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Did you know that untreated slow drains may progress to full clogs? Did you also know that the two require different tactics for solving them? Do you really know what makes slow drains and full clogs different? If not, it’s something that every homeowner needs to know.

What Causes Slow Drains?

Slow drains often happen from hair clogs or a buildup of soap scum, especially if the drain is in your bathroom. You may be able to clear this type of slow-flowing drain with a number of home remedies, including plunging or pulling out hair from the drain. However, if water still moves slowly down the drain after using home fix-it methods, you could need a plumber to locate the problem and clear it.

What Leads to Full Clogs?

Without addressing slow drains, over time, the buildup worsens until it completely clogs the pipe. Full clogs cause water to stand in the drain without moving, even after several hours. These types of clogs may respond to plunging, but more likely, you will need to contact a plumber.

Home pipe snakes and plungers can only reach so far down the drain line. If you have a clog or buildup deeper into your plumbing system than these devices can reach, you won’t be able to clear the drain yourself. Therefore, don’t forget to have a plumber’s number on hand for drain cleaning.

How Do You Treat Slow Drains Versus Full Clogs?

Slow drains may have buildup that a plunger might not dislodge. You could try to melt soap scum by using baking soda and vinegar in the drain and finishing the treatment with a pot of boiling water. However, never use anything stronger than this mixture in your drains because you could damage your plumbing system. Yes, that means even chemical drain cleaners are not ideal. They can cause burns on your skin or eyes or harm a plumber who comes to repair your system.

Plungers may work better for clearing out full clogs. Try using a plunger first. If you have a home plumbing snake and know how to use it, you could try that method. However, these devices can scratch porcelain sinks or tubs when used in the wrong hands. If you cannot plunge out a clog, phone a plumber for help.

Reach Out to Best Service Plumber for Help with Full Clogs, Slow Drains, and Much More

Whether you have slow drains, clogs, or any other problem, you need to know who to reach out to. If you live in Southern California, contact us Best Service Plumber for your plumbing needs. We offer numerous plumbing services for homeowners, including high-pressure jetting to clear clogs and slow drains in addition to other drain clearing methods. When your plumbing has an issue, phone us 24/7 for help at 951-338-8344.

While drain clogs can produce headache-inducing troubles, you don’t have to find yourself in that position. There are several ways to prevent minor clogs and avoid needing to call a plumber. However, if you do get a clog in one of your drains or your home’s mainline waste system, contact a professional plumber to clear the line safely and effectively.

Capture Laundry Lint and Hair

First, use filters on your laundry, tub, and shower drains. These filters or screens trap things that could cause clogs, such as laundry lint and hair. Don’t forget to regularly remove and clean these out, or might find the fixture drains slowly.

Laundry lint filters fit into the drain hose and capture pieces of fabric washed off clothes. Think about how much lint builds up in the dryer screen. Some of that flowed out of the washing machine into the plumbing system. Capturing it before this happens can prevent a clog.

The same is true for hair. Even those with short hair can have hair clogs in tub and shower drains. A simple screen or hair strainer over the drain could save you the need to call a plumber for clearing a hair clog from your drain.

Never Flush Wipes

Baby wipes, facial cleansing wipes, tissues, and even toilet wet wipes should never go in the toilet. Even products labeled as flushable, such as some toilet wet wipes, can cause severe clogs over time. Toilet tissue is the only product that you should ever flush down a toilet.

Leave Grease Out of the Drain

When washing dishes and cleaning up after meals, leave food waste, grease, coffee grounds, and other non-liquid products out of the drain.

Think about butter. When melted, it’s a solid. However, when chilled, it’s a liquid. The same thing happens when you pour hot grease down a drain. Hot grease or oil may flow as a liquid. But when it cools in the drain, it solidifies into an immovable blockage.

Prepare Your Home for Drain Clogs

While drain clogs don’t happen daily, you still want to have your home prepared to deal with them if they do occur. First, have a plunger available. Cup plungers work best for sinks, showers, and tubs, while flange plungers are best to clear toilets. Ideally, you should store one of each in each bathroom of your home, but having a single cup plunger is still better than nothing. This device can help you to clear some clogs in toilets, tubs, showers, and sinks. For clogs far down in the drain lines, though, or those that don’t completely block the drain, plunging may not work. In those situations, you need the other item in your drain-fighting kit – the contact information for a local, trusted plumber.

