Symptoms and Cures for the Clogged Drain

Posted by & filed under Clogged Drain, Plumber.

The clogged drain is a nuisance no one in the home should have to put up with. Whether you are enjoying a nice, hot morning shower that is ruined daily by having to stand in two inches of water or your kitchen sink gurgles and hangs on to your dirty dishwater long after the plates and bowls have all been put away, your Roseville area clogged drain may need the help of a professional.

There are most certainly some things you can try yourself to alleviate a clogged drain in your home. Check out these symptoms and cures:

Symptom: Powerful odor near clogged sink, shower, toilet, tub
Cure(s):
• Look at venting for blocks.
• Sinks not in use could be allowing water in trap to evaporate, add more water.
• Clear the clog harboring likely bacteria, kill bacteria by adding bleach to the drain.
• Your toilet may be gapped between it and its wax ring, replace wax ring.
• Vent line deterioration or separation ‘piping’ sewer gas into house.

Symptom: One toilet, sink or shower/ tub is clogged
Cure(s):
• Likely a clog near that item. Use basic drain cleaning techniques to clear it.

Symptom: More than one toilet, sink or shower/tub is clogged, same area of house, remaining drains fully functional
Cure(s):
• Possibly a branch drain or vent line is clogged, needs clearing. Try a drain snake or pressure device as chemicals typically are not effective in these cases.

Symptom: More than one toilet, sink or shower/tub is clogged, different areas of the house
Cure(s):
• Presuming two different clogs are not mere coincidence, the main sewer drain running from house may have a blockage. Try a drain snake or pressure device.
• Tree roots or a damaged sewer pipe are a distinct possibility, a plumbing professional may need to be called upon.
• Should you possess a septic system, it may need to be pumped out.

Symptom: Sewage is backing up into your home, way beyond just an overflowing toilet
Cure(s):
• The city sewer probably has a major blockage and you are downhill from other people’s homes. Their sewage is backing up through your main sewer drain. Contact the city.

Would you like more information on repairing a clogged drain in Roseville or any of the surrounding areas? Call All Ways Drains at 612-922-9422, or you can contact us and get a Free Estimate.

How to Get Your Plumbing Ready for Spring

Posted by & filed under Plumbing Tips.

Believe it or not, spring will be here in just a few short months. So we thought we would take the time to give tips on how to get the plumbing at your Edina home ready for the warm, rainy spring months.

First of all, take some time to inspect any pipes that run along the inside walls of your house. Keep a close eye on them and look for signs of leaks or damage. If your pipes are wrapped in insulation, remove that so you can look underneath. Make sure to re-wrap your pipes if it’s still cold outside or temperatures are expected to drop below freezing again.

Then check underneath the sinks in your home and look for signs of pooling water. These are leaks that should be fixed as soon as possible so they don’t cause further damage. You should also look up the wall by the sinks as well, in case the leak is coming from somewhere around there.

Go to your water heater and take a look at that as well. During the winter months, your water heater is working harder than ever, so sometimes it can need some TLC when the weather starts to warm up again. Now is also a good time to have your water heater drained and cleaned as well.

You should then go outside and check your outdoor plumbing. Take a look at your hoses to make sure they are in good shape and that they don’t have any cracks. If you have an irrigation system, now is also a good time to start looking that over. You might need to call in professionals for help with getting the system spring-ready, but you should at least be able to tell if any of the pipes or sprinkler heads are damaged.

Turn on your outdoor faucets and, again, keep an eye on them and check for leaks and other problems. If the weather is expected to get cold again, make sure you turn the faucets off after you’re done checking them so they don’t freeze.

If you have any problems with your plumbing system, call us so we can come out and take a look and repair it.

Would you like more information on plumbing in Edina or any of the surrounding areas? Call All Ways Drains at 612-922-9422, or you can contact us and get a Free Estimate.

DIY or Call Plumbing Contractors?

Posted by & filed under Plumbing Tips.

plumbing contractors minneapolis all ways drainsIf you are having a plumbing problem, you might be thinking about trying to fix it yourself. You might think that you can watch a few YouTube videos and they will teach you everything you need to know. While this might work for minor plumbing problems, like replacing a washer in your faucet, it might not work as well for larger issues. So how can you tell if the repair work is minor enough to handle yourself vs. calling plumbing contractors to your Minneapolis home? Here are a few examples of repairs that should always be handled by plumbing contractors like us.

 

 

 

Low water pressure throughout your entire house

If your shower head has low water pressure but the rest of your house is fine, then you probably just need to clean the shower head and that should fix the problem. But if you’re having problems with low water pressure throughout your entire house, this is a problem for plumbing contractors. Low water pressure can sometimes mean there are bigger plumbing problems like poor pipe design, problems that originate in your water or sewer system or roots or debris infiltrating your pipes. No matter what the culprit is, you need plumbing contractors to diagnose and fix the problem.

