Antonio Piromalli Home and Art

DATELINE: SOUTH BOSTON, MA…

The Thanksgiving table groans under the load of traditional dishes, and tummies growl and gurgle in anticipation when, suddenly, this Norman Rockwell scene of tranquility erupts into chaos with the realization that the groans, growls, and gurgles are actually coming from the drain of the kitchen sink…

Guess who’s coming to dinner? Your friendly neighborhood plumber! John Wood, founder and CEO of Hub Plumbing & Mechanical in South Boston, MA is well acquainted with this familiar Thanksgiving tableau as he girds himself and his crews for the annual Thanksgiving onslaught.

The long Thanksgiving holiday weekend is the busiest time of the year for a plumber, according to the Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors Association. Why? It’s simple explains Wood, “A 1 ½ inch diameter drain can’t be stuffed with the detritus of a Thanksgiving meal without fighting back and literally erupting and overflowing. A garbage disposal can’t handle the overload either and often grinds to a halt. More than once we’ve literally had to cut out eight or nine foot sections of pipe that are packed to the gills with compacted waste.”

Wood’s colorful descriptions of the sights he has seen should serve as fair warning for Thanksgiving revelers. “Imagine the rich smells and colors of a typical Thanksgiving dinner; then imagine all of those foods mixed together, compacted in your drain, ready to burp back up with the addition of a little water…”

Hub Plumbing and Mechanical’s clog busting team is at the ready 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, but if you’d like to avoid a Thanksgiving visit, Wood offers some common sense tips.

•    Grease congeals and solidifies, the same way fatty deposits block an artery and cause a heart attack. If you want to avoid a drain attack, pour grease into a tin can and toss the can into the trash after the grease hardens.

•    A garbage disposal isn’t a wood chipper. Turkey bones splinter (that’s why you can’t feed them to your dog), while turkey skin and fibrous vegetable skins can wind around the blade, causing the disposal to come to a screeching halt.

•    Always turn on the water before starting the garbage disposal, and keep it running for a minute after turning off the disposal to move the waste through the pipes.

•    Keep utensils away from the sink if at all possible. There is nothing like a piece of silverware accidentally dropped into a garbage disposal to bring an ear-shattering end to your Thanksgiving festivities.

•    If you don’t have a garbage disposal, the remains of a Thanksgiving feast can present even more perils. Leftover trimmings, including gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes, yams, vegetables, and pie need to be scraped off of plates and deposited into the garbage. Rinsing plates and letting clumps of food slide down the drain is a recipe for disaster as food builds up and compacts, firmly clogging the drain.

•    Also, dishwashers are not garbage disposals. Dishes need to be scraped before they are placed in the dishwasher. Also be careful that the dishwasher isn’t overloaded– glasses break easily and a dishwasher drain clogged with glass is a sure fire way of ensuing that you will be washing dishes by hand all evening!

About Hub Plumbing & Mechanical

Hub Plumbing & Mechanical takes the plumbing industry to the next level, utilizing a professional, friendly, customer-centered approach. In addition to protecting your floors with red carpet, Hub Plumbing and Mechanical’s experienced plumbers also cover their work boots with stain-resistant boot covers, wear ID badges for security purposes, and arrive on time and smartly dressed in crisp, clean uniforms.

The company does not charge by the hour, but by the specific project. Hub Plumbing & Mechanical is available 24 hours a day and 7 seven days a week to provide immediate access and peace of mind. Dedicated 2nd and 3rd shift night dispatchers internally handle all calls at Hub Plumbing & Mechanical, not an answering service. The difference between the two enables Hub Plumbing & Mechanical to get real-time info on the customer 24/7 to expedite the call as efficiently as possible.

Hub Plumbing & Mechanical was established in 1999 and now includes a staff of 16 full time employees. This full service plumbing company assists residential and commercial customers with code violations, sewer/drain clogs, garbage disposals, water heaters, water filtration, steam and hot water boilers, thermostats, leaky faucets, tub valves, gas pipes, appliance installation, and outside hose faucets.

Hub Plumbing & Mechanical Inc. is located at 70 Old Colony Avenue in South Boston, MA 02127. For more information about Hub Plumbing & Mechanical call 1-866-HUBPLUMBING (482-7586), email services@hubplumbing.com, or visit www.hubplumbing.com.

There are many sources of plumbing training, not all of which is classroom. Standard residential or commercial plumbers, pipe layers, steam fitters and pipe fitters all vary their training in one or many of a variety of methods. Most residential and commercial / industrial plumbing training is offered in technical schools or community colleges. This classroom plumbing training is almost always supplemented by on-the-job training. Steam fitters, pipe layers, pipe fitters and plumbers that work primarily in commercial settings usually get their training through very formalized apprenticeship programs.