Get Your Drain Clogs Cleared with Best Service Plumber

Even if you take all precautions, sometimes, drain clogs happen. If your plunger doesn’t clear the drain, phone us at 951-338-8344 at Best Service Plumber for help in Southern California. We take calls 24 hours a day, and if you have an emergency, such as a clogged mainline that sends sewage back into your home, we can dispatch a plumber at once.

If you have any questions or want to schedule a standard visit from one of our plumbers, use our online contact form to get in touch with us. We’re here to provide you with reliable, trustworthy plumbing services, including drain cleaning to clear clogs.

Most people take their water heater for granted. They turn on a tap and get hot water without thinking. However, they do start to think about the appliance when the supply of hot water has problems or fails. 

In fact, these heaters do not last more than 20 years for the longest-lived tankless models. But, you could be doing some things in your home that shorten the life span of your water heater and reducing its efficiency. Find out what you might be doing to impact this appliance and how you can avoid cutting its lifespan prematurely short.

Not Treating Hard Water Going into the Heater

One of the biggest problems for water heaters is mineral buildup from hard water. This type of buildup is especially problematic for those with tank models that store water and keep it heated.

When minerals from hard water separate from the water, they collect on heating anodes and the bottom of the tank. These deposits can reduce the efficiency of electric heating elements and can cause pinhole leaks in the tank.

For homes with hard water, a water softener for the whole home can prevent hard water damage to water heaters and other plumbing appliances.

Failing to Drain a Tank Heater Annually

Tank models can have mineral buildup. However, if you have this style of heater, you can reduce the impact of that buildup by annually draining it. You should drain at least two to three gallons from the tank or until you no longer see sediments.

While this type of service can help, having a professional evaluation of the heater by a plumber who can check the connection and inspect the unit for leaks and other problems may help more.

Not Placing the Water Heater in the Right Location

Where do you keep the water heater? If you have the appliance outside or in a cold basement or outdoor room, it could put the system under extra stress to raise water temperature more in the cold environment. The extra stress on the unit could impact its efficiency.

Find a climate-controlled closet somewhere in the home to store the water heater. It will offer better access for repairs and service and keep the water heater from overworking by compensating for outdoor cold temperatures.

Replace Your Heater or Get Service from Best Service Plumber

Eventually, you will need a new water heater. When your current unit reaches the end of its life, contact us at Best Service Plumber for a replacement or call us at  951-338-8344. We can install the latest tankless models that can give you hot water for 20 years efficiently or a more efficient tank-style heater. Let us take a look at your home to help you choose the type of heater that will suit your plumbing and family’s needs.

With a new water heater and knowledge of how to make it last, you can get more efficient use and long life from it.

Each year, the Environmental protection Agency (EPA) hosts its Fix a Leak Week. This week during the middle of March encourages homeowners to have their homes checked for leaks and repair any found. Such repairs are essential for reducing water waste because across the United States, up to 10% of homes have leaks that waste up to 90 gallons of water daily. Therefore, bringing this issue to the public can help reduce wasted water and prevent scarcity of this vital resource.

What Is Fix a Leak Week?

Fix a Leak Week is a time for the EPA to host events to increase awareness of wasted water through leaks at home and work. Events include demonstrations, contests, and fun runs are a few of the things happening all across the United States.

When Does Fix a Leak Week Happen?

Each year, Fix a Leak Week happens close to Spring Break when schools let out and kids have a chance to enjoy some of the activities. This year, the events take place from March 15th through the 21st, 2021. However, even if you don’t have an EPA-sponsored event near you, you can still check your home for leaks and reduce water waste.

How Can You Check Your Home for Leaks?

Checking your home for leaks may require some detective work. First, compare your water bills and usage over the last year. If you have noticed a significant increase in the bills without a corresponding rise in water use, you likely have a leak somewhere. Leaks also make themselves know by lowering water pressure throughout the home or in the form of mold or mildew on walls, floors, or ceilings.