Frozen or burst pipes

Depending on the extent of the damage to the pipes, this might be a DIY project. If the pipes are just frozen, then you can probably fix them on your own if you know how to do so safely. But if the pipes have burst or have any damage to them, then you will need to call plumbing contractors like us for help.

Valve issues

If you have some plumbing experience, then you might be able to replace any valves that are having problems. But if you have no idea what you are doing and no experience with plumbing, call plumbing contractors like us instead of trying to do it on your own.

Problems with sewer back-up

If sewage is backing up out of the pipes and into your home, you will definitely need to call plumbing contractors for help. There is nothing you can do on your own to fix this problem unless you are a licensed plumber as well.

Would you like to learn more about how to hire our plumbing contractors to come to your Minneapolis home? Call All Ways Drains at 612-922-9422 or you can contact us for a Free Estimate.

Three Most Common Reasons to Call a Residential Plumber

Posted by & filed under Plumber, Plumbing Tips.

residential plumber roseville all ways drainsAs a residential plumber in Roseville, we have definitely seen our share of plumbing problems big and small! Here are a few of the problems we fix the most often and more information about how they are usually repaired.

Leaking Faucets

Leaking or slowly dripping faucets are incredibly common. As a matter of fact, most people have had to deal with them at one time or another. Usually, the reason faucets leak is when the washers in the faucet are ripped or dislodged. When this happens, a trickle of water is allowed to drip out of your faucet and into your tub or sink. Not only can the dripping sound sometimes get annoying, but it also wastes water. This is sometimes a repair that you can handle on your own, but if you run into any unexpected problems (or if you aren’t sure of how to fix it yourself), call a residential plumber like us for help.

Low Water Pressure

When you turn on your shower, you probably expect the water to gush out of the shower head or faucet. Sometimes, the water comes out as a trickle instead. This indicates a problem with the water pressure. Sometimes, this isn’t something a residential plumber can fix because it’s a problem with your municipal water supply. But if you know it’s not a problem with the water supply, then you should give us a call. Usually, it’s a problem with deposits or sediment building up on your faucet aerators. You can take aerators off of faucets and clean them by soaking them overnight in a vinegar solution. You can also put a baggie with a vinegar cleaning solution over shower heads and leave them there overnight to clean them without having to remove them.

If cleaning them doesn’t solve your low water pressure problem, you will need to contact a residential plumber like us for further assistance.

Clogged Drains

Generally, you can fix a clogged drain using a plunger, or you can pour baking soda down into the pipe and then some vinegar on top of it. Let that sit for awhile and then rinse it out with hot water. However, if these solutions do not work, then it is time to call a residential plumber.

Do you want to learn more about how to hire a residential plumber in Roseville? Call All Ways Drains at 612-922-9422, or you can contact us to get a Free Estimate.

Tips on Sewer Cleaning

Posted by & filed under Plumbing Tips, Sewer Cleaning.

sewer cleaning coon rapids all ways drainsWhile the professional plumbers at All Ways Drains can always help with sewer cleaning at your Coon Rapids home, we wanted to share some tips on what you can do on your own to help keep your sewer lines free of debris and other problems. Taking the time to do a few of these means you might not have to call us for sewer cleaning as often as you used to.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • While it might be tempting to use a chemical to unclog your sewer lines or for sewer cleaning purposes, this is actually not a good idea. The chemicals can damage the pipes and cause even more problems over the long term, especially if not used properly.
  • You should familiarize yourself with your sewer system. In your home, there are several smaller waste removal pipes that connect to your main sewer line. The main line is what takes the waste away from your home and to your septic tank or to your city’s municipal sewer.
  • An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure when it comes to sewer cleaning. You can use a simple solution of baking soda and vinegar to clean your drain. Poor a cup of baking soda down each drain and then pour a cup of white vinegar on top of it right after. Let it sit for about an hour or so and then flush it all out with warm water. The baking soda will react with the vinegar that will remove a lot of residue from the pipes, tubs, sinks, etc.
  • Keep an eye on your yard for tree roots. Tree root systems can grow pretty far down into the ground and infiltrate your sewer pipes, causing them to crack. If you have a lot of trees on your property, you should have your sewer lines cleaned every couple of years. You should hire a professional to take care of this for you because they will do a more thorough job.
  • If your sewer line has clogged in the past, it is more likely to be clogged in the future. Keep this in mind and do the necessary steps to make sure your sewer lines stay clean and clog-free.

If you would like more information on sewer cleaning in Coon Rapids, call us at All Ways Drains at 612-922-9422, or you can contact us for a Free Estimate.