There are certain elements of plumbing problems that are beyond your control. What goes down the drain is completely within your control. You can decide what does and does not go into your drain. That’s one of the biggest factors in a plumbing emergency. 

Garbage Disposals Aren’t Infallible 

Many people who have a garbage disposal in their kitchen sink think that they can just pour whatever they want down the drain and then grind it with the disposal. Garbage disposals are designed to grind up the last scraps of food, not large amounts of food. Your best option is to scrape your plates and cookware into the trash can. Your garbage disposal can still be overwhelmed if you put too much food in the drain. 

Flushable Wipes Aren’t Flushable

Several types of bathroom wipes, makeup removers, and baby wipes are billed as “flushable.” They are, however, not flushable. Toilet paper is flushable because it breaks down when it sits in water. You can see this any time you try to clean up a spill with toilet paper. Flushable wipes are designed to hold their texture while they’re moist; that’s the exact opposite of what you want in something that goes down the toilet. They will hold their texture and then catch on other things in the drain. Eventually, you’ll have a clog. 

Paper Towels

Paper towels might seem like they’re about the same as toilet paper, but they’re not. Paper towels are marketed as “strong” against spills, which means that moisture won’t cause them to tear apart. You want everything in your drain to fall apart quickly when it gets wet. Don’t flush paper towels; throw them in the trash. 

Coffee Grounds

Some old advice says to run some coffee grounds through your toilet or your sink. The abrasive nature of the grounds is supposed to scrape your pipes clean. That’s not at all what happens. Instead, the grounds clump together; you can see this whenever you dump grounds in the trash. Moist grounds cling together. They’ll attach to fat and other substances in the pipes to create a clog. 

Fat

Fat is one of the biggest culprits in clogged pipes. The fat that is solid at room temperature will become liquid when heated. After cooking, many people dump the liquid fat down the drain. It then cools back into a solid. That solid creates clogs. Pour the fat into a sealed container and throw it away, or wait for it to cool and then dump it in the trash.

As homeowners look for different ways to reduce their carbon footprint and cut down on their water bills, many of them are turning to rainwater plumbing. Rainwater plumbing is exactly what it sounds like. It is the process of collecting rainwater and using that in your home’s plumbing. The simplest process involves a collection tank and a series of pipes to different fixtures. Since the rainwater is not treated, it’s not potable but it can be used in most other circumstances. You can also add a pump and a filtration system to use the rainwater barrel like a well. 

A Simple Setup

The simplest rainwater setup typically involves a barrel that is connected to your home’s gutters. The gutters collect water and funnel it into the rain barrel. The barrel has an overflow pipe at the top. So, when it gets too full, it will siphon water safely away from your house as your gutters would normally. The pipe at the bottom will feed into your house. Typically, you have a pump there that pumps water to different fixtures. 

Rainwater can be used in your washing machine, your toilets, mop sinks, and anywhere that the water is not ingested. You don’t want to use it for your shower. Even though that water isn’t specifically for drinking, it can be accidentally ingested. You want that to be only potable water. 

A Full Home Setup

If you want to use rainwater in all of your home’s fixtures, you’ll need a more complex setup. That more complex setup will still have the collection tank and the pump that feeds different fixtures. There will be an intermediate step, though. That’s the water filtration system. The water filtration system will filter out physical impurities with activated carbon. Most of them then kill bacteria and viruses with UV light. At that point, the water is safe to drink. Some of them use a tiny amount of salt to help purify the water. 

These two options are only applicable in places where it is legal to collect rainwater. Certain municipalities don’t allow it. Also, you will likely still need a municipal water supply because rainwater amounts can vary so drastically.  If this sounds like something that might be right for you, you should get in touch with a plumber who has worked with rainwater collection before. They’ll be able to set up your system in the most efficient way possible. 

There is no good time to have your plumbing fail, but it does seem to always happen at the most inopportune time. Many people know the horror of waking up to find their entire basement flooded or to have the floor sink in an entire section of the kitchen. These plumbing disasters are awful and expensive. They are, however, preventable. You just need to know how to avoid them.

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Many homeowners are rethinking how much water they use in their homes. They’re making considerations based on the environmental impact of using excess water as well as the simple cost of running all that water. To that end, many are turning to low-flow fixtures. These are plumbing fixtures that use less water than traditional fixtures to hopefully achieve the same results. There are a few different kinds of low-flow fixtures, though.

