Oklahoma City Plumber | Our Plumbing Blog

Faucet Repair Step-By-Step

May 15th, 2012 by Roto-Rooter Bloggers

Are you in the market for faucet repair in Oklahoma City? Roto-Rooter is the nation’s most trusted name in plumbing and we are excited to educate our customers to utilize our DIY resources as solutions to their problems. If you are dealing with a leaky faucet, the good news is that they are pretty easy to fix. With a little concentration, effort, and some pointers from us, you will be well on your way to completely repairing your compression faucet system.

Things you will need:

• Flathead and Phillips head screwdrivers
• Slip-joint pliers
• Box cutter
• Wash cloth
• Heat resistant grease
• Custom seat wrench (see Roto-Rooter for faucet model details)

The following steps will help you take apart, repair, and reassemble your compression faucet:

• First off, make sure that the water lines underneath the sink are switched off. This will cut off the water supply to the faucet.
• Using a screwdriver, remove the screws from the tops of the handles. If there are decorative caps, use a box cutter or a flathead screwdriver to pop them off. Continue to unscrew the handle screws.
• Once the screws have been removed, pull the handles loose and remove them. If they are still attached firmly, use a flathead screwdriver to pry them free.
• After the handles have been carefully removed (you can use a washcloth between the screwdriver and the handles to prevent scratching), the stem assembly should be visible.
• Using the slip-joint pliers, loosen the retaining nuts holding the stems in place. Pull out the stem assemblies and check the rubber washers on the ends. If you don’t see any damage there, continue to undo the packing nuts, which should reveal the rubber O-rings.
• If there are any O-rings that are out of order, simply clip them off. When replacing an O-ring, make sure the new one is coated with heat-resistant grease so that it will slide into place easily.
• The same goes for the rubber washer, if there are any issues, simply replace it with a new rubber piece.
• Instead of replacing the rubber pieces, you can replace the entire stem assembly if needed.
• After making the stem assembly repair or replacement, check the valve seat in the faucet. If you can feel roughness on the edges inside, use a special seat wrench to remove them and replace them with new valve seats.
• Once all of these repairs have been made, put both stem assembles back into place and tighten the retaining nuts.
• Replace the handles and screw them into place. After popping the decorative caps back into place, you are all finished!

For more information about faucet repair in Oklahoma City, give us a call today!

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Plumbing Repair Tips and Advice from Roto-Rooter

April 30th, 2012 by Roto-Rooter Bloggers

One of the best ways to prevent serious problems from arising in your house is to schedule annual inspections from recognized and respected plumbing companies like Roto-Rooter. These comprehensive inspections will give you a good idea of what you need to stay on top of in order to prevent serious issues from arising. Another reason inspections will benefit you in the long run is simply how easy it is to overlook what we aren’t looking at directly. Plumbing is elusive as it mostly runs under floorboards and through walls. Having a professional plumbing technician check it all out will shed a lot of light onto the various areas of your house that need the most attention. This can give you some good ideas about how to perform these fixes. With plumbing repair in Oklahoma City being a huge source of business for Roto-Rooter, it is obvious that our customers can benefit from a little advice to develop some useful plumbing knowhow for simple household projects.

Leaky pipes are a problem not only in the water that wreaks havoc on wood and other surfaces; it creates a moist environment for the growth of toxic molds. These molds can grow and develop into serious strands like black mold. Exposure to growing mold can cause serious lung disease and even death. With this in mind, make sure that you have your technician double check that your plumbing isn’t experiencing any slow leaks anywhere.

Leaky faucets, on the other hand, are easy to spot because they start annoying you from day one. Interestingly enough, though, they often times don’t get fixed until too much time has passed and the brass fittings are sometimes ruined. Water is naturally erosive and may quickly leave a faucet head completely ruined beyond repair. Also, the average drippy faucet wastes up to 20 gallons of water each day. If you notice several drippy faucets around your home, you are definitely paying for it on your monthly water bill. It is worth your time to get things fixed immediately. Luckily for you, most leaky faucets are a cinch to fix. First, shut off the water to the faucet head. Next, use a wrench to loosen the nut holding the head in place. After the head is loosened and removed, take a peak inside. You will notice a small sealant washer sitting against a seat. If it is out of place, warped, or damaged at all, replace it with a new one that fits perfectly. Some faucet brands use a cartridge system that needs to be replaced and some of the manufacturers will send you the parts for free if you call them. Moen is one brand that will do this. This should take care of the leak for a long, long time.

