Tag: Plumbing Tips

Depending on where you live, the cold winter weather may bring snow, ice, and freezing temperatures. Even if you live in an area with relatively mild winters, there are still some things you need to do to protect your home from the elements during cold weather. Ensuring that gutters and your roof are ready is important, but you also want to take steps to protect your plumbing. The following covers several things you can do to ensure that you don’t have to deal with frozen pipes and other plumbing issues come winter.

Let Your Faucets Trickle

You would be surprised how just running a trickle of water through your pipes can help prevent them from freezing in harsh winter conditions. Keep in mind that only a small amount of water is needed to do this. With water moving through your pipes, ice cannot form and burst one.

Keep the Heat Flowing

No one likes to live in a cold home, and pipes don’t readily accept chilly temperatures. To help prevent your pipes from freezing, you’ll want to keep your home’s thermostat adjusted to at least 55 degrees. Keep in mind this is equally important even if you go on vacation or are away from your home for long periods of time. The warmer it is in your home, the less chance there is to be surprised by a burst pipe.

A programmable or smart thermostat can be an easy way to keep temperatures steady in your residence. With a connected smart thermostat, you can even control your settings when you’re outside your home. That means if you leave for vacation without double-checking the thermostat you can simply use your phone to adjust it.

Insulate Those Pipes

If your home has pipes in the basement, attic, or crawl space and they are not insulated, you’ll want to make sure they get insulation before the temperature becomes too cold. Pipes that are in chilly areas inside your home need to be adequately wrapped in insulation, pipe sleeves, or electrical heat cables. At [company_name], we can assist you with locating the pipes that need to be insulated, and we can install whatever type of insulation might be necessary to keep your pipes from bursting. It is easier to have professionals do this type of work because the pipes may be located in hard-to-reach or hard-to-spot areas.

Keep Your Cabinets Open in the Bathrooms and Kitchen

In order for heat to adequately flow through to the bathroom and kitchen pipes, you may need to keep your cabinets open. This allows the heat in the surrounding area to reach the pipes that are located inside the cabinets. Allowing warm air into the cabinets is especially important for those that contain pipes located near outside-facing walls.

Keep Your Crawl Space Free From the Cold

If you have a crawl space instead of a basement or a combined crawl space/basement area, you’ll want to try to cover the outside walls of the crawl space with some type of foam board to help keep the chilly temperatures out. Foam board is relatively inexpensive, and it’s easy to cut to fit walls of all sizes. If you are uncomfortable with this task, however, you can reach out for professional help.

Remove Garden Hoses From Outside

While you are taking steps to protect your indoor plumbing, you also want to take time to ensure that any outdoor pipes and spigots are protected. After all, they are directly exposed to the winter weather. Be sure to detach any hoses from outdoor spigots. If a hose freezes, ice can back up and make its way into your pipes. This can cause the pipe to freeze and burst, leaving you with plumbing repairs and property damage to take care of.

If you want added protection for outdoor plumbing, you may also want to look into purchasing covers for your faucets. You can purchase these at any home improvement store and install them yourself, or you can have a plumber from [company_name] install them.

Keep the Garage Door Closed

Keeping the garage door open in the wintertime can allow frigid air to get inside, and that air can freeze any or all pipes that may be in your garage area. It is best to keep your garage door closed tightly in the wintertime to keep the space warm. If you are in an especially cold area, investing in a garage heater may be a wise decision to protect the plumbing and other property in your garage.

Make Sure Excess Cold Air Isn’t Getting Into Your Home

Many homes have cracks and gaps around windows and doors that can let cold air in and warm air out. Taking steps to seal these areas with caulk and weatherstripping will go a long way toward protecting your plumbing and keeping you more comfortable. Sealing leaks also helps improve your energy efficiency, which can lead to lower monthly utility bills. In addition to checking around windows and doors, you also want to make sure that exposed areas such as your attic are insulated properly.

Make Use of Space Heaters

In some areas where vulnerable pipes are located, it may be necessary to run a space heater to help guard the pipes against freezing. The heater can provide just enough warmth to keep your pipes from freezing. When using space heaters, however, it’s important to never leave them unattended as they can present a fire hazard.