Low-Flow Toilets

 Old toilets used as much as five gallons of water to flush. Except for very old homes, those have pretty much disappeared. The new standard for toilets is 1.6 gallons per flush. Research indicates that each person flushes the toilet about five times per day. So, that’s eight gallons of water used each day per person. That’s a significant amount of water. Some newer low-flow toilets use as little as a half gallon of water to flush the toilet. Many of them have two different settings. There’s a reduced water flush feature and a full water flush feature. That can cut your water consumption by several gallons every day. For a household, it could be as much as a dozen gallons of water saved each day.

Low-Flow Showerheads

 Low-flow showerheads work in one of two ways. Some of them use smaller and more numerous openings. They spray thinner jets of water but many more of them to achieve the same amount of water coverage while using less water. More complex showerheads actually inject water into the flow. So, that will space out the drops of water somewhat while providing them with more force. It will feel like more water because the water is less dense.

Standard showerheads use as much as five gallons of water per minute. The average shower is eight minutes long. That’s forty gallons of water for an average shower. Many people shower much longer. A low-flow showerhead will consume between .5 and two gallons of water per minute. That could cut your water consumption by more than half.

Low-Flow Sinks

 Low flow sinks are typically paired with an aerator. An aerator injects air into the flow of water much like the aerated showerheads. That will allow you to get your dishes clean without using as much water. The water pressure and the spread of water is more important to cleaning dishes than the sheer volume of water.

Any of these can reduce your environmental footprint and save you money in the long run.

Homeowners are contacting plumbers to find the most efficient possible plumbing fixtures. These fixtures include things like low-flow toilets and low-flow showerheads. There are also some other very interesting developments that have been growing in popularity. Plumbers have been installing low condensation toilets, insulated pipes, and smart pipes. These efficient fixtures are some of the most high-tech fixtures that plumbers are installing. There are also some fixtures that are not necessarily more water efficient.

Touchless and One-Touch Fixtures

 Touchless and one-touch fixtures have been popular with commercial applications for a very long time. Business and public restrooms have used touchless toilets, faucets, and paper towel dispensers for a long time. Homeowners are just now getting in on it. Touchless fixtures use motion detection technology to determine when to turn on and off. You wave your hand under a faucet and the water comes on. You simply walk away from a toilet, and it flushes. These features make it easier to use plumbing fixtures. They also help to reduce the transmission of germs. If you touch fewer fixtures, fewer germs will be transmitted. That’s especially helpful if someone in the house is ill.

One-touch fixtures are common as well. Instead of turning a handle to turn a sink on and off, you simply tap the faucet itself. This makes it easier to operate the fixture when your hands are full.

Raincan Shower Heads

 Raincan shower heads are designed to more closely mimic rainfall. That means they offer a wide surface of water that seems to fall as opposed to water that sprays out of the shower head. Since they offer wider heads, they can cover more surface area while using less water. The angle also means that you can cover more surface area, so you might not need to shower as long. They have been shown to save water and can save you hundreds of dollars in water usage each year.

Cyclone Toilets

 A traditional toilet uses holes around the rim to introduce water into the bowl and flush. A cyclone shower head uses jets inside the toilet bowl to create spinning water. The cyclone action flushes away waste much more efficiently than rim holes. They also use much less water.

Hand Dryers

 Some people are choosing to install hand dryers in their home so that they don’t have to continually buy paper towels or wash hand towels. Some modern, high-tech hand dryers actually dry your hands faster than towels with less waste.

For a long time, the most efficient and most popular way to heat your home was a boiler. As electric and natural gas began to grow in popularity, many homes switched to central heating and air conditioning. Now, many of those homes are switching back to this reliable source. Also, many new homes are having boilers installed instead of HVAC units. The units being installed are not the old, inefficient boilers. Instead, they are new types that are efficient and clean-burning.

Benefits to Boilers

This method of heat is not trending out of some sense of nostalgia. Boilers are more popular and plumbers are installing more than ever because they work. An HVAC unit blows warm air into a room to heat other air. However, air is not very good at holding heat. That means as soon as the heater turns off, the room begins to cool again. A boiler, however, heats up water. Water holds onto heat much longer than air. So, your boiler will not need to run as often as an HVAC unit would. Once that water is boiling, it is piped around your house. The hot water runs through the walls to heat up the house. That means that instead of heating up just the air, the hot water in the pipes will actually heat up the walls themselves. Your walls will hold heat longer than the air. So, your home will stay warm for longer.

