What Is Video Snaking?

What Is Video Snaking ?

Video snaking or "See-Snake" is a process where a plumbing company runs a video line or camera down your branch lines (the pipes that lead from bathtubs and faucets to the house's sewer line) or down the house's sewer line (the larger pipe that leads from the house to the municipal sewer line on the street). At the end of the line is a camera that lets you see the line close-up. If you are doing an entire sewer line video inspection you will see a walk-through, leading from the trap, down through the sewer line, and up to any obstructions. If the camera can push through the blockage, it may continue through to the municipal line.

How Often Will You Need This Done?

This would not be a frequent occurrence. If you are purchasing a home, adding a bathroom, or remodeling your kitchen or bathroom then video snaking is in order. Typically, most homeowners call in a sewer line video inspection only if there is a problem, such as a blockage that cannot be fixed by plunging, or sewer rodding or drain cleaning. Locating the problem via video is a lot more cost effective than aimlessly digging holes, looking for the culprit.

If you live in the Naperville-Plainfield-Aurora, Geneva-Batavia-St.Charles or Wheaton-Winfield-Warrenville-Glen Ellyn area, contact AquaTech Plumbing at 630-416-3555, 630-377-9555, or 630-462-3555 for any of your video snaking needs.

Prevent A Gas Emergency In Your Home With These 10 Safety Tips:

1. Always follow the manufacturer's instructions when operating and caring for natural gas appliances, and use each appliance for its intended purpose.

2. Keep the area around your gas water clear and free of debris.

3. Ensure fuel-burning appliances are installed, used and maintained properly and safely. Hire a qualified technician to inspect heating and venting equipment annually, and use a carbon monoxide alarm that meets current standards.

4. Never use a gas oven to warm a home.

5. Don't use fuel lines for storage. Heavy coats or other items hanging from a fuel line (often located near the ceiling in basements) can stress the joints in the pipe and cause gas leaks. Don't allow children to swing on the pipes or hang clothes from them either.

6. Use a broom to keep gas meters, pipes and other service equipment clear in winter. Gas-appliance chimneys and vents must be cleared after snow and ice storms to ensure proper venting and prevent carbon monoxide accumulation.

7. Set your water heater temperature to 120 degrees or lower. Check the water temperature before placing a child in the bathtub, and never leave a child alone or with other young children in the bathtub.

8. Replace flexible connectors. Cracks can form and cause serious gas leaks in these flexible pipes that attach appliances to fuel lines. Limit the number of times you move natural gas appliances, and replace flexible connectors at least every 10 years with an American National Standards Institute (ANSI) approved model.

9. Never use a gas generator inside your home, garage, or near a window. Generators emit toxic and deadly carbon monoxide gas.

10. Rely on your eyes, ears, and nose to spot a gas leak. A damaged connection to a gas appliance, a hissing sound, or its distinct smell are all telltale signs of a gas leak.

There Are Two Types Of Sump Pumps: Pedestal And Submersible

You may be asking yourself, "What is a sump pump and do I need one?" A sump pump's job is to keep the area under a building dry and to prevent the building from flooding. Sump pumps are located inside sump pits. Water flows into the sump pit through either drains or the soil. The sump pump's job is to direct water out of the pit and away from the building so the basement and building stays dry.

Even if your basement has never flooded, you should still invest in a sump pump.

There are two types of sump pumps: pedestal and submersible. Pedestal pumps use an electric motor attached to a column. It sits above the sump pit. It's easy to get to and if well maintained, can last a long time. Submersible pumps are designed to work beneath the water and are located in the sump pit. These types of pumps are harder to get to, but are quite inconspicuous which is great if you don't want it to be seen. They are typically quieter than pedestal pumps.

Sump pumps don't just prevent your basement from flooding, they also control underground wetness which results in mold and mildew. Mold and mildew can lead to health problems down the road.

If you already have a sump pump and you're not sure if it works properly, now is the perfect time to find out. Areas that experienced excessive snow fall will need to prevent flooding as the snow melts. Also, spring showers can leave your basement filled with water if you don't have a sump pump or if your sump pump is not in working order.

