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Must-have Toilet Features You Never Knew You Needed

Plumbing Tips

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Here are some toilet features that you might not know about already, but which are useful enough that you’ll wonder how you ever did without them. (I hope that some of this information will serve to enhance your repertoire of potty jokes.)

Most people don’t think about the water surface area in the toilet bowl itself, but I always bring it up during a conversation about replacing a toilet. If you go to your grandma’s house and use her restroom, generally speaking, it’s going to have an older toilet. You’ll notice that there’s a ton of water in the bowl. When you flush it, it’ll seem like the water swirls around forever until it finally clears down. Those two characteristics (lots of water and long flush time) are very useful in bowl cleanliness.

If you look at a new toilet (especially if it’s on the cheaper side), the bowl will often get dirty and stay dirty fairly easily. It’s not surprising, because a greater surface of water would protect the actual porcelain from getting dirty. New toilets also have government regulations requiring only 1.6 gallons of water per flush. Thats why they are engineered not to swirl as much as the older toilets do, and the water just goes straight out of them. The sudden, direct movement leads to a dirtier bowl.

You don’t usually think about how silent a toilet is when it flushes, which is another noticeable characteristic of older toilets. Older toilets tend to be fairly quiet, while newer ones can get very loud. It’s not uncommon for bathrooms attached to the master bedroom to get regular nighttime use. Having a quieter toilet would definitely be beneficial in that case.

These next two features are fairly commonly known, but if you’ve never experienced them yourself, you don’t know what you’re missing. You won’t ever want to go back to a regular toilet once you get used to them. The first pertains to the shape of the bowl: toilets either come with a round shape or an oval/elongated shape. The elongated shape is much, much easier and more comfortable to use.

Next pertains to the height of the actual bowl that you sit on: it’s either standard height or slightly elevated. If you’ve ever used a handicap accessible public toilet, you might have noticed that it’s higher than the toilets in other stalls. It’s not a big enough difference for you to spot at a glance (about two inches), but it’s definitely noticeable in terms of how close to the floor you are while seated. I like to call them comfort height toilets because the higher position is just more comfortable to use.

To most people, a toilet is just a toilet. But in our world, there are definitely characteristics we look at when selecting the products we offer to our clients. It may surprise someone when we discuss these things, but these are definitely features with noticeable benefits. If it’s almost time to replace your toilet and you have any questions, just contact us today or give us a call at 540-483-9382.

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There are times when you need to call a plumber and discuss what’s wrong with your plumbing.  That discussion may include terms specific to the plumbing trade and those terms can be confusing if you have never heard them before. The trades use very technical language, and plumbing in particular has a lot of weird names for things. Here are some of the most common terms that you might not already know.

 

Stop valve – You’ll find these under the cabinets or under the toilet. Right where water comes out of the wall or floor, there’s a little valve you can use to turn the water on or off before it gets to the fixture. Anytime someone mentions a ‘stop’, ‘stop valve’, ‘emergency shutoff valve’, or ‘emergency stop’, they are referring to this shutoff valve located right at the fixture.

 

P-trap – This is generally found underneath the sink (kitchen sink, bathroom sink, etc.). It’s the funny looking pipe segment right under the drain. Plumbers will say something like, “I need to take the p-trap off to get the object that got stuck in there.” It gets its name because it looks like a P if you take it apart and stand it up on its end. The p-trap’s job is to hold water in order to prevent sewer gas from coming back into your home.

 

Drain cleaning – This is a term that’s frequently taken for granted. Drain cleaning is not simply unstopping a drain. If you have a stopped-up drain, yes, putting a cable down will unstop it. However, as the name indicates, drain cleaning is where the pipe or drain is actually cleaned. This can be done with a cable or with high-pressure jetting. Remember, when a plumber references drain cleaning, they’re actually referring to something other than just unstopping the drain.

 

Ball valve – A ball valve is generally a shutoff valve. It has a lever, and is frequently found where the main water comes into your home. When someone refers to the ball valve, they may be talking about that main water shutoff—but not necessarily.

 

Gate valve – You can differentiate a gate valve from a ball valve by checking whether it uses a lever or a round handle. A ball valve uses a lever, whereas a gate valve will have a round handle.

 

Fill valve – A fill valve is a component in the back of the toilet tank. The water connects to it, and it’s what fills up the toilet tank so you can flush it.

 

Flapper – Most people probably know what a flapper is, but there are some who don’t. A flapper is a component located in the back of the toilet tank. When you push down on the toilet handle, the flapper lifts up to allow water to flush the toilet. Sometimes you’ll hear a plumber say, “The flapper is leaking,” or “The flapper went bad.” That means the rubber component in the toilet tank needs to be replaced.

