Your House is Flooding! Turn Off Your Water!

Written by Eric Thomas on February 21, 2024. Posted in Education, Emergency, Plumbing, Tips. No Comments on Your House is Flooding! Turn Off Your Water!

Hopefully you are reading this to educate yourself before disaster strikes. Regardless, this post will be short and to the point. Here’s how to turn your home’s water off in case of an emergency.

FIND YOUR WATER SHUT OFF VALVE

Most (but not all) houses have a main shutoff valve next to the house. It can be in the front yard, side yard, or even inside the garage. There are 2 types of water valves you can encounter:

GATE VALVE

gate valve rotate

gate valve being turned clockwise

TO SHUT OFF: Turn the valve clockwise.

*These valves have a propensity for failing. The handle might just spin endlessly, or close but not fully stop your water.

After closing the valve, open your faucets inside and see if water eventually (within a minute or two) stops coming out.

BALL VALVE

ball valve

ball valve graphic

TO SHUT OFF: Turn the handle 90°, so it is perpendicular to the pipe.

This style does not often fail, but to make sure works and that it is the correct valve, open your faucets inside and confirm that water eventually (within a minute or two) stops coming out.

NOT THIS

gas meter, with red crossed circle over it

This is your gas meter. Don’t stress out trying to figure out how this relates to your water system. It’s not part of your water system. Keep looking for a valve like one listed to the left.

IF THAT DOESN’T WORK

As a last resort, you can try to turn the water off at the meter.

Find your water meter. In most cases the water meter will be at the front of your property next to the street, although in some cases it is elsewhere, such as the back edge of your property. If you just can’t find it, a call to the water company could determine its location.

The water meter is most often by the street. Rarely, it can be at the back of the property.

Locate the shut-off valve. Inside the water meter vault, you will find a valve. Dirt tends to pile up in these vaults, so the valve could be buried. Dig a little if need be.

Turn off your water. A water meter key is the proper tool to to shut the street valve, although in a pinch you could use a pair of pliers.

Check your meter. To make sure the water has been turned off, look at the water meter and confirm that it isn’t showing movement (either with a changing digital readout or with a spinning dial).

FINALLY

Get your leak fixed! Call a professional so you can put this trouble behind you.

A Plumber is Not a Leak Detector

Written by Eric Thomas on February 21, 2024. Posted in Tips, Education, Plumbing. No Comments on A Plumber is Not a Leak Detector

Wait, don’t plumbers find leaks?

“Leak detectors are the plumbers that plumbers call when they can’t find the leak.”

Well, yes.

And no.

Traditional plumbers are skilled at fixing a problem when they know what that problem is. After all, that’s their profession.

But what if you can’t tell where the leak is?

It may surprise you to know that, when you have a leak with a mystery source, your plumber is likely scratching his head as much as you are on how to locate it. That’s where leak detectors come in. Leak detectors are the plumbers that plumbers call when they can’t find the leak.

What sets leak detectors apart from traditional plumbers?

Leak detection is a hard-learned craft unto itself. While leak detection specialists are licensed plumbers, there are three main ways in which they differ from traditional plumbers:

EQUIPMENT

Technology is the leak detector’s best friend. Our job would be much harder, if not impossible, without the array of high-tech equipment at our disposal. With it, we are able to listen for leaks deep underground, see inside walls without tearing them open, locate and track hidden pipes, and even visually interpret moisture signatures. Traditional plumbers do not have this array of technology at their fingertips. It is cost prohibitive for plumbers, but necessary to perform leak detection.

EDUCATION

Leak detection tools are not as simple as x-ray vision. They are only useful in the hands of a technician who has the education and expertise to read between the lines of where the tools’ capabilities end. A deep understanding of plumbing must go hand in hand with a thorough familiarity of the equipment in order to interpret the information gathered and accurately pinpoint a leak.

EXPERIENCE

For a leak detection specialist, finding hidden leaks is not an add-on skill, exercised every month or even every week. It is their full-time work, day-in and day-out, for years. And that’s exactly what it takes to be able to accurately locate any hidden leak. There are just too many variables and unique situations to simply dabble and come out on top.

leak detection specialist checking a floor

BEWARE THE PLUMBER WHO “ALSO DOES LEAK DETECTION”

Does your service plumber list LEAK DETECTION among a list of other services, such as water heater installation and drain line snaking? It’s an appealing skill to advertise and brings in business. But watch out for a plumber overstating his abilities, which could leave you holding the bag.