Even though a sump pump can be your best ally against a flood, they do fail under certain circumstances, including neglect and power outages.

In addition to having a sump pump, a battery back-up system is advisable, in case your power does go out. Certain battery back-up systems will automatically “cycle” your back-up pump so that it won’t sit neglected and therefore fail when it is called upon in a power outage. These systems can be expensive but are well worth it, especially if you have a finished basement.

Contact Naperville area AquaTech Plumbing at 630-416-3555 for sump pump installation or repair before you have the task of dealing with a flooded basement.

How To Keep Your Home Free Of Leaks When You Are On Vacation

Here are a few suggestions to keep your home free of floods and leaks while you are away.

10 Plumbing Tips Before You Leave on Vacation:

1. If you don't need a sprinkler system or a pool pump to run, be sure to turn off your main plumbing shut off valve before you leave for an extended period of time. There will still be water in your plumbing system, but additional water won't enter into the system while you're gone. This is a great opportunity to check that the plumbing main shut off valve is working properly.
2. Can't shut off the main valve? You can shut off individual valves under your sinks, behind your toilets, behind the refrigerator, and behind the washing machine. Only turn off the valves that are in good working order.
3. If you turned off your plumbing main shut off valve, this is still a good time to look at all your shut off valves and supply lines under your sinks and toilets to be sure none are wet or leaking before leaving.
4. If you have plumbing behind your refrigerator, pull the refrigerator out and check to be sure nothing is wet or corroded.
5. Look all around your water heater and water softener, make sure there is no water present. These items also have their own shut off valves that can be turned off to lessen the chance of water damage. 
6. If the water heater is in good condition, turn the thermostat down so that it isn't constantly running to heat the water while you are away. On an electric water heater, turn the breaker off at your main electrical breaker box. This will avoid wasting energy while you're away.
7. Add water to all drains before leaving to keep them wet. This will minimize odors in your pipes when you return.
8. Do an inspection of the outside of your home, make sure nothing is leaking before you leave the house. Be sure to check the hoses, sprinklers, etc.
9. If you have a drinking water system, make sure your drinking water system is newer, as older lines on these units can crack and break and are often the culprit causing water damage in many homes. Some of these systems can be turned off individually at the valve under the sink to lessen the possibility of water damage.
10. While you're away, have someone check inside and around your home to ensure that nothing has broken or was forgotten while your family is enjoying their vacation. An unattended plumbing problem can be very costly and frustrating to return home to.

If you live in the Naperville-Plainfield-Aurora, Geneva-Batavia-St.Charles or Wheaton-Winfield-Warrenville-Glen Ellyn area, contact AquaTech Plumbing at 630-416-3555, 630-377-9555, or 630-462-3555 for any of your pre-vacation plumbing questions and needs.

How Do You Prevent Your Household Sinks From Clogging?

How do you prevent your household sinks from clogging? The short answer-- Stop dumping stuff down the drain! The main culprits behind a clogged or slow moving drain are usually hair and food. The bathroom sink drain gets full of hair and the kitchen sink drain gets full of food and debris. If you could keep hair and food out of the drain you would prevent 99% of the clogs before they happen.

How to keep your Kitchen drain clear:

Keeping food out of the kitchen sink drain can be easy, if you have a sink strainer. It's cheap and readily available and saves you from potential plumbing catastrophes. Most strainers are the basket type with holes or there is the screen style which just sets over the drain opening catching all the big food particles. You simply lift out the screen and dump it in the trash when it's full or when the water won't drain. Anything that will slip past this screen is small enough so it won't cause a back-up. They can be bought at Home Depot for around $3.00.

