Ask a Plumbing Expert

QUESTION:

What should I do to prepare my house for the fall and winter seasons?

Answer:

clear Gutters, Catch Basins and Drains

As we move into fall and the rainy season, the first thing you should do is inspect your gutters and storm drainage system; clean them out if required. If you have any catch basins or storm water sumps you will want to check the solids levels and shovel them out if needed. Storm lines can easily be tested by putting a garden hose into each down pipe and running the water. If they convey water, chances are, they are working fine. If the water starts to back up you may have a problem. I would also recommend checking these again after all the leaves fall from the trees.

Detach all outside hoses

If you have a hose attached to the outside tap, it is critical that you disconnect the hose and remove. Hoses can prevent the water from draining out after the isolation valve has been turned off.

Turn off Outside Tap Isolation Valves

Moving towards the end of October, you will want to make sure all outside taps (hose bibs) are turned off for the winter. To do this, you must locate the isolation valve for each outside tap. Upon shutting the valve off (to isolate the outside tap) you must open the outside tap to let the water drain out. You may have to open a small bleeder nut on the side of the isolation valve to allow the water to drain out of the outside tap. If you cannot find a shut off valve to turn off the outside tap, you can put some insulation around the outside tap to protect it from freezing and cover it with a plastic bag to protect it from the rain.

Find more tips on preparing your whole house for winter temperatures on our blogpost. If you’d like our expert help in preparing your home for winter, call us today at 604-940-2268 or book a free estimate .

QUESTION:

Does your company work with FortisBC? Fortis seem to be advertising rebates a lot. Is there anything I need to know before I hire someone in regards to getting rebates?

ANSWER:

Good Question. I’m always surprised when people don’t take advantage of things like Rebates. FortisBC offers a vast amount of rebates all year long. They change who, how much and on what appliance, quite regularly but, their focus is on promoting the use of Natural Gas Products.

The one constant qualifier is that if you are working with gas, you need a company or journeyman who is a Certified Gas Fitter. This will give you safety and peace of mind as well as make sure you are compliant and able to claim any appropriate rebates.

PJB Mechanical employs Qualified Journeyman, Plumbers and Gas Fitters and we are part of the FortisBC Trade Ally Network. The FortisBC website lists all the rebates available.

As an old Poker player once said, “Never leave free money sitting on the table”.

Rebates & Promotions

QUESTION:

I am a newly elected board member to our property’s Strata Council and I believe in preventative maintenance. However, other members and owners are resistant to the idea of paying for maintenance. We will soon have our AGM. What should I suggest in regards to budgeting for maintenance for plumbing, heating and cooling?

ANSWER:

As the saying goes, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”. Ask a mechanic what he thinks about regular oil changes vs. the cost of rebuilding an engine. The Plumbing, Heating and Cooling Systems in a building are a complicated machine with many components that all work together. They are built to last and to be a minimum of hassle, if maintained. I strongly suggest a full mechanical audit of all your equipment and plumbing and a look into setting up a maintenance program.

PJB Mechanical does full mechanical audits for free and will provide you a full report and suggestions as well as a proposed maintenance contract.

A few things to consider are: Boilers and Hot Water Tanks, Drain Flushing, Parkade Fans, Air Intakes, PRV’s and Perimeter Drainage. Every building is different and should be assessed individually. A nice thing about maintenance programs for stratas is that it can be budgeted for and scheduled. Emergencies cannot. You are much better off budgeting for a couple thousand dollars a year to increase the lifespan of your tens of thousands of dollars in equipment. You will protect the hundreds of thousands of dollars invested in your building. A year’s worth of maintenance costs can easily be surpassed by one unnecessary emergency call.
If you would like some help explaining this to your Strata Council, give us a call. We can help.

QUESTION:

I am tired of running out of propane and lugging heavy BBQ tanks to be refilled. How hard is it to add a natural gas connection point to my patio?

ANSWER:

Adding a gas connection to your outdoor kitchen or patio is lot easier and cheaper than you might think. PJB Mechanical Plumbing Heating can provide a free estimate to install a natural gas connection point for you. We offer custom conversion packages, including converting your existing propane BBQ to natural gas. All of our installations come complete with a permit from the local municipality and an inspection from a city inspector. If you already have a natural gas connection point on the outside of your house or on your patio, our gas fitters can simply convert your existing BBQ’s burners to adapt to natural gas. You can even drop your BBQ off at our shop and we can convert it for you. All of our conversions come standard with a 10 flexible connector to allow you the freedom of locating your BBQ in a number of spots on your patio.

QUESTION:

Should I service my furnace or boiler every year? If so, when is the best time?

Answer:

I usually recommend to our customers that they have their heating equipment looked at every year. In fact, with our sophisticated software we can tell you the last time we serviced your equipment, what we did to it, and remind you when it is time to service it again. Both boilers and furnaces have a lot of working and moving parts. Just like your car, they need to be lubed and oiled and visually checked once a year. By having our technician service your equipment, you reduce the emergency call for no heat when the cold snap hits and you need heat right away. Why not turn your heat on with the confidence of knowing that a PJB Mechanical Plumbing Heating service professional has already looked at your equipment? You’ll have peace of mind in knowing you won’t freeze. The best time of year to service your heating equipment is usually the end of August or the beginning of September, just before we hit fall. We are currently offering a summer service special for both hot water boilers and forced air furnaces. Please don’t hesitate to call and ask for an appointment today as bookings are starting to fill up. Don’t get caught out in the cold. Call today!

