Plumbing Advice & Tips

Pipe noises range from loud hammering sounds to high-pitched squeaks. The causes may be loose pipes, water logged air chambers, or water pressure that's too high. Anchoring exposed pipes is a simple solution; other remedies such as anchoring pipes concealed inside walls, floors or ceilings, may call for a professional.

For Banging Pipes

Pipes are usually anchored with pipe straps every 6 to 8 feet for horizontal runs, 8 to 10 feet for vertical.

• If your pipes bang when you turn on the water, you may need to add straps, cushion the pipes with a rubber blanket, or both.
• When you anchor a pipe-especially a plastic one-leave room for expansion.
• Don't use galvanized straps on copper pipes.

For Squeaking Pipes

Only hot water pipes squeak. As the pipe expands, it moves in its strap, and friction against a piece of wood causes the squeak.

Solution: Find where pipe is touching any wood and correct by isolating pipe from wood.

For Water Hammer

This noise occurs when you turn off the water at a faucet or an appliance quickly. The water flowing through the pipes slams to a stop, causing a hammering noise.

Solution: Check for: loose washers in hose bibs, toilet fill valves, angle stops and laundry valves. Any quick closing valve can cause water hammer. You may want to Call Benjamin Franklin Plumbing for this.

Leaking Toilet

• To stop a leak between the tank and bowl of a bowl-mounted toilet tank, tighten the bolts in the tank, or remove them and replace their gaskets.
• To seal the connections on a wall-mounted tank, tighten the couplings on the pipe connecting the tank and bowl, or unscrew the couplings, remove the pipe, and replace the washers.
• If the bowl leaks around its base, you'll have to lift the bowl up and reseal it along the base.
• DIY Leak Test - Remove tank lid; add several drops of food coloring and if a leak exists, the food coloring will be present in the bowl. If you have a leak simply replace the rubber flapper.
• If you don't want to do this job yourself, call in a professional plumber. Benjamin Franklin Plumbing.

Inadequate toilet flush

Check for:

• Faulty linkage between handle and trip lever.
• Tank stopper closes before tank empties.
• Leak between tank and bowl.
• Clogged flush passages.

Remedies:

• Tighten setscrew on handle linkage or replace handle.
• Adjust stopper guide rod and lift wires or chain.
• Tighten tank bolts or couplings or replace gasket.
• Clear obstructions from passages with wire.
• Call Benjamin Franklin Plumbing for repairs.

Running Toilet

Check for:

• Float arm not rising high enough.
• Water-filled float ball.
• Tank stopper not seating properly.
• Corroded flush valve seal.
• Cracked overflow tube.
• Water measuring device doesn't shut off.

Remedies:

• Bend float arm down or away from tank wall.
• Replace ball.
• Adjust stopper guide rod and lift wires or chain. Replace defective stopper.
• Scour valve seat or replace.
• Replace tube or install new flush valve assembly.
• Oil trip lever, replace faulty washers, or install new ball cock assembly.
• Call Benjamin Franklin Plumbing for repairs.

Water is leaking from the heater

Check for:

• Leak in the drain valve.
• Leaking temperature & pressure relief valve.
• Hole in the tank.
• Leak in the plumbing connection.

Remedies:

• Close it tightly or replace it.
• Check the water temperature. If it's too hot, the thermostat may be broken.
• If the safety valve is defective, replace it.
• Call Benjamin Franklin Plumbing for repairs or replacement.

Draining and Flushing your water heater

• Turn off the gas or electricity.
• Close the cold water valve.
• Attach a hose to the drain valve, to route water to outdoors.
• Open the drain valve and open one hot water faucet somewhere in the house to let in air.
• Close hot water valve and turn on cold water valve with drain valve open. This will loosen up sediment in water heater and flush out.
• Drain valve should be replaced with a full port valve for proper flushing of water heater.
• We suggest that you call a trained professional.
• Call Benjamin Franklin Plumbing to flush your water heater.

Prevent Kitchen Drain Clogs

No plumbing problem is more common or more frustrating than a clogged drain.

• Kitchen sink drains clog most often because of a buildup of grease that traps food particles.
• Hair and soap are often at fault in bathroom drains.

Drains can usually be cleared easily and inexpensively, but taking some simple precautions will help you avoid stop-ups. Proper disposal of kitchen waste will keep sink drain clogs to a minimum.

• Don't pour grease down the kitchen sink.
• Don't wash coffee grounds down the sink. Throw them out.
• Be sparing with chemical cleaners, particularly if you have brass, steel, or cast-iron traps and drainpipes; some caustic chemicals can corrode metal pipes.
• If used no more than once every few months, cleaners containing sodium hydroxide or sodium nitrate can be safe and effective. Clean floor drain strainers. Some tubs, showers, and basement floor drains have strainers that are screwed into the drain opening. You can easily remove these strainers and reach down into the drain with a bent wire to clear out accumulated debris. And be sure to scrub the strainer.
• Clean pop-up stoppers in the bathroom sink and the tub regularly. Lift out sink pop-ups once a week and rinse them off.
• Remove accumulated hair and rinse thoroughly.
• Keep the sewer pipes from the house free of tree roots that may invade them. If roots are a particular problem in your yard, you may need to call in professionals once a year or so to clear the pipes. They'll use an electric auger to cut out the roots. Call Benjamin Franklin Plumbing for this service.
• Flush the drain-waste and vent systems whenever you go up onto your house roof to clean out downspouts or gutters. Run water from a garden hose into all vents, giving them a minute or two of full flow.
• Call Benjamin Franklin Plumbing to flush your water heater.

Foul Smell or Noisy Dring Operational

Check for:

• Disposal smells generally come from the rubber rubber that is accessible from the top.
• It also is generated from the drainage piping under the sink.

Remedies:

• Unplug disposal electric cord from wall outlet.
• Clean rubber by reaching into disposal from the top, then reach up and scour all areas that you can reach.
• Use a good cleaning solution or bleach that will kill bacteria.
• Remove all drainage piping above the trap and sour with a good cleaning solution or bleach.
• Replace disposal with a new one.
• We recommend that you hire a licensed plumbing contractor.
• Call Benjamin Franklin Plumbing