All Things Plumbing & HVAC: The Orange Coast Plumbing Blog
Need to know what’s an emergency and which problems can wait? Which problems you can solve DIY? The Orange Coast Plumbing blog helps you understand common plumbing, heating, and air conditioning issues.
Faucets endure heavy use and abuse. They’re exposed to corrosive minerals and chemicals in water, extreme temperature changes, and unkind human treatment.
It should be no surprise they sometimes spring leaks or cease to work altogether.
Fortunately, most common faucet problems are easy to fix.
Your home appliances account for up to 20 percent of your monthly energy consumption. Using energy-efficient appliances doesn’t only benefit the environment — by reducing greenhouse gases and air pollutants — it also lowers utility costs and saves you money. Newer models require less power to operate and are packed with energy-saving features, such as […]
Even a pinhole leak in your slab foundation will offer warning signs, and drainage will slow in a sewer line long before the point of collapse.
Regularly inspecting your plumbing system will help you nip many problems in the bud. But you have to know where to look and what to fix.
On a scale of one to ten, a slab leak is the Chernobyl of plumbing disasters.
Not at first, but undetected, the leak grows and spreads, sometimes slowly and at other times in a burst. Untold damage ensues.
That biblical flood in your living room? It points to a slab leak.
If you’ve never heard of a slab leak, join millions of American homeowners.
They’re relatively uncommon but especially devastating. Your first experience with a slab leak may be to return to a flooded and ruined home. Yes, they can go from drip to deluge that fast, and they can be that catastrophic.
Plumbing leaks are a nuisance. Some might cause a small amount of damage.
But slab leaks are a different beast; they all but guarantee significant damage to your home. And should a slab leak occur in your home, you’ll need your insurance to help with an expensive and extensive repair.
Most homeowners have never heard of a slab leak until a slab leak wrecks their home.
How scary are slab leaks?
Very, if you value your home and property.
A high water bill happens for a reason — carelessness with water use, extravagance, or maybe it points to a plumbing problem.
The problem could be minor, like a constantly running toilet you never got around to fixing, or it could be serious, like a slab leak.
Slab leaks often go undetected until a pipe bursts and floods your home, resulting in a costly repair that makes your water bill look like a tip for the barista at Starbucks
Most Southern California homes and businesses are built on concrete foundations or “slabs.” Water and sewer pipes run through the foundations unnoticed unless something goes wrong.
That “something” is often a slab leak in or under a building’s concrete slab foundation.
Their location presents particular problems.
There are some items you should never flush or try to send down the drain.
Now, we know what you’re thinking: you outgrew the stage of flushing non-flushable items when you were still a toddler. You use common sense, so you shouldn’t have any issues. But the truth is that there are many items you might be flushing or putting down the drain today that you really shouldn’t.
Condensation dripping off a wall or window air conditioner is nothing out of the ordinary.
We’re used to seeing it outside — a sign the AC unit is doing its job! But what happens when the dripping moves inside, onto the carpet or end table? It’s not so acceptable anymore.
When a water heater leaks, it’s usually from one of the places — the top or the bottom.
Leaks from the top are no biggie, usually involving a valve replacement or tightening of the water lines.
Leaks from the bottom are more concerning.