Ways to Empty Your Drainage

Ways to Empty Your Drainage

One of the hard things to resolve aside from stains is a clogged drain. It can’t be helped. Clogged drains in the kitchen sink are caused by bits of food while hairs clog bathroom drainage. A slow draining sink or bathroom is extremely annoying. Fixing this can create a hole in your pocket.

In a restaurant, there are different types of drains. While some don’t even have a proper drainage system which can cause a headache to kitchen staff. It is very important that a kitchen has decent working drainage especially if it is a very large and busy kitchen like those in restaurants and hotels. Cooking activities and preparation at these places are done at large every single day.

Filters’ role in a household is very essential. They can cover water system, ventilation equipment, drains and sink. Through these filters, the kitchen can be made safe and comfortable for food preparation. Each day may go on swiftly without any hassle. That also depends on how well kept your house is.

There are natural products and items at home like vinegar, baking soda, lemon and of course, plunger which you can use to resolve your drainage and other kitchen cleaning problems.

1. Vinegar – All you have to do is mix one third part of vinegar with one third part of water and three drops of dish washing liquid in a spray bottle. This has same function as to a floor cleaner. Simply spray and mop. This is also a good concoction for deodorizing a room especially on tile floors. The drain can sometimes grow plants. If you happen to see roots growing from the kitchen sink’s drainage, pour vinegar over it to destroy.
2. Baking soda – Works almost the same way like your commercial abrasives for scrubbing surfaces. It can also act as a great deodorizer. The smell of meat and leftover foods in freezer and refrigerator can be absorbed simply by a box of baking soda.For kitchen sink or bathroom drain, mix vinegar and borax or baking soda. Pour it down the drain and leave for about twenty minutes at least. Foams coming from the drain mean that the solution is taking effect. Pour boiling water afterward. You can use plunger to help agitate the impacted material. Pour boiling water again until there is no more clog.
3. Lemon – For soap scum, use lemons. A lemon is a good cleaner of brass and copper too. Combination of lemon and baking soda can be a good cleaning aid. How? Here’s what you should do:
   • Cut lemon in half.
   • On the sliced part sprinkle baking soda.
   • Scrub lemon on surfaces and stains.

   To make a polishing a solution, combine one cup of olive oil with one half cup lemon juice. Use this to keep your wood furniture shiny and spotless.

   As deodorizer, use lemon or orange peeling. Place them in the kitchen or near the drain.

4. Salt – Pour salt down into the clogged drain to unfreeze drain pipes. This can be done to flush water during the winter season.

Those items above may be good cleaners, but they can do nothing with rust. For rusty pipes, use natural cleaning products that are meant to remove rust in no time.

For your information, vinegar can cause skin, throat, eyes and nose irritations. There are also other commercially made products that have allergens. You can avoid its contact with your skin and clothing by wearing protective gear. Or buy organic cleaning products that are safe to use with or without gloves.

Clean your drain and the whole house with ease and efficiency with green cleaning products. Because they are safe and environment friendly, you just can’t go wrong.

Plumbing Science For Non-Plumbers

Plumbing Science For Non-Plumbers

Water always seeks its own level. That is the physical law in which plumbing is based. If you are a homeowner with zero plumbing awareness, this is one fact that, at the very least, you should be aware of. Take this to heart, because this water principle, coupled with the natural law of gravity and pressure, will make or break your home, bank account, and state of mind, depending on your actions or lack of it.

Plumbing systems work in two ways; one is to take water in, and the other is to take water out. More succinctly, clean water in, dirty or waste water out. If that simple order or sequence gets mixed up, it’s time to call a plumber to fix a monumental plumbing disaster.

How does clean water come into your home? That is explained by the natural law of pressure. Pressure allows clean water to pass through pipes, travel upwards to one or several floors, move left or right into this room or that, wherever it’s needed. Those ubiquitous water valves control the way these pressurized water move in and around your home. Cold water is easily obtained from your main water supply through the process above. But if you need hot water, the cold water is first redirected to an installed water heater in your home that warms it up. The heated water then travels along the hot water line that again brings the water to all outlets in the home that requires hot water, like the dishwater, the bath tub or the shower.

If water intake is a simple science, so is water and waste outtake. But often, plumbing problems caused by waste outtake result to more costly repairs than the intake. There is a need for the skilled expertise of certified plumbers, or if you plan to repair it yourself, the right “non-leery” attitude, for obvious reasons.

Dirty waste water, after all, leaves your house following the law of gravity. Waste water goes downward to the sewer or septic tank, nice and easy. Behind this simple rule is the multitude of vents and traps to keep the process of waste removal possible. Vents allow air to fill drainpipes, precious air that allow waste water outflow. Traps are those curved S-shaped sections of the pipes under the sink drain. Traps perform a crucial role in forcing most of the water through the drainpipe, but leaving some to seal the area and prevent sewer gas from backing up.

Plumbing, as you see, is a science. Ignore the science behind it and your home will either be flooded, or you will encounter water damage of varied proportions. Undertaking any plumbing repair, particularly major damages, is best left to the capable hands of plumbers. Some areas have particular local plumbing codes that need to be checked on whether or not a homeowner is allowed to self-repair plumbing problems.

