Gainesville FL Plumber | Our Plumbing Blog

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When Plumbing Problems Become Larger

February 18th, 2012 by Roto-Rooter Bloggers

When you have a plumbing problem in your home you may wait to call a plumber to handle those issues. However, when you wait to call the plumber to come in and take care of things then that problem will get even larger.

We deal with a lot of plumbing problems in Gainesville and we have seen it all. From the standard clogged toilet or leaky faucet to the complicated clog in the line somewhere way down the line, there is nothing we cannot handle or deal with.

One of the most common issues that we do see all of the time is small problems that become a lot larger because the home owner waited way too long to call us in to come and fix it. If you have a problem with the plumbing in the home, call us sooner so that we can deal with it and you can move on. We understand that money is tight for a lot of people. We also know that a lot of people have some unreal ideas of what the repair is going to cost. In fact, many people who have put things off for a long time are often very surprised t o learn how little it cost to fix the original plumbing issue. However, by that time there are other costs associated with the repairs and that is hard to swallow.

Plumbing issues tend to build on each other and get larger. One way to make sure that you are never caught in that situation, even if you cannot afford to fix it right away is to shut it off. If a kitchen sink has a leak and you cannot afford to fix it right now, then just do not use it. That ensures that a leaky faucet is all you have to repair on not replace an entire kitchen cabinet too. Of course, this may be incredibly inconvenient and it is amazing how we can all find a way to make things work out financially when we have to make it work.

Not only do we deal with plumbing problems in Gainesville, but we also handle plumbing issues in surrounding towns. Of course, Roto-Rooter is a national chain and we are located all over the country. That kind of experience is invaluable in being able to serve our customers with fast, efficient, and high quality plumbing repair.

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Faucet Repair or New Faucet?

February 17th, 2012 by Roto-Rooter Bloggers

When you find that you have a leaky faucet and you are considering the fact that you need to have it repaired you may want to consider getting a new faucet all together. You certainly do not have to get a new faucet to make sure the issue is fixed. Faucets can be repaired and work just fine. However, if you have pondered wanting a different faucet now would be the time to make that move. Rather than putting money into repairing a faucet, why not just make the move now to get a new faucet and have that installed?

If you do decide that you are going to go ahead with the repair, you can have confidence in our abilities to repair it. We have done lots of faucet repair in Gainesville and we guarantee our work. We know what it takes to make sure that the repair is done in a way that will ensure that it works like a brand new faucet.

When working on doing a faucet repair one of the things that a typical home owner would miss if they were doing it themselves is using stem grease on the O Rings and in other places where there is contact between parts that need to move. Like any moving part in anything else needs grease or oil to keep them moving smoothly and easily a faucet is the same way. Making sure that stem grease is used to ensure this is something that most do it yourself homeowners miss. This will lead to potentially difficult movement of the faucet and premature wear and tear on the internal parts, causing a leak to return much sooner than it should to your repaired faucet.

Another common mistake do it yourself homeowners make in their faucet repair is using the wrong O Ring for the repair. It is crucial that the right size of O ring is used in the repair or it will not work. This can be a very frustrating experience for those who attempt to do this repair on their own.

We know what we are doing and we are happy to do your faucet repair in Gainesville for your or to replace your faucet all together if that is what you would like. Give us a call to get some estimates on both of these options so that you can make the best decision for yourself

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The Mess Before Water Heater Repair

February 11th, 2012 by Roto-Rooter Bloggers

You hear of people who have had a need to have water heater repair in Gainesville all the time, but do you know what that really means? Do you comprehend the mess that they have had to clean up, at least in some cases?

In some instances when a hot water heater goes out is drains all of that water onto the floor. For many different reasons this can happen and when it does it can cause a real mess. Most times the hot water heater is in a room that is not carpeted, but the hallway and adjacent rooms are carpeted and they tend to become flooded as well.