How to keep your bathroom drain clear:

When it comes to the bathroom sink (or tub), your drain's biggest enemy is hair. Unfortunately there isn't a screen that fits a bathroom sink. Bathroom sinks, unlike kitchen sinks, usually have a pop-up drain assembly with a lever right behind the faucet to lift and lower the stopper. The best prevention here is to wipe up any loose hair before it enters the sink drain. You will occasionally need to remove the pop-up in order to clean out the hair. It's a messy job but one that needs to be done. Some tubs have a fixed metal screen and some have a loose rubber plug. If you have a fixed drain cover you'll need to remove this cover so a hair stopper will fit.

Over the years the inside diameter of your drain pipes get smaller and smaller. You'd be shocked if you could see inside your pipes but this is an indicator of the health of your plumbing. There are a number of drain cleaners on the market both organic and caustic but those are not recommended. Always contact a professional plumber before putting ANYTHING, organic or not, down your drain. If you are experiencing slow draining or clogged pipes, contact Naperville area AquaTech Plumbing for all of your drain cleaning needs!

Prolong The Life Of Enameled Cast Iron Sinks

Today, kitchen sink bowls come in a variety of different materials. Although enameled cast iron remains an attractive and durable product, many people today are choosing bowls made of stainless steel and other solid surface materials for their added durability, stain resistance, and as aesthetic appeal.

Bowls are available in: Swanstone, Surrell, Corian, Moenstone, and much more. The most important thing to remember is to follow the manufacturer's instructions pertaining to the material of which your bowl is constructed. With some of the solid surface materials, scratches can be removed when lightly sanded because the color goes throughout the thickness of the material.

Do not allow fruit or vegetable juices or cleaning acids to sit on any surface. An acid-resisting sink will safely resist lemon, orange, and other citrus fruit juices, tomato juice, mayonnaise, and other vinegar preparations if these are not permitted to remain more than a few hours. A regular enamel finish is not impervious to acids.

Teas and coffee grounds will also stain enameled surfaces, if allowed to remain very long. Photographic solutions are even more harmful to enamel, and the amateur photographer should not be allowed to use the sink, because a fixture once damaged in this way can never be corrected.

In order to prolong the life of enameled cast iron sinks, clean the bowl immediately after each use. Use a nonabrasive cleaner. Constant use of abrasive cleaners can eventually wear the finish down, making it much more porous and susceptible to stains. This can also happen with enameled, cast iron tubs over a long period, leaving behind unsightly discoloration and haze. When cleaning the sink, use hot water and soap. Water and soap are not as hard on the enameled finish as strong cleaning solutions like washing soda or a gritty abrasive. If a cleaner is used, it should be one that specifically states that it is nonabrasive.

Contact Naperville area AquaTech Plumbing at www.aquatechplumbing.com/contact for all of your plumbing needs.

10 Reasons To Go Tankless Today!

1. You will receive an endless flow of hot water!
2. Lower energy costs! - From 20% to 50% savings annually.
3. You will receive a $300 federal tax credit plus SCG operating incentives.
4. Tankless water heaters last for 20-30 years whereas a traditional water heater’s usual life span is 8-12.
5. Tankless heaters don't lose efficiency over the unit's lifespan.
6. Tankless water heaters save space.
7. Tankless heaters have a built in scalding protection feature. 
8. Tankless water heaters have a new automatic fill feature.
9. Tankless heaters fill spas, whirlpools, tubs and Jacuzzis much quicker.
10. Tankless water heaters protect your health and the environment.

Additional benefits
In order to make the hot water supply last, a traditional standard tank water heater heats the water up to 140 degrees, then you must use cold water to cool it down. With a tankless water heater, you set a temperature, let's say 120 degrees, and you have the perfect temperature without wasting energy. Furthermore, since a tankless water heater has no refresh rate (it's instantaneous), there is no need to overheat the water as with a conventional tank.

Carbon Footprint
Every year more than 7 million used tank water heaters are taken to landfills in the United States. A tankless water heater is, for the most part, recyclable, so they don't end up in your local landfill. It is estimated that if people replaced their tank units with tankless there would be a savings of millions of gallons of oil a year, millions of gallons of propane, and billions of kilowatt hours. This is yet another reason to go tankless!

Concat Naperville area AquaTech Plumbing today for a new tankless water heater.