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What’s the Point of a Plumbing Inspection?

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Plumbing is a part of the home that sometimes gets forgotten, but I would say that its integrity is just as important as the safety of an electrical system. Once water gets into a material like wood, the two won’t interact very well with each other. The resulting water damage can be extremely traumatic to a home. You’ll end up having to rip out and replace all the affected surfaces. Being able to prevent unnecessary emergencies like these is one of the main reasons why a plumbing inspection is important. Nobody will be able to prevent everything bad from happening, but you can definitely go a long way.

 

It’s a best practice to maintain the systems that you’re responsible for. We commonly recognize that certain things need to be maintained, like our bodies, our cars, or even the painted walls in our rooms. (Most of us know better than to use a car without ever maintaining it.) Other items that also need to be maintained might sometimes get neglected, maybe because we don’t really see or notice them on a daily basis. Plumbing tends to be one of those things—if/how you maintain it will determine how much money it ends up costing you. For instance, if you don’t flush your water heater, sediment buildup will cause you to pay more on your utility bill.

 

You’ll want to make sure that you’re doing maintenance a little bit at a time so you won’t suddenly be surprised by an emergency issue or an unnecessarily high utility bill. We offer a Diamond Club membership that includes maintenance visits for plumbing, heating, and air. Clients with a membership just need to reach out to us and schedule their inspections. Current Diamond Club members get two free HVAC visits per year (one for cooling and one for heating), and one free plumbing visit per year. For more information, contact us online or give us a call at 540-483-9382.

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Wisler Plumbing and Air uses Evolve SystemsWater Softeners & Septic Tanks

Most people share the common fear that the salt used in a water softener’s regeneration process will be harmful if discharged down the drain and into the septic tank. We have always done our best to combat this untrue, misleading information. It’s obvious that the use of salt can hurt bacteria or concrete, so it’s understandable that someone could come to the incorrect conclusion that it would be bad to discharge salt into a concrete environment that depends on bacteria. Here’s why that’s not actually the case.

New, More Efficient Water Softeners

One of the first things to understand is that there’s a huge difference between water softeners made today and water softeners made 20 years ago. A lot of the information still being circulated is just old and outdated. Water softeners today are much, much more efficient than the models of old. In fact, they only use a small fraction of the salt an old model would have required. Virginia Tech here in Blacksburg is performing an ongoing study about how water softeners affect septic tanks. Experts from both the water softening industry and the septic industry are working together to better understand the interactions between water softeners and onsite wastewater systems. It’s truly a collaborative effort and not just a one-sided view.

What the Study Showed

In the study, they use the terms high efficiency or efficiently operated units. This is an important distinction in which they are talking about new units/technology versus old units/technology, which definitely makes a big difference. According to the authors of the study, the data indicates that the use of an efficiently operated water softener improves septic tank performance. Previous experimentation has shown that the ideal amount of calcium and magnesium are put into the wastewater stream along with the sodium, which actually helps the settling process of the septic tank. In other words, an efficiently operated water softener performs the exact opposite of what someone may fear—it is actually beneficial to the septic system.

How Does this Affect the Septic Tank?

Another thing to understand is that a septic tank is 1,000 gallons or larger, so if you put a little bit of sodium into that thousand gallon tank, it’s going to be extremely diluted, pretty much rendering it ineffective at disturbing bacteria or harming the actual concrete tank. It really is just a drop in the bucket.

 

We share documentation with all of our clients whenever we’re in their home so they can understand exactly how water softeners interact with septic tanks. We also recommend that the softener is discharged into the septic system whether it’s public septic or a private onsite system. For more information, contact us online or give us a call at 540-483-9382.

 

 

 

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When someone from another part of the country thinks of Virginia, the first things that come to mind are probably Washington, D.C. (in northern Virginia around Alexandria) along with Virginia Beach and Norfolk. But Virginia is a very diverse state—areas like the Roanoke Valley are quite different from the first places that come to mind. For anyone who’s new to the area, here are a few things you should know.

