A backflow device prevents water from flowing backwards into the potable water system. Many residential and commercial building have one or more of these on lines that go to irrigation, fire sprinklers, down to a dock and other places.
The Orange County Health Department requires all backflow devices in Orange County, CA to be tested once a year by a certified tester. These testers attend a state-regulated course to learn the proper method for testing and repairing these devices. Testers have to be re-certified every two years.
At AB&R, we have 3 employees who are certified by the county to test backflow devices in Orange County. We also use a subcontractor to test devices outside of Orange County (we are in the process of getting certified in both LA and Riverside counties).
If you have a backflow device at your home or business, you should receive a notice from your local water district, every year about the same time, telling you your device is due for testing. If you are not receiving this notice, please, call your local water district and ask them why. Yes, it will cost you money, but it isn't very much, and here is why it is a good idea to have your backflow device tested.
Lets say (for example) you have a backflow device at your home that is on the line that provides water to your irrigation sprinklers. Let's further say that it has not been tested in more than a year, and there is something wrong with it. If a low pressure condition occurs in the city water supply - and this happens a lot more often than you know - water that is sitting on your lawn could be sucked back into the city water supply. This water might have debris, bugs, pesticides, fertilizer, animal waste and more in it.
Do you really want to drink this water?
It only costs $49.00 per device to have your backflow device tested, and you only have to do it once a year! That's less than $1.00 a week! If you contact AB&R Plumbing, we can schedule your test. We fill out all the paperwork, send it to the water district, the OC Health Department, you get a copy and we keep a copy. Next year, when it is coming due again, we will contact you and let you know.
Less than $50.00 a year to keep animal waste and chemicals out of our drinking water... Sounds like a good idea to me!
TO change the subject...
I am sure there are tons of people out there who have comments about the election. If you want to say anything here, please remember the following rules:
1) No profanity. If you use it, I will simply delete your comments. They will never make it to anyone!
2) Be polite. You wouldn't want someone being rude or calling you names if they happen to disagree with you, so don't do it here, please.
3) Be respectful of other people's opinions. I am sure that my opinions are not shared by everyone else. And yet, I am asking people to voice their opinions. Show everyone else the same respect.
That;s it! Not too bad! Let me get it started...
President-elect Barak Obama! I never thought I would live long enough for this country to get past something as unimportant as skin color. Will he do a good job, do you think? He has said he will bring the troops home from both Afghanistan and Iraq, do you think this is a good idea?
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Do you feel all clogged up?
Is the drain in your shower slow?
Do you have a toilet that clogs a lot?
Do you have to not use your garbage disposal because it always clogs?
All of these are indications of a potential problem with your drain system and can be investigated and (usually) fixed fairly easily.
Everything that drains in your house drains – through something called a p-trap – into your house sewer system. The pipe where it starts is usually the smallest and, as that pipe joins to other pipes, they get bigger. The pipe that leaves your house is usually 3” or 4” pipe!
The drain for your kitchen sink and bathroom sinks typically connect with a 1-1/2” pipe, your tub or shower are typically 2” and your toilet is either 3” or 4”.
So, if the pipes are that big, how do you get a clog? Good question!
With most sinks, the clogs are going to be in the p-trap. This is underneath the sink and junk can settle into it and not get flushed down the drain. If enough junk gets settled into here, a clog will form and your sink will back up.
With a tub or shower, the biggest culprit is hair and soap scum. Hair catches on everything and the soap scum glues it together. Over time, these can form a nasty clog and really make your drain slow down.
With a toilet, the biggest problem is toilet paper. The p-trap for a toilet is part of the toilet. When you flush some solid waste and too much toilet paper, this is too much bulk to make it through the p-trap. Bingo, a clog! The most important thing?
DON”T FLUSH A SECOND TIME!!!!!!
Toilets are designed to hold all the water in the tank and not overflow. If you flush a second time, then the water goes all over the floor.
One note on toilets: don’t use them to flush things that you don’t want. Everything, it seems, gets stuck in a toilet. I’ve had toy cars, eyeliner pencils, bars of soap and GI Joe’s get stuck in toilets. In all cases, except the GI Joe, it was necessary to REPLACE the toilet! We could not get them out! Keep the lids down and your kids away!
Most of the time a clog in a sink or toilet can be cleared with a plunger. When this won’t work, that’s when you have to call me. Plumbers have machines call “snakes” that feed a stiff wire – ¼” – ¾” thick – down the pipe and rotate it as it goes. These wires (called "cabes" or "rods") have blades on the ends of them that help the snake dig. This will usually dig through a clog and break it up in the process. Then the weight of the water washes it away. Sometimes this process involves more than one size machine from more than one access point.
The thing to remember is that your drain system is designed to wash away liquid waste for the most part. The only place that is designed to handle solid waste is your toilet and it is designed to handle it with a lot of water! The larger your liquid to solid ratio, the better!