Call a Plumber

If you think that you might be interested in a boiler or if you think your boiler needs an upgrade, you should call a plumber. Plumbers are often the ones who install and repair boilers because water is an essential element to a boiler. Also, hot water heaters are often integrated into the boiler as well.

When you call a plumber, you should ask them about the different types of boilers. The biggest difference is the fuel that heats the water. There are electric, natural gas, and fuel oil boilers. Fuel oil boilers burn liquid fuel in a system not dissimilar from an internal combustion engine. This is one of the less efficient systems but it is the only system available in some rural areas. If you live outside of a municipal natural gas supply, you would need to have fuel oil delivered to your home. Many new fuel oil boilers are almost as efficient as natural gas.

Most plumbing research says that natural gas boilers are the most efficient. Natural gas delivers the most BTUs for a given volume of fuel. Natural gas boilers also have some of the lowest rates of heat loss.

You should ask your Boise plumber about your options and what they would recommend. Five Star Service Pros will answer this question and more. Just call today to speak with one of our licensed plumbers!

Environmentally-friendly options have grown to dominate just about every industry. Everywhere you look, they are available. The plumbing industry is no different. When it comes to the plumbing industry, the most common environmentally-friendly option is a low-flow option. There are low-flow toilets, sinks, and showers. In the simplest sense, they are fixtures that use less water than their traditional counterparts. They also include some innovations to make that a little less noticeable. Here’s how they work.

Low-Flow Showerheads

 Low-flow showerheads are some of the most popular changes. A traditional shower head is limited to 2.5 gallons per minute. A low-flow showerhead is often half that flow rate. To make it not seem like you’re getting half as much water, low-flow heads often have more holes for spraying water. They also inject more air into the stream. So you end up with the same amount of coverage but with half as much water.

Low-Flow Toilets

 There are also low-flow toilets. A typical toilet uses 1.6 gallons per flush. A low-flow toilet can use about 1.2 or 1.3 gallons per flush. That might not seem like a very significant difference, but it can add up to several gallons per day. Oftentimes, the design of a low-flow toilet has to be a little more precise than a traditional toilet. Older toilets used three, five, or even seven gallons per flush. They didn’t need much innovative design to ensure that they flushed completely. A low-flow toilet has to be carefully designed. Early models didn’t work as expected and gave the entire category a bad name. New low-flow toilets work as well as traditional toilets and save you money.

Low-Flow Sinks

 A low-flow sink often involves a sink faucet that sprays a sphere of water. A traditional faucet releases a column of water; however, most of this water is wasted down the drain. A low-flow sink sprays a jet of water that is a higher pressure but contains less water. Since it’s higher pressure, it can clean just as well as a greater volume of water. Many homeowners who have low-flow sinks have reported washing their dishes just as well as they ever did but with less water. A typical kitchen faucet uses about 1.8 gallons per minute. A low-flow kitchen faucet uses about .5 gallons per minute.

If you want these benefits without making a drastic change, you can often have a plumber install a low-flow aerator. This injects air into your fixture without requiring you get an entirely new fixture. Ask a professional about one.

Boiling water taps have become the not new thing for people to get for their homes. They have been popular for years in restaurants and are just catching on for domestic use. They probably won’t replace a simple teapot any time soon, but they’re still growing in market share.

What Is It?

 A boiling water tap is exactly what it sounds like. It is a faucet that dispenses boiling water when you turn the nozzle. Typically, they sit right next to your standard tap. Instead of room temperature water or water from the water heater, you get boiling water. They’re incredibly convenient if you want to make tea or need to scour a pan. They also save some water since most people fill up their tea pot with more water than they actually need.

Most critically, they save a lot of time. Many of them bring you boiling water instantly. Some of them might take a few seconds to heat up. That just depends on how your particular tap works.

How They Work

 A boiling water tap is installed on your counter over your sink like a standard faucet. It’s then connected to a tank underneath the sink. The tank is typically very well-insulated. The tank is basically an electric or a gas kettle that holds water and heats it. Some models will heat water to boiling and then hold it in the insulated tank until you need it. These often will turn the heating element back on when you turn the tap. The water won’t stay boiling hot in the tank perpetually, but it will be closer to boiling when the heating element comes back on. That means it will be easier to heat and save you some energy.

