel is fragrant, however it doesn’t holiday down the fat and sticky proteins clinging to the grind chamber and drain line. Worse, citrus peels can persist with the impellers and pressure the motor. When we pull apart disposals, the ones with the cleanest internals didn’t are living on a citrus food regimen. They were rinsed with bloodless water and fed small amounts at a time, no longer jammed with stringy waste.
If you wish a disposal that keeps operating, treat it like a computer, now not a sinkhole. Cold water supports congeal grease so the blades can push it down the road. A splash of dish soap even as it runs knocks down film more beneficial than peel oil. And each few weeks, a cup of ice with a small pinch of coarse salt scrubs the chamber with out grinding your motor into mud. When the disposal stalls, don’t achieve for lemons. Kill potential on the switch, use the hex key underneath the unit to unfastened the flywheel, then investigate for obstructions.
Myth: “Flushable wipes are secure to flush”
We try out this myth at the least as soon as a month with a 50-foot cable and a unhealthy smell. “Flushable” merely speaks to how temporarily some thing leaves the bowl, now not how totally it dissolves. Toilet paper breaks aside in seconds. Many wipes preserve jointly for days. In a instantly, short run to the urban most important, you would break out with it. In the real world where pipes have joints, bellies, and the occasional root intrusion, wipes snag and stack till they build a mat that catches every thing at the back of it.
If your property changed into developed prior to the mid-Nineteen Eighties and nevertheless has customary clay or solid iron mains, you are a ways much more likely to get a wipe clog. We’ve pulled basketball-sized lots from lines that had 2 or 3 years of “flushable” wipes in the back of them. If you desire wipes, use a covered trash can with a tight lid, not the bowl. Your sewer line and your wallet can be happier.
Myth: “A sluggish drip is not any widespread deal”
A faucet that drips once each and every moment wastes approximately 2,000 to 3,000 gallons a 12 months. That’s the facet you could see on the invoice. The element you can actually’t see is the mineral crust that varieties at the valve seat and the greater put on the cartridge takes, which turns an economical rebuild right into a replacement down the line. On furnish traces, even a pinhole weep can create mildew within vanities and at the back of walls. By the time it blisters paint, you’re facing a remediation job, not a tightening job.
At jb rooter and plumbing, we technique drips like early detection. If it’s a long-established unmarried-take care of kitchen faucet, a cartridge and O-ring kit quotes some distance much less than awaiting the leak to carve out the seat. If the drip is on the shutoff valve lower than the sink, that’s a signal the packing is failing. Don’t crank it tighter. Those valves crack devoid of a whole lot caution. A speedy repack or alternative saves the cabinet floor.
Myth: “Hot water melts grease, so it’s k to pour it down the sink”
Hot water liquefies grease for about ten toes. Once the water cools inside the pipe, the fats units up at the walls and turns that 2-inch line right into a 1-inch line. The actual drawback begins whilst detergent-laced water and stray delicacies debris keep on with the grease and harden. We see this more often than not in houses in which cooking oil is poured down the drain “just this once.”
Let grease sit in a can, then toss it or recycle it in the event that your metropolis provides that. Wipe pans with a paper towel previously washing. If you think that you’ve poured grease, flush the road with lots of chilly water and dish soap in an instant. That does not erase the chance, yet it presents you a fighting possibility. The superior calls are the ones we never should make.
Myth: “Bleach pills in the tank shop my rest room spotless”
Those blue tablets are stable oxidizers. They attack rubber flappers and gaskets, ultimate to phantom fills, walking lavatories, and untimely valve failure. I’ve opened tanks in which the flapper had turned into a smooth, blue marshmallow that wouldn’t seal. The specified lifespan hit varies, yet in our knowledge it can reduce ingredients lifestyles in 1/2, sometimes worse.
If you would like much less scrubbing, use a smooth bowl cleaner straight away in the bowl and a brush. Inside the tank, refreshing water and intact areas matter. Swap the flapper and fill valve every five to 7 years, or faster for those who become aware of cycling. It’s a 15-minute fix so much owners can tackle, and it saves hundreds and hundreds of gallons a year.
Myth: “All plumbers do is snake a drain, I can do this with a coat hanger”
A coat hanger is an efficient means to scratch porcelain and dent a P-catch. Drain cleansing is much less approximately brute drive and greater approximately opting for the top formula. A small toilet sink clog nearly the stopper responds smartly to removing the seize and cleaning it out. A laundry line that backs up whilst the washer drains normally desires a five/eight-inch cable and the right head to transparent lint in addition down the line. Kitchen traces characteristically want a big cable run to the primary, not just a splash of keep-received enzyme.
