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Emergency Plumber Explains How to Turn off Water to Your Home In Case of Burst Pipes

Water pipe bursting is a natural thing for homeowners. Usually, when water freezes or expands with incredible force, then weak pipes tend to explode. And if you experience a pipe burst, the first thing you do is call a plumber. But in case the plumber takes time to arrive at your place, what will you do?

So, when you are prepared, this will reduce your suffering water leaking plus minimize the damage.

Here are some tips for you to keep your water pipe from bursting –

1. Shut off the Water

In the winter season, when water freezes, it usually expands the volume by about 9 percent, which expands tremendous force. In fact, the pressure can go from 40 lbs square inch to 40,000 psi which is huge. And no pipe can hold this much pressure that causes pipe burst. Hence, to prevent any damage, you should turn off the water.

2. Open the Faucet

Once you turn off the water, you need to open a faucet. This will relieve water pressure in the pipes, which ensures minimal damage.

3. Clean water at home

Simply grab a mop with a bucket to get rid of that because the water will soak everything in your house. Thus, a quick clean reduce any damage to your house, plus it reduces the stress if something is getting moldy.

4. Switch on the heat

Make sure you turn on the fan into cold rooms; at the same time, keep your garage door closed. When you notice the water flow is reduced, you can use a hairdryer to heat the most vulnerable pipes. Moreover, while you apply heat, the faucet should be on. You can also insulate your walls as a precaution to keep pipes from freezing.

5. Open the doors

Leave the doors open of your house when the pipes are exposed inside the pantries or closets. Since open doors help the warm air reach pipes under sinks too.

6. A temporary Fix

If your emergency plumber takes time to arrive, you have to create a temporary fix to secure the pipe.

Electrical Tape: You will need electrical tape for small holes. Simply wrap the tape around the holes a few times, and then you can place the hose clamp on the pipe.

Epoxy Putty: You can use the epoxy putty if the hole is bigger. When the putty is hardened fully, you can turn on the water to check out the leaks.

Sleeve Clamp: Use a sleeve clamp to secure the lock on the water pipe. Place them over the hole, and this will reduce the damage.

7. Put Rubber over the leaking pipe

You can place a rubber over the broken pipe to reduce water flow at your home. So, if you have a burst pipe, make sure you put in Rubber.

8. Use a woodblock before adding a clamp

Before fastening, you can use a block of wood on the Rubber. This will stop the leak since the wood spreads the pressure to prevent the pipe from collapsing.

9. Use a C-Clamp

You can use C-Clamp as a temporary fix for water leaking. The C-Clamp needs to be fixed over the wooden block plus the Rubber.

10. Cut the Damage Pipe

If you are slightly expert at repairing, then simply cut out the damaged area of the pipe. Before cutting, ensure the main water supply valve is shut off and drain the damaged water pipe. And then measure the area to cut it off.

So, try these tips when you find a damaged pipe at your home. If your plumber cannot reach you on the spot, then you can try these tricks. These will help reduce the damage slightly.

Should You Contact Your Insurance Company?

You should contact the insurance company if they cover a sudden pipe burst. Thus this would be a great way to cover up your damage costing.

Show the documents about broken pipe or water damage to everything in between you need to cover up burst pipe.

Conclusion

There are several reasons for pipe bursting, but one of the most common reasons is temperature falling. When water freezes, the pipe expands and builds pressure which eventually bursts. And you can prevent burst pipes by replacing old pipes, insulating your pipes, or locating the main water shutoff valve.

Tips On How to Organize Your Plumbing Truck

Since you are a plumber, your plumbing vehicle should be well-organized. You won’t look professional if you have to search for an essential tool to complete the job. And when you are in an emergency, every second is crucial, and you can’t waste a moment; that’s why you should keep your plumbing truck organized. An organized van is very efficient, plus it makes you productive.

Let’s sit and plan out together to reorganize the van so that you can easily use your plumbing truck.

Stock the Basics

You should make sure the van carries basic and essential tools always. For instance, the vehicle should include a first aid kit, safety glasses, gloves, antiseptic and other essentials.

Furthermore, every plumber needs a pocket level, sandpaper, solder flux, tape measure, voltmeter, voltage tester, drills, fitting brush, wrench set, hammer, etc.

A Good Shelving System

You should customize the interior of the van with a good shelving system. Create compartments on the sidewalls while keeping the bin on the floor. Separate the compartments to keep different types of equipment, spares, or tools. You can also use a different color on different compartments to quickly get things.