If you suspect a leak, contact us at Best Service Plumber. We can examine your plumbing and repipe if you have several leaks in your home or detect and repair slab leaks if those occur under the slab. Regardless of the cause, repairing the leak will save you money by stopping the water waste and higher bills.

Contact Best Service Plumber to Find and Repair Leaks in Your Home During Fix a Leak Week or Any Time of the Year

Your home’s plumbing could have silent leaks that cost you hundreds of dollars or more in excessive water bills each year. Contact us at Best Service Plumber to get your home checked for leaks and have those problems repaired. However, if you have a gushing pipe, you need emergency service. Shut off the water to your home and call us any time of the day or night at 951-356-9631.

Whether you need emergency service or only want us to check your home for silent leaks, we will respond to your plumbing service needs with our high-quality work and professional plumbing team.

Plumbers generally receive calls to respond to plumbing problems. However, there are many services that plumbers can offer without your home having a leak. In fact, you can get the help of a plumber to improve your home, make it more efficient, and reduce water use. Find out more about some of the lesser-known plumbing services available.

Install a Whole-House Water Filtration System

Filtering your home’s water does more than simply improving its taste. If you have hard water in your home, as most people in southern California do, you may also need to have the water treated. Water treatment to reduce minerals dissolved in it will soften the water, reduce scale buildup on plumbing fixtures, and lower the amount of cleaning products that you need. To have a whole-home water filtration or water softener installed, you should contact a professional plumber.

Installing a New Garbage Disposal

Garbage disposals reduce the amount of food waste that you throw into your garbage can. However, you should not install one of these units yourself. Because they connect to the plumbing and electricity, you should consult with a professional plumber for installation or repairs. Once you have a new garbage disposal installed in your kitchen sink, you can enjoy the convenience of washing away leftovers instead of tossing them into the trash.

Toilet Replacement

Toilets are heavy and bulky. Therefore, you should never try to replace one yourself. While you probably already know that plumbing services include toilet repairs, they also include installation. In fact, if you call a general handyman for your toilet installation, you may not have the device properly connected to the plumbing, sealed, or seated. Instead, keep Best Service Plumber in mind for when you need toilet-related services such as repairs and installation.

Helping with a Kitchen or Bath Renovation

If you want to remodel your home, the plumbing fixtures in your kitchen and bathroom should be among the components that you consider upgrading. Just as you don’t want a general contractor to install a toilet, you also should have a professional plumber install your new bathroom or kitchen fixtures. In fact, with a plumber’s help, you can even find the best-looking fixtures that can also reduce water use.

Contact Best Service Plumber for Professional, High-Quality Plumbing Services and Great Customer Care

If you want to get the best plumbing services in southern California, contact us at Best Service Plumber. We have served homeowners near us for more than 35 years. Over our decades of service, we’ve helped innumerable people with their plumbing problems, upgrades, and more. Let us add you to our roster of satisfied customers by contacting us at Best Service Plumber when you next need any of our plumbing services.

A lack of hot water in your home means that until you have it fixed, you cannot wash dishes, cotton clothes, or take showers. Don’t wait to have your problem of no hot water looked at by a plumber. Putting off calling a plumber will not save you money. In fact, you will only be uncomfortable and incapable of cleaning yourself, your clothes, or your dishes until you do so.

What Causes the Problem of No Hot Water?

Because hot water travels through dedicated pipes in your home, not having it usually results from a problem with the water heater. Issues could include something as minor as a fuse in the water heater that needs replacement. Or, you may have scale-coating your electric heating elements.

Water heaters, though, will not last forever. If your water heater is more than ten years old for a standard tank model or over 20 for a tankless, the appliance may have worn out.

When Should You Call a Plumber for No Hot Water

When you don’t have hot water, don’t try to service your water heater yourself. The presence of hot water and gas or electricity is not a safe combination. Plus, if the water heater has a warranty, you could void it by trying to do self-repairs.

A plumber will evaluate the functioning of the water heater to see if there are problems that they can fix or if you need a replacement water heater. In cases where the hard-water scale coated the heating elements, you may need to correct the core issue. The plumber may give you a recommendation for a whole-home water softener. Another suggestion you may receive would be to have a tankless water heater installed. This type of water heater does not hold water for a long time to heat it. Therefore, it reduces the contact between hard water and the interior of the heater.

