If you have more than one clog in your house then it is time to clean the main drain. A backed up main line often causes a sink clog, at the same time as a bathtub or toilet clog.

To fix the main line you will need:

• wrench
• waste bucket
• plumber’s snake
• garden hose

1. Go to your basement or crawl space and locate the vertical large drain pipes. These are the main line pipes. Some people find their main lines in the pantry closet, or garage. Find the plugs on the pipes which are sometimes located outside along the foundation of your house.

2. Use your wrench to loosen the square fitted caps on the plugs. Make sure to have your waste bucket handy for any immediate release.

3. Insert the your plumber’s snake in both directions of pipe to break up any blockage. If you have a tough obstruction, a high pressure water blast from your garden hose might help loosen the debris.

4. Finish by tightly screwing the square cap back on the main drain.

Open a Drain – no HazMat Suit Required

When the bathroom sink is clogged we immediately reach for the “drain cleaner.” It’s what millions of dollars in advertising has trained us to do.

But even as we read the directions on the label, “Open carefully. Do not squeeze bottle. Avoid splashing. Clean up spills at once. Keep hands, face and children away from drains while using…” and while we open carefully, being sure not to squeeze the bottle, we wonder. If this stuff is so nasty who is warning the fish and the ducks and the beavers who might be living, swimming, and eating in the water somewhere downstream from our newly opened drain?

Traditional drain cleaners are bad stuff. They are caustic, will burn right through rubber gloves, heck they have been used as a lethal weapon in more than one gristly horror novel.

But there are alternatives that are as effective, cheaper, and safer for humans, pipes, and the environment.

First, there are natural products that will open a clogged drain or, used regularly, keep the drain from clogging in the first place. There are also mechanical ways of cleaning out the pipes which can be employed by any do-it-yourselfer.

First the natural products.

A slow running drain can often be speeded up with a simple dose of very hot water. Many experts advise not to use boiling water if the pipes are PVC, but a temperature just short of boiling should be OK. Kitchen clogs are often caused by a build up of grease and really hot water will dissolve and move it and any food particles caught in it down and out.

Another solution for a minor clog – one where some water is still getting through – is to dissolve ½ cup of salt in 4 quarts of water and heat to just short of boiling. Pour it slowly down the drain.

A cup or so of dry baking soda poured down the drain followed by that hot water will also clear stoppages.

But there is a big Kahuna of homemade drain cleaners. The same mixture used to power grade school plaster-of-Paris volcanoes should certainly win out over a bit of soap and hair. Pour a cup of baking soda into the drain and follow it with a cup of white or apple cider vinegar. It will fizz and foam like crazy. Let it work for an hour or more then flush it with about a gallon of very hot water.

There are some commercial drain cleaners that use enzymes or bacteria rather than lye or acids and are eco-friendly. The enzyme cleaners (Earth Friendly is one brand) are supposedly not as effective as bacterial cleaners such as Drainbo. Both must be allowed to work for a long period of time, usually overnight, but the bacterial cleaners supposedly sprout colonies of bacteria within the pipes which continue to eliminate grease and the oily or waxy ingredients in shower gels and shampoos. These cleaners (and reviews from users) can be found on-line. Some hardware stores also stock them.

If these cures don’t work you will have to resort to mechanical means. We will talk about the proper use of plungers and snakes next.

Toilet Still Running, More Suggestions

In our continuing saga of the running toilet, if the problem isn’t the fault of the flapper valve, then the culprit has to be the mechanism that shuts off the water when the tank is full. When it does not stop the excess spills into overflow tube and into the bowl. Again, there may be a couple of causes.

The flow of water is regulated by a float device, usually a lightweight ball on a rod attached to a ball and cock assembly. Newer toilets may have a Fluidmaster type assembly which has a float rather than a ball but operates on pretty much the same principal. As the tank fills the ball and rod rise with it, first slowing then stopping the water flow when the level is about 1 inch from the top of the overflow tube. Fill the tank and raise the ball to the top of its arc with your hand. If the water stops then the adjustment is probably pretty simple. Finger-tighten the knob at the top of the ball and cock assembly where it meets the rod until the water stops. Alternatively, is the ball rubbing against the tank or is the rod bent downward? The rod has pretty good tolerance – just bend it back into position, either upward or away from the tank wall. If the rod is threaded it may help to shorten or lengthen it slightly by screwing it further into the ball and cock assembly. The ball itself may be taking on water and sinking below the water line. With the tank empty check the ball for sloshing and if necessary replace the ball.