Use the Right Accessories

When you have the right accessories, it makes your plumbing van safe and ergonomic. For example, you can invest in an anti-slip floormate to prevent slippage.

You can use wall or ceiling liners to dampen rattling tools’ noise; this keeps your interior safe.

Nevertheless, you can add tap-activated lights to your van door for inclement weather and easy visibility during the night.

Flexibility

Your plumbing truck should be flexible enough since the vehicle has to move around. So just keep the essential items only to do the job of the day. Do not overload it with unnecessary equipment. Also, keep all your important items to the place where you want to get them easily.

Get an Inventory Management Suite

If you want to get your plumbing essentials in no time, you should invest in an inventory management suite. That’s because the suit will sync field management plus enterprise. In addition, it’s an automated system that can re-order itself, which is very convenient.

Additionally, the suite can be linked to a cloud-based mobile app that can streamline all your work.

Clean the Vehicle On Regular Basis

Make sure you clean the vehicle every day after using it. Restocking the van for the next days’ work reduces your stress from organizing it. However, you should create a cleaning schedule to keep the van clean. Also, when your customer sees a clean van, he will be happy as well.

Hopefully, you get a clear idea of how you can organize your plumbing truck to get things done. Well, let’s find out the benefits of an organized plumbing truck.

Benefits of Having an Organized Plumbing Truck

You are helping your plumbing business when you keep your van organized through racks or shelves.

1. You can quickly find your essentials in one place whenever you need a tool or supply. This saves time for you, at the same time, helps you smoothly do the job.
2. Having an organized van actually improves your productivity. Moreover, it means doing the job in a short period of time. Because, when you do not have an organized van you have to look for items; whereas now you spend the time completing your job.
3. An organized van actually improves your images against the customer. If your customer sees the inside of your van and finds it neat, he can understand what you are doing. And this will create a good image towards your customer, and he may recommend your business to other people.
4. You can easily find out if anything goes missing when you have an organized plumbing van. An organized van makes it a theft-proof van. Additionally, only you know where you keep tools which would be tough for others to find out.
5. When all tools are neat and clean, it makes the van more spacious. In addition, keeping all the essentials in a neat row protects your van.

So, an organized plumbing truck makes your life easier and lets you do the job effectively in no time.

Diagnose and Repair Common Vent Issues in Your Plumbing System

Even if you understand the issue and can readily reach it, plumbing issues can be extremely hard to fix. It isn’t always the case with drains and vents.

Vent pipes can be disconnected or never installed, and lines can become blocked in places where access is difficult or impossible, such as inside walls.

Before you hire a plumber and spend hundreds of dollars on repairs, maybe this article will help you diagnose the most typical issues with plumbing drains and vents.

Ways You Can Prevent Common Vent Issues

1. Clogged Vent

Your drains and toilets are likely to warn you if your home’s air vents are clogged. Vent problems can cause gurgling and bubbling sounds, as well as slow draining sinks and tubs. Some of the causes of the clogged vent are:

• Old leaves
• Dead Animals
• The Activity of Insects
• Children Toys

Consider that clogged air vents may potentially be clogged drains that need cleaning. A professional plumber may inspect all the vents in your home and remove any clogs they uncover with drills and other tools if you continue to suspect that the air vents are blocked. You can also unclog it by using a plunger.

2. Dripping Faucets

Almost every person at some point in their life has dealt with a dripping faucet. Water waste can raise your utility bills and cost you money. One faucet can waste hundreds of gallons of water over a year.

Dripping faucets are frequently the result of an internal washer that has stiffened, ripped, worn out, or grown loose over time. In most cases, a person with simple DIY abilities and minimal tools can remedy this issue.

Disassembly of the dripping faucet begins with the water supply being turned off, and the damaged washer is replaced.

3. Lower Pressure of Water

Low water pressure may be causing your taps to drip instead of gushes. In older homes, this is a common problem. A major reason for low water pressure is leaking pipes that have broken, deteriorated, or corroded over the years.

A buildup of silt and mineral deposits on aerators is the most common reason for low water pressure in a shower. You can clean the aerator by soaking it in Vinegar.

Either soak the showerhead in Vinegar or get a new one if the issue is with the shower itself. You can use Vinegar to clean the showerhead in the following ways:

• Remove any soap or grime that may have accumulated.
• Scrub any mineral deposits loose with a vinegar-soaked toothbrush.
• Remove any stray deposits with a safety pin or toothpick.
• Any dissolve any leftover deposits by soaking the parts overnight in Vinegar.

