Do You Provide After Hours Service?
Frequently Asked Questions
When there is a plumbing emergency and you’re looking for help, wouldn’t it be nice to find a real, live person to answer your phone call? Plumbtech Plumbing provides that service. 24/7. That’s 24 hours a day, seven days a week, all year long, including holidays.
What Can Go Wrong With Your Plumbing?
A lot. Many times there is no way to anticipate an emergency before it occurs. Pipes can burst or leak. Plumbing fixtures age and break down. Toilets can clog, leak, or overflow. Faucets and showerheads break or leak. The shower knob may quit and won’t turn off the water. Pumps can fail, just when you need them. Drains can be blocked at any fixture or the main drain.
If you have plumbing in your home, you will likely experience one or more problems with your water and/or wastewater.
Common Emergency Calls
Most of the emergency calls Plumbtech receives are about drains backing up, flooding issues, and/or water leaks. Plumbtech can help with all of those problems and more.
Wide Range of Services
Beyond its emergency service, Plumbtech looks after the plumbing needs of residential homeowners, multi-unit buildings such as condominiums, and apartment buildings, as well as retirement homes, small commercial and industrial businesses and new homes.
Services can range from installing appliances such as dishwashers to supplying the plumbing lines to refrigerators that feature drinking water taps and ice makers.
The most common service calls are to install fixtures such as toilets, faucets, and water pumps. In the kitchen, an increasing amount of calls are coming in to add plumbing for pot fillers.
Seasonal Emergencies
Frozen pipes and drains bring running water to a stop. Wastewater will drain slowly when it begins to freeze and will start to back up when frozen. It will commonly occur after a sustained freeze and below-zero wind chill.
If you have partially plugged drains already, it will likely freeze and back up faster. Water lines will freeze if the outside tap isn’t turned off, allowed to drain, and left open. Other contributing factors include not enough insulation.
Wear and Tear
Plumbing fixtures, faucets, toilets, sinks, bathtubs, and showers are all subject to wear and tear. More problems are likely to occur as they age.
Function will decrease, particularly with faucets and toilets as they are prone to leaking. Seals wear out, and so does caulking. Rust, corrosion, chlorine, hard water, and limescale contribute to potential problems. Porcelain will begin to leak if an object is dropped in the sink, creating a hairline crack.
We are your best choice for plumbing services. Contact us today.
Waterlines
Pipes can burst or leak. Sometimes it’s a weather-related issue such as frozen water but other factors can also play a role: corrosion, critters nibbling on plastic pipes, wear and tear from floor vibrations.
Over time, pipes and their connections can reveal major flaws or health issues. Poly-B piping, for example, was popular in the late 1970s because it was easy to install. However, it is no longer used because of the potential for flooding.
The tubing, which is light grey, becomes brittle over time, sometimes cracking and leaking particularly in plumbing systems with high chlorine levels. The ‘push-and-turn’ fittings and joints are also prone to leaking.
Older plumbing can be hazardous to your health if it is made of galvanized metal. The steel is dipped in zinc to prevent rust and corrosion but galvanized plumbing can break down over time, clog the inside of the pipe, and potentially place your drinking water at risk for lead toxins.
The metal pipes and fittings are silver-grey.
Lead plumbing, dull grey, may still exist in some older homes built before 1950. Lead contamination can cause major health conditions such as kidney damage, headaches, high blood pressure, and more. It is a soft metal that can be easily scratched with a metal object such as a screwdriver or key.
Seasonal Residences
Emergency calls come in every spring from cottage owners and other seasonal residences, due to split water lines and pump failures. Split water lines can occur with the freeze-thaw cycle if the plumbing hasn’t been drained properly if it was forgotten in the fall close-up, or used during a wintertime visit and not shut down properly before leaving.
If the building has shifted over the winter months so that the fall of pipes changes and fails to drain, the water line will split and leak. This may also occur with incoming water pipes that are left in the water even if they are drained properly and left open. If winter serves up multiple freezes and thaws, the line may split where it enters the water.
Plugged Drains
Drains back up for a reason. It can range from freezing temperatures and below-zero wind chill to fats and debris that collect and harden in the drain to items that have been flushed – dental floss, wipes, toys from a child or dog, and more.
The blockage could also be further away from an individual fixture when multiple drains are having issues. The blockage could be in the main sewer line. Roots may have grown into the drain pipe, or a piece of a broken pipe that has been crushed by backfill could be blocking it or there could also be a flat area in the line.
Plumbtech can determine the location of the blockage in the drain pipe by sending a camera through. For the camera to “see” however, the drain has to be cleared with a plumbing snake and have no water in it.
The camera drain inspection has a video recording to pinpoint the location and depth of any problem and allows plumbing technicians to make an accurate assessment and diagnosis.
Electric Water Heaters
An electric water heater, another common emergency, will often indicate a plumbing problem before it gets to the leak stage. Is it taking longer to heat? Is it making more noise? Does it smell?
Dealing with Emergencies
If there is a flood or a major leak, make sure to shut off the water so that it limits the amount of damage. If your fixture doesn’t have a shut off, turn off main shut off valve. If it is a fixture, make a note of the make and model so that the plumber can make sure to bring the correct parts.
If possible, take a photo and send it to Plumbtech.
Plumbers and Trucks
Depending on the nature of the service call, Plumbtech may send one or two plumbers to do the work. Plumbtech maintains a fleet of trucks that are fully stocked for most jobs but cannot be prepared for everything. That’s why they should have as much information as possible.
