A Better Alternative to Hard Water Scales

Posted on March 12, 2012 by admin
Home Water Treatment Systems Baltimore

Hard Water Scales Inside a Copper Pipe

After thirty years, Baltimore plumber Byron Graham had seen enough plumbing pipe systems ravaged by hard water scale deposits and he decided to offer services to homeowners that will prevent the problem right from the start. As Byron notes, hard water scales are tiny mineral crystals that form when mineral containing water is exposed to changes in temperature, pressure, and flow in the home. These crystals readily attach to the sides of pipes and plumbing appliances and over time significantly narrow pipes, and damage the efficiency of plumbing appliances. Now plumber Byron is installing modern hard water treatment systems that change the form of these metallic crystals so that instead of depositing they pass harmlessly through the system.

The system that Byron is offering, called the Easy Water non-salt hard water treatment system, does not rely on water softeners, which have been the traditional treatment for hard water scaling. Unfortunately, as Byron noted, water softeners require the use of hundreds of gallons of water with each treatment. They also replace healthy salts in the water with sodium. So the final water produced is poor in levels of magnesium and calcium. The sodium rich waste water generated by water softeners is actually harmful to the environment and the treatment has been banned in some states. Easy Water, on the other hand, used a special template system that catalyzes the formation of a different type of crystal, which not only doesn’t deposit, but it also goes on to help free metal in the water form more healthy non depositing crystal.

In the past, when Byron was called to a home to fix loss of water pressure in the upper stories of the house, he often had to inform homeowners that they needed to replace all their plumbing pipes, a job which runs into the thousands of dollars. Heavy water scales can also damage faucets, water heaters, and other plumbing appliances which amount to increased plumbing maintenance costs. Now Byron recommends that all new homeowners living in areas where there is significant concentration of heavy metals in the water to install a hard water treatment system when they first build their home so as to protect their plumbing pipes and appliances, and provide healthier water right from the start.

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Home Water Treatment Systems

Posted on February 7, 2012 by admin
Home Water Treatment System

Home Water Purification System

Drinking water contains magnesium, calcium, and other minerals. Water that contains large amounts of minerals is referred to as “hard water.” As the water and mineral ions enter the home, they meet up with heat, pressure, and agitation that cause them to crystallize. The dissolved mineral ions come out of solution and create branched shaped mineral crystals, which have an electrostatic charge. This charge makes them attach to the sides of plumbing pipes and plumbing fixtures, which leads to harmful scale build-up. The crust of scaly material reduces the patency of pipes and efficiency of plumbing fixtures, which results in repeated maintenance calls.

The scales created by hard water can be annoying and in some cases dangerous and even deadly. The build up is annoying when it blocks the tiny exit holes in the shower head or faucet forcing water to squirt out in odd directions. It is much more irritating when it interferes with the temperature sensing device in the water heater resulting in insufficiently heated water. Scale build up can be financially draining when it narrows pipes so much that the pressure of water at the faucet heads is sub-standard. In that case a homeowner may end up spending thousands of dollars to replace the pipes in his home. Scale build up can be deadly when it blocks the temperature and pressure valve in the water heater. This may result in the buildup of extreme pressure in the tank that can, in some cases, result in a deadly explosion!

For over 100 years hard water has been treated with water softeners. Unfortunately water softeners contain large quantities of salt. Softeners remove beneficial calcium and magnesium through an ion exchange process, and replace them with sodium. The subsequent wash out cycle leads to the loss of more than 100 gallons of water and along with it the healthy minerals and remaining sodium. In homes with well and septic systems the salt run off may end in the ground water and then back in the well. With city systems it flows to a waste treatment facility and from there to lakes, streams, and rivers, where the high sodium content damages the environment. Because of the harmful sodium runoff, some areas have totally banned the use of water softeners. Even in locales where the treatment is legal, homeowner must still spend $100s of dollars a year to purchase heavy bags of salt, and pay for high maintenance costs.

The inconvenience and in some cases illegality of water softeners meant that a new approach to conditioning hard water and preventing scales needed to be developed. Reseachers in Germany responded to this challenge and developed a technique called template assisted crystallization. Template assisted crystallization (TAC) is a type of physical water treatment. It processes hard water without the use of chemicals, without the need to discharge large amounts of waste water, without subsequent pollution, and without large maintenance costs.

