The Ethical Plumber

Boruch: Hi, I'm Boruch Fishman, and welcome to Tales of an Ethical Plumber" Today we're going to be talking with Alan Urszuy, the owner of 1^st Choice Plumbing, a Baltimore plumbing company. I'm used to talking with plumbers about very concrete topics such as water leaks, bathroom installations, and the like, but today, Alan is going to be talking with us about Part II of "The Spirit of this World."

Alan: Hi, I'm Alan Urszuy, the Director of 1^st Choice Plumbing, and I want to share some more thoughts with you about the spirit of this world. One day I was called out to a man's house because of a stopped up sewer that wouldn't respond to any form of treatment. The sewer was buried under a rise of dirt, and taking it out would have necessitated removing a lot of dirt, and removing part of the house as well, so I agreed to scope the sewer and see what I could find. Some tradesmen in my situation would have simply ordered a sewer replacement, a job that would have brought in thousands of dollars, but I believe in exactitude and truth. It gives me joy to get to the real bottom of a problem. So I did a complete video inspection and was surprised to find an 8 foot electrical conduit that had somehow been stuffed into the sewer years earlier. Teh conduit needed to be removed. I had already invested greater than two hours into the job and had not received anything. Having given| up a $3,000+ sewer job, I was now investing more hours of my time attempting to pull out the long conduit. I added several attachments to the head of my video camera in an effort to fish out the pipe, but it wouldn't budge. Ultimately, I came up with the innovative solution of putting fish hooks on the front of my camera and feeding them through the narrow pipe. they passed through easily, and as I had hoped, when I pulled back on my video camera, the hooks cathed on the end of the pipe and fished it right of the sewer. When the pipe was finally released, I was gratified that I had solved this man's difficulty at a cost that a great deal less than the$3,000+ I could have gotten for an unecessary sewer replacement. This may sound corny; however when the job was over, rather than brood about the loss of a $3,000, I felt satisfied that the money I had saved the man would be a blessing of good-will for me. Money stored up for me in Heaven as some people call it. But more importantly, I felt I had expressed the proper spirit in this world. 

Google+

Resource; 1st Choice Plumbing Inc.; 3502 Taney Road; Baltimore 21215. Call (410) 967-6547

Category: Sewer Cleaning, Video Inspection, ethical plumbing

Tags: sewer cleaning, backup, clogged sewer, video inspection,

Steps You Can Take to Prevent Drain Blockages from Forming in Your Home

The ideal time to prevent clogged drains is before they come to pass, and you can do this through a series of maintenance measures, each specially tailored to the type of drain being blocked and the unique causes of clogs in that drain.

Bathroom drains  usually clog because of coils of loose hairs that become lodged in clumps in the drainage tube and then mix with soap scum, forming a gooey glob that quickly blocks the drain. This type of drain blockage can be prevented by installation of a wire mesh strainer in the sink and shower tub drains, and checking them ever so often to make sure they are open and working properly. Occasional inspection and cleaning of rubber stoppers is an additional intellegent preventative measure for your bathroom drains. If they are beginning to become hard and worn you need to replace them. Clean pop-up stoppers from time to time, being sure to clear off all the gooey soap and hair scum, stuck to the sides. This can be a disgusting task, but well worth it. Another way to clean the drain is to fill the tub half full of water and then pull the plug. Do this every so often, for example once a week. Pouring hot water down the drain is also good for anti-clog maintenance. Some people do it after every use, whereas others do it as little as once every couple of months.

Toilet drains are often clogged by inappropriate objects flushed down the toilet. No paper product other than toilet paper should ever be flushed down the drain. Wipes, for example, are a big cause of clogged drains. Toys and other objects tossed into the toilet by kids are another cause of blocked toilet drains. Prevent this problem by always placing the toilet lid down and keeping children's toys (other than bath toys at bath time) out of the bathroom.

