Emergency Water Shutoffs

You can save yourself a bundle in water damages by knowing how to turn off the water quickly.  The main shutoff valve is usually located outside your home where the water main enters the building.  Turn the handle to the right as far as you can.  Emergency shut off valves are also located under each toilet and sink.  These should be checked periodically to make sure the valve makes a positive seal and is easy to turn off and on.  This tip alone can save you thousands.  Don’t forget to shut off the water when you head out of town.

Toilet Repairs

A running toilet is a tremendous waste of your money and Florida’s most threatened natural resource-our water supply.  Leland Plumbing performs hundreds of toilet tune-ups every year and our rock-solid 1 year warranty assures that the job will be done right.  Our complete toilet rebuild gives you the most value as it includes every moving part in the tank: a water control valve, a flapper and a brass tank lever.  Remember that toilets have differing components.  We have the right parts on board for most brands.

Older toilets (pre1990) often have a calcification buildup in the trap-way and/or the flushing rim causing them to operate sluggishly, or worse, to appear to be stopped up.  They also use 3.5 gallons of water or more with each flush.  We recommend the replacement of these fixtures with 1.6 gallon flush toilets.  These toilets are available in a range of styles and colors that save our water and your money.

Drain Stoppages

If you can put up with the mess and aggravation, nothing beats the humble plunger for clearing minor drain blockages.  Put a little body English on the handle and work the plunger up and down to clear sinks, toilets, tubs and showers.  Kitchen sinks with disposers can sometimes be unplugged by filling the compartments with water and pulsing the disposer on an off several times.

If these easy remedies fail, it’s time to call the pros.  Leland Plumbing trucks are equipped with the machinery and cable to clean any drain line in your house.  We give stopped drains top priority so your facilities are operating smoothly in hours not days.

Our jetter is particularly useful in kitchen drains occluded by years of grease buildup.  It delivers 3-4 gpm at up to 1500 psi to literally scour your drains back into tiptop shape.

Leland Plumbing is equipped with a drain camera and drainpipe locator that can inspect and locate drain problems inside or outside your home.  A live video of the inside of your drain pipes is something only a plumber could love, but it gives us the ability to accurately pinpoint damaged pipe and fittings as well as root intrusion with a minimum amount of excavation and disruption.

BioOne Fights Sluggish Drain Lines

Some homeowners are pouring a caustic chemical cocktail down their drains these days. This potent potion includes liquid products like toilet bowl cleaner, antibacterial soaps, bleach and caustic liquid or crystal drain remedies. These products have an unfortunate consequence: they destroy the good bacteria that naturally occur in the waste water system. The good bacteria want to eat the greasy, smelly organic material (aka yuck-a-doo) that slows down or stops up your drain lines.

BioOne is a liquid that restores the natural micro-organisms in drainage systems. It is environmentally safe, non-toxic and is available in 64oz bottles. We have field tested this product, and (despite initial skepticism amongst our old timers) we find this product works, and works well. This is especially so with kitchen lines. BioOne is carried on all of our trucks. We recommend it's use as part of routine drain line maintenance.

Toilet Tissue

Our Back Yard Testing Facility

In our January 2009 newsletter we tested these 4 popular brands of toilet tissue. The best rating was given to the tissue that dissolved the quickest in a solution of pure H20. Why does this matter? That's because paper that won't efficiently degrade in water remains in drains, sewers and septic tanks. Angel Soft is (by far) the best tissue for all three and actually started breaking down within 2 minutes of contact with water and an occasional stir.

Faucet Repairs

Anyone with the right tools and mechanical resolve can fix a dripping faucet.  Remember to turn off the water and start with the handle.  Memorize the sequence of disassembled parts as you excavate down to the seating mechanism.  Bag the parts up for a trip to the home center.  Find the guy in the orange apron to show you the faucet repair parts and match them up.  Then return home, reassemble and turn the water back on.  Congratulations to you!

If, gentle reader, this seems daunting or too much of a hassle, you may opt to call on Leland Plumbing.  We stock most major brands of faucet parts currently manufactured.  And we can track down some not so major parts if need be.

There are some faucets that we just can’t identify, some that are no longer made, and some that are beyond repair.  And sometimes the finish on a faucet is so rough that replacement is desirable.  We recommend Moen Faucets for their style, ease of operation and do-it-yourself fixability if you are so inclined.  Leland Plumbing offers Moen Faucets with a limited lifetime warranty that covers the faucet finish and each of its parts.

Garbage Disposers

Mother needs your love, not your kitchen mess.  Food waste disposers were invented about 50 years ago and have steadily gained in popularity to the extent that today, garbage disposers are standard equipment in new houses.

Be careful of overloading the disposer and use plenty of water as the unit grinds away.  Every quality disposer has a reset button in the center of the bottom of the unit.  Check this first, if your disposer won’t work, and save yourself a service call.

Leland Plumbing has steadfastly carried In-Sink-Erator food waste disposers since day one.  We like their reliability and no-questions-asked warranty policy.

Water Heaters (electric)

Checking your circuit breaker to make sure it hasn't tripped can often restore no hot water, or not enough hot water.  You can also disconnect the electric to the heater and check the (red) reset button behind the upper panel on most heaters.

Components of the water heater include: elements, thermostats, and the all-important temperature and pressure relief valve.  Leland Plumbing trucks are well stocked with these items.  We do not recommend insulation blankets wrapped around water heaters as they cause condensation and rust on the heater jacket.  Sediment can build up in the bottom of the tank and hinder heating efficiency.  Before paying for repairs to 10 year or older water heaters you might consider investing in a water heater replacement.

They haven't built a water heater yet that won’t leak over time and when your heater leaks, it must be replaced.  Some prefer to change out old water heaters before the water damage occurs just as you would change tires on your car before they blow out.  Leland Plumbing has stocked and installed Rheem water heaters for almost 36 years.  Their reliability and their warranty are industry standards. We now stock Bradford White water heaters as well.

Leaking Water Lines

Some can repair their own leaking water lines by shutting off the water and purchasing pipe and fittings at a home center.  If you are one of these brave souls be sure to check for the proper diameter and type of material you are replacing.  Avoid co-mingling of different materials and don’t forget the shop supplies such as solder, flux, sand cloth, cutters, reamer, torch, solvent, primer and so forth required appropriate for the pipe to be repaired.

Each Leland Plumbing service van carries the above, and we have the know-how to fix leaking water lines in a hurry.  If we can see the leak, and we can put our hands on it, we can give you a price to fix any pipe with a bullet-proof guarantee.

Slab Leaks

Tiny holes in water pipes under the house are called slab leaks.  The cause of these leaks is a much-debated subject.  What we do know is that slab leaks occur in copper pipes below ground.  (As a consequence, Leland Plumbing discontinued installation of copper below ground back in the 80’s) A leak detection company should come out, find the leak, open the floor and put a temporary clamp on it.  After the leak is excavated and clamped we remove and repair the defective pipe before patching the floor.

Repipes

If you’ve never had a slab leak, praise be!  If you’ve had more than two, serious consideration should be given to investing in a repipe.  This job replaces all of the water pipe, fittings and emergency shutoffs supplying each fixture and faucet in the house.

A repipe is a substantial investment and you may want to get more than one bid on the project.  Keep in mind that Leland Plumbing has a proven track record of more than 35 years, we’ve done scores of repipes and we can deliver references that will attest to the quality of our work.  Our crew is large enough to man the job and complete the job in a timely manner.

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