We use the several heads for diversified clogs, and we attempt the go with the flow afterward. If we pull back coffee grounds and eggshells, the kitchen habits swap. If we pull lower back roots, the sport plan strikes to hydro jetting and root keep watch over. A hanger doesn’t tell you that story. A camera does. That’s why jb rooter and plumbing experts bring each.
Myth: “Low water tension is a town complication, not a home hassle”
City stress fluctuates, positive, however persistent low pressure within your place usally starts at your fixtures or your regulator. Scale builds up inside aerators and showerheads. Old galvanized strains shut in with rust. Pressure regulators on the foremost line slowly fail and might depart you with each low pass and high tension swings. I’ve noticeable buildings in which the stress on the hose bib study 120 psi, and a shower nonetheless trickled in view that the showerhead was choked with calcium.
Start with the straight forward assessments. Remove and rinse aerators. Soak showerheads in vinegar overnight. Test stress with a $15 gauge at an outside spigot. Normal residential pressure sits around 50 to seventy five psi. If you’re below forty on the bib, your regulator may also need adjustment or replacement. If the bib reads first-rate however furnishings are vulnerable, mineral buildup or antique piping is possible. That’s whilst a walkthrough with a seasoned pays off.
Myth: “A better water heater solves each and every scorching water obstacle”
If the remaining adult in the bathe receives a cold surprise, the intuition is to supersize the tank. Sometimes that supports. Often it does no longer. The genuine culprits are long piping runs, undersized lines, or a horrific dip tube throughout the heater mixing cold with hot. In multi-story buildings, a recirculation loop or a call for pump close the farthest fixture can ship sizzling water rapid without firing more BTUs than you desire.
Tankless units are astonishing when sized and vented competently, however they may be no longer magic both. If you run two showers, a dishwasher, and a showering mechanical device instantaneously, you want to suit the unit’s gallons per minute on your demand at your winter inlet temperature. That’s the style of math jb rooter and plumbing mavens do on site. Bigger is just not smarter. Right-sized is.
Myth: “Chemical drain cleaners are the quickest approach to transparent a clog”
Liquid drain cleaners are caustic. They generate warmness and can warp PVC traps, crack vintage porcelain, and weaken rubber gaskets. They additionally flip a better provider name into a chance. When we open a lure complete of lye, all people is at threat. And if the clog is brought on by a thing bodily, like a wad of wipes or a toothpaste cap, chemical substances won’t contact it.
Mechanical cleaning is safer and repeatedly speedier. A hand auger for a bathroom, a relevant cable for a bathtub line, or a wet/dry vacuum on a flooring drain can fix stream devoid of melting something. If you've gotten standing water and a bottle on your hand, forestall and recollect the downstream money. If you already poured it, tell the technician formerly they start. We go well with up in another way when chemicals are in the line.
Myth: “My abode is new, so I shouldn’t have plumbing complications but”
New residences don't seem to be immune. Construction particles can land in drains. I’ve pulled tile shards and drywall mud from traps in buildings handed over days previous. Water tension could be set too top from the builder’s plumber. A logo-new tankless can throw an blunders if it was not at all descaled after trying out in a complicated water sector like an awful lot of California. Even new PEX can kink behind a cupboard and starve a fixture.
A new homestead walkthrough with a checklist is wise. Test each shutoff valve. Run hot and chilly in each and every fixture for a couple of minutes. Fill tubs midway and drain them at the same time you wait for slowdowns. Check the water heater’s enlargement tank and strain settings. A builder’s assurance is on hand, but it works top-quality while you record early.
Myth: “If drains are gradual right through the condo, it’s a vent complication”
Vent points do intent slow drains and gurgling, however preferred slow drains oftentimes element to a primary line obstruction, no longer the vent. In Southern California, root intrusion is regularly occurring in which older clay pipes meet soil. Grease from the kitchen may build a shelf inside the line that catches paper from the bogs. We make sure with a digital camera, now not guesswork.
A blocked vent has a tendency to turn up as one fixture draining poorly and pulling air by a different, like a bath that gurgles while a close-by sink drains. A blocked leading tends to expose up as backups at %%!%%a3e9366a-0.33-4f89-8610-213c084cd736%%!%% furnishings inside the abode, like a shower or ground drain. When the washing desktop kicks on and the bathe fills with murky water, that’s a mainline alarm bell. That’s when jb rooter and plumbing amenities cross from a small cable to a widespread computer or a hydro jet.