With TAC, water entering the home or about to enter an appliance circulates through a media containing tiny polymeric beads. The beads have tiny chemo-active sites or templates impressed on their surface. These micro sites attract Ca++ and Mg++ in solution and transform them to sub-micron sized inert crystals, which pass through the water system without binding to the inner surface of pipes and appliances. The myriads of tiny inert crystals attract additional free Ca++ and Mg++, which pass harmlessly through the system to be consumed or washed out the drain.

A number of American companies now manufacturer and market template assisted crystallization treatments. They can be installed|as cartridges which a plumber or DIY homeowner can attach to the home’s plumbing system. They can be put anywhere, and therefore treat water coming from the main, or water about to enter one or more of the appliances. A homeowner installing a TAC water treatment system can expect to add years of life to his pipes and plumbing fixtures and avoid the dangers and costly repairs associated with long-standing exposure to hard water.

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Help! My Plumbing Pipes Have Frozen

Posted on January 5, 2012 by admin

 

Baltimore frozen plumbing pipes

Frozen plumbing pipes

Frozen pipes are being seen more and more frequently because of colder winters. With scientists calling for more and more arctic like cold weather in the foreseable future, homeowners who do not winterize will be seeing more and more frozen pipes. So what do you do if any or all of your plumbing pipes freeze up?

To being with the essentials, since water expands when it freezes, a frozen plumbing pipe is in danger of bursting. When a burst pipe subsequently thaws, water will rush out through the break causing flooding. Consequently this is a plumbing emergency.

The first sign that water in your pipe is starting to freeze is slowing of the flow through the faucet to a trickle. If you notice this sign, without delay turn on that faucet’s hot and cold water and let it run continually. This will prevent the tap from freezing up and even assist in the thawing process. Let the water continue running until it has returned to full flow.

If any of your faucets are entirely without water, you must make a quick determination of where the blockage is and how many taps are affected. In very cold weather more than one section of the plumbing pipes commonly become frozen. To make this determination, turn on all the faucets in your home.

If only one faucet is frozen than the problem is local. If no water is coming out of multiple taps, then the blockage is in multiple segments. If no water is flowing in the house at all than most likely the main water line is affected, either where it enters the meter or before. Outdoor pipes are normally buried below the frost line. Unfortunately, if an underground pipe has already frozen you probably can’t do anything about it until next year. When the warmer weather comes you will have to get a plumber to bury it deeper.

Once you have determined which faucet is affected, you must figure out exactly where the problem lies. Sections of piping that are filled with ice can often be detected by feel. A frozen pipe segment will feel cold to the touch whereas a water carrying pipe will be 50 degrees after the water has run through it for 2 minutes. If you have an infrared thermometer, you can use it to locate the segments that are frozen.

Before you begin thawing the pipe, make sure to turn off the water at the main. If the pipe has already burst, turning off the water will prevent flooding when the pipe has thawed sufficiently to restore flow. At the same time, be sure to open the faucet of the pipe you are thawing. This is an important step because during the thawing process gases will be released, and might cause an explosion if they have nowhere to go. Watching for water to start dripping from the open spicket will allow you to monitor your progress.

There are several methods for thawing a pipe. You can wrap it in warm towels, pour hot water over it, use a space heater, a heat lamp, heat tape or a hair dryer. Whichever method you choose, it is important that you do it properly.

If you are using hot towels, be sure to wrap several layers around the effected pipe segment. Keep the towels warm by pouring hot water over them. If there are any electrical appliances nearby, be sure not to stand in a puddle of water. A hair dryer is very useful for thawing pipes When using a dryer make sure to move it in an even motion around the pipe, not staying too long in any one area. Make sure you are not standing in a wet area when using the electrical appliance.

A space heater placed close to a pipe can also thaw the pipes. If the frozen pipe is under a sink next to an outer wall of your house, for example, open the cabinet doors and place the heater close to the cabinet. A space heater can be used in combination with other techniques and will keep the worker warm during the procedure.