Other boiling water taps work more like a tankless water heater. They are connected to a water line and have a heating element built into them. When you turn the tap and water flows, the heating element comes on. The heating element is intense enough that the water is almost instantly brought to boiling temperature. They’re nearly instantaneous.

The Benefits

 The benefits of a boiling water tap are mostly that you can save a lot of time. You don’t have to wait for a pot of water to boil; that can drastically reduce cooking times. You can also see some reduction in your energy usage if you use a lot of boiled water.

A professional plumber will need to install a boiling water tap if you would like one.

Hydrojetting has been around for a while but it has been growing in popularity for use by plumbers in recent years. It’s been growing as the tools and equipment required for effective hydro jetting have become more affordable for independent contractors and easier to load on the truck. When you call a professional plumber about a clog in your pipes, they might recommend hydro jetting. So, what is it?

What Is Hydro Jetting?

 Hydro Jetting is the process of spraying highly pressurized water into your pipes to scour them. The pressure will hopefully wash away buildup on the pipes and break up clogs. To do it effectively, a plumber will likely access a cleanout somewhere on your property. That is an opening in the plumbing system that allows a plumber to easily access the pipes. They’ll then connect the hose to the cleanout. They’ll pump water through the pipes at as much as 5,000 psi.

It’s very important that the plumber choose the right pressure for the situation and the type of pipes. For example, clay pipes are more susceptible to cracking or breaking under high pressure; you wouldn’t use as much pressure for those old underground pipes. Also, a tree root will likely be unaffected by hydro jetting. So, if the plumber were to jet pipes blocked by a thick tree root, it could just create uncontrollable pressure and burst a pipe.

That’s why plumbers will often use a drain camera before they jet the pipes. They’ll work the camera through the pipes to find the source of the clog. Then they’ll blow it out with the hydrojets.

Who Needs It?

 Hydro Jetting is best used when there is a clog far along in your pipes. It’s also most effective when the clog needs to be broken up. For example, a clog of fat and paper towels somewhere in your sewer main could be broken up with a concentrated blast of high pressure water. If you have a clog of hair in one of your sink drains, you wouldn’t go through the trouble of jetting it. In that case, you’d use a chemical to dissolve the hair or just fish it out with a drain snake.

Hydro Jetting can often eliminate the need to trench a yard. If a clog is far along in the plumbing, it could be under the backyard and not easily accessible. If you can’t access it, it will either have to be blown out or the pipe would have to be uprooted.

Of the many obvious dangers to your pipes, most of them come from inside the pipes. If you flush hard objects, fat, paper towels, or anything else that can clog a pipe, you could have a problem. A major danger comes from outside of the pipes, though; that danger is tree roots.

Tree Root Dangers

 Tree roots are very slow-moving but they are very persistent. Pipes and septic tanks that are underground are in danger of a tree’s roots. The roots will grow over the course of years. They’ll slowly wrap around the pipes or septic tank. As the tree grows, the roots will throw thicker and thicker, creating a tighter and tighter squeeze on the pipes. Eventually, they’ll grow thick enough that they damage the pipes. In some cases, they’ll compress the metal of the pipe until water no longer flows freely. In other cases, they’ll actually just break the pipes. Oftentimes, you won’t even notice that you have a problem until sewage starts flooding your backyard.

Recognizing The Dangers

 A general rule of thumb is that roots will grow as wide as the branches of the tree. So, if the branches of a tree hang over a septic tank or pipes, the roots might be burrowing into them underground.

So, what can you do about it? First, you should call a plumber to inspect your pipes. It could be that the pipes are deep enough that they’ll be unaffected by tree roots. It’s also possible that the tree is a type that doesn’t have a wide root spread.

Depending on the nature of the problem, the professionals will respond in different ways. If the roots are worming their way into the pipes themselves, a problem common to clay pipes, then they’ll likely bore out the pipes to clear the roots. If the pipes are crushed or cracked by the roots, they’ll likely cut the roots and replace the pipes. They might also coat the pipes in something that kills roots. It won’t kill the entire tree, but the roots will die when they come into contact with the pipes.

The pipes can also be coated in cement to prevent the roots from breaking through. This has been popular for years with commercial lines and has just begun to be used for residential lines.

These are a few of the options you have to remedy pipes endangered by tree roots. The first step is calling a professional.