Plumbing FAQ

When you have been in the plumbing business serving customers for as long as we have you start to notice certain things over time. One of the things we have noted is certain questions we get are asked over and over again. We thought it best to share some of these with you to see if the might help answer a plumbing question that you have been thinking about too. Here are the plumbing FAQ’s we get quite often:

Question: When it rains hard the moisture in my basement tends to trip the sump pump breaker and then the basement floods. This is happening continually and it is getting quite frustrating to say the least. Is there anything I can do about it?

A: This is not uncommon at all and these types of incidents lead to a lot of money spent on basement flooding damages each year. There are two ways you can go about handling this. You can have a battery operated sump pump on standby which will work very nicely for a short period of time. You can also have another electric sump pump standing by with an extension cord but make sure you plug this into a line equipped with a GFI breaker for safety and use a well-insulated extension cord where the connection does not get near the water.

Question: I have kind of had it with my conventional water heater. Even after using a water softener the minerals still build up quickly in my tank and I average less than three years use out of my water heater tanks. Someone told me if I have a natural gas furnace I may be able to heat the water in my house with it; is that true?

A: The person you were talking to is absolutely right. This device can be purchased as an add-on device for most home forced air heating systems. They are known as ‘tankless water heaters’ because unlike conventional water heaters they do not have to store water in them in order to work properly. The flame that heats the water in them is so intense that it gives you a virtual unlimited supply of hot water on demand. An HVAC tech is the person that would install a device like this.

Question: I am continuously noticing a wet spot in one area of my yard. My lawn mower gets stuck when I go through there and the kids are starting to trample the grass in that area with muddy shoes. I don’t have an underground sprinkler system so I don’t know what is causing this. Do you have any ideas of what I should do?

A: We have a few thoughts here. It could very well be a leak on your incoming water supply line or a leak on your sewer or septic line. Most likely the smell associated with the water will give this away. It is easier to have a professional plumbing service come identify the leak and quickly repair it as opposed to you digging up half your yard to try and find the leak and then repair it yourself.