Myth: “Water softeners destroy pipes and water heaters”
Softened water does no longer devour copper or PEX. In truth, challenging water is the larger enemy. Calcium and magnesium settle in water heaters, forming a layer of insulation at the underside of the tank. That layer forces the heater to burn longer to warmth the similar extent, which shortens tank existence and increases power quotes. With a softener set effectively, scale formation drops dramatically. The key's properly sizing and periodic renovation.
The one caveat: a few softeners use sodium, and in the event you’re on a septic device, extreme brine discharge can interfere with the tank’s biology. Work with a pro to dimension and set the equipment so it regenerates efficiently. We’ve obvious heaters final a couple of years longer in softened properties, and fixtures hinder their shine devoid of harsh cleansing.
Myth: “PVC is necessarily a first-class alternative for any drain”
PVC is first rate for lots drains. It’s pale, delicate, and resists corrosion. But it is absolutely not the reply around the globe. In top-temperature advertisement kitchens or lines that sometimes see hot discharge, CPVC or cast iron could be required. In guaranteed fire-rated assemblies, plastic should be would becould very well be restrained. In exposed backyard functions with solar, PVC needs UV safeguard or it becomes brittle over time.
Inside homes, we on the whole mixture resources. A forged iron stack for noise management in multi-tale constructions, PVC for horizontal branches, and shielded couplings to transition. Good work respects code and the environment, not simply rate.
Myth: “My water heater is sealed, there’s no maintenance to do”
Tanks have anodes for a reason why. That sacrificial rod attracts corrosion away from the metallic tank. In areas with competitive water, an anode will probably be ate up in 2 to a few years. Flushing sediment a couple of times a year supports, but it does not change an anode. If you pay attention rumbling or popping, that’s scale cooking at the bottom of the tank.
A brief service stopover at can mean the distinction between another few years of existence and a marvel leak on a Sunday. We scan the anode, flush sediment, examine the temperature and force relief valve, and make sure combustion or thing performance. Set your thermostat round 120 levels to stability security with convenience. If you desire warmer water at one fixture, contemplate a mixing valve in place of turning the whole tank into a scald possibility.
Myth: “I can hide a leak with pipe dope or tape and address it later”
We find transient wraps and tape all the time. They might carry for every week. They may fail while you’re out of the town. Water unearths the path of least resistance. When it escapes in the back of a wall, it saturates insulation, swells baseboards, and feeds mildew. Insurance claims for water harm spike when small concerns are ignored.
The smarter stopgap is to shut the neighborhood shutoff and schedule a fix. If there’s no local shutoff, install one. That small little bit of plumbing handle will pay for itself the primary time a source line fails at 2 a.m. If you don’t be aware of where your predominant shutoff is, study it now. It’s the very best preventative step a property owner can take.
Myth: “Any handyman can install a toilet or a water heater, it’s your entire comparable”
Toilets are forgiving until they aren’t. An over-tightened bolt can crack a porcelain base and leak simply ample to rot the subfloor ahead of all of us notices. A wax ring set on an asymmetric flange would maintain for months, then fail with one laborious plunge. Water heaters include venting and combustion laws. We’ve replaced a number instruments that were double-vented right into a single undersized flue or set without seismic strapping in California. Those aren't cosmetic blunders.
A authorized plumber includes allows for, knows code, and has the methods to check draft and gas leaks. That’s how jb rooter and plumbing specialists examine defense. If a process touches gasoline, combustion air, or sewer connections, it deserves extra than a quality guess.
Myth: “If it isn’t broken, bypass the renovation”
This applies to tankless heaters, disposals, sump pumps, and tension regulators. The wide variety of “no-warmness” calls we run that turn out to be a scale-clogged tankless could fill a small ebook. The repair is often a descaling cycle and a brand new monitor. For sump pumps, failure on a regular basis occurs all through the first heavy rain in years, now not on a sunny Tuesday. Testing the pump with a bucket of water twice a year prevents a flooded basement or crawlspace.
A quick regimen saves complications. That looks like flushing and checking the heater annually, cleaning disposal splash guards, checking out GFCI retailers close to sinks, exercising shutoff valves so that they don’t trap, and listening for pressure regulator chatter. Your domicile talks. Maintenance teaches you its language.