Heat lamps can also thaw frozen pipes. When employing a heat lamp, be sure to keep it a foot away from the pipe being thawed. Do not place it on a wet area, and make sure that water does not drip on the appliance.

Heat tape can also be used to thaw pipes. Wrap the tape around the pipe and then plug it into the wall. As it warms up, it thaws the pipe slowly, which is good for wear and tear. Make sure the tape you are using is certified for use in mobile homes. Don’t double the heat tape over itself. This may lead to burning and malfunction of the product.

Avoid using a blow torch. A torch can melt and ruin plastic piping and also lead to too rapid expansion of gases in a confined space, which can cause an explosion. And do not use externally applied heat anywhere near gas piping. If the section of pipe to be warmed is close to a gas containing pipe call in a professional plumber and leave the job to him.

Once water begins flowing out of the faucet and you have determined that there are no leaks, reopen the main and keep the local tap open until the process of thawing is complete.

If all else fails, or if you are uncertain about what you are doing, call a plumber. Be sure to call your local plumber promptly as he is likely to be getting lots of emergency calls, and you want to put your call in as soon as possible.

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Winterizing Your Home Heating System

Posted on November 17, 2011 by admin
Heating System Maintenance

Heating System Maintenance

Boruch: Hello and welcome to “What’s New in Plumbing“. Today, we’re going to be talking with Byron Graham, the owner of A-1 Plumbing of Baltimore. Hi Byron, what’s happening  in the world of plumbing?

Byron: We currently offering a lot of heat checks, for customers who are trying to start up their heating system. We’ll do those for a couple of hundred dollars.

Boruch: Those are for homeowners who have either hot water or steam heating, correct?

Byron: Yes sir, we’re being called to do a lot of these right now because of the weather.

Boruch: You’re weather’s turning colder?

Byron: Oh yes, the high days are will be around 49 right now. So we’ve been very busy doing a lot of those. We’ve had two customers where we turned their boilers on and found they had more problems than they normally would have. They’ve had blockages in their flu stacks. We were able to fix a couple of them ourselves, and two of them we had to outsource to a professional chimney cleaning company. We’ve also had to clean several burners. That’s a big job that we’re starting to get calls for right now, the burner situation. The burners are clogged on the inside from not being used. While people are calling us now, in fact,ideally they should have gotten their preventative maintenance at the end of winter when the cold weather ended. So these are people who failed to get annual maintenance at the right time. We opened up their burners and found that a whole bunch of debris had accumulated in themthat they neglected clear out at the proper time. So this is what’s going on.

Getting maintenance for your heating system is just like when you park your boats at the end of the boating season,

Boruch Right.

Byron:, You’ve got to do preventative maintenance for the boat so you won’t have problems next year. So we have a lot of people doing that now at the last minute.

Boruch: Do you look for cracks in the boiler plate?

Byron: Yes sir. Especially when we do an end of season maintenance, we check for cracks. We also look to see if the water is at the level where it needs to be at. We make sure everything is ready when we shut a boiler down so next year when the weather gets cold, all they have to do is start it up and its ready to go. Or if they prefer, we’ll come back out and we’ll start it for them .

Boruch: Are there ever any problems with the thermostat?

Byron: We do check the thermostat. Just to make sure they don’t have any problems with them . Just because sometimes thermostats go bad; we check all that when we shut it down. We also make sure that each of the zones is working the way they should . The zone valves, which regulate which rooms the heat flows into, sometimes they’ll freeze up or they’ll go bad over time. Not really often, but they do. Occasionally we have to open up the top of the zone valves, but only twice have we had to open the whole valve itself, cut the water pipes, and replace the whole valve, totally redo it.

Boruch:. Now let say people don’t get maintenance as required, are they going to have a greater likelihood of problem in the winter.

Byron: Sure, it’s just like vehicle maintenance. If you don’t change your oil, then your engine isn’t going to last as long. If you don’t keep your tires inflated to the right amount of pressure, your tires wear out. Maintaining your plumbing system is the same way.

Boruch : Let me just clarify one point. You’re recommending that the proper time to get maintenance is after the winter season ends. Even if they get that maintenance do you also recommend getting maintenance before the start of winter.