When carpet becomes this wet it becomes a matter of sucking up all of the water that you can out of the carpet and then pulling it up and running large fans on the carpet and the sub-floor underneath to make sure that all dries out so that there is no mildew problems. This is time consuming and a real mess to deal with. The next time someone talks about having to have their water heater repaired or replaced, do not take that lightly. There is a good chance that they have had a huge mess to clean up over the last several days.

Once the mess is cleaned up the old water heater must be replaced or repaired. While there are plenty of companies who can do water heater repair in Gainesville, in most cases where there has been a mess like this it will require a whole replacement in order to solve the problem.

Water heaters, even when they cause a problem like this, are still worth every last penny that we spend on them. It is hard for any of us to imagine living without hot water so readily available to us like it is. There are people living in other countries that do not have hot water without heating pots of water over a fire stove where a fire must be started to make it warm.

When you reach that time in your life where you have a water heater go out on you, remember that as much trouble as it is to clean up the mess, it is a blessing to have a hot water heater in your home to create hot water for whenever you need it. Keep things in perspective and keep it light. You will be back to normal before you know it.

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Why Call the Plumbers?

February 10th, 2012 by Roto-Rooter Bloggers

“There is no need to call the plumbers”, your husband may say. He may say that he has things under control and that he can fix it and not to worry about finding plumbers in Gainesville. However, you may think otherwise as you watch him trying to figure it out. So, if this is the case with you, what will you do? How do you handle a situation like this? There is really is no good answer to this. However, my experience is that most wives have a great way of convincing their husband to make the call to the plumber eventually.

Plumbers have a great understanding of what the men in the household that they are working in tend to think. No matter how cordial they are they know that the men, in their hearts and minds are thinking that they should be doing the repair and how much they do not like the fact that they are spending money to have a plumber come in and do something that they feel they could have done. However, to make peace with their wife they usually will swallow the ego and call the plumber.

So, in all reality, why should you call a plumber when you feel like you can fix it yourself? Of course there is the obvious, as stated above, to keep peace with the wife. However, there are some other reasons why that makes sense as well. Here are few of those:

They have all of the tools that they need to make the job a very quick one.
They have the expertise and will be able to be more certain of their own diagnosis.
They likely have the tool on hand and that also will make the repair go much quicker.
Their work comes with a warranty most of the time. When they come into your home and make a repair, you know that you will not have to pay for the repair again if something goes wrong. If it were you there is no guarantee.
A peace of mind. When you know that a professional plumber has done the work there is a sense of a peace of mind. When you do the repair there is a lot of stress hoping that you have done it right.

Stop dragging your feet on this issue in the future and just resolve to find and hire plumbers in Gainesville to help with the plumbing repairs in your home.

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Are Gators To Blame for Plumbing Problems?

February 3rd, 2012 by Roto-Rooter Bloggers

When you live in Florida you learn that you can blame a lot of things on the wild alligators. The plumbing problems in Gainesville are no exception. It is possible that a gator has somehow gotten into your plumbing, particularly the babies alligators and caused some damage and wreaked havoc on your plumbing.

When living in Florida you have to learn how to live with these guys and it is not an option to ignore them and the trouble that they can cause. The only way to get away from this is to move away all together from Florida.

As much as it is possible that a gator could cause problems with your plumbing the odds are certainly not in your favor. Chances are the problems are caused by a lot more normal cause that is far less exciting to share than a gator stuck in your plumbing.

If you are experiencing plumbing trouble you may find it best and easiest to hire a professional plumber, like us, to come in and take care of the problems. It will certainly save you some time and effort to have us handle the issues and if you fixing them yourself will mean you are losing money elsewhere then we are saving you money as well. There is no real decision to make other than to have us or another professional plumbing company handled the problems and get them resolved as quickly as we can.

When we dive into the issues we will certainly be sure to let you know if we find a gator in the plumbing causing the issues. Of course, the likelihood of this happening is not a good thing, but nonetheless we will let you know if that is the case.

