FAQs

They?re inexpensive and easy to install. But did you know that at the tap filtration devices can often be found sleeping on the job? Over time, some filters may lose their ability to remove dangerous contaminants and may end up allowing them into your drinking water. Sometimes, there?s no telling how or when these filters will stop protecting you and your family. And if you can?t be certain that the filter isn?t always doing its job by providing you with cleaner, healthier water, why even have the ugly, eyesore in your kitchen?

An ineffective at-the-tap filtration system may not remove hazardous contaminants from your family?s drinking water! For example, the chemical chlorine is present in municipal water supplies, because it KILLS bacteria. But what else does it kill? Breakthrough research is linking more health problems, such as heart attacks and cancer, to excessive exposure to chlorine. The list of other contaminates that could be sneaking by your at-the-tap filtration system—if it happens to be fast asleep with an ineffective, unchanged filter—can be staggering. Instead of the ineffective system doing its job, your body now is acting like the filter!

On top of that, sometimes faulty filters provide a breeding ground for bacteria that could be flushed into the next glass of water you fill! So a non-functioning filtration device can actually introduce additional contaminants into the drinking water you consume!

Learn how healthy your water source is today! As your local Green Screened™ plumber, we’re concerned about the quality of your drinking water, and the effectiveness of any filter your home may have. You deserve to know all the options for providing your family with healthier drinking water.

Let?s see if you need to add a water filtration system or have an ineffective device in your home! Call Dial One Johnson Plumbing today and receive a FREE Healthy Water Check.

If you notice a sudden increase in your water bill that does not correspond to an increase in the amount of water you know you were using in the house, you probably have a leak somewhere in your system. Without proper experience and diagnostic equipment, you will have a hard time pinpointing the source of the leak on your own. Your best bet is to call an experienced plumber who can inspect your whole plumbing system easily and figure out where the leak is and what to do about it.

Particularly if you live in an area with very harsh winters, freezing pipes can be a big issue. In order to prevent your pipes from freezing, you should turn off all outside faucets, disconnect the hoses attached to these faucets and drain the excess water from the system. Finally, wrap the faucets and outlets with dry cloth to further insulate them from the cold.

A bad smell coming from your garbage disposal is a common problem, but luckily it is usually easy to fix. The smell is the result of the buildup of food residue on the blades and in the garbage disposal chamber. A good deep cleaning is often all that is required to get rid of the smell. Before you start, make sure that all power to the unit is completely cut off. You do not want anyone accidentally flipping the switch and turning on the unit while you are working on it.

Next, take out the blades carefully and thoroughly wash them. You can also scrub out the inside chamber so that you are sure there is no residue left there. However, be sure not to use any harsh chemical cleaners, as these can damage the inner workings of the machine. Instead, use biodegradable soaps or natural cleaning agents like vinegar and baking soda to get the job done. Once you have thoroughly cleaned out your garbage disposal, you can help keep odors from coming back by periodically putting half a lemon and some baking soda down it and running it.

If your plumbing has never been inspected or you do not know when the last inspection took place, it is a good idea to have it done as soon as possible. Depending on your particular circumstances and the overall state of your plumbing system, a professional plumber can make recommendations about how often the process should be repeated.

If you live on a property with a lot of trees, for instance, you may need to have your plumbing lines inspected more often because of the chance that roots could begin to infiltrate the system. However, if there are no extenuating circumstances and your plumbing is otherwise in good shape, you could probably wait longer between inspections. In general, though, a plumbing system should be inspected annually.

A white buildup around your shower head and faucets is most likely mineral deposits that settle out from your water and accumulate over time. These can be cleaned off easily enough by soaking the fixture in vinegar overnight and then thoroughly scrubbing it. But that will not keep the problem from recurring. If your problem is severe or you would like to avoid future occurrences, you may want to look into having a water softener installed that can take those minerals out of your water before it reaches your taps.

There are many symptoms of a clogged sewer line. The first thing you should look for is slow drainage of your fixtures. If only one or two fixtures drain slowly, it is likely due to a local clog and can be fixed with a plunger or auger. However, if the problem persists or if you notice that all of you fixtures are draining slowly at the same time, it may be because of a clog in your sewer line. In extreme cases, you may notice a smell if the clog is severe enough. Call a professional immediately for assistance in diagnosing the problem.

All products that can safely be flushed down the toilet will tell you so on their packaging, so if it does not say “flushable” do not flush it. However, for general reference, avoid flushing any paper products other than toilet paper. Paper towels, napkins, tissues, and sanitary wipes are all problematic. The issue is that they don’t dissolve the same way that toilet paper does. Instead of breaking down (something toilet paper is designed to do), they absorb water and grow heavy, eventually clogging the drain, if not in your home, in the sewer line. Also avoid flushing any food, dental products or hair down the line.