In the long run, knowing the science of plumbing can save a lot of money on your behalf and better protection for your home.

Your Drain Health

Your Drain Health

How’s Your Plumbing?

When people go to see a doctor, many times they will use a phrase like, “Hows the plumbing?” That’s very important information to know, both physically and domestically.

How Often Do You Think About Your Drains?

You probably don’t think about your drains until they disappoint you. If you think a clog is as bad as it can get, you’re mistaken.

Clogged Drains Can Lead To:

• Toilets not flushing
• Toilets overflowing
• Sinks backed up
• Poor dishwasher function
• Washing machine flooding

A worse case scenario is that your sewer line can completely back up and cause significant damage to your home interior.

What Can You Do To Prevent a Clogged Drain?

It may seem like common sense to most folk, but a surprising amount of homeowners and renters don’t understand the importance of basic drain health. To save money down the line, here are a few things to remember NOT to do.

• Never pour any type of grease down your drain. Even with the hot water running, and your sink still draining after doing so; you will end up with solidified grease farther down your line. Remember that you endanger your entire neighborhood’s sewer line if it accumulates off your property.
• Never continue to flush an upstairs toilet when the downstairs toilet is clogged. Call your plumber immediately if a simple plunger won’t do the trick. Water will naturally evacuate at its lowest point in the home, and if that’s your downstairs toilet, you can be in for some serious sewer damage when the contents erupt through the downstairs toilet.
• Don’t allow hair to visibly block your shower and bath drains. If you can see it, pull it out with a screwdriver or your fingers. Left ignored, it won’t go away, just accumulate farther down the line.

Good drain health is just good home maintenance. Call your trusted plumber with any concerns you may have about your drains. Putting off that call can have unpleasant results.

How to Fix a Drippy Faucet

How to Fix a Drippy Faucet

The primary cause of faucet leaks or drips is a bad rubber washer. Sometimes the bad washer is accompanied by a bad faucet seat as well. In single handle faucets the cause is the same, the solution is different.

The small rubber parts that seal the water in your faucet wear out. They get crushed between the faucet stem and the seat over and over again, and as they age, they get crushed harder and harder as you tighten the knob tighter and tighter to make it stop dripping. Name brand newer faucets have attempted to solve this problem by making ever more complex stem systems, but they are nonetheless dependent on rubber seals to stop the water.

This article will address the older style, two handle faucets, and touch on the newer two handle styles as well. Single handled or lever type faucets will be looked at in a future article.

Older two handled faucets use pretty much the same style of stems, all based on the Price Pfister design. There are variations, but the principle is the same. The knob is attached to the stem. When you turn the handle, the threaded stem moves up or down inside the faucet body.

At the end of the stem is a rubber washer. When turned all the way in, the rubber washer seals against a brass seat which has a nice edge on it to ensure a good seal. Over time the rubber gets brittle and breaks, gets crushed so hard against the seat that it cuts, or just gets so pitted that it won’t seal any more.

To solve the leak you will need the following tools:

1.       A screw driver to remove the handle after gently prying out the button which covers the screw.

2.       An adjustable wrench to remove the stem.

3.       A faucet seat tool, available at most hardware stores for around $12.00. Pick it up when you go to get the parts.

Turn off the water by closing the angle stops under the sink. By turning off one side at a time, you will be able to determine which one leaks, but I always just replace them both.

Once the water is off, open both hot and cold sides to bleed off any water still in the lines, then remove the knobs. I always put the screws in the knobs and set them away from the sink.

Next you will remove the stems using the adjustable wrench and turning counter clockwise. Be sure to save the nylon washers which seal the nut to the faucet body.
Once you have the stem out, you can look at the rubber washer on the end. Notice how it’s all messed up? Next stick your pinky finger down into the hole the stem came out of. You will notice a rimmed seat the rubber closes against. The top edge of the seat should be smooth. If it is rough or has chips in it, you’ll need to replace the seat too.

Inspect the end of the stem. If the brass is damaged, you will need to buy a new stem. If this is a newer model faucet, the rubber will be facing up and caged inside the stem assembly, and the stem closes against the rubber. In that case there is no seat.
In plastic faucets, there are a number of different stem designs, but once they start to drip, you basically need to replace the stem cartridge.

In all three cases, I recommend you take the old parts with you to the hardware store, in order to ensure you get the right parts.
When you get back, reassemble the faucet in the reverse order. If you need to replace the seats, they come out by inserting the tool through the hole in the middle and turning counter clockwise. For some reason they always seem to have been installed by Hercules. When you put the new ones in, make sure they are set tight.
After reassembly, remove the aerator from the end of the faucet arm. Then turn on the water and check to see that the drip is cured. Let the water run for a minute while you clean the aerator. Reinstall the aerator after it is clean.

Now you know how to fix a drippy faucet! You don’t have to pay a plumber or handyman to do it for you. You have saved $80 or $100 or so, so you should be proud of yourself. Now you can splurge on a new pair of shoes or a new fishing pole.