Plumbing is something that we all want to think that we can handle and that we can fix to save money from hiring a professional. However, the reality is there is a lot more to remember with plumbing than you might think originally. When you are finding the professionals that handle the plumbing problems in Gainesville be sure that you learn as much as you can about each of them to know which one you should hire. While it may be tempting to just choose one and move on with it, the fact is that type of snap decision generally comes back with bad results and one that you regret down the road.

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Finding Time for Faucet Repair May Be Impossible

January 31st, 2012 by Roto-Rooter Bloggers

When it all boils down to it the reason that most people choose to do their own plumbing repair is because they believe that they can save a lot of money and not pay nearly as much for the work as they were anticipating. However, what most people fail to calculate is the amount of time it will take and how they will find that time that they need to do the plumbing repairs that need to be done.

Although the repair itself may be something that is rather simple, finding the time is not always the case. Time is the one thing that eludes most people. It is not easy to get a handle on and to master. In fact, there are many cases in which this is a lifelong pursuit to manage time efficiently.

Understanding this it is hard to see how a person would find time to do a facet repair in Gainesville. In fact, that is the case and many times the family lives with the faucet issue for several days before they attempt to have it fixed. This is not good for the family and it is something that could cause some stress.

Rather than deal with a leaky faucet that cannot be used for several days or even weeks on end, call a professional plumber to come in and take care of the job for you. There is no shame in calling a plumber to come and do the work.

One of the advantages of calling us, or any other plumber, is that we can come in and have it done in nothing flat. We will also warranty the work so that if there is a problem with the work shortly after we have done it we will come back and fix it for free. That is pretty standard in the industry. If you fix it and do something wrong you will be fixing it again on your own dime again.

Do yourself a favor and call in a professional at faucet repair in Gainesville and let us be the one to stress about the faucet repair and getting it done in a timely fashion. That will make you look like a hero to our wife and children because you took care of it immediately. You do not have to be the one to fix it to look like the hero your family.

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The Comedy Called Plumbing Repair

January 27th, 2012 by Roto-Rooter Bloggers

As customers of a plumbing company we do not see a lot of comedy in our situation that caused us to call in the plumbing company in the first place. However, from the plumber’s perspective in all of their calls for plumbing repair throughout each day they do see some humor.

One example of this is in the things that get clogged in the toilet. In most every case it was caused by a child playing in the toilet and trying to flush something. Herein lies the humor. Try to think like your child and why they were trying to flush this item down the toilet in the first place. What were they thinking when they put that item in the toilet and then grabbed the handle and pulled it down to flush this item. This is the view that plumbers have all day long with this kind of an issue.

Another thing that makes the job of a plumber a bit humorous is the fact that it is like a treasure hunt each home they go into. When they are trying to determine what the cause of a plugged toilet is they may use a very small camera with a very bright light on it to work their way down the pipe and find the issue so they know how to treat it. Imagine being able to see inside of the pipe and following it along around every turn until they reach the object. What they then see can be a very funny ordeal. For example, have you ever thought about what a small stuffed animal looks like stuffed into the pipes of a toilet? The images that they see can be very funny. If you hear them laugh, it is not because they are laughing at you, they are laughing at the image they just saw. It is just naturally a funny image when it comes to this kind of work.

Instead of taking it personally that the plumber is finding this all humorous while you have been stuck with a plumbing issue until they could get there, relax and enjoy a good laugh with them. When it is all said and done you will be a lot more relaxed and things will be a lot more pleasant at home. That is a much better result of this difficult time than a very tense home. What has happened has happened, get the plumbing repair that you need and move on and let it go.

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The Purpose of a Sump Pump Installation

January 23rd, 2012 by Roto-Rooter Bloggers

For some people when you hear of sump pump installation you may not know what a sump pump is and why one would even need to install it. If this is you, then this is a nice blog post for you to read.

First off, a sump pump is a pump design to pump water from one location to another. Of course, there are many reasons why this would need to be done, but in the context of what we are talking about here it would be to keep a basement in a home from flooding. You see, in some places homes with basements may have an inherent issue of lots of water finding its way down the side of the home and underneath it. Then, because it is water and can find its way through even the smallest of cracks, it will find its way through the basement floor and begin to flood the basement. There are numerous reasons why water gets underneath a home, but for now we are not going to discuss why this happens, just know that it does happen. The issue is that there needs to be a solution to this issue to keep a home’s basement, in this situation, from being in a constant state of flooding.