Know Where Your Shut-Off Valves Are

Do you know where your main shut-off valve for your water is? If not, you are not alone. Many people don’t know where to locate this valve or even what it looks like. However, knowing the location of this important device is very important because it can help you reduce property damage in case of a burst pipe or other plumbing emergency.

If your home has a basement, the valve will typically be located there along an outside wall where the municipal water line enters your home. In some cases, it may be located in a crawl space or even outside along your property line. Most mains use ball valves that attach to a lever that may be colored red, green, yellow, or orange. When the lever is in line with your pipe, it is open; if it’s perpendicular to your pipe, it’s closed. Other valves use a gate system with a round dial handle that your turn clockwise to close and counterclockwise to open. If you are having trouble locating your main water shut-off valve, our crew at [company_name] can help.

Your Local Plumbing Professionals

At [company_name], our team has provided a wide range of plumbing services in San Antonio and the surrounding area for over two decades. While we don’t deal with as many plumbing issues during the winter as other areas do, we can still help ensure that all your pipes and plumbing systems are ready for the weather. Our team repairs pipes and fixtures, and we can help with drain cleaning, sewer lines, toilet repair and replacement, garbage disposals, and water heaters. Interested in water treatment? We can assist you with that as well. Contact us at [company_name] today to set up an appointment.

Does your home have limescale? Limescale is a hard, chalky deposit that is made from calcium and carbonate ions. This stubborn substance is a problem found around common water spots in homes, such as sinks, taps, bathroom tiles, toilet bowls, and washing machines.

Limescale isn’t just unappealing to the eye, it is hard to remove. Even more, limescale can destroy appliances, lead to faulty plumbing systems, and irritate the skin. The good news is that there are certain steps you can take to prevent limescale from occurring in your home. Read on to learn more.

1. Regularly Clean Your Appliances

One of the easiest things you can do to prevent limescale is to regularly clean your appliances. For this reason, it’s important to wipe all wet fittings after every use. In particular, you should focus on wiping down areas where water is most likely to sit. This includes showers, sinks, and baths.

2. Water Softener

Another effective option to prevent limescale is to invest in a water softener. Water softeners use ion exchange to remove calcium and minerals from the water supply, turning hard water into soft water. This means that you will have fewer impurities in your water supply, which can minimize the buildup of limescale.

3. DIY Limescale Remover

If you’re looking for a DIY method, homeowners can choose to make a DIY limescale remover using one part water and one part white vinegar. You can put your DIY mix into a spray bottle and spray the mixture on fixtures that present limescale. Or, you can soak a clean towel in the mixture and wrap it around any fixtures that have limescale on them.

It’s a good idea to let the solution sit for at least 10 minutes before wiping it away. If the limescale is particularly stubborn, you may want to consider leaving the mixture on overnight for the best results.

At Anchor Plumbing & Services, we want to help make your home feel comfortable again. We offer
services for Plumbing, water heaters, water softeners, and drains cleaning. Give us a call today for for your San Antonio, plumbing needs!

Dishwashers are extremely convenient and also use much less water than washing dishes by hand. Still, you often won’t realize just how much easier they make your life until your dishwasher breaks down and you have to start doing your dishes by hand again. One of the most common dishwasher problems you may encounter is when the unit stops draining for some reason. If you ever find yourself in this situation, here are all of the steps that you should take to try to get it to drain again.

Try to Run the Dishwasher Again

The most common reason that you will open up your dishwasher and find it full of water is because it was shut off before it completed its full cycle. If you turn the unit off while it is still full of water, the drain pump won’t run, and the water will remain until the dishwasher is turned back on. This is always the very first thing you should check. All you need to do is turn it on and set it to run. If it is still full of water once it finishes the cycle, then you will need to move on to the next steps.

Turn On the Garbage Disposal

Dishwashers are always installed so that the drain hose connects to the main drain pipe underneath your kitchen sink. If you have a garbage disposal, the dishwasher will drain directly into it instead. When the garbage disposal gets clogged with food and debris, it will prevent the dishwasher from being able to drain. To check if this is the case, turn on the cold water and attempt to run the garbage disposal for 30 seconds or so. You will then need to run your dishwasher again to see if it will drain now that you know the garbage disposal is clear.