If the toilet is still running please refer to the first sentence of our first installment on fixing toilets: “For such a simple mechanism there sure are a lot of things that can go wrong with a toilet.”

Would we lie?
With other alternatives exhausted we have to assume that the problem is with the intake valve which will have to be replaced.
Turn off the water at the supply valve, empty the tank and sponge out any remaining water. Pull off the water supply tube at the top of the ball and cock assembly. The intake valve is fastened to the domestic water supply by a nut and bolt on the underside of the tank. With a wrench unscrew the nut but do not force it; the porcelain tank can crack under pressure. Treat a reluctant nut with Liquid Wrench or WD-40 and wait a few minutes. With the nut undone, pull the assembly from the tank. A new assembly will cost about $15 and to install it, just reverse the procedure above.
If, after all of this the toilet is still not operating correctly we have three final words of advice.
Call a plumber! Get some more simple plumbing tips from our San Diego plumbers.

Fix the Flap.

You have diagnosed the source of the problem with your running toilet and it is the flapper. Or it’s the float. No matter, it has to be fixed before the sound of a mounting water bill drives you nuts. Turn the water off at the valve which is located a few inches above the floor under the tank and flush to mostly empty the tank. You will have to turn the water back on so you can flush to check each attempted repair.

Let’s start with the flapper.

If the water draining from the tank is seeping rather than running it may be that lime or calcium deposits are keeping the flapper or the tank ball from fitting firmly in the outlet pipe. Take a piece of emery cloth or steel wool and burnish the rim of the drain and wipe off the flapper or ball with white distilled vinegar and steel wool. You can probably do this with the part still in place.

If the water is running out faster the ball/flapper may have outlived its usefulness. The flapper especially is prone to rot or to become rigid with age. Those drop-in cleaning tablets that turn the water blue are very hard on rubber and plastic too and many plumbers advise against their use.

The flapper may be getting hung up in the chain that lifts it or the chain may be getting hung up on something. Removing a few links from the chain may solve that problem. Conversely, make sure there is enough slack in the chain for the flapper to relax into position. If the closing mechanism is a tank ball on a wire, check the wire to make sure it is directly above the water outlet and is straight. Straighten the wire if possible; if not it will have to be replaced.

If a new flapper or tank ball must be installed, remove the old one – on both toilets in my house this is as simple as unsnapping the arms of the flapper from either side of the valve housing; tank balls unscrew – and take it with you to the hardware store to make sure you get the right replacement part. To install merely reverse the procedure for removing it. That’s it!

Stopping the water from coming into the tank is a bit more complicated than stopping it from leaking out. We will tackle this next. Get some more simple plumbing tips from our San Diego plumbers.

The Toilet Doctor is in.

For such a simple mechanism there sure are a lot of things that can go wrong with a toilet.

The “hope they never happen” problems are septic or sewer backups, clogs, or a cracked or broken tank or bowl or a leak from under the toilet.

Minor toilet problems generally have the same symptom, running water, so the diagnosis may take more time than the repair. The problem is sometimes so subtle you can’t even be sure it is happening.  If you are on private water the pump might kick on when it shouldn’t or the running sound stops almost as soon as it starts.  In that case put a dye tablet (town water departments often them for free) or drops of food coloring in the tank then try not to use that toilet for a few hours.  If the water in the bowl changes color even a little water is leaking in.  Now you have to find the source. (more…)

Like other sink drains, your garbage disposal will need regular maintenance to keep it working properly when you need it to. Every disposal should have a P-trap that can get clogged if too much food is put into it without plenty of water available to flush the system. It is far easier to prevent a clogged disposer drain by following some simple practices.

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Q: I have a bit of calcium buildup at the usual spots, washing machine, faucets, etc.

A: First step would be to install a water softener. Installing a basic water filter won’t help much with dissolved solids (like calcium). A properly sized and set softener will effectively eliminate your hard water problems.

You can also try to flush the water heater out, and then turn off the water and open up the hot water valve of the shower valve and flush out the supply line.
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