A Quick Plumbing Troubleshooting Checklist
Sometimes you just need to do some quick troubleshooting so you can at least know when to contact us and when to do a quick fix yourself. So here are a few common symptoms and solutions for quick reference:
Standing water in sink: If your disposal is gunked up, try running ice through it to clean the blades. If the blockage is in the P-trap underneath the sink, you’re better off having us deal with the mess of fixing it. Don’t pour corrosive cleaners down the sink!
Toilet won’t flush properly or runs forever: Make sure the flapper is closing so the tank can refill, and that the chain connects the flapper to the ballcock. You might have clogged flush holes (under the toilet rim). If you have a broken flange or leaky wax ring at the base of the toilet, you’ll probably want to let us fix that.
Toilet overflows: You can fix a one-time blockage with your trusty plunger or toilet snake, but it your toilet overflows regularly, get a plumber to inspect the pipes.
Low water pressure: You may have a broken water line. If the problem affects one room, the leak is probably in that part of the system; if it’s house-wide, you should get the water line feeding the whole house checked.
Noisy water pipes: Pressure from your water heater could be causing your pipes to knock together if they’ve gotten un-fastened from the wall. We can attach new fasteners to brace them so they’ll shut up.
“Rotten egg” smell: This could mean that a cracked vent pipe or drain is leaking sewer gas into your home. This is a job best left to the pros, some get out of that stinky house and contact us immediately.
Hope this is helpful!