Without a proper plumbing system, our homes will never be what they are right now. The entire pipe installation plays such a huge role in our everyday life, but we don’t seem to give it enough credit until something goes wrong.
Plumbing issues happen, and it is pretty normal to experience this at least one in your life, but if you keep noticing that something’s wrong with your pipes every other week, it means that your installation is faulty, and you need to do something about it.
When every home is being built, a team of trained professionals goes on a task to properly set up everything, to ensure that you have access to water whenever you want, and although they do the job just fine, problems can still occur in the future.
Pipe issues happen because of many reasons, most of them being caused by people, with a few rarer occasions being nature’s fault.
Since we cannot control what nature does, we’re going to focus on what we can do to ensure a long life for all the pipes in our home, so if you are interested in learning some more, feel free to stay with us until the end.
Manually remove clogs
We know that when something goes wrong with your pipes at home, panic tends to build up, and your first instinct is to run to the nearest store and blow hundreds of dollars on an expensive “mixture” that’s supposed to magically clean everything up for you. We get it, it’s tempting to do, but there are other ways of dealing with the issue, and they are completely free of any charge.
Most of the plumbing things you can take care of by yourself, so let’s take a look at what you can do in such a scenario.
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Drain Snake
There is an item called a “Drain Snake”, and it’s very affordable and available at almost every local store. The drain snake is very easy to use, and all you have to do is put it down the drain carefully, as deep as you can, then twist and pull slowly, to pull everything that doesn’t belong there outside of the hole.
Now there are a few different versions of drain snakes, some being the most basic versions, which is just a large metal wire, but even those are not difficult to use at all. Remember that these are very durable and you shouldn’t worry about breaking one while using.
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Using any sort of Vacuum
Vacuuming the drain is always a great way to unclog it if the problem is not deep down in the pipes. For most basic things such as food, hair and smaller objects that might be blocking the way for the water, a vacuum is a great option that’s going to solve your problem.
You can use many items that can suck things out, but a plunger is the most common thing that people use nowadays. If you don’t have one, but you are in an urgent situation where you have to improvise, you can even use a vacuum cleaner, but this will work only for very light items that the cleaner can suck-out with its force.
If after all of this you still cannot unclog the pipes and deal with your plumbing issue, you can always visit happyhiller.com and seek help from a professional team.
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Cut the water off
Not many people do this, but it’s the first thing that you have to check whenever you are trying to do a DIY plumbing fix. Always make sure that the main valves are shut so that you don’t risk flooding your entire home. This is especially useful during the winter because if you don’t do it, the water in the pipes can freeze and they will burst, causing a lot of materialistic damage.
Cutting the water is useful, but so is completely draining the pipes, so if you are planning to do any fixes, make sure that they are empty. You can collect all the water in a bucket and keep doing it until they’re dry. Then you can safely start working.
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Heat is your friend
Okay, we all know that in the world of plumbing, there are tons of screws and other things that you have to twist and rotate, and sometimes they are very difficult to move because they are tightened in the same position for many years.
However, there is a trick that can help you unscrew and rotate things a lot easier, and that’s by using heat. You don’t need any special equipment to heat things, so you can use something as simple as a hairdryer. Simply heat the area and you will be able to get it to lose a lot faster. Materials expand when exposed to higher temperatures, so use this to your advantage. Be careful not to get burned though, so use gloves or tools instead of touching the area directly.
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Know your pipes
A lot of people think that plumbing is an easy task, and the underestimate the knowledge which is required to do things correctly when you’re a professional plumber. Thankfully, they are very kind and share some of that knowledge with us, so that we can fix things on our own if we ever need to do so.
Like our last trip, we are going to tell you that there’s a huge difference between a PVC and a CPVC pipe so that you won’t risk purchasing something that’s not right for your job.
If you ever need to replace a pipe, and your head in the nearest hardware store, you need to be very exact with your request, so here’s what you should know.
PVC pipes are preferred for cold water, so regular sinks that you use for drinking water, and at most a somewhat warm water, can be set up to use PVC. However, the pipes through which you often let hot water flow, such as your water heater, should be from the CPVC type. Another great case where you should use a CPVC pipe is a dishwashing machine or a regular clothes-washing machine.