When a myth will become a multitude: authentic cases from the field
A own family in a 1970s ranch in Orange had ordinary kitchen backups. They’d pour boiling water and vinegar each Sunday. It would assist for an afternoon. When we opened the road with a camera, we found a grease dam halfway down a 30-foot run with a stomach. jbrooterandplumbingca.com jb rooter and plumbing near me Years of “melting” grease with warm water had stacked it there like a wax ledge. A hydro jet cleared it in an hour, and we delivered a mild slope correction in the time of a small part alternative. No backups because.
Another call interested a brand new residence the place the owner set up a powder-blue bleach tablet the day they moved in. Three months later, the john wouldn’t give up working. The flapper was once a gummy mess. We swapped the flapper, adjusted the fill, and prompt bowl-simplest cleaners. That unmarried exchange cut their water invoice through approximately 20 percent a better month.
We’ve also met the flushable wipe monster in a 25-foot segment of forged iron shared by way of two devices. One upstairs tenant used wipes each day. The downstairs unit took the backups. The digital camera discovered a root intrusion joint that snagged wipes like a fishing hook. We cleared the root, hooked up a cleanout, and scheduled semiannual digital camera tests. No greater weekend emergencies.
How to separate plumbing statement from fiction
Misinformation flourishes while nobody exams the variables. Plumbing relies upon on them. Water chemistry, pipe age, fixture fashion, code zone, and even tree species in your yard have effects on the appropriate solution. A trick that works in a rental with PVC stacks would possibly fail in a 1948 bungalow with cast iron and a long term to the road.
If you’re in doubt, take two steps. First, detect conscientiously. Note whilst the hindrance occurs and what else is working at the time. Second, ask a seasoned to clarify their diagnosis, no longer just the rate. A jb rooter and plumbing proficient needs to give you the option to indicate you the accumulation on a digital camera, measure the tension with a gauge, or hand you the mineral flakes from a showerhead. Good plumbing is measurable.
Quick checks that prevent regular myths from growing to be repairs
- Test your water pressure with a useful gauge and stay it around 50 to 75 psi. Add or modify a tension regulator if mandatory. Open and shut fixture shutoff valves two times a year so they don’t trap. Replace any that drip or won’t turn. Clean aerators and showerheads seasonally. If buildup returns quickly, understand a softener or aspect-of-use filter. Flush your water heater once a year and look at various the anode each and every couple of years. Listen for rumbling that signs heavy sediment. Walk the home after heavy rains. Check for gurgling, gradual drains, or damp spots that advise a developing difficulty.
When to name in a professional
Some jobs gift do-it-yourself effort: changing a flapper, cleansing a P-entice, swapping an aerator. Others benefit from specialized tools and ride. If you scent gas, see sewage at a floor drain, find water around a water heater, or have recurrent clogs that rule out hair and cleaning soap scum, bring in an authorized plumber. Camera inspections, hydro jetting, power balancing, and good venting aren't guesswork projects.
If you’re in California and in the hunt for jb rooter and plumbing california or jb rooter and plumbing ca, you’ll to find the team at jb rooter & plumbing inc able with the suitable gear. Clients most commonly notice us by using jb rooter and plumbing stories or by means of traveling jbrooterandplumbingca.com and www.jbrooterandplumbingca.com. Whether you know us as jb rooter plumbing, jb plumbing, or really jb rooter, the mindset is the same: give an explanation for the difficulty plainly, restoration it cleanly, and leave you with fewer surprises.
For carrier information, hours, and jb rooter and plumbing destinations, payment the jb rooter and plumbing website online. If you prefer a human voice, use the jb rooter and plumbing contact web page to request a name, or store the jb rooter and plumbing wide variety for your mobilephone so that you don’t should search jb rooter and plumbing close to me all through a leak.
A greater way to factor in house plumbing
Plumbing protects your home quietly. It moves waste out, brings water in, and allows for convenience we simply note whilst it fails. Most disasters have a traceable purpose. They start off with a fable that felt innocuous or a shortcut that seemed clever. The fixes are usually not distinctive. They’re sensible habits and well timed protection sponsored by the desirable instruments.
Ignore the lemon peels and the magic drugs. Keep an eye fixed on drive and listen for brand spanking new noises. Put wipes within the trash. Give grease a can, no longer a drain. When you hit the bounds of what a wrench and a bucket can do, call in pros who treat your own home like their own.
That’s the standard the jb rooter and plumbing professionals paintings to daily.