Byron: If they had maintenance in the spring, but have a start up problem, or if they want us to come out and start the boiler then we will come out and help them. If they neglected to get spring maintenance, then it’s essential that they have the heating system checked over now, unless they want to find themselves without heat in the middle of a snowy winter’s eve.

Boruch: As always, Byron, this is interesting and useful information, and I hope everyone who listens to this podcast or reads the report of the interview will be sure to have a plumber check over their heating system before winter begins in earnest.

Well folks, that’s it for another episode of “What’s New in Plumbing,” I’m Boruch Fishman, have a great day.

For example, if you’re not using your outside hose bibs in the winter, make sure you shut them off and drain the excess water. We replaced several busted ones, ones with issues where they wouldn’t shut off from the inside.
Boruch : Let me just clarify one point. You’re recommending that the proper time to get maintenance is after the winter season ends. Even if they get that maintenance do you also recommend getting maintenance before the start of winter.
Byron: If they have a start up problem, or if they want us to come out and start the boiler then we will come out and help them.
Boruch: This is very interesting information to know about. So as Byron has told us, it is essential to have regular boiler maintenance, because you certainly don’t want to have your boiler breaking down in the middle of a cold snowy evening.

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Preparing Your Plumbing Pipes for Frigid Winter Weather

Posted on November 10, 2011 by admin
Plumbing help Baltimore

Frozen Plumbing Pipes

The cold weather is near at hand for sure, and it’s time to make certain that your domicile and especially your exposed plumbing pipes are protected from the expected freezing temperatures. Because frozen water expands, a pipe that is full of frozen water is in danger of cracking or breaking. Not only might your water flow be weakened or shut off when the pipe freezes, but after the melt, you might acquire a plumbing leak as water runs out from the cleft in the pipe.

Safeguarding your home’s plumbing is doubly critical for homeowners who will be out of town throughout the chillymonths, or people who have unoccupied floors in the upper reaches of the house. In order to cut down on on the fuel costs, most homeowners lower the thermostat in unused rooms. This makes plumbing pipes in those areas especially vulnerable to freezing. Just picture coming back from a holiday and discovering your preciousrugs destroyed by a major flood caused by a burst plumbing pipe and you can appreciate the importance of winterizing the plumbing your dwelling.

The positive news is, the majority of plumbing companies offer a special winterizing plan, which can be personally tailored to your home plumbing needs. although every dwelling and each situation is different, here’s what a licensed plumbing company will do for you.

Plumbing companies will begin by placing insulation all over exposed plumbing pipes, especially pipes along outside walls, which are the ones most likely to allow cold air to flow into the house. homeowners who will be away foran extended stay most often leave their thermostat set at 40 degrees.

Now here’s the real preparation. When winterizing the plumbing of a abode for homeowners who will be out of town for most of the winter, the plumbers will drain all the plumbing pipes in the domicile. To accomplish this,, they need to turn off the power to the water heater and boiler, and turn off the gas flow to gas powered heaters heaters. Once they have accomplished this, they will pour anti-freeze into the pipes, to protect them from cracking, even in the coldest conditions. Anti-freeze will be added to the toilets as well.

When winterizing the plumbing of domiciles with unused upper floors, a plumbing company might put in, as as required, shut off valves for the plumbing pipes that bring water to the upper rooms. For for convenience sake, the plumber will change the valves from gate valves to ball valves, which necessitates a simple 1/4 turn to close the water supply.

All types of exposed pipes need to be covered as plastic pipes are just as susceptible to freezing as metal pipes. In the opinion of Byron Graham, a Baltimore plumber with A-1 Plumbing of Baltimore, when galvinized pipes break, they are the Most difficult of all types of pipes to fix, so he Doesn’t recommend using galvanized pipes in areas vulnerable to pipe freezing.

The cost for plumbing winterization varies from location to location and abode to abode, but it is money well worth investing.  Plumber winterization by A-1 Plumbing of Baltimore starts at $150.00. The final cost will depend on how many rooms or how many floors you need to winterize, and how many shut off valves we need to install.