Because your sewer line is probably installed under your lawn, it is surrounded by soil. Normally, tree and shrub roots will stay in their own area. The person who installed your sewer line likely did not place a tree right next to it. However, over time, especially if water is scarce, the roots will begin to seek out a source of water, which is exactly what your sewer line is. In some cases, roots will simply wrap around the pipes – something that can be fixed with some careful cutting. However, if the material used for your pipes is susceptible to cracking, the roots may even get inside the line. PVC is a good replacement for metal pipes that allow this.

Proper maintenance will catch any intruding roots before they get too close. It will also help to close up any gaps or leaks in your line that are attracting tree and shrub roots to the line.

Normally, smells should not escape back into your home through drains. All fixture drains use a simple P–trap that creates an air vacuum through which sewer gasses cannot return. As long as that trap remains clear, it’s a stopgap between strong smells and gasses getting into your home. However, in some cases, the vacuum disappears. When a fixture is not used for a long time, the water in the trap evaporates and leaves an open space for gases to return. The easiest solution is to pour water down the drain to refill the trap. If you notice the smell does not go away after doing this, call a professional immediately to inspect your trap.

Most of the time, the sewer lines located on your property are your responsibility. If a problem persists into the main sewer line or off your property, there may be issues of city responsibility as well, but you should check with your local municipality first. Most plumbers and drainage technicians can easily find this information and help you determine what repairs you are responsible for in your sewer lines. It is safe to assume that any problems on your property are issues you will need to have repaired, however.

There are quite a few advantages to tankless hot water heaters. They can help save you money because they don’t keep a tank of water hot in reserve until you need it. However, they are also typically more expensive to install than more traditional tank hot water heaters.

Whether or not a tankless hot water heater will be right for you and your family will depend on the specific situation and the details of your home. Our experts can help you evaluate your hot water heater options and make it easier to come to an informed decision about what type of water heater to purchase.

Tankless hot water heaters that are located outdoors will still be able to provide hot water reliably to you and your family even when temperatures descend below zero. In fact, most of these types of hot water heaters are made to function properly in temperatures down to –30°F.

There are a number of reasons you may want to consider replacing your hot water heater. If you’re calling for frequent repairs, that’s a good sign that you may be better off investing in a replacement rather than continuing to pay for repairs.

Also, if you’ve noticed that your hot water heater just isn’t getting the water as hot as it used to or your water is taking too long to heat up, it may be time to start looking around for a new one. These aren’t the only times when you’ll want to consider replacing your hot water heater, though.

In fact, even if you have a hot water heater that’s been working well for you, you may benefit from replacing it if it’s more than 10 years old. That’s because the newer models are simply so much more energy efficient than the older one you probably have in your house right now.

Whether you opt for a tankless or tank variety, your new hot water heater will immediately save you a considerable amount on your monthly energy bill.

Provided you keep up with all of the proper maintenance, you can expect your new hot water heater to last you at least 10–15 years.

Despite the treatment that just about all drinking water gets at the municipal level, there are plenty of ways that contaminants can infiltrate your home water supply. The only way to know if they’re there and what they are is to have your water tested by a professional. Testing will identify the presence of things like excess minerals, chemicals and bacterial agents.

Once testing is done, you’re in a much better position to determine what type of water treatment system you need for your home. If your water is too hard, you’ll want a system to soften it. If there are excess chemicals in the water, filters can be put in place to remove them. And if it’s bacterial agents you have the biggest problem with, UV antibacterial lights can be installed to neutralize them on contact.

Your water is hard if there is an excess of minerals in it, most commonly calcium and magnesium. These minerals are not inherently harmful, but when their concentration in your water supply is too high, they can do a lot of damage to your pipes and appliances. They can also make your water taste bad.

Once you know you have hard water, however, it’s quite easy to remedy the situation. There are plenty of great water softening systems on the market and your water treatment technician can help you determine which one is appropriately calibrated and sized for your home and water needs.

Just like any other piece of equipment in your home, your water treatment system can’t continue to work properly forever. Often when it stops working effectively, you’ll have very few warning signs that a problem exists. So the best way to ensure that your system is always doing exactly what you need it to do is to keep up with regular maintenance visits from a professional.

During these visits, a technician or plumber will thoroughly inspect your entire system to find any problems and clean out whatever sediment and debris may have built up over time. They’ll also change or clean all of your filters. With this attention, your water treatment system should have no trouble keeping your water safe and clean, and you won’t have to worry about how well it’s working from one month to the next.

While both water filtration and softening remove certain elements from your home water supply, they go about it in very different ways. Water softening equipment makes use of ion exchange to get excess calcium and magnesium out of your water. In the process, water softeners typically insert sodium ions in place of the unwanted minerals.

Water filters, on the other hand, actually catch and absorb particles floating in your water. These particles are generally things like organic debris and iron, and once they are trapped in the filter, the remainder of the water can continue on, free of contamination.

Bacterial contaminants can be especially tricky to get out of your home water supply. Because of this, installing UV antibacterial lights after your main filtration device is essential. These lights work because the bacteria absorb the UV–C radiation as they pass by the light. This radiation scrambles the DNA inside each microbe and ends their ability to reproduce. Once they can no longer reproduce, bacteria are not a threat to the health and safety of your family.