Warning Signs

Leak detection as a profession is too complex to simply be an add-on skill. An honest plumber will not overstate their abilities. When unsure of a leak’s location, they will recommend hiring a leak detection specialist. But be mindful of the following red flags that indicate your plumber is in over his head and it’s time to call a leak detection specialist.

THE “LEAK DETECTION” IS MANY HUNDREDS IF NOT THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS.

There are times that a leak detection could cost $600+. But these times are RARE. Exceedingly rare. More often than not, these prices reflect the excessive amount of time a traditional plumber must spend (at his accustomed rate) working outside of his area of expertise, and are an attempt to compensate for the expensive equipment that was purchased, but not often enough utilized.

YOU’RE ADVISED TO REPIPE YOUR WHOLE HOUSE.

Some houses need all new plumbing. However, that number is much smaller than many plumbers would have you believe. If you keep having leaks, maybe it’s worth the $10,000+ investment to know you’ll never have another. But repiping is easy advice for a plumber to give. Not only is he off the hook for finding your leak, he gets an incredibly high-priced repair out of it, too! A good leak detector or plumber will give you several repair options and let you choose the direction in which you are most comfortable proceeding.

jackhammers going into a floor

WALLS AND FLOORS MUST BE TORN APART TO FIND THE LEAK.

Your house shouldn’t be left in shambles in the wake of your plumber chasing an elusive leak. Replacing flooring, walls, or cabinetry is not cheap! A leak detector will determine the least invasive approach to get your plumbing back in working order, keeping damage to a minimum.

Is There a Leak in My Swimming Pool?

Written by Eric Thomas on February 21, 2024. Posted in Education, Pools and Spas, Tips. No Comments on Is There a Leak in My Swimming Pool?

It’s a common question, and one you might not be able to confidently answer.

In the winter, maybe you got by with adding water every couple weeks. Now the days are getting longer and warmer, and you’re adding water much more frequently. Is it just the weather? Or do you have a leak?

How Much Water Should My Swimming Pool Be Losing?

There are many variables that help contribute to your pool’s rate of evaporation. Sunlight, water temperature, atmospheric humidity, and wind all play a factor. It’s not uncommon in the colder winder months to lose almost nothing to evaporation-maybe 1/16th-1/8th of an inch per day. At that rate, you shouldn’t need to add water to your pool more than every couple weeks or so.

In the middle of summer, with the right conditions, a pool can lose upward of 1/2 an inch a day.

A foolproof method of judging your evaporation rate is the bucket test. In one day’s time, this simple test will leave you with a confident understanding of whether your water loss is simply evaporation or if you have a leak on your hands.

Other Causes of Water Loss

It’s not just the environment that dictates your pool’s water loss. Does your pool get a lot of use? Splashing and climbing in and out of the pool every day will certainly lower that water level faster.

kids with floaties swimming in a pool

Overfilling a pool can also make it look like there’s a leak. The proper fill-level for a pool is the mid-line of the tile. Filling a pool to the very top will almost always result in rapid water loss, if just for an inch or two. The very top of a pool often has cracks, gaps, or cold joints that were never designed to be waterproof. Filling above the mid-line of the tile is unnecessary and often counterproductive.

Infinity edges, spa spillways, and fountains that run for hours a day can also significantly increase evaporation, as the water that splashes gets atomized and evaporates much more easily. If you’re concerned about your evaporation, try cutting back the amount of time your fountain runs each day.

How to Help Curb Pool Evaporation

Evaporation is a unavoidable element of owning a swimming pool. That being said, there are a few things that can be done to help reduce its impact.

Avoid excessively heating your pool. A warm pool is an evaporating pool. If you can enjoy your pool at 75°, don’t heat it up to 90°.
Add a pool cover or solar blanket. Ironically, this contradicts the first tip above, as either a pool cover or solar blanket will help naturally increase the temperature of your pool. But, with a cover over your pool, the water that would normally evaporate is trapped under the cover, and kept in the pool. This is the best way to keep your evaporation level down.
Turn off fountains and other water features. This was mentioned earlier in the post, but it’s worth reiterating. Water features can noticeably impact evaporation by increasing the surface area exposed to the atmosphere and by aerating and atomizing water through splashing.

With these tips in mind, bask in the confidence you are doing what you can to properly look after your pool, saving both water and money.

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