 

Wall hydrant, hose bib – These devices are located on the outside of your home (generally speaking), where a hose is attached. A wall hydrant is different from a hose bib, because wall hydrants are designed to be frost-free or freezeproof. In other words, they don’t need to be winterized. Wall hydrants go into the home and the water is shut off, preventing ice that would cause the pipe to burst. Hose bibs are much simpler devices that do need to be winterized.

 

Supply line – A supply line is the water tube that goes from the stop valve at a fixture up to the actual faucet, toilet, or even washing machine. (The lines that go to washing machines are often just called washer hoses.)

 

Cleanout – This is basically an access point to your drains. Sometimes you might see a plug or cap that can be unscrewed somewhere in your basement, or maybe a crawlspace under your sink. The cleanout is used to allow cables or cameras down the drain.

 

Water meter – Normally located on the street, a water meter is what the municipality uses to measure how much water you use during a curtain period of time in order to regulate your water bill.

 

Now that you know these commonly-used plumbing terms, you’ll be able to decipher the Greek language that plumbers use. Hopefully this knowledge comes in handy next time you’re getting service or talking about what’s going on in your home. If you have any questions, contact us or give us a call at 540-483-9382.

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Plumbing failures are definitely not fun. We depend on our toilets, showers, kitchen sinks, and laundry so much every day, but we tend to take them for granted. It’s complete havoc if they stop working, but it’s probably even more catastrophic if the plumbing in a home ruptures or breaks completely. (Parts of your home are generally made out of materials like wood and paper, and contact with water can lead to mold or other serious issues.) Now that winter is coming up, here are a few easy things you can do to make sure your home is prepared.

An Ounce of Prevention

We see outside hose connections that have frozen and burst more frequently than any other kind of plumbing failure during the wintertime. Generally speaking, what happens is people leave their hoses hooked up to the hose bib. Any water in the hose bib will freeze and expand, causing it to burst. Of course, you can prevent this from ever happening by simply disconnecting the hose. But someone might decide to use the water hose on a day when it’s not very cold (maybe to wash the car). A couple of days later, freezing temperatures come and you realize that the hose is still connected. Just try to be extra diligent throughout the winter to keep those hoses unhooked, because it’s an easy way to prevent major damage. (If you just have a hose bib, you’ll also need to find its shutoff valve and cut it off. For frost-free wall hydrants, on the other hand, you can generally just disconnect the hose.)

Winterize

Some homes have plumbing like an outdoor kitchen or outdoor shower. Maybe it’s a dock down at the lake with freshwater. These fixtures need to be properly winterized—just turning the water off isn’t good enough. The pipe can burst if it hasn’t been drained completely. (Air is sometimes used to blow any water out of the faucet.) Ice makers, refrigerators, or other similar appliances might also be on the outside patio. They need to be blown out so that they don’t freeze.

Close off the Airflow

One area that easily gets skipped over is the crawlspace. When a weeklong cold spell arrives with below-freezing weather and wind, it’s very common for all the plumbing inside a crawlspace to get frozen solid. You can prevent that by simply making sure the crawlspace door and vents are all shut securely. Heat from the house will be able to keep the space conditioned enough that the plumbing won’t freeze.

Check You Insulation

In more rural communities we regularly see wellheads, well houses, and well pits where the insulation was wet, unmaintained, or removed during the summer while maintenance was being performed. You’ll need to check the insulation in all of these areas to make sure it’s properly installed and doing its job.

Don’t Forget the HVAC

People with lake houses often turn the heat down low enough to still keep the space conditioned. In that case, it might be a good idea to make sure the HVAC system is working properly. Otherwise, we do offer a winterization service that’s only a call away. If you have any questions about preparing your home for the upcoming winter, contact us today or give us a call at 540-483-9382.

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Most people don’t think about their water heater and how it needs maintenance, but it’s just like any other piece of equipment. Our car, house, and even our own bodies need maintenance. If we don’t exercise and eat healthy, we’re probably not going to last as long. If we don’t change the oil in our car, it won’t last as long, either. Maintenance is just a good idea, but it can also be a way to save money.

Most people don’t realize that buildup occurs in the water heater, especially if there’s hardness in the water. Calcium is dissolved in hard water, but as it is heated, the calcium solidifies and accumulates either on the element of an electric heater or on the bottom of a gas water heater. The layer of calcium buildup acts as an insulation barrier, which means the water heater has to work harder to do the same job. Therefore, it will cause over-payment on your electric or gas bill. To help reduce buildup, we will flush the water heater.