For information about plumbing repair in Oklahoma City, give Roto-Rooter a call today.

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Plumbing Advice From Roto-Rooter Professionals

April 16th, 2012 by Roto-Rooter Bloggers

Have you ever thought about the resources it takes to keep your house operating as it should? All of the different things we take for granted can disappear in the blink of an eye without constant planning and work to pay for it all. With that in mind, it is important to stay on top of what our houses need through regular inspections and maintenance. If you are still new to your house, it might not be a bad idea to have a respected plumbing company like Roto-Rooter come check out your situation and offer advice. We will be able to specifically check out your plumbing and let you know about the different areas that need your attention the most. With plumbing in Oklahoma City constantly experiencing failures and issues just like anywhere else, we thought it would be a good idea to put together some tips and advice for saving money and fixing problems as they come at you.

One of the most expensive parts of a working plumbing system is the water heater. This big tank of love pushes the warm goodness to your shower every morning. Also, washing dishes, clothes, and other water intensive services takes a toll on a water heater. Over the course of a couple years, if you don’t perform some regular maintenance, it will often stop working for one reason or another. One of the most common setbacks is the water softener. As water softeners run out of salt, hard water runs free and leaves its mark on more aspects of your plumbing than just your water heater. But especially in the case of your heating unit, hard water will erode the inner workings so much quicker than soft water and cause premature wear and tear. As long as you keep the water softener working, you will eliminate half of your water heater issues.

Slow leaks are another problem that arise from heavily used plumbing. In the case of water lines, there are a lot of things that can cause leaks. One big cause is cold weather. As water starts to expand and turn into ice, trapped air is compressed and forced to escape someway, often times causing large cracks to form or shattering the line altogether. To prevent frozen pipes during winter, make sure to beef up the insulation in your walls and to protect pipes that are directly exposed to frigid temperatures. This task can be made more pleasant if you handle it during the warmer months.

For more information about plumbing in Oklahoma City and how Roto-Rooter can help, give us a call today!

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The Facts About Water Heater Repair

April 6th, 2012 by Roto-Rooter Bloggers

When you call us over to do the repair on your hot water heater, there are some facts that you should know so that you can understand what we are facing and what we are talking about when we tell you what we are finding.

First, understand that Roto-Rooter has been doing hot water heater repair in Oklahoma City for over 50 years. We know what we are doing, but we are more than happy to explain it to you in a way that you are going to understand. We will not talk down to you. We understand how important it is for you to know exactly what is going on with your own water heater.

Fact number one about water heater repair is this: Most of the time it can be repaired. Do not assume that we are going to tell you to that it needs to be replaced.

Fact number two about water heater repair is this: Sometimes water heater issues are not issues with the water heater but an issue with a change of schedule recently. If everyone in the family takes a shower in the morning now when in the past some took a shower at night, this may cause an over bearing demand for hot water in the morning. If this is the issue, there is no need for water heater repair, just an adjustment in the schedule of showers.

Fact number three about water heater repair is this: In most cases, the issue is the pilot light has gone out or the burner isn’t staying lit. There are instructions on the water heater on how to restart the pilot light, Follow this strictly and you should be able to get it going again. If the pilot or burner won’t stay lit, there are other issues in play.

Fact number four about water heater repair is this: When it is leaking at the base of the water heater, this is usually a sign that it likely needs to be replaced and is unable to be repaired – unless a pipe or connection is loose and water is simply flowing down the side of the unit to the floor.

Fact number five about water heater repair is this: There are several parts on a hot water heater that can be repaired and we know how to tell what needs to be done.

There are many more facts about water heater repair, but this should give you a start into some of them. This will also help you begin to understand what we are looking for when we come over to do the water heater repair in Oklahoma City at your home.

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Are Plumbers Undervalued?

March 30th, 2012 by Roto-Rooter Bloggers

When you consider the different vocations in the country that you could do, there are certainly some that may seem to be overvalued and then there are going to be others that also undervalued. In the mix of things will also be some vocations that are valued appropriately. So here’s the question: are plumbers in Oklahoma City undervalued?

To answer this question you should first start with yourself. Do an honest introspection of yourself. What do you see? What do you others think of you? What does your boss think? Are you a journeyman plumber or are you brand new to the industry? Are you paid what others in similar circumstances and position are paid on average? Do you have some other skills and experience that others do not have? How do you compare to others in the industry outside of Oklahoma City and even Oklahoma the state?