The last two winters have been among the harshest on record, and the newspapers and Internet carried reports of record numbers of frozen pipe.

Winterizing your plumbing pipes will give you the security of being certain that your water will be flowing all winter.

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You Say Too

Posted on October 9, 2011 by admin

YouSayToo Revenue Sharing Community

 

 

Our thanks to You Say Too for posting the contents of our blog on their blog sharing site

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Getting Your Radiator Ready for Winter

Posted on October 3, 2011 by admin
Radiator Trouble Shooting Baltimore

Domestic Radiator

According to the DIY network, radiator heating systems should be inspected by a professional, on an average at least once a year. That said, there are still procedures you can undertake troubleshoot leaks, and to make sure your radiator is working properly.

If you have a leaky radiator the first step you need to take is to determine the location of the leak. Most commonly, radiators leak at the valves. You can very easily determine the location of the leak, by using a tissue. Wipe off the visible water, and then touch the various parts of the valve with a dry tissue. As you move the tissue around, notice where the water is coming from.

Next try to stop the leak by systematically tightening the nuts on the valve. You will need an adjustable hand wrench. Start with the gland nut, this is the nut directly under the handle you use to turn the water flow off and on. If tightening the gland nut does not stop the flow, then remove the nut and wind some plumbing tape, around its spindle, fit it back into the hole and tighten it. If this procedure fails to stop the leak, then go onto the next step. The valve has two “cap nuts.” These are the big nuts under the valve, and on the horizontal tube which goes from the valve into the radiator. If the leak still persists after you have tightened both valves, then you will have to replace the valve

To replace your valve, you will first have to bleed the radiator system. In America, where few people use “combi-boilers, this can be a complicated procedure and you will most likely need the services of a “professional plumber.

There are also a few simple procedures every home owner can take to protect his radiator system.

  • If the tube that connects the steam inlet pipe, which comes up from the floor, to the radiator, does not slope gently up towards the radiator, this can cause hissing, knocking and uneven heat distribution. Old houses shift slightly over the years, and if you notice your radiator has lost its slope, you can remedy this by putting a small 1/4 piece of wood under the radiator to lift it slightly.
  •  Check inlet valves to make sure they are all the way on or all the way off. Inlet valves that are completely on will cause hissing.
  • Check for vent blocks, paint, rust or corrosion that prevents air from escaping from the radiator, and might cause a build up of trapped air that prevents steam or hot water from entering.

Another maneuver you can make is to bleed his radiators at least twice a year. Bleeding the radiator means  getting out all the trapped air, which would otherwise block the smooth flow of hot water and or steam through the radiator.

You will first need to obtain a bleed key from your hardware or plumbing store. Next you will want to turn off your boiler to prevent a flow of hot water during the procedure. Then you must locate the bleed valve. This is a square nut on a round peg on one end of the radiator. Before you start, you should have a couple of rags and a container handy. Then you will need to fit the bleed key on the bleed valve and turn it only 1/4 inch counterclockwise. Lift the bleed slightly off from the nut, but keeping it in place. As you pull the bleed key back towards you, you should hear hissing as the air escapes form the radiator. When the hissing stops, and the first dribbles of water come out, this signifies you have successfully removed all the air. Close the key.

If no air or water comes out, then your bleed valve is probably stopped up with paint or rust. To fix this problem, close both the inlet and outlet valve of your radiator. Now stick a small wire into the bleed valve opening to dislodge any paint or rust. Open one of the radiator valves slightly to flush out the debris. Now close the valve, tighten the bleed valve, and start the whole procedure over. If this doesn’t solve the problem, you will need to call the plumber.

If you happen to live in the Metropolitan Baltimore, Md area, please contact one of the professional plumbers of Posted in Boilers, Heaters, Heating Systems, Plumbing, Plumbing Fixtures, Plumbing Heating, Radiators | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

The Important Role of the Plumbing Vent Line

Posted on September 19, 2011 by admin
Baltimore plumbing vent line

Plumbing vent line

The plumbing vent line is a tiny pipe, which is almost hidden, but makes a small appearance where it sticks up a couple of inches from the roof of your house. Most people are probably unaware of its purpose, but it plays a vital role in maintaining the healthy environment of your house, as I will explain. While it does its work silently, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, the tiny pipe can become stopped up due to dead leaves, dead animals and snow and consequently from time to time becomes stopped up in the late fall or winter.