Remove Any Standing Water and Check for Obstructions

If the previous two steps weren’t any help, you will now need to remove all of the water. This allows you to inspect for any clogs or obstructions around the drain valve. Before starting, you should always put towels on the ground in front of the dishwasher to catch any water that may spill out. You will then need to use a ladle or cup to scoop out as much water as you can, and then soak up any remaining water with a towel.

Once the dishwasher is no longer full of water, you can then check to make sure the drain valve is clog-free and working properly. The valve should be located near the back corner of the unit. To check that the valve is working properly, gently push down on it. It should move freely when you press on it. If not, then the valve is stuck, and you will likely need to hire a plumber to determine why and see if they can repair it.

Clean the Filter

You should also make sure that your dishwasher’s filter isn’t full of food particles or clogged. Most people are unaware that you are supposed to clean a dishwasher filter regularly, and many people don’t know that their dishwasher even has a filter. The filter works to prevent food particles from potentially clogging the drain line. However, if the filter gets too dirty, it can prevent the dishwasher from draining or cause it to drain much more slowly.

Most dishwashers have a cylindrical, cup-shaped filter at the bottom. Some units also have a screen on the bottom near the filter that can be removed and cleaned. If you’re not sure what the filter looks like or where it is, check your owner’s manual. This will also tell your how to remove and clean it.

After removing the filter, soak it in vinegar for around 30 minutes to soften up any gunk stuck to it. You can then gently scrub it inside and out using soap and either a bristled brush or scouring pad. Once it is fully clean, make sure to rinse it well before you put it back in to ensure it isn’t full of dish soap.

Make Sure the Drain Hose Isn’t Clogged or Kinked

Your dishwasher uses a soft, flexible drain hose that runs from the unit to your sink drain. This hose can easily become kinked and prevent the dishwasher from draining. If the hose is kinked, you should gently straighten it out as best as you can.

You should also unhook the hose from the sink drain so you can make sure it isn’t clogged. You can check for and remove clogs by sticking a wire hanger into the hose. When you reconnect the hose, you also need to make sure that the connection to the drain has an airtight seal. If the seal is even slightly loose, it can also prevent the dishwasher from draining or cause it to leak underneath your sink.

Clean the Dishwasher With Baking Soda and Vinegar

Another effective solution to drainage issues is to use baking soda and vinegar to fully clean the dishwasher. This works by helping to break up any clogs that could be preventing it from draining. If you notice that there is standing water in your dishwasher after it runs, mix together approximately one cup of baking soda and one cup of white vinegar. Pour this mixture into the water inside the dishwasher and wait around 30 minutes.

After letting this mixture sit, the dishwasher will often become clear enough that it will start draining on its own. In this case, you should turn the unit on to the rinse cycle and let it run. The vinegar and baking soda should help to loosen up any clogs enough that the dishwasher can then flush them out and drain properly.

Run the Dishwasher Again and Listen

Another thing you should always do if your dishwasher won’t drain is to run it and listen for anything unusual. If everything sounds as it should, this likely means that it is clogged. However, if you hear any strange clicking or humming noises, then this usually indicates that the drain pump motor is faulty or burnt out. In this case, you are only left with two options: hire a plumber to see if the motor can be replaced or buy a new dishwasher.

This pump is what allows your dishwasher to drain. When water drains out of the bottom of the dishwasher, it has to flow uphill to reach your kitchen sink drain. If the pump stops working, gravity will prevent the water from going up through the drain hose, and the water will remain stuck inside the bottom of the dishwasher.

If your dishwasher won’t drain or has any other issues, we are ready to help. We service and repair all makes and models, and our team has years of experience fixing most any dishwasher issue. We also install and service water heaters, garbage disposals, water softeners, and most other plumbing appliances and fixtures. Our team can also help you overcome water pressure issues, and we specialize in drain cleaning and sewer services for customers throughout the San Antonio area. If you need any type of dishwasher or plumbing service, give us a call today.