One of the things that you need to be aware of is the demand for your skills. There are many people who are attempting to do their own plumbing repairs on their homes. If you are going to get them to call your business or the business you work for, there has to be something of value and a point of difference for them that give them reason to hire you rather than try it on their own. When you as a plumber understand this you will also understand why you have a higher or lower value than the rest of the plumbers in the market.

So, to increase your value and avoid being undervalued, you will want to plan to get more education, even specialized training so that you have something that many of your competitors for the jobs in the industry do not have. This gives you a leg up on the competition and puts you in a place where you are able to not only get the jobs, but demand a higher pay to start with.

Overall plumbers in Oklahoma City and elsewhere are being undervalued by much of society. Some of this has to do with the fact that plumbers are often seen as a common laborer and not a skilled worker. Of course, this is not the case, but some see it this way. In order to change this perception we all need to take the time to educate our client base about what we do and how it is done. If our clients understood more about our experience, training and skill level, they will better appreciate the value of our work and our profession.

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Are You Competent In Faucet Repair?

March 23rd, 2012 by Roto-Rooter Bloggers

There are many homeowners who are do-it-yourself home repair kinds of people. These are the people that do not like to hire outside help to make any repairs to their home. It is not a matter of pride, but rather a matter of trying to save themselves some money. They usually also have the belief that by doing the repair themselves they are going to be more aware of their own home and the needs that it has.

We have done a lot of faucet repair in Oklahoma City and along the way some of those were on the faucets of people who were and are “do it yourselfers.” In most cases they did attempt to make the repair themselves and ran into problems and couldn’t finish so they determined they needed to call us to finish the repair. That’s perfectly fine but before you go attempting to do that faucet repair yourself, are you competent at it? Do you know what you are doing? If not, you could end up costing yourself more in the long run.

Now, to be fair, many of these people never really know what they are doing before they start. They simply are good at paying attention to what they are tearing apart and usually can figure out how to put it back together. They are also good at following instructions and generally can do that just fine. However, most people are flying blind when it comes to faucet repair and they lose a part, put it in the wrong spot or just forgot which parts went where.

When we are called into a home in a case like this, it can be very frustrating because there may be more trouble and problems to deal with now than there would have been had we been called from the start. However, we move on and we take care of what we need to take care of with a smile on our faces.

If you are going to attempt a faucet repair in Oklahoma City on your own, be sure that you are paying really close attention. You may even want to take pictures with your cell phone so you’ll know where each part goes.

Our team is very competent to help you with any faucet repair. They have years of experience and are very competent at all plumbing tasks.

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Finding all of the Plumbing Problems

March 16th, 2012 by Roto-Rooter Bloggers

When you have plumbing problems in Oklahoma City, who do you call to help? We certainly hope that you call us. However, we are more concerned that you know how to find the help that you need to fix your plumbing problems.

Plumbing problems are never a fun thing for a homeowner. Like any other trouble that comes along, when there is a need to fix plumbing there is a need to find someone who can do the job right and who can help. Give us a call and let Roto-Rooter be the company to help you with any size plumbing problem.

One major advantage to hiring a professional to help you fix your plumbing issues is that professionals are very good at making sure that they find all of the plumbing problems so that they can all be addressed at the same time. Sometimes they play on each other and if you only fix one thing the issue will still exist or it will come back. Roto-Rooter looks at your plumbing as a whole – an entire system that needs to stay in balance.

When we come into your home we will not only repair what you called us out to fix, we will check other aspects of your plumbing and let you know if we find anything of concern. If we find something that could become a problem in the near future, we will let you know and let you make the call on whether we fix in then or not. We know that money is tight for a lot of people and we are not going to spend your money for you on unnecessary fixes. We do want you to be aware of potential issues, but we can repair then whenever you give us the go ahead to do that.

Of all of the plumbing problems in Oklahoma City that we have faced over the years, perhaps the one that matters most is a homeowner’s struggle to come up with money for repairs. We are all struggling to get back in the black after a deep recession. We will do all that we can to make sure you are able to take care of things responsibly, but not recklessly. One way we do that is to give you all kinds of options and alternatives to the repair recommendations so that everyone can make the sensible choice for repair that makes the most sense to them in their current circumstances.

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Did You Call for a Plumbing Repair?