Apprenticeships are generally the best plumbing training in terms of a comprehensive look at what the job constitutes. These apprenticeship training programs for plumbers and other pipe specialists are administered by local labor unions and the companies with which they are affiliated or by organizations that represent non-union contractors. Examples of organizations through which one can get plumbing apprenticeship training include the Mechanical Contractors Association of America, the United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices – part of the Plumbing and Pipe fitting Industry of the U.S. and Canada; The National Fire Sprinkler Association; the National Association of Plumbing, Heating and Cooling Contractors; and the Home Builders Institute. The latter is a subsidiary of the National Association of Home Builders.

Apprenticeship plumbing training lasts four to five years whether its union or not. Primarily on the job training it also includes a minimum of 144 annual hours in the classroom. The subjects for which the apprentice plumbers receive classroom training include blue print reading, drafting basics, applied chemistry and physics, math, local plumbing codes, plumbing and contracting safety, and legislated contracting and plumbing regulations.

The on-the-job part of the plumbing training includes basic plumbing skills such as learning to recognize the various types and grades of pipe, using the essential plumbing tools, and unloading plumbing materials safely. As the apprenticeship continues and the apprentice progresses in her or his experience, she can learn how to work with and install the various pipes, plumbing fixtures and piping systems.

Those who want to apply for apprenticeship plumbing training have to be a minimum of 18 years old and must be in good health. An applicant may have to have a GED or high school education. Someone who has military plumbing training is considered a great apprenticeship applicant. In fact, they may be credited for the experience. Other suggested training that can grease the plumbing apprenticeship application wheels is drafting, general math, reading blueprints, computer skills and physics.

While there is no uniform standard plumbing license, most municipal and state governments in the United States require that plumbers acquire a license. Passing an examination that tests how well they absorbed their plumbing training and how well they can carry out their plumbing tasks is common in many areas. With additional training beyond the basic plumbing courses, plumbers can go on to become supervisors of other construction and plumbing employees, can go into business for themselves or find work as a building inspector.

Plumbing system is to a building, what circulatory system is to the human body. Any fault in the system is sure to throw your life helter-skelter and make your life awful. While putting in place a good well-conceived and well-done plumbing system is important, maintenance and preventive measures taken to keep the system in good shape is even more important.

This article is intended to keep you informed of the possible problems you may face with your plumbing system and the preventive measures to be taken to keep such problems at bay.

Clogged Drains:

Case I:

Your sinks / tubs connected to particular branch line drains slowly than normal.

Reasons:

Dumping food/ solid materials into your kitchen / Bathroom drains.

Pouring greasy / Sticky materials into your kitchen sink.

Pouring chemicals /paints into the drains.

Improper / Inadequate venting.

Solution:

Use a plunger to de-clog your drain. This will work for clogs of smaller size. If it still persists, call an expert. Home made solutions do not work for bigger clogs.

Clogs can be removed using various techniques. While a cable can be used to remove solid clogs and break through roots, High pressure water jetting is more effective for clogs due to sticky / greasy materials.

Before using water jetting as option, It is important to determine the quality of the plumbing materials used, for, the high pressure used in the process will rip your pipes apart if they are of a inferior quality.

Check the vents provided for any visible blocks. Find out whether the venting is adequate for the fixture(s) it serves. An expert could help you out in this area. If the venting is absent or inadequate, provide / upgrade to surmount the problem.

Preventive Measures:

Respect your toilet and kitchen sinks. Use them only for the purpose intended. Avoid unmindful dumping of solid wastes, Food materials, Greasy substances and paints / chemicals into the sinks.

Use filters over the drains in your toilet and kitchen to trap hair and solid objects.

Ensure that air vents are provided in adequate numbers and sizes for all fixtures.

Case II:

All the drainage lines of the building drain slowly and there is a backing of the drain water from the main drainage line.

Reasons:

A block in the main drainage line. or

A block in the inlet / outlet of the septic tank. or

A block in the distribution box. or

A block in the percolation pipes. or

The septic tank has frozen due to an abnormal low weather.

Solution:

Use a snake or water jetting to de-clog the main drain line. This is the work of an expert. He could, through his expertise, say whether the clog is due to solid waste or greasy substances or roots and use a suitable technique to de-clog the same.

Check the inlet and the outlet of the septic tank for any blockage due to solid wastes, scum and so on. Remove the block and check for easy flow.