To understand the job of the vent line we have to first grasp the way in which houses drain, and how the drainage system stops sewer gases from refluxing into the house. The outflow pipes that runs from the house to the sewer line are called the drain, waste vent system, or DWV. This outflow system provides for the outflow of water from sink drains plus waste from toilets. The plumbing vent line, which goes up to the roof, is responsible for maintaining stable air pressure within waste vent system This has important implications for for maintaining a healthy home environment.

When drains are not in use, they fill up with air. The sewer lines is also full of air, however, sewer air is dank and foul. It is essential that the two air masses have no contact with each other, as such a communication between the two compartments would invite foul odors and diseases to readily enter the home environment. Fortunately, the two bodies of air are kept apart by a tiny device called the plumbing trap. Plumbing traps are “P” or “S” shaped sections of the outflow drain.

Between drain uses, water collects in the traps’ curved bottom, and this standing water blocks reflux of the sewer gases. A crucial function! When the sink or tub drains, the newly draining water displaces the standing water that was sitting in the curved portion of the trap and takes its place. Thus, there is always water filling that segment of the trap and serving as a buffer against reflux of sewer gas. When the drain is in use, water drives the old water from out the trap and down the pipe and subsequently some of the newly draining water replaces it and will now fill the “U” shaped part of the plumbing trap and protect the home from the entrance of noxious sewer gas.

However there is a danger to this system’s stability, which arises from the air pressure changes in the air of the drain system. As the mass of water flows down the drain from the toilet, sink, tub, or shower, it drives out the air in the drain system before it and flushes it down the pipe. This subsequently creates reduced air pressure in the area of the pipe just under the water trap. If nothing is done, this reduced pressure zone will pull water out of the “P” or “S” trap through a siphoning effect, creating an opportunity for sewer gas to pass back through the partially empty trap, out the drain, into the sink, tub or shower, and into the house.

To prevent this sewer gas invasion from occurring, all drain pipes contain a pipe, which goes out from the drain pipe in a vertical direction and at a perpendicular angle. This pipe travels up towards the roof and connects, in parallel, with identical pipes from other drains in the house to form a single vertical pipe that pierces the roof. When air pressure in the drain system lowers, air is automatically sucked into the house through the vent pipe, which equalizes the air pressure in the drains, and prevents the backflow of noxious sewer gases.

The air vent system continually prevents dangerous pressure changes from taking place in the pipe system. However, if the vent pipe gets clogged by dead animals, ice, snow, or leaves, it is unable to perform its job. When this happens, the air fails to equalize in the system and the householder will begin to hear a strange gurgling sound coming from the drains, which actually signifies that siphoning is taking place as water is pulled out of the traps. If a home owner hears this sound, he must call a plumber to clean out the vent line, as the entrance of sewer gas can be dangerous. The plumber will climb onto the roof and clear the debris. provides for the outflow route of water from sink drains plus waste from toilet. air pressure is stabilized in this outflow system thanks to the presence of the plumbing vent line, which exits from the roof.

When drains are not in use, they are full of air. The sewer the drains connect to are also full of air. But this air, is foul and dangerous and must be prevented, at all costs, from refluxing into the house. The plumbing fixture that prevents this from happening is called the “plumbing trap.” Plumbing traps can be either “P” or “S” shaped segments of the outflow drain. When the drains are not actively conveying waste, water sits in the traps’ curved bottoms, and this standing water effectively blocks reflux of the odorous sewer gases. A crucial function! When the sink drains, the newly draining water displaces the standing water that was sitting in the curved portion of the trap and takes its place. Thus, there is always water filling that segment of the trap and serving as a block against reflux of sewer gas.

