By AJ Danboise
Have you ever noticed an odd sound, smell, or water flow problem with your plumbing and wondered what to do? You might not be alone in your plumbing plight.
At AJ Danboise Plumbing, Heating, Cooling & Electrical, we are all too familiar with a wide range of plumbing issues and fully equipped to solve them quickly and efficiently for you and your family. After you experience the helpfulness and expertise an experienced plumber has to offer, you might want to celebrate National Hug a Plumber Day coming up on April 25!
Common Plumbing Problems and How to Deal with Them
Here are a few of the most common plumbing problems, and whether you can fix them yourself or need to call in the professionals (and give them a hug).
Dripping Faucet
If your faucet is leaking, it can cost you extra money on your monthly utility bill (along with making a nonstop annoying sound).
A dripping faucet can be a DYI project if you are handy with tools. Turn off your water at the valve below the sink, then turn on your faucet to drain any excess water left in the system. You will need to disassemble your faucet piece by piece to figure out what might be broken.
You can find all the parts you need at your local hardware store: the stem, the O-rings and the washers. Make sure you buy the correct sizes and styles for your sink. When you return home with the new parts, reassemble your faucet in the reverse order from when you took each component apart. Your faucet should be leak-free!
If this solution sounds confusing or the problem persists, call your favorite plumber and ask for a little assistance.
Slow Drain
Hair, soap, and other gunk can build up inside your drain and slow it down. Remove the cover of your drain, and then pull out any of the gross buildup you see at the top. (We recommend a pair of rubber gloves). If there is some yuckiness down below out of your reach, try straightening out a wire coat hanger and pulling up gunk from within the pipes.
Flush some vinegar and baking soda down the drain to purge it but avoid chemical drain cleaners since they can cause damage to your pipes. If your drain is still running slowly, it is definitely time to call a plumber.
No Hot Water
There’s nothing worse than a cold shower. Problems with your hot water heater can come from a wide variety of sources: pilot light burning out, excess sediment in the tank that needs to be drained, thermostat issues, and more. You might be able to troubleshoot some of these problems if you are handy, but usually it is best to call in an expert for water heater issues.
Jammed Garbage Disposal
There are plenty of household substances that wind up in the garbage disposal even though they never should have gone down your drain. (For a complete list of items that aren’t safe for your pipes, click here.) Sometimes if your garbage disposal gets clogged, you can simply press the small red reset button and it will return to normal. But in other cases, you will need to break out your tools or call in a plumbing professional.
If you need a plumber to solve one these common plumbing problems or anything else going wrong with your pipes, AJ Danboise Plumbing, Heating, Cooling & Electrical is here to help. Give us a call at (248) 477-3626.