We are in the Blue Ridge Mountains where there’s a tremendous amount of outdoor activities to do, including hiking, kayaking, and canoeing. Smith Mountain Lake, which is about 30 minutes away, has boating, water sports, dining, and lots more.

The Roanoke Valley is also very rich with culture and history. Much of our initial history is centered around the railroad in our area. In fact, Roanoke started off as a railroad town, and Norfolk & Southern had been around here since back in the 1920s. Although they no longer have a main hub in this area, we’re still very much a company town. Carillion, which is a medical company, is now a very prevalent source of employment and education in the Roanoke Valley. They brought several hospitals, colleges, and schools to our area.

While there are some small progressive pockets in Roanoke, by and large this is a conservative rural place. People who visit the area are also usually pleasantly surprised by how great the airport is, especially due to the city’s size. It makes travel in and out of the city very pleasant. If you want to venture to the areas surrounding Roanoke Valley, you’ll find some interesting places like Virginia Tech, with is about 30 minutes south of us. James Madison University is about an hour up in Charlottesville. Aside from Roanoke’s rich culture centered around food and music, you’ll be sure to find lots of interesting things to do in our region.

If you have any plumbing related questions, reach out to the team at Wisler Plumbing and Air today. Contact us online or give us a call at 540-483-9382.

 

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I’ve been witness to quite a few bad habits in the plumbing industry over the years. One of the most widespread bad habits takes place during the construction of new homes. While bidding out the project, the contractor will generally hire the least expensive plumber. But you usually get what you pay for, and a cheap plumbing system in a new home means that corners are cut somewhere. Contractors are deciding to save money at the expense of longevity and quality. As a consequence, after only 5 to 10 years, the homeowner will end up having to replace some very expensive plumbing items. Spending a little bit more upfront could have led to much more longevity for the new home’s plumbing system.

Another bad habit is when plumbers charge for time and material. In other words, you’re being charged by the hour in addition to paying for parts. That’s fine if you have a very efficient plumber who is able to do a good job in minimal time. In most cases, though, plumbers who charge this way end up having to make a run to the supply house even though they could have had those items ready in the first place. Charging based on time and material ultimately results in unnecessary anxiety and uncertainty for the homeowner.

Next, plumbers often fall into the trap of treating the symptoms instead of treating the actual root of the issue. For instance, if a toilet is leaking or starts to run during the nighttime, the symptom can quickly be remedied by replacing the flapper. But the question then arises, what caused the flapper to go bad in the first place? Maybe it was due to something like an underlying water quality issue. Although it might seem less expensive to just keep replacing the flapper in the toilet, the underlying water quality issue is doing damage to other places like the water heater and faucets (which are much more expensive to replace/repair). Digging deeper and resolving the actual problem is the better thing to do.

When you need your plumber, you need your plumber. It’s not like you can just decide to wait a few weeks if you have a drip or leak. Less expensive plumbers might work out on one occasion, but once you have to reach out to them to take care of an urgent issue, they might be difficult to contact. You might not even be able to reach them by phone at all. It’s inexcusable for someone in the plumbing industry to have the bad habit of being unreachable. Plumbers must be available to answer phone calls and respond in a reasonable time. Whether you need a plumber for new construction or service and repair for your current home, be wary of these all-too-common bad habits across the industry. For guidance and assistance from the team at Wisler Plumbing and Air, contact us online or give us a call at 540-483-9382.

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We’re proud to sponsor the local Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs hockey team, mainly so that we can build relationships and give back to our generous community. This upcoming hockey season starts after the new year on February 2nd, 2019. The night’s theme is going to be superhero night, and it’s probably going to be centered around heroes in families.

If you would like free tickets to the game, go to WislerHockey.com and submit a hero story of your own. It could be about a family member, friend, or somebody who you know is a personal hero. After receiving your entry, we will send you a maximum of four tickets. The deadline to submit an entry is January 18th.

Just like last year, we’re going to do some pre-game activities for kids. They will probably include face painting, some door prizes, and other fun surprises. Our staff will be there and they’ll have lots of cool things to give