Kitchen drains are clogged by grease and food products that are dumped down the drain. Hot grease rapidly cools after it has been poured down the sink, and immediately forms gooey and then solid plugs in the tube. Collecting cooking grease in used tin cans or milk cartons that are subsequently thrown away will help avoid the formation of grease clogs. Coffee grounds and other foodstuffs that absorb water should not be dumped in the sink at all, rather they should be tossed into the garbage. Some households have a separate garbage can for organic foodstuffs and use them for feeding animals or producing compost or mulch. Make certain to run hot water down the drain immediately after cleaning greasy pots and plates.

Observe the following four rules to keep your garbage disposal from becoming clogged:

1) Read the manual carefully to learn which foodstuffs may be safely put down the disposal.

2) Place foods in the disposal loosely when getting ready to grind them up.

3) Run cold water during and 1 minute after using the disposal to avoid food build-up in the device.

4) Put the lid on the disposal when it's not in service to avoid having stray kitchen objects fall into it.

In addition to all the causes of indoor drain clogs, outdoor drains can also be clogged by roots and leaves.

Protect the sewer line by putting grates on outside drains to prevent leaves from falling into the sewer, and have your sewer periodically cleaned and video inspected for roots. When roots are found invading your sewer, take special measures as advised by your plumber. This may include cutting the roots with an auger or water jetter.

Certain general steps will head off clogs in all drains. Every so often flush the drains with hot water so as to melt and remove soap, scum, and grease . Chemical drain cleaners can be used on an occasional basis, but too frequent use can cause pipe corrosion. Organic enzyme/bacteria based cleaners promise to dissolve clogs without hurting the pipes.

There are several well known home treatments that help to bust up and prevent clogs.

- Every few days throw a handful (1/2 cup) of baking soda into the drain followed by 1/2 cup vinegar (contains acetic acid, which eats up organic material) and hot water. This concoction is effective for cleaning and deodorizing the drain.

- Pour vinegar into the drain, without the backing soda. After half an hour wash it down with hot water.

- Try this remedy right before going to sleep. Pour 1/2 cup of baking soda,1/2 cup of salt, and 1/2 cup of vinegar into the drain. In the morning rinse the drain out with hot water.


Google+

Resource Box; 1st Choice Plumbing Inc.; 3502 Taney Road; Baltimore, Maryland 21215. Call (410) 967-6547

Causes of Drain Clogs

Many problems can cause drain clogs, and the specific problem usually varies depending on which drain we are talking about. Hair and soap products are the most common agents of bathroom drain clogs. Hair and soap form sticky goo that can easily clog the drain. Even small hair particles collect in the drain and form large hair and soap plugs that work to create a clog.  During washing dirt and grime is removed from the body and contributes to drain blockage formation.

Food and grease are the two biggest agents guilty of causing kitchen drain clogs. Homeowners oten pour grease formed during cooking down the kitchen drain. People who do this make the mistake of believing the liquid grease will continue to flow through the drainage pipes. However, as the grease cools it rapidly turns into sticky fat that adheres to the drain walls. When cooled down the grease turns into a gooey material that readily sticks to the walls of the drain pipe. Eventually the fat deposits solidify and harden and form solid excretions that narrow the tube. With enough repetitive pours the drain clogs. Foods such as rice and pizza swell up as they are exposed to water in the drain. When a large quantity of foods like these are poured down the drain, they can create a blockage within seconds.

Toilet drains are repeatedly exposed to paper products such as tissues, toilet paper, and tampons. All of these, in excess, can easily cause drain clogs. Children at play commonly clog toilets as they toss objects such as rolls of toilet paper, blocks, or even, on occasion, a toilet plunger down the drain.

Just about any cause of a blocked drain in the home will ultimately impact the sewer. In addition to the aforementioned causes of drain clog, outdoor objects including leaves and tree roots can find their way into sewers. Leaves fall into outdoor grates that empty directly into the sewer. Tree roots ingress into sewers through minuscule, holes in the seams. Once inside, the tiny rootlets expand and spread out into immense networks of twisted roots that drink up the sewer water. The large root meshes trap various objects that enter the sewer from the house such as tampons, tissues, soaps, grease, and odd shaped items that get trapped in the mesh. The blockage organizes and thickens and soon slows and then halts the sewer drainage.

Google+

Resource; 1st Choice Plumbing Inc.; 3502 Taney Road.; Baltimore 21215. Call (410) 967-6547