4. Sluggish Water Drainage

The most common source of this issue is a clog, which prevents water from flowing freely. You may find congealed fat and food debris in your kitchen sink drain. When clogging a bathroom sink, the most common culprits are soap suds and tangled hair.

You can use a plunger, chemical clog remover, baking soda and Vinegar, or a plumber’s snake to clean a clogged sink. As time goes on, the problem will only worsen until the drain is entirely blocked.

How to Use Chemicals to Unclog a Sink Drain:

• Follow the manufacturer’s instructions to the letter, and don’t use more than recommended.
• To ensure your safety, don gloves and eyewear.
• Make sure that you don’t combine substances. It can produce toxic gas.
• Make a mess by pouring chemicals into the drain.

5. Running Toilets

A constantly running toilet might waste up to 200 gallons of water every day. The flapper valve, which controls water flow from the tank to the bowl, is the most typical problem.

It is a simple remedy with a toilet repair kit readily accessible at any hardware shop. Sediment can also cause a toilet to run, but it’s not as prevalent as it used to be.

Try putting some food coloring in the upper tank. After that, check if it makes its way to the bowl without flushing. Perform the following steps when you see an irrelevant increase in water bills.

Conclusion

Be sure to follow the manufacturer’s installation instructions when installing a vent cover or cap. To avoid unintentionally creating a leak, exercise caution when working with the shingles surrounding the area.

Avoid harming the vent line, and never utilize the vent as an anchor point when working. Avoid damaging the vent line while performing maintenance. We hope that this guide was helpful for you!

Top 7 Signs of Poorly Vented Drain Lines

Plumbing drain lines that have been improperly ventilated can resemble the signs of other problems related to drains. Outside air is needed to counteract the effects of wastewater running through your drains, which might change the pressure in your system.

Vents are the straight pipes that link to your drain system and exit through your attic to exhaust into the atmosphere. Plumbing vents can become clogged with leaves, nests of birds, and other obstacles and be placed incorrectly during construction.

Unless you’re a skilled plumber, you won’t be able to find and solve the problem without climbing up on your roof with specialist equipment. Contact a certified plumbing contractor if you observe any of the following indications of inadequately ventilated plumbing drain lines.

What are the Signs of Poorly Vented Lines?

Leaves and other debris might clog the vent, which is located on your roof. A blocked vent causes pressure to rise. If left untreated, it could deteriorate so that neither water nor gas can get through. Express Sewer and Drain say the following are symptoms of a blocked vent:

1. Sluggish Drains

A system venting problem, not a single clog, may cause slow drains in multiple locations. Drain performance is hindered by airlocks and vacuum forces created by pressure imbalances in pipes.

2. Odors of the Sewers

A small amount of water remains in the trap of drains in sinks and toilets when they are flushed. Drains and pipes are sealed with water to keep out odors and gases that could otherwise leak out of them and into your home.

You can lose this water if the vent in the drain pipes does not have enough air pressure. Sewage scents might easily enter your building’s interior if the traps dry out.

3. Poor Performing Toilets

Your toilet’s flushing motion may be sluggish, and the water in the bowl may take a long time to return to its normal level if your vent is obstructed. Bubbles may appear in the toilet bowl even when the fixture is not in use, indicating this condition.

4. Toilet Bubbling

Positive pressure can be generated in a toilet by a large volume of water flowing via a poorly ventilated sewer line, such as when a washing machine or other nearby appliance is in the drain cycle. There is a good chance that there is an issue with the venting.

5. Sounds of Gurgling

Noises from drain lines are unusual. Therefore they may be a symptom of inadequate ventilation. The most common sign of a drain problem is a gurgling sound.

Venting in the pipes may be the problem if you hear these noises coming from the toilets in your building or the bathroom sink drains. Drain water and waste particles have a hard time moving through the drain lines due to the reduced airflow in the pipes.

6. Weak Toilet Flush

A clogged air vent in your sewer system may be to blame if you have to flush more than once and your toilet bowl water level remains abnormally low.

7. Empty Toilet Bowls

If the water in the toilet bowl or tank abruptly rises or lowers after flushing, it could indicate venting issues in the drains. There is a risk that you could drain water in the toilet bowl or tank away if the drain lines are under pressure, resulting in irregular water levels.

Summary

A clogged drain and a blocked vent have a lot in common. Call a plumber before you damage pipes that you may not even unclog with baking soda and vinegar or by snaking the drain to clear it.

The vents should be cleared by a professional. You may unintentionally release the trapped gas. This situation necessitates the intervention of a knowledgeable plumber.