The tank that holds the water is kind of like a settling tank. If there’s debris, sediment, or calcium, it’s going to settle to the bottom of the heater. The tank will corrode very quickly if it’s got a bunch of sediment and gunk at the bottom. That’s going to cause premature failure, and we solve that by flushing the tank as well.

We also check the anode rod when we maintain a water heater. (The owner’s manual says this should be done as part of proper maintenance.) The anode rod is there to protect the metal that makes up the tank itself. Once the anode rod is completely depleted, there is no protection left. If we replace the anode rod when it depletes, we can add a couple of years to the life of the water heater (which saves you money).

If it’s been a while since you had your water heater checked and maintained, just reach out to the team at Wisler Plumbing & Air. Contact us online or give us a call at 540-483-9382.

 

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Exciting News

We have some very exciting news involving how our organization will change starting in 2020: We’re going to be offering HVAC services to all of our clients and the community at large! Right now we’re extremely busy at work to recruit competent people who fit into our organization and allow us to bring the HVAC trade onboard. Once we ramp up all of our systems and procedures, residential owner-occupied homes can come to us as a one-stop shop for water treatment, plumbing, drain cleaning, and HVAC as well.

Our Goals

One of the areas we’ll be working on over the next four to six months is our installs (both plumbing and HVAC) to make sure we do a better job with lead times for our clients. For instance, if one of our plumbers goes out for a leaky pipe and they find that all the pipes are in rough shape, they may recommend a re-pipe of the home. Sometimes the job might take 3 to 5 days to complete, in addition to getting put on a schedule with a wait time of two or even three weeks. We want to be able to shorten that lead time so we’re more responsive for these kinds of larger projects.

Continuing to Grow

This is a huge change for 2020, and we’re definitely going to continue to grow. We anticipate 15% growth next year, and along with that growth comes more new people and more business. We’re on track to run our first HVAC calls at the end of this year, so by the time January rolls around we should be well in the groove of things.

 

If you have any questions about HVAC or plumbing, contact us online or give us a call at 540-483-9382.

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Here are 8 common plumbing myths we hear the most:

Myth #1: You can leave hoses on frost-free wall hydrants and they won’t burst during winter.

You should remove hoses from frost-free wall hydrants and drain them completely. Otherwise, you do in fact risk a burst during winter.

Myth #2: Putting in an object to displace water in the back of the toilet tank (e.g., brick, bag of rocks, containers, etc.) will save water and/or money.

It doesn’t actually save you water or money. Your toilet still just flushes and fills up the same exact amount of water, because the toilet’s tank float will ensure that a specific amount of water is used.

Myth #3: It’s perfectly fine to pour grease down the drain.

It is not OK to pour grease down your drain because, while it starts in liquid form, it will not wash all the way down the drain unimpeded. As soon as it goes down the drain, it will become solid and potentially clog the pipe.

Myth #4: You can put any kind of food down the garbage disposal.

This is completely false—if you put certain things down the disposal, it will cause it to stop up and result in a problem for you.

Myth #5: It’s OK to flush ‘flushable wipes’ down the toilet.

There is no such thing as a flushable wipe, even though the name might indicate otherwise. You can buy ‘flushable wipes’ at most stores, but they don’t act the same way as toilet paper. Septic systems and sewage systems are made/designed around biodegradable paper. As long as flushable wipes are not made from the same exact biodegradable paper, they are not OK to be flushed.

Myth #6: Drain cleaners are safe and non-toxic.

This is another statement that is completely untrue. The base product in drain cleaners is acid, which is extremely corrosive. You are breathing the fumes and/or dumping the product down a pipe that might be made out of metal (which could potentially damage the pipe). If you’re going to use any type of drain product, use a drain maintenance product instead of a drain cleaner. Some of these products are non-toxic and will keep a clean drain from getting clogged up in the first place. (We do offer a half gallon product with 64 uses.)

Myth #7: Rumbling sounds are a sign that a water heater is going to explode.

Everyone has seen videos of a water heater flying through someone’s roof. But just because a water heater is making noise doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s going to explode—it could just be due to poor water quality that needs to be resolved.

Myth #8: Cleaning tablets that turn the toilet water blue are cool and/or useful.

These products actually aren’t a very good idea. The tablets you drop into the back of the toilet tank are chlorine-based and contain a high amount of chlorine—enough to damage the rubber components in the back of the toilet, which will eventually dry rot.

If you have any questions about these myths, reach out to the team at Wisler Plumbing and Air by contacting us online or giving us a call at 540-483-9382.

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