The key to all of this is to get to the water below the level of the basement floor. To do this a decent sized hole is cut into the basement floor. If you think about a round black pipe just a little larger round that the human body, so that a normal sized adult could crawl through it, that is about how large the hole in the basement floor is. This hole is then dug rather deep to get below the concrete floor which is typically 4” thick, and the vapor barrier that was laid under the concrete, and all of the gravel base that was laid in preparation for the pouring of that concrete. This is all dug out because the water is filling every bit of space between the gravel base. Once the hole is deeper than this, the water will rush in to fill this void. A large black pipe or some other barrier, with some various holes in it, is then placed in the hole creating what is called a sump. A water pump is then situated into the hole so that the pump part is under the level of the water. Pipe is then affixed to the pump and run to the outside of a home to a place where it will not simply re-enter the home. This is how a sump pump installation is done.

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Your Plumber in Gainesville

January 20th, 2012 by Roto-Rooter Bloggers

Indoor plumbing isn’t new. In fact, archeologists have found evidence of indoor plumbing in Egyptian pyramids as far back as 2500 BC! Plus, the Egyptians liked to use copper pipe, which is still the top material for plumbing pipes today. This is good evidence that there were ancient Egyptian plumbers, although there’s no evidence to suggest they were better looking than we are.

Your plumbing may or may not be as old as dirt, but most homeowners have the need for a professional plumber more than once during their tenure in their home. Your best bet for Gainesville plumbers is to call Roto-Rooter. We’ve got the experience and skills to deal with issues in old or new plumbing systems.

Most people take their plumbing for granted until something inconvenient happens. If the toilets flush, the sinks drain, and the water pressure in the shower is decent, we don’t give it another thought. However, Murphy’s Law states that your toilets will clog, your sinks will stop draining, and your water pressure reduces to a slim trickle when it’s least convenient – often when you have guests over for the holidays. As annoying as those problems are, you can also be faced with various flooding situations caused by a multitude of possibilities from a burst pipe to an invisible leak into the wall or floor. Too many people have come home from vacation to find a foot of water sloshing around in the basement.

Fortunately, when plumbing emergencies happen, you’ve got our phone number – one thing those ancient Egyptian plumbers couldn’t offer their customers – and we’re ready to leap to your rescue. Whether it’s a plumbing emergency or routine maintenance, highly trained technicians are standing by.

To prevent costly damage to your home, it’s best to prevent emergencies before they happen. You can do this through regularly maintaining your plumbing system and components. Your house’s plumbing system is divided into two sub-systems: one for bringing fresh water into your home and one for taking waste water away. Most people own a hot water heater that provides hot water for cooking or bathing. Toilets, sinks, and showers all contain parts that work together to flush, drain, or jet water. When parts corrode or break, leaks happen. Water heaters can stop heating water. Pipes get clogged. Often, you’ll see symptoms of these problems show up in a smaller way, such as a leaky faucet or a constantly running toilet. By taking care of it when it’s small, you’ll save money in the long run. Small problems can quickly cascade into big ones.

That’s what we’re here for as your preferred Gainesville plumbers. Call us with your questions or to schedule maintenance on your pipes and plumbing related appliances. Definitely call us for emergencies! We’re only a phone call away.

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Trust the Professionals. Let Us Help You with Sump Pump Installation and Maintenance in Gainesville

January 17th, 2012 by Roto-Rooter Bloggers

All houses gain moisture over time; it is inevitable. Few examples of moisture retention are as devastating as a flooded basement. Only someone who has come home to an unexpected swimming pool on their lowest level can understand the pain and cost it takes to resolve that particular dilemma, even when the insurance covers repairs. To prevent this potential issue, many basements in areas that have a high water table contain a sump pump. Sump pump installation in Gainesville is something in which Roto-Rooter specializes.