Check the distribution box located between the septic tank and the percolators. Remove blocks, if any.

Check the area around the percolators. See whether it is moist, swampy and stinky. It means that the percolation is not proper. In other works the soil is not absorbing the drain water at the rate of discharge. It could be either because you usage of water has increased of late due to more guests or the soil has become saturated due to moisture from other sources such as rainfall (more than normal) etc. Immediately enlist an expert, the problem requires instant care.

If the septic tank has frozen due to bad weather seek the help of an expert immediately. If an expert and the equipment needed are hard to find, use the septic tank as a storage tank till such time the tank haws by itself. Judicious use of water will help you hold on for some time. To avoid freezing of the septic tank in the future, winterize before the next winter.

Preventive Measures:

Respect your Septic tank. It is designed for the disposal of organic wastes only. Avoid dumping inorganic and non bio-degradable wastes. They are sure to block the normal functioning of the septic tank and spoil it beyond redemption.

Use filters over the drains in your toilet and kitchen to trap hair and solid objects.

Winterize the septic tank to prevent it from freezing in winter. Do the following:

o Insulate the Septic tank, distribution tank, percolators and all out door lines by spreading a layer of hay, grass, dry leaves etc.

o During winter, resort to more-than-normal usage of water. Warmer the water, the better.

o Empty the tank, if you are planning for a long outing.

o Get expert help. Winterization is location, weather specific. A small investment here will save you from all hardships during the winter.

Leaks

Symptoms:

Leaks in your plumbing system are not just unsanitary but is a tremendous loss of a scarce resource. More often than not leaks are detected much later than they had started and after much damage had already been done.

Try this test out to determine whether there is a leak in your plumbing system. Before you go to bed in the night, close the Main valve at the primary inlet of your plumbing system. Note the water meter reading. In the dawn, before you start using water, note the reading. If the reading has changed then, there is a leak in the system.

To locate the leak, repeat the procedure by keeping the main valve open and all but one of your ancillary line valves closed. If the reading shows a change, then the leak is in that particular branch line. Inspect the faucets for visible leaks and path of the lines for subtle hints of invisible leaks behind the plastered walls. If you still can’t detect the leak. Contact us for expert care.

Reasons:

While visible are due to faulty faucets / fixtures, Invisible leaks can be due to cracks in your plumbing lines. The cracks happen due to (a) Ageing lines giving off or (b) Faulty winterization of you plumbing system.

Solution:

Replace the faulty fixtures / faucets.

If the leak is due to faulty line, replace the line. If your plumbing system is considerably old, you can think of replacing the lines in stages without waiting for the system to call for your attention and doing much damage to your cherished home.

Preventive Measures:

Make proper use and take proper care of your faucets and other movable water outlets. Install only good quality faucets that’ll stand the wear and tear. Don’t compromise on quality for price. Remember, a compromise on quality is a compromise on peace of mind.

Properly winterize your plumbing system.

Winterization

What?

Acclimatizing your plumbing system to withstand the test of hard winter is winterization.

Why?

Plumbing systems are primarily intended to transport water to the locations of need from a centralized water storage facility. In the winter, as the temperature dips to appreciable lows, water freezes. The density of ice is more than that of water. Hence to accommodate water turned into ice, your plumbing system expands. When this expansion is beyond its elastic limit, it cracks wreaking havoc on your entire plumbing system.

Solution

Prepare for the winter ahead by properly acclimatizing your plumbing system. Do the following.

Insulate the drains outside your home.

Open the cabinets under sinks to facilitate circulation of warm air to avoid freezing.

In the temperature is harsh, allow water to flow through the lines in a trickle, when not in use, to avoid freezing.

If you are going out and if the plumbing system will not be in use for a long time close the main valve and drain all water form the system, to ensure that there is no water to be frozen.

Remember, winter is a testing time for your plumbing system. Take preventive measures or you may have to spend a fortune to restore the system back to normalcy. If you need more information, feel free to avail our expert care.

Plumbing is a science, but proper use and maintenance of it is an art. A good plumbing system will give you peace of mind. A bad one is sure to derail your day and make a hell out of it. The problems and the solutions suggested here are generic and not case specific or location specific. It is intended to equip you with the knowledge of the intricacies in plumbing so that you could understand and appreciate the workmanship better. Remember a few procedures are health hazardous and needs to be handled by an expert. Do not try them your self. IF you need experts, think of eServicePlace (ESP), where hand picked professionals are ever ready to address your problems in the shortest possible time and in the best possible manner. Think expert care, think ESP. http://www.eserviceplace.com