But there is a danger to this system’s balance, which is caused by the air changes in the air of the drain system. As the bolus of water flushes down the drain from the toilet, sink tub or shower, it pushesWhen air pressure in the drain system is lowered, air is sucked into the house through the vent pipe, which equalizes the air pressure in the drains, and prevents the backflow of noxious sewer gases

Sometimes air vents get clogged. They may be clogged by ice, snow, dead animals, leaves.When this happens, the air fails to equalize in the system and the householder will begin to hear a strange gurgling sound in this drains, which actually corresponds to the siphoning taking place as water is pulled out of the traps. When a home owner hears this sound, he must call a plumber to clean out the vent, as the entrance of sewer gas can be dangerous. The plumber will climb onto the roof and clear the debris.

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What are High Efficiency Toilets

Posted on September 15, 2011 by admin
Water Saving Toilet Baltimore

American Standard High Efficency Toilets

Remember playing the old Latin American game Limbo? Contestants paraded around in a circle to the tune of Jamaican music, especially Harry Belafonte, and once each turn they had to walk under the limo stick. Only the limbo stick was moved lower and lower. Anyone who couldn’t walk under was out and the winner was the last one in.

Now the low flush toilet trend is seeming more and more like the old musical game of limbo as water savings conscious manufacturersdevelop water saving toilets which can not only flush, but clear the bowl completely, with tinier and tinier amounts of H2O.

And the emphasis is on the word “efficiency,” because people still remember the disaster of the 1990s, that occurred when states required that newly aquired toilets had to flush with at most 1.6 gallons per flush. Manufactureres rushed to modify their standard models to meet the new requirements. However, the first models, that came out, left people with bowls that were not emptying properly with every flush, and toilets that were frequently getting clogged.

Finally manufacturers began to see the light after Toto developed the first low flush toilet that really worked properly. And after that many other companies followed suit. Then just when people were getting used to a clean 1.6 gallon flush, manufacturers began pushing for an even more efficient flush, and this gave rise to the high efficiency toilets.

Unlike the mid 90s, when the 1.6 gallon flush became law in most states, only 2 states, Texas and California are currently requiring the 1.28 gallon flush, but other states may follow in the future.

This means that residents in states not requiring the high efficiency toilets have time to shop around until they find a high efficiency toilet model that appeals to them. Unlike the 1990s, it appears that the newest high efficiency toilelts not only save water, they also work. This is because these new toilets are not mere adaptation of older models, but the results of studies to find more efficiently emptying bowls and hydrodynamic flush designs that really clear the bowl with less water.

A family of four switching from a low flush to a high efficiency toilet can save an estimated 4,000-5,000 gallons of year or about $50.00 on their water bill, a modest but actual savings of about $500.00 in a then year period.Buyer in many states also get a small government cash rebate, offered to people who purchase the HET’s. And these incentives make acquiring a HET a reasonable financial deal.

I talked with the Co-Owner of A-1 Plumbing of Baltimore, a Baltimore plumbing company that installs water saving toilets. Alan told me they are happy to accomodate customers who want the newest water saving toilets, he is just concerned that the toilet clears the bowl efficiently and leaves the bathroom smelling nicely.

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Repairing Broken Plumbing Pipes

Posted on September 15, 2011 by admin
Plumbing Pipe Repair Baltimore

Plumbing Pipe Repair Baltimore

When warmer weather appears, plumbing pipes that burst last winter, due to expanding ice, begin to leak water. If this should happen to you, turn off your home water supply at the main and call a plumber to fix the pipe leak.

With modern forms of plumbing piping, a profesional plumber is better equipped to find solutions for broken pipes, which will successfully carry your plumbing system through future cold weather .

Once the plumber has made his inspection and  found the location of the hole or crack in your burst pipe that water is flowing out of, he he will cut out the damaged segment and then replace it with PVC (plastic) tubing, PEX, (plastic), tubing or copper tubing. For indoor applications, PEX tubing holds up okay against colder weather, however, it has been reported to burst like metal piping when used outdoors. The plumber will decide which type of piping is best for you. With multiple types of plumbing pipes to choose from, the plumber is better able to choose the material that will hold up best against winter stress.

Most pipes that break are outdoor plumbing pipes that attach to the north face of the house. And most homes with burst pipes have crawl spaces. So keep in mind, during the warm weather insulate outdoor pipes and remember to leave a door open to circulate warm air through your crawl space.

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