A sump pump is essentially a pump to remove the water from a hole in the ground (the sump) which has gathered there because of gravitational flow. Water enters though peripheral drains and is exited through the pump and out through a series of connected tubes to a place twenty feet or more away from your home. The sump pump is activated by a float that checks the level of water and starts the pump when the level gets too high. Your toilet works on the same principle but in reverse, halting the flow of water at a certain level.

At the mention of a sump pump, many people envision a dark hole in the ground filled with dark, stinky water that is developing a rancid batch of mold. This may have been the case in days gone by, but today’s pumps are far cleaner and more sophisticated. Many of the pumps installed today are sealed so that they are air tight, disallowing the growth of mold and other bacteria. In addition to this, many pumps come with a built in alarm system. This alarm will sound if water reaches a certain level in the sump, warning the homeowner of a potential problem.

Sump pumps are fully automatic, working in the background and allowing you to have worry-free flood protection of your basement and its furnishings. In fact, the only time you have to worry about the pump is when it fails, as all things do eventually. Checking the pump every few months can help prevent the kind of failure that has you filling out a batch of papers for an insurance claim.

It’s pretty easy to check a pump. Simply pour in a gallon of water and see if the pump activates. If it doesn’t, then there is a problem – one you have discovered at a convenient time rather than in an emergency. The issue might be as simple as the pump being unplugged. Electric cords running up a wall can be an inviting climbing rope to an imaginative child. Discovering this now might be a potential life saver.

If the problem is more serious, then a quick phone call to your local Roto-Rooter will get your Gainesville sump pump installation and repair experts out to your house in no time to quickly and effectively get your sump pump back on duty, protecting both your home and family.

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The Top 5 Jobs Plumbers Would Never Leave the Industry to Take

January 13th, 2012 by Roto-Rooter Bloggers

Have you ever thought about your job and career and how much you like or dislike it? Chances are, you have thought about this at one time or another. However, no matter how much you like or dislike your job, have you ever thought about another job that you saw someone doing and thought there is no way you would ever do that? You may have even thought that there was not enough money in the world to cause you to do some of those jobs. So, keeping that idea in mind, here is a short list of jobs that nearly all plumbers would agree they would not take for any amount of money.

Anything Office Related – Most plumbers are in this career for a reason and one of the main reasons is they cannot stand the idea of sitting behind a desk all day long. They would much rather work with their hands making or fixing something than typing on the computer.
Customer Service representative – There are those in the plumbing industry that are in customer service and they love it, but the plumbers themselves do not like working with customers in general. They just want to get the work done and move on. They would rather not be responsible for the communication with the customer.
A psychiatrist – The last thing that a plumber is going to want to do is work out someone else’s mental issues. In fact, some plumbers will tell you that there are those in the industry that have mental issues and they are not pleased at the idea of needing to work with these people as it is. For these men, being a shrink is never going to happen nor do they ever wish that upon their worst enemy.
A parking attendant – While this is not as bad as a desk job, it is still too slow paced for them and not enough hands on.
A receptionist – This is just not what they would like at all. This is a combination of a desk job and customer service. This is definitely a bad combination for any plumber.

Plumbers are not prejudice against anyone in these careers and they do not look down on them in anyway. In fact, they are on the opposite end of the spectrum because they have a tremendous amount of respect for them and what they are able to do day in and day out.

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When Water Heater Repair is Not Enough

January 12th, 2012 by Roto-Rooter Bloggers

If you find that you are not having enough hot water in your home, particularly in the morning when everyone is trying to get their showers in, you may have a tendency to think that you need to call in the professional plumbing company and have them come in for a water heater repair job. However, this alone may not be enough to take care of the issue of not enough hot water.

If the issue is not enough hot water, there is a good chance that your hot water heater is undersized for your home and that you are going to need a new hot water heater. While you could replace the one that you have you may find that having it repaired and fine tuned and then having another one installed beside it is the best solution for the problem that you are having.