Just a note about garbage disposals – they are NOT designed for every piece of food you don’t eat or for when you are cleaning out your refrigerator! Here are the rules for using a garbage disposal:
1) Turn the disposal on first, before you put any food in!
2) The water MUST be running before you put any food into the disposal.
Note: it is perfectly fine to run the disposal without water; it will not hurt the disposal. The reason for the water is to rinse away the food, not to cool or protect the disposal.
3) Do not run the disposal when the sink is full of water. This will cause the pipes under the
sink to vibrate a lot and is very bad.
4) Put small amount of food into the disposal, not big hunks. Put the equivalent of about 2
mouthfuls in!
5) Let the food be ground up and washed away before putting in more food,
6) When you are finished, wait a few seconds after the disposal stops making grinding noises
before turning it off
7) Leave the water running for at least 5 seconds after the disposal is off.
Do you have a toilet that clogs a lot?
Do you have to not use your garbage disposal because it always clogs?
All of these are indications of a potential problem with your drain system and can be investigated and (usually) fixed fairly easily.
Everything that drains in your house drains – through something called a p-trap – into your house sewer system. The pipe where it starts is usually the smallest and, as that pipe joins to other pipes, they get bigger. The pipe that leaves your house is usually 3” or 4” pipe!
The drain for your kitchen sink and bathroom sinks typically connect with a 1-1/2” pipe, your tub or shower are typically 2” and your toilet is either 3” or 4”.
So, if the pipes are that big, how do you get a clog? Good question!
With most sinks, the clogs are going to be in the p-trap. This is underneath the sink and junk can settle into it and not get flushed down the drain. If enough junk gets settled into here, a clog will form and your sink will back up.
With a tub or shower, the biggest culprit is hair and soap scum. Hair catches on everything and the soap scum glues it together. Over time, these can form a nasty clog and really make your drain slow down.
With a toilet, the biggest problem is toilet paper. The p-trap for a toilet is part of the toilet. When you flush some solid waste and too much toilet paper, this is too much bulk to make it through the p-trap. Bingo, a clog! The most important thing?
DON”T FLUSH A SECOND TIME!!!!!!
Toilets are designed to hold all the water in the tank and not overflow. If you flush a second time, then the water goes all over the floor.
One note on toilets: don’t use them to flush things that you don’t want. Everything, it seems, gets stuck in a toilet. I’ve had toy cars, eyeliner pencils, bars of soap and GI Joe’s get stuck in toilets. In all cases, except the GI Joe, it was necessary to REPLACE the toilet! We could not get them out! Keep the lids down and your kids away!
Most of the time a clog in a sink or toilet can be cleared with a plunger. When this won’t work, that’s when you have to call me. Plumbers have machines call “snakes” that feed a stiff wire – ¼” – ¾” thick – down the pipe and rotate it as it goes. These wires (called "cabes" or "rods") have blades on the ends of them that help the snake dig. This will usually dig through a clog and break it up in the process. Then the weight of the water washes it away. Sometimes this process involves more than one size machine from more than one access point.
The thing to remember is that your drain system is designed to wash away liquid waste for the most part. The only place that is designed to handle solid waste is your toilet and it is designed to handle it with a lot of water! The larger your liquid to solid ratio, the better!
Just a note about garbage disposals – they are NOT designed for every piece of food you don’t eat or for when you are cleaning out your refrigerator! Here are the rules for using a garbage disposal:
1) Turn the disposal on first, before you put any food in!
2) The water MUST be running before you put any food into the disposal.
Note: it is perfectly fine to run the disposal without water; it will not hurt the disposal. The reason for the water is to rinse away the food, not to cool or protect the disposal.
3) Do not run the disposal when the sink is full of water. This will cause the pipes under the
sink to vibrate a lot and is very bad.
4) Put small amount of food into the disposal, not big hunks. Put the equivalent of about 2
mouthfuls in!
5) Let the food be ground up and washed away before putting in more food,
6) When you are finished, wait a few seconds after the disposal stops making grinding noises
before turning it off
7) Leave the water running for at least 5 seconds after the disposal is off.
If you have any plumbing problems, you can always visit our website and set up an appointment for us to come out and fix it. If you want to remodel, add a reverse osmosis system or softener, replace a leaking faucet or for any other plumbing issue.
Are you following the football season? There have been some interesting games so far! I am a huge Steelers and Patriots fan, but I love football in general. Just some of my thoughts on the season so far...
... who would have thought that the Titans would be undefeated after 10 weeks!
... It looks like Bill Parcells has made a difference in Miami!
... Detroit is off to another dismal start. The question is, is it more likely that Detroit will go 0 and 16 or that Tennessee will go 16 and 0?
... Mike Singletary needs to start thinking like a head coach and not a player. He really threw his Offensive Coordinator under the bus!
... Looks like Bret Favre could take the local Pop Warner team and make contenders out of them; not that I am saying the Jets are bad, it's just that Bret is so good!
Any comments!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)