In the video below Dave Henry discusses the right way and the wrong way to use the tablet cleaners you put in your toilet.
If you are using those chlorine tablets to keep your toilet clean, fresh and pretty, please make sure you are putting them in the bowl and not the tank. ?When I am out on service calls I often have customers ask me if this causes any damage to my toilet. ?The topic will often come up for a toilet service and repair call.
The problem is when you put these chlorine tablets in the tank they often warp the flappers and the plastic and rubber that helps your toilet work properly. ?Now it does not happen immediately of course but it does over time.
The problem is that all of the working mechanisms of the toilet are inside the tank.
This even includes the blue sludges you put in the tank.
Now if you put the cleaners in the bowl you are just fine.
Not sure which is the tank and which is the bowl? ?Note the attached picture.
If you have additional questions or need plumbing service please use our plumbing contact form or give us a call at 717-755-5461.
In this video Dave Henry gives you suggestions that YOU can do to keep your drain lines open and minimize the chance that drain clogs will occur.
Of course saving you headaches and money.
Preventative Maintenance
To minimize your chances of calling for a York PA Plumber try to do a little preventative maintenance – One thing you can do is have this simple tool you can pick up at Home Depot, it is called a zip-it tool. It has a bunch of hooks on the sides. You should periodically (every 6-12 months) go around your house and clean out your drain lines. This tool is for bathrooms and lavatory drains. ?Bathroom sinks and tubs. If you see the water is slow at going down the drain that would be a good time to use this tool
Boiling Water and Vinegar
For kitchen sinks get yourself a big pot and add in 3/4 water and 1/4 vinegar. Put on the stove. Bring to a boil. Then dump down you kitchen sink. You may also want to try this down your bathroom or lavatory sinks and tub drains and also your clothes washing machine drain. The hot water and the vinegar is a mild acid helps break up that gunk. Now it will not open your sink if its clogged, but it will help keep the gunk from building up.
Clothes Washing Machine Drain Cleaning:
For clothes washing machines put your washing machine on hot water on the extra large load setting. You want to get as much water as possible.
Fill it the whole way up and turn it to the spin cycle and dump it out. The hot water will help break up the gunk and the detergents in the drain lines. The detergents actually break down and turn it into a black gunk.
The hot water will help flush the drain line. Again, this will not help if it’s already stopped up or clogged. This is something that has to be done before it is stopped up.
The Coat Hanger Trick
Another little thing you can do is try a coat hanger if you don’t want to run to Lowe’s or Home Depot and get the special tool noted above.
Take a coat hanger, cut and straighten to make as long as possible. Make a hook on the end. Insert into drain line. You will most likely need to remove the stopper to get the coat hanger down the drain line. With the special tool above you most likely can leave the stopper in place.
You can also use the metal coat hanger on toilets.
Landlords And Property Maintenance
I would suggest you every year or so or when you have a tenant move out you make it a habit of cleaning out the drain lines to remove hair and build up. And dump the water and vinegar mix down the drains to remove the build.
This will keep your tenant happy and lower your unexpected expense of calling for a plumber in York PA.
Please consider Wilbur Henry for your next plumbing-related problem by using our plumbing contact form or calling 717-755-5461.
You are laying in bed in the middle of the night or you sitting downstairs and you hear your toilet fill up for a second or two, or you get your water bill and you notice it a little higher than it usually is or you physically just hear your toilet leaking through when you come in your bathroom. Then you wander if you should call a plumbing contractor or if the issue is just a simple fix.
There is a simple test you can do. It’s called a dye test for your toilet.
As professionals, we have special dye tablets but you can go to any grocery store and get food coloring, and use any color you want. No the color does not matter.
You start by going to the toilet that you are having the issue with or better yet just check all of your toilets.
You flush the back of the tank and hold down the lever until most of the water is out of the tank.
Once it’s completely drained out as much as you can get, you drop the dye or in your case droplets of food coloring and close the handle and just let it set for 10 or 15 minutes. Better yet let it sit for an extended period of time to ensure there are no leaks, even slow leaks.
Now the water in the tank will turn whatever color dye you put in it, we use blue dye in tablets, so mine will turn blue. ?You do not want that color of dye from the tank getting into the bowl.
After you have waited 15 – 30 minutes or whole days, come back, and lift up the bowl, if there’s no blue or whatever color you used in the bowl, then your flapper is not leaking.
If you lift up the toilet seat and the color that you put in the tank is in the bowl then your flapper is leaking. ?Now you will want to replace the flapper. You can go to the local home improvement store and get a replacement flapper.
Or you can of course contact us by phone at 717-755-5461 or use our contact form to do the dirty work.
Finding a good plumbing company you can relay is not always an easy task. There are a lot of plumbers in the York County market to choose from. You most likely want someone that you can call that will show up within a reasonable amount of time based on the emergency situation at hand.
You want a plumbing company that will do the job right, and do the job right the 1st time.
You want a plumbing company that will stand by there work. And if there is a problem, (nobody is perfect) they will make it right and make it right with a smile.
Before agreeing to do business with the company, make sure that they can present a plumbing license. If they have one, they should be ready and easily willing to show it. Beware of companies that can’t find or produce one.
2. Check with Online Reviews
If consumers are unsatisfied with a service or product that they received, they are often likely to get online and tell all about it.
Search for the plumbing company on the internet and you’ll quickly have access to reviews and other commentary from others who have worked with the company in the past.
Be sure to use unbiased sites that could not have been manipulated by the plumbing company to work in their favor. Google reviews are a good place to search.
3. Ask About Their Guarantee
Find out what their policy is on getting money back for work done, the stipulations of getting the money back, etc. If the service is legitimate and genuine, the company will usually guarantee a refund in the event that the consumer is unsatisfied.
4. Get Referrals from Other Home Maintenance Professionals.
Lastly, get recommendations from other professionals in the home maintenance business. For example, if you had satisfactory work done by an AC repair technician or electrician, ask if they have any referrals for a good plumbing company. The chances are high that they’ll be able to point you in the right direction.
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