Plumbing Tips

The best plumbing tips are well known to the best plumbers; that is, plumbers who not only know what they're doing, but who also take pride in their workmanship. Many times, however, you may find yourself having to pay a professional plumber to perform work that you could, with a bit of knowledge and a little effort, do yourself.

The following ten plumbing tips don't necessarily require a plumber's help, but they will keep your home in better condition so a plumber is needed less often.

Tip #1: Liquid dishwashing soap is great for cleaning the outside of your toilet bowl. Also, laundry detergent cleans bath fixtures easily, especially the areas exposed to hard water. For a really dirty stain, use a non-abrasive cleaner such as Bon Ami, Spic-N-Span, or Mr. Clean All-Purpose.

Tip #2: Use drain cleaners only as a last resort. This is because they usually do not work (the clogged material stays where it is as the drain cleaner goes flowing right by and into the sewer system). Instead, try using a plunger. If the drain cleaner doesn't work and you must call a plumber, make sure you let your plumber know about the drain cleaner -- that stuff is caustic! (See "Unclogging Your Bathub" at the bottom of this page.)

Tip #3: Every once in a while, make sure that no water is flowing anywhere inside or outside of your home, then go take a look at the dials on your water meter. None of them should be moving at all, so if one of them appears to be fluctuating even a little, you probably have a water leak somewhere that will have to be found and fixed.

Tip #4: You know how soapy gunk tends to settle on faucet spouts & handles? Well, for chrome faucets & fixtures trying using white wine vinegar. Just soak a paper towel in the vinegar, squeeze out the excess and then wrap the towel around the chrome fixture. Wait 10 minutes, remove the wet towel and then rub the chrome with a dry towel. DO NOT USE VINEGAR ON BRASS OR COLORED FIXTURES!

Tip #5: If you flush your toilet and it looks as if it's going to overflow, remove the lid of the tank right away and push the flush valve, which covers the opening at the bottom of the tank, shut. Until the obstruction is removed, keeping the flush valve shut will keep the bowl from overflowing.

Tip #6: By draining a couple of gallons of water from the drain valve at the bottom of your heater at least twice a year, you will extend the life of your water heater considerably (accumulated sediment gets removed with the drained water).

Tip #7: Be sure you know where the shutoff valves are for your toilets and for each of your kitchen and bathroom faucets. By knowing where the all shutoff valves are, in the event of a major leaking water problem you can turn the water off at the valve inside your house instead of having to turn off your water main outside, thus minimizing the amount of damage the leaking water may cause. However, it is also a good idea to know where the shutoff valve for the house is located, and how to operate it.

Tip #8: Do this once a year or so: add some food coloring to the water in your toilet's tank. Wait about fifteen minutes and then look in the bowl. If the food coloring has gotten into the toilet bowl from the tank, the toilet's flapper valve is probably leaking and may need to be replaced. If you live anywhere near J.C. Plumbing 'N' Things, located at 3238 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd. in Thousand Oaks, and happen to be passing by you might stop in and ask for a few Toilet Tank Leak Detector dye tablets. They'll be happy to let you have them for free.

Tip #9: Open and close all the valves on the inside and outside of your home at least once a year -- especially the ones you never use, because over a long period of time valves tend to rust shut or freeze up in some other way, and it may cost you to get them replaced.

Tip #10: If you ever start to notice nasty odors emanating from your garbage disposal unit, it just means some waste materials have managed to accumulate in there. Run some orange or lemon peels, or ice cubes, through the garbage disposer and these odors will disappear.

In addition to the foregoing tips, you can save yourself a stack of money by doing some of the easier plumbing repair work yourself.

Here are some helpful plumbing tips I have learned over the years that you might find useful. Because they go into more specific detail, each gets its own page. Hiring the Right Plumber
Unclogging Your Bathtub

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