South End Plumbing Heating & Air Expert Tips

How Often Should You Get Your Water Heater Flushed?

Water heaters need regular maintenance as does other contraptions such as your car. Over time, water heaters build up inside with sediment, calcium, and minerals that settles at the bottom of the tank. By design the heating element of a water heater is at the bottom of the tank, this is because heat rises. If this heat is being insulated by sediment by sediment calcium, then your water heater has to use more energy to heat the water.

It’s proven there are no downsides to flushing a water heater. Minerals build up causes damage and it is more expensive to leave it it in the tank than to just flush it out regularly.

What’s a Backflow Preventer And When Do You Need One?

Backflow preventers are valves that are installed on your home’s plumbing supply line or an irrigation water supply line that allows water to flow only in one direction but never in the opposite direction. The purpose of it’s design is to prevent possible contaminated water from flowing in your or city drinking water supply lines. 

But just what is “backflow”  when it refers to plumbing? Is this something the average Charlotte homeowner needs to worry about?

Never fear, we’ll answer these questions and more in our written guide blow to Backflow Preventers. To begin, let’s look at how contamination from backflow can occur. 

What Causes Toilet Tank Bolts To Rust?

If you have a toilet you may have looked into the tank to clean or fix issues. That being said, if the toilet is more than a few years old you might have noticed the tank bolts are rusty. This can cause alarm because you know if the bolts rust out you’re going to have a massive leak. Rusting toilet tank bolts can easily be prevented by using solid brass bolts. Manufacturers of toilets due to saving every dime on cheap parts have been including zinc plated steel bolts (which are prone to rust) with toilets for years now, and they just don’t last forever.

Should You Switch to City Water if You Have a Well?

Even with city water supply, many people in Charlotte and the surrounding areas are still on well water. There are both drawbacks and benefits to being on either well or city water. So if you are considering switching to city water, you’ll want to ask yourself these questions.

How to Clean Jetted Tubs With Bleach

No one wants to sit down for a nice bath and find flecks of water stains, hair, and who-knows-what-else floating in the water. Unfortunately thought if you have a jetted tub this is pretty common because the jets and plumbing can collect build up and release it into the water even when the jets aren’t on. But there are some simple ways to keep those jets clean using dish soap and bleach.

How Much Time Does the Average Shower Last?

The amount of time people spend in the shower is all over the place, and if you share a household with someone who spends way too much time in the shower it can begin to infringe on your hot water supply. But it is a fact that we all have to get clean and a shower is usually the fastest way to do it unless you have a very laid back morning routine and can take a long hot bath. But for the rest of us, it is a rushed morning shower or often a quick shower before bed.

According to the site Home Water Works, the average person living in the US is in the shower for 8.2 minutes every day which comes out to 17.2 gallons of water. When you add up the amount of used water in a year all across America, the numbers are staggering.