QUESTION:

I have a single lever, kitchen faucet. It doesn’t leak or anything. However, the cold water runs smooth and fast. But when I switch it over to hot, it runs very slow, with low pressure. Can I fix it myself or do I need to replace the whole faucet?

ANSWER:

This is a fairly common problem with older faucets. Even though it seems like a single line, there are still separate hot and cold lines coming into that faucet. They will have separate cartridges and separate washers etc. Hot water lines tend to need more maintenance than cold water ones as the temperature wears things out faster.

In a case like this, it may be as simple as a washer or gasket that has broken down and created a partial plug in the hot water line. It is a fairly simple fix. You would start at the faucet cartridge(s) but, the plug may be in the shut-off valve or the supply tube, leading to the faucet. If that’s the case, leave the job to us.

QUESTION:

I am on Strata Council at our Townhouse Complex. Every time it rains hard for a couple days our parking lot floods. What would you suggest?

ANSWER:

Some issues in the Storm System should be addressed. The Catch-Basins may be full of debris. If so, they need to be sucked out. If you do not have leaf guards inside your Catch-Basins, debris may have moved down your lines and caused blockages there. Your best bet would be to have a Combi-Vac Truck come in and clear your system. They have the capacity to suck out your Catch-basins and then Hydro-Jet all your Storm Lines. It would be advisable to Video Inspect all your lines after the flushing and make sure there are no breaks or other concerns. After the problem is solved, put your Storm System and your Sani System on an annual maintenance program to avoid this happening in the future. Give us a call if you need help setting any of this up.

QUESTION:

I am on Strata in a 4-story apartment building. It’s not that old but, we seem to be having problems with drainage back-ups and small floods. We have snaked the sinks that backed-up but, this problem seems to keep happening. What else can we do?

ANSWER:

Does your building do regular (annual) hydro-jetting? This is a high-pressure, water flushing, of your horizontal drain lines. This is something that is often neglected but, re needs done! When grease and semi-solids get flushed down your drains, (which you should try and avoid), they move down the vertical line ok with gravity. However, when that line goes horizontal, they often sit there and then solidify. Grease and things like Rice can become hard as a brick and will cause back-ups over and over again, until those lines are properly cleared. Give us a call if you would like us to come out and give you a quote for Hydro-jetting your buildings drain lines. It will save you thousands in emergency calls and flood damage.

QUESTION:

I have heard some talk about the Provincial Government requiring the installation of low consumption toilets. How does this affect me?

Answer:

UPDATE: The Province of British Columbia is taking another step toward increased water efficiency through new high-efficiency toilet (HET) and high-efficiency urinal (HEU) requirements in the BC Building Code. Effective October 3, 2011, HETs or dual-flush toilets will be required in new residential buildings or when renovations involving plumbing fixtures occur. Whenever urinals are installed, HEUs will be required. 

The City of Richmond is providing a Toilet Rebate Program to homeowners who install a low-flush toilet. 

The provincial Water Conservation Plumbing Regulation has been amended to require the installation of low consumption (6 litre) toilets in specific local government jurisdictions:

---

Effective January 1, 2005, all new toilets installed throughout the Lower Mainland must have a flush cycle no greater than 6 litres. The provincial government amended the Water Conservation Plumbing Regulation to require low consumption toilets in response to a direct request from specific communities. On a broader scale, increasing demand for water, combined with supply shortages, have highlighted the need to use existing water supplies more efficiently. The use of low consumption toilets is expected to produce significant water savings, which can:

• Decrease water utility operating and capital costs
• Reduce ecological impacts
• Increase availability of water for other uses

What is meant by “new installations” you ask? Any toilet that is being installed for the first time is a new installation. This could be a toilet installed in a building that is under construction. It could also be a new toilet that is replacing an old toilet. If you have any questions on this topic or any other plumbing, heating and gas fitting problems, don’t hesitate to give us a call.

If you’ve got a question for a plumbing expert that hasn’t been answered here, please feel free to contact us.

QUESTION:

What should I do to winterize my external plumbing systems?

Answer:

Winterizing your external plumbing system is the most important job if you live in areas that freeze in the winter. The simple fact that water expands when frozen has caused countless problems for homeowners when temperatures dip below zero. Ignore this job and you could be faced with flooding, water damage and thousands of dollars worth of plumbing bills. Unfortunately, many homeowners wait until snow hits the ground before they take these steps to protect their home:

1. Drain exterior water pipes and any pipes that run through unheated areas (such as a garage, crawlspace or unheated porch). If draining these pipes isn’t possible, wrap them with foam insulation or heat tape.
2. Disconnect and drain garden hoses. Store them in a heated area for the winter.
3. Drain underground sprinkler systems.

If you are not sure how to do these things or cannot find valves to shut off the external water, give us a call today and we would be more than happy to show you how.