Hot water heaters are only capable of putting out so much hot water for any given period of time and when you reach the end of that you have reached the end of it. However, if you have a second one put in you are going to find that you have a lot larger capacity of how much hot water you can produce in a certain amount of time. This means essentially that you do not have to worry when your teenage daughter will not get out of the shower or your son is taking too long because he is playing in the shower. The hot water will go a lot farther and everyone is bound to be a lot happier about this scenario.

If you are interested in trying this you should contact the plumbing company before they come to fix the one and let them know of your plans and discuss with them the best solution options that are out there that can help you accomplish this very thing. They will be more than happy to do that and to bring the things that they need to make that happen while they are there to fix the other one. This will save you some money in another, separate trip charge. It also makes it easier for them to install the new one at the same time that they are fixing the other one. If they were to come in and do the new installation after the water heater repair you would find that they had to undo some of the things that they had done when they were there originally. Because of that, this is a much better way to go.

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10 Things Worse Than Plumbing Problems

December 23rd, 2011 by Roto-Rooter Bloggers

There is never a good time to have plumbing problems, but it can always be worse. So, with that in mind, here is a nice list of things that are worse than having plumbing problems.

Heating Problems in the winter – Not having water in the home for a time is bearable any time of year, but no heat in the middle of the winter is just downright cruel.
Having Liver and Onions – Not sure about you but there is almost nothing worse than having liver and onions for dinner.
Having surgery on your own plumbing – the plumbing in the house is one thing, but when you need to have some repairs done on your plumbing it is not pleasant.
Teenagers – Let’s face it, we face a much worse problem everyday if you have teenagers who are supposedly still living at home.
Your child’s homework – That is just a low blow that the education system never tells you that you will never be done with homework. You get a small break between college and kids and that is it.
The Flu – No matter how bad the problem with your house plumbing, when you have the flu nothing else seems as bad anymore.
Most Blind Dates – Being set up on a blind date is almost never a good thing and is always worse than plumbing problems.
Forgetting your wedding anniversary – There is nothing that can save you from the trouble you will find yourself in if you forget your wedding anniversary, not even trouble with the plumbing.
Chick Flicks – Okay, some of them are okay though us guys would never admit that, but there are certainly some chick flicks that are just horrible and are far worse the plumbing trouble.
The Los Angeles Clippers – Let’s face it, the= Clippers are bad and they always have been with one exception ever. If you are a Clippers fan I am sure you would rather take the plumbing issues any day of the week over watching the Clippers lose another game. (Maybe that will change now with Chris Paul on his way there)

The guest that won’t leave – We have all had that person who comes to the party that you are hosting and then when the party is over, they just won’t leave. They love talking and they are bound and determined to take up your night talking about endless things. Plumbing problems are far better than this.

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10 Things to do Other Than That Faucet Repair

December 20th, 2011 by Roto-Rooter Bloggers

Do you have those honey do lists that your wife expects you to do on your day off from work? No doubt, you do because it somehow is part of the marriage 101 class that all women seem to take in preschool or sometime early in life where they learn to make their husband lists of things to do. On your list at some time or another in your married life has likely been the item to do a faucet repair. However, there are a million things that I can think of that I would rather be doing on my day off other than fixing the leaky faucet. Try calling us in to repair that leaky faucet. We are professionals, know what to do, have the tools and parts to do it and the know how to make sure it gets done quickly. Your wife will be able to check it off the list and you will not have to do it. Instead of fixing the faucet, here are some things that you can do in place of that.

A round or two of golf – This is much better than fixing the plumbing at home.
Going to Florida Gators Football game – honestly, does it get any better than this?
Working on your fade away jumper – shooting hoops is a great thing to do on your day off.
Take a dip in the pool – instead of fixing that leaky faucet, let the professional do that while you take a swim in the pool. Much better to swim in water than trying to confine it to a pipe and faucet.
Spend quality time with the TV and the remote – There are lots of great games on the tube on a Saturday, especially during the fall and football season.
Go fishing – get out to the great outdoors and do some fishing.
Muddle around in the garage – taking the time to “clean” the garage can be very therapeutic for a man on a Saturday afternoon.
Go to the Auto Parts Store – Find any reason to go to the auto parts store and mingle with the men there.
Take your wife out to dinner – distracting her with something that she would like to do is a good way to avoid doing the plumbing fixes.