March 9th, 2012 by Roto-Rooter Bloggers

Did you just call and ask for a plumbing repair in Oklahoma City? Well, if that was you and we are on our way to your home, be prepared to get a lot more than just a simple plumbing repair. Our technicians are trained to do more than just plumbing repair. They will make sure that you are well taken care of from a plumbing standpoint and provide good customer service. They understand that each time you call us it is going to cost you some money, so they look for ways to maximize the value of the service call each time they come out. In other words, they want to handle any plumbing issues they can while they are there. Sometimes, this may be a simple cleaning of the pipes in the home to prevent clogs for a long time. Sometimes it may be that they inspect some other things to see if there is anything that you should be concerned about right away. After all, it’s a lot cheaper to deal with two or three little things in one service call than to pay for separate service calls to fix each of the problems.

While some people may be concerned that we are looking for ways to increase our profits on the service call, the truth is a Roto-Rooter service technician is trained to never do anything outside the scope of the call without your consent only to surprise you with additional costs. They will either do these extra things for free or they will point out the problem to you, give you an upfront cost estimate for repairing it and ask you before making any repairs Truly, they are concerned about maximizing the value for the money you are spending with us because they want you to call him again the next time you need a plumber.

Once you have had a chance to work with us once you will likely always come back to us. 9 out of 10 Roto-Rooter customers say they will call us again. Some of this is because we know the skills of our technicians are among the best in the industry and part of the reason we feel this way is because we have seen customer after customer come back over and over again. When we ask them why they continue with us, they simply say that we always go above and beyond on the service call. We know what makes you happy and we also know what will keep us in business. We know that as we take care of you, we will have you calling us again when you have another plumbing issue and that is how we make it a win-win situation for you and us. Maybe that is why we are the tops when it comes to plumbing repair in Oklahoma City.

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Things to Consider with Water Heater Repair

February 29th, 2012 by Roto-Rooter Bloggers

When you find yourself in need of water heater repair in Oklahoma City, there are some other things you should be considering at the same time that may make you better prepared and your home more comfortable all at the same time.

Before you call in the plumbers to come and evaluate your water heater, consider whether or not you have the means to purchase a new water heater. The reason why this is an important thing to consider is because the plumber may recommend that you replace an older heater on your own terms as opposed to having it fail whenever it decides to.

Having the plumber come once is better than having them come twice. When he can do all of the work on one service call, it will cost less than having him come out twice. In addition, it is much easier on your schedule to have them come one time rather than scheduling another service call sometime down the road.

Second, when you approach it this way you may get some sort of additional discount, especially if you have to completely replace your old water heater at the same time.

Third, water heaters typically only last ten or eleven years. And a new model will be a lot more energy efficient than your old one so you’ll enjoy savings on your energy bill. This makes life nice knowing that you can get through all of the showers without running out of hot water. If you have been the one that is usually the last in the shower in the mornings, you are going to be the one that benefits the most from this. It is nice to know that you can always have hot water when you need and want it.

Now you are better prepared to make decisions regarding your water heater repair in Oklahoma City. You will be far better prepared financially in the future because of this decision you are making now.

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Who Needs Plumbers Anyway?

February 29th, 2012 by Roto-Rooter Bloggers

When you have a plumbing problem in your home, do you call a plumber to come in and take care of it or do you do the work yourself? Are you the person who thinks that you can fix everything and would say something like, “who needs plumbers anyway?” Perhaps you are the person who is going to do a little research to make sure you have the best plumbers in Oklahoma City.

If you do the plumbing repair in your own home, let me see if I can help you understand why you should be using a plumber. First off, do you just enjoy doing the plumbing or is it the fact that you want to save money? Do you take pride in being able to fix the plumbing and want to make sure that your wife and children know that you can fix it? Would they think less of you if you called in a plumber?

After thinking through those questions, now consider how much time you are spending making the repairs on the plumbing in your home? Are there other things that you could be doing and would like to be doing rather than fixing the plumbing? If there are, then you are actually the one who is losing out. You could be doing enjoyable things while letting a plumber come in and do the repairs. In addition, you will maintain the same status with your wife and the kids as a fixit guy when you take charge of hiring a competent plumber. They will always understand that you can fix things, but now they see you making wise decisions about when to do things yourself and when to call a profession for help.

Lastly, if that is not enough to convince you that you should be using the plumbers in Oklahoma City to do your plumbing work, consider this last piece of advice. Could you be making money when you are spending the time working on the plumbing? Are you taking time away from your job to fix a plumbing problem that causes you to lose out on the time and money you could be earning at work? The fact is the professional plumbers will always be able to make the repairs faster because it is what they do all day long. They’re fast and efficient in their job just as you are in yours. Make a wise decision and call in a professional plumbing for the serious jobs.

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