Connect with Best Service Plumber for Service or Replacement of Your Hot Water Heater

Once you notice that you have no hot water in your home, you should contact a plumber at once. While not an emergency, this type of problem does need attention as soon as possible. You may not need to purchase a new water heater. In some cases, your existing water heater may only need service, especially if it is less than ten years old.

For more information about us or to book a visit from one of our team, contact us at Best Service Plumber.

Low water pressure could be localized to a single fixture or more regional. There are a few things that you can check if you experience low water pressure before calling a plumber. However, even after conducting your investigations into possible causes, a plumber will likely be able to help in many cases.

Look Around for Possible Causes of Low Water Pressure

There are a handful of possible causes of low water pressure that you might be able to identify or repair yourself. Therefore, to save money, make your first step to try these examination tips before calling a plumber.

First, check for other water use in your home. Is someone else taking a shower? Is the dishwasher running? Do you have a load of clothes in the washing machine? You may experience slightly lower water pressure if other large water-using appliances also are operating.

Next, check the other taps in your home. Turn on the cold water and compare its pressure to what you typically expect. Shut off the tap tightly and repeat with the hot water side. Don’t forget to test the shower and tub taps, too.

Should your water pressure throughout the house have low pressure, contact your neighbors to see if they also have low water pressure. If they do, contact your municipal water supplier. You could have a broken water main in the area. If this is the case, wait for the city to repair the main to have water pressure restored.

If the water pressure is fine in other places around the house, the problem may be the faucet that you noticed the problem at. Look for scale buildup on the faucet or the sprayer and clean it off with a scale remover. If removing scale from the faucet does not work to restore water pressure, consider other issues.

Lastly, if none of the tests help you to find the cause of the low water pressure, you may have an issue for a plumber to examine.

What to Do If You Cannot Identify the Cause of Reduced Water Pressure

In some cases, you will have a problem inside the pipes preventing full pressure from reaching your faucets. A water leak in a pipe, a leak in one of the supply pipes under the slab, or blockage in the pipes from the scale can all cause low water pressure. However, these issues require a plumber’s tools, knowledge, and experience to find and repair.

Connect with Best Service Plumber for Help with Any Plumbing Concerns in Your Home

Best Service Plumber can help you address problems with low water pressure anywhere in your home. If you have low water pressure and cannot find or fix the problem yourself, you should contact us at Best Service Plumber to set up an appointment. Restore your home’s water pressure the right way, with a professional plumber’s help.

Finding a quality plumbing company is never an easy task. There are choices that range from individuals offering plumbing services to professional companies with fleets of vehicles. Prices also vary from low-cost to too expensive for most people. You also may not have guarantees of services from all plumbers who work in your home. To avoid spending too much or getting poor work, use the following as ways to find a good plumbing company in southern California.

Service Record and Years of Operation

How long has the company been in operation? A good plumbing company stays around for years because customers feel satisfied with their work and recommend the company to others. For example, Best Service Plumber has operated in the area for more than 35 years. Few others can make that claim of longevity.

Guarantees Satisfaction

If your plumbing company does not do everything possible to ensure that you are happy with their services, you do not have a good service provider. Find a plumber who will perform repairs, installations, or other plumbing services to your satisfaction and will make things right if you are not happy.

Offers Emergency Services

You need to know that your plumbing company will be available when you need them. In fact, sometimes, plumbing emergencies happen at odd hours or on holidays, and you need a plumbing company that you can trust to respond to the problem, regardless of when it happens. Best Service Plumber provides 24/7 emergency services, but not all southern California plumbers are available at any time of the night or day.

Custom Solutions for Your Home’s Plumbing

Whether your goal is to reduce water use or to get the best price for a plumbing repair, you need a plumbing company that is willing to communicate with you and find customized solutions for you.

Do You Need a Good Plumbing Company in Southern California? Contact Best Service Plumber

Best Service Plumber is available for you to give you expert solutions to your home’s plumbing needs. Phone us at 951-338-8759 or use our online contact form to get in touch with us.