Do some yard work – While this may not be as good as the others, if it comes down to yard work and a faucet repair, the yard work is always going to be the right choice.

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Your Number One Place for Water Heater Repair in Gainesville

December 19th, 2011 by Roto-Rooter Bloggers

A water heater is a fairly simple piece of machinery. It’s always there, keeping your water hot for you, even if you aren’t using it. Drawing a warm bath or stepping into a hot shower is one of life’s little pleasures, unless your water heater isn’t working right. Bathing in freezing water is something only a few hardier souls actually enjoy. The rest of us really appreciate relaxing in the steam.

If you’re left in the cold, it’s time to get the best water heater repair in Gainesville from Roto-Rooter. From selecting the best water heater for your needs to making sure it stays in good working order, we’re the guys for the job.

A Roto-Rooter service technician adjusts a water heater

Most homes contain a conventional style water heater. These water heaters consist of a large tank – from 20 to 80 gallons – in which is encased heating coils powered by electricity or gas. A freshwater valve pulls in cold water and pipes it into the bottom of the tank as hot water is siphoned off through a valve at the top. In this way, the tank is always kept full, and the heater keeps the water at a constant temperature, ready for your next shower.

Increasingly popular are tankless water heaters, sometimes called multi point-of-use water heaters (if they service the entire home) or single point-of-use (if they service just one faucet or room). Although they cost more up front, tankless water heaters last longer and use less energy (thus costing less over time) than conventional water heaters. These water heaters only heat water when you need it instead of expending energy on heating and maintaining an entire tank of hot water at all times.

Roto-Rooter technicians are equipped to repair and maintain both conventional gas and electric water heaters as well as tankless water heaters. We can also help you choose a new water heater, which you can buy through us, and have us install it in your home.

One of the ways in which you can extend the life of your water heater is to keep it clear of sediment. Hard water, which is common throughout the country, contains dissolved minerals like calcium and magnesium. Over time, these minerals become deposited in your plumbing pipes and at the bottom of your water heater tank. If you hear a bubbling and banging noise when your water heater turns on, it’s probably the sediment being stirred up and knocking around. Draining the sediment out of the tank on a regular basis will keep it much happier. You can also install a home water softening system, which will greatly decrease mineral deposits in all your plumbing and water appliances and extend the lives of your pipes, water heater, washing machine, and dishwasher.

Call us if you find you have no hot water, not enough hot water, your water is discolored or has a strange and unpleasant odor (like rotten eggs), you hear the bubbling and popping noise of loose sediment, you hear a higher pitched whining sound, or you notice water leaking from the base of the tank. As specialists in water heater repair in Gainesville, we’re ready to help you get life back to normal.

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The Best Gainesville Plumbing Repair is From Roto-Rooter

December 13th, 2011 by pabrams

Here in Gainesville, plumbing repair shouldn’t be the headache most people assume it will be. A leaky faucet, if fixed promptly, is only a leaky faucet – no big deal. A dripping faucet or showerhead can be fixed sometimes by simply tightening things up a little more. It can be literally one twist of a wrench away from being solved. Of course, there are repairs that are more extensive both in time and breadth, especially if left

Repairing a faucet the DIY way

unattended to for a while; but many plumbing problems can be sorted in a jiffy. And many of them can be done by the homeowner without calling a plumber.

Take, for example, the leaky faucet. There are several types of faucets on the market today and you will need to determine which type you have before you can deal with the problem. Fortunately, a quick search on the web can help you discover this fairly easily, and the people at your local DIY store are also only too willing to help.

Let’s say you are repairing a compression faucet (one of the most common) that is leaking from below one of the taps. The procedure is simple and requires no specialized tools. Turn off the water under the sink by twisting the shut-off valves to the right. Plug up the sink with a rag to stop any parts from dropping down the drain and being lost forever (a hair-pulling event if ever there was one). Pop off the plastic plate on the top of the tap – the one that normally has the hot and cold labels – revealing a screw underneath. Remove the screw and pull off the handle.

What you should see is a little bronze-colored valve. Sometimes just tightening up the valve with a crescent wrench will do the trick. Try it and reassemble the faucet before you turn the shut-off valve back on. If the leak is gone, you are done. If it is still leaking, then you need a do a couple of extra steps.

Once you have re-exposed the valve, unscrew it from the sink. It’s very small and should come right out. If the threads where the valve screwed into the sink area are dirty or rusted, sand them. On the base of the valve is a small ring of rubber (the gasket) that acts as the seal between the valve and the pipe. If this ring has deteriorated, take it off and take it with you to your local DIY store and get a replacement. They cost pennies. Pick up a tube of plumbers putty while you’re there.

Reassemble the faucet back at home and apply a little plumbers putty to the screw thread before screwing it back in and reassembling the tap. This should fix the problem. If it doesn’t, the next step is to replace the valve itself. Once again, take it in and have the DIY store workers help you find an exact match. This entire process works the same way for bathtub taps.

And there it is: easy procedures to do your own plumbing repairs in Gainesville. And for the big stuff, or for any plumbing repair job you don’t feel comfortable attempting, call us here at Roto-Rooter, where an expert is right around the corner.

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Roto-Rooter: Your Plumber in Gainesville

December 9th, 2011 by pabrams

Indoor plumbing isn’t new. In fact, archeologists have found evidence of indoor plumbing in Egyptian pyramids as far back as 2500 BC! Plus, the Egyptians liked to use copper pipe, which is still the top material for plumbing pipes today. This is good evidence that there were ancient Egyptian

Copper pipes: Even the ancient Egyptians used them

plumbers, although there’s no evidence to suggest they were better looking than we are.

Your plumbing may or may not be as old as dirt, but most homeowners have the need for a professional plumber more than once during their tenure in their home. Your best bet for Gainesville plumbers is to call Roto-Rooter. We’ve got the experience and skills to deal with issues in old or new plumbing systems.

Most people take their plumbing for granted until something inconvenient happens. If the toilets flush, the sinks drain, and the water pressure in the shower is decent, we don’t give it another thought. However, Murphy’s Law states that your toilets will clog, your sinks will stop draining, and your water pressure reduces to a slim trickle when it’s least convenient – often when you have guests over for the holidays. As annoying as those problems are, you can also be faced with various flooding situations caused by a multitude of possibilities from a burst pipe to an invisible leak into the wall or floor. Too many people have come home from vacation to find a foot of water sloshing around in the basement.

Fortunately, when plumbing emergencies happen, you’ve got our phone number – one thing those ancient Egyptian plumbers couldn’t offer their customers – and we’re ready to leap to your rescue. Whether it’s a plumbing emergency or routine maintenance, highly trained technicians are standing by.

To prevent costly damage to your home, it’s best to prevent emergencies before they happen. You can do this through regularly maintaining your plumbing system and components. Your house’s plumbing system is divided into two sub-systems: one for bringing fresh water into your home and one for taking waste water away. Most people own a hot water heater that provides hot water for cooking or bathing. Toilets, sinks, and showers all contain parts that work together to flush, drain, or jet water. When parts corrode or break, leaks happen. Water heaters can stop heating water. Pipes get clogged. Often, you’ll see symptoms of these problems show up in a smaller way, such as a leaky faucet or a constantly running toilet. By taking care of it when it’s small, you’ll save money in the long run. Small problems can quickly cascade into big ones.

That’s what we’re here for as your preferred Gainesville plumbers. Call us with your questions or to schedule maintenance on your pipes and plumbing related appliances. Definitely call us for emergencies! We’re only a phone call away.

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