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. 

Prevent A Clog During The Holidays

The holidays are a time for family, friends, and quite a few plumbing emergencies. A majority of Americans take part in holiday parties with 11 or more guests around Thanksgiving and Christmas. These extra guests put a serious strain on a home's plumbing system, which results in more emergency calls to plumbers.

Big holiday meals require a busy kitchen. Too much grease and food finds its way into the kitchen drain or disposal. Holiday guests also equate to extra showers and baths as well as lots of extra toilet flushes. It all adds up to potential plumbing disasters.

Pipes clog because of a gradual buildup over time from grease, hair, soap, or food particles. All it takes it one major overload, like a house full of guests, to exasperate the situation and create a clogged drain. Follow these following tips to avoid a plumbing disaster after this holiday season.

In the kitchen:

• Never put hard-to-grind, stringy, fibrous waste into the garbage disposal (i.e. poultry skins, carrots, celery, pumpkin pulp, or banana peels). The disposal can't sufficiently grind these items and they will clog your sink drain.
• Run cold water down the drain for about 15 seconds before and after using the garbage disposal to flush waste down the main line.
• Turn on the disposer before adding food debris.
• Run the dishwasher and washing machine at night or at off times to conserve hot water and maintain adequate water pressure for your guests.
• Avoid pouring fats or cooking oils down the drain because liquid fats solidify in the pipes and create clogs. Wipe congealed grease from pots.

In the bathroom:

• Plan ahead, spread out showers throughout the day; wait 10 minutes between showers rather than taking one right after another.
• If shower pressure is weak, pour a cup of vinegar into a plastic bag, place it over the shower head, and soak. Use a twist tie to hold it in place overnight. In the morning, remove the bag and use an old toothbrush to gently scrub off the mineral deposits to help restore water flow.
• Turn up the water heater slightly to retain hot water. To avoid scalding, do not exceed 120°F. 

Now that your home is quiet and your drains are draining slowly, contact the Naperville area plumbers of AquaTech Plumbing. We can help!

Have a safe and happy New Year, everyone!

Focus On Preventative Maintenence For Your Home

Plumbing disasters happen unexpectedly and are usually costly. Because our plumbing is hidden in our walls, attics, basements, and other inaccessible locales throughout our homes, it is usually too late for preventative measures when disaster strikes. The good thing is, even though we can't see what's going on behind our walls, we can take steps to prevent disaster from happening. Think less of "plumbing disasters" and focus on "preventative maintenance." This will save you a fortune. If you're not interested in saving money you needn't read on.

Steps for preventative maintenance:

• Familiarize yourself with your home's main water shut-off valve. Learn how to use the meter key to stop water flow in case disaster strikes. Impeding the flow of water in a plumbing emergency is of critical importance, consider it as "stopping the bleeding." Your home's main shut-off valve may be tricky to find.
• If you happen to have older plumbing such as galvanized water lines, look for rust around the fittings and the pipes themselves. If you happen to find any vulnerabilities, contact us immediately for an evaluation.
• Check your water heater. This is one of the most common causes of interior water damage. Same as the aforementioned, check for rust! Check the connections, pipes, and surrounding areas.
• If you leave for a long vacation this holiday season, turn your water off and set your heat to "vacation mode." This will prevent a plumbing disaster in your absence.
• Perform a monthly inspection. Check for leaks in the bathroom and kitchen. Check under the sink. If there is a mildew smell, look into it. Water leaks can lead to serious health issues when mold comes in to play.

Following these simple steps can help avoid any plumbing surprises. Contact Naperville area AquaTech Plumbing today if you have any issues with the plumbing in your home or business.

Here Are Some Helpful Tips From AquaTech Plumbing For Winterizing Your Pipes

Prevent your pipes from freezing this winter: 

• Unscrew your garden hoses and store them in the fall before winter arrives.
• Wrap your water heater in an insulation blanket. Nearly 15 percent of an average home energy bill goes to heating water. 
• Open outdoor faucets so that any residual water can drain.
• Prevent burst pipes by shutting off the water to your hose bibs by draining the lines.
• Be sure to seal any cracks and holes in outside walls and foundations. Look for areas where phone lines or cable TV enter the house.
• If you use a hot water radiator, bleed the valves by opening them slightly. You can close them when water appears.
• Wrap pipes that are not insulated, or that pass through unheated spaces, with pre-molded foam rubber sleeves or fiberglass insulation, are available at hardware stores. You can also wrap pipes with electric heating tape. Be sure to purchase heat tape with a built-in thermostat that only turns heat on when needed. Be sure to check garages, crawlspaces, and basements.
• On extremely cold nights, try leaving the cabinet doors under the faucets open so that they can get a bit more heat. 

If your pipes DO freeze:

• Turn the water off at the main shut-off valve! 
• Leave the faucets on to relieve pressure as the ice melts. 
• Use a blow dryer or heat gun to thaw frozen pipes. 
• Don’t use a blow torch! Way too dangerous!

Prevention is key when avoiding costly plumbing repairs. You know winter is coming, why not be prepared? A few simple steps can save you money. Check around your home and see if you’re ready for the inevitable arrival of, "Old Man Winter."

For additional informaiton or for help with winterizing your pipes, contact the Naperville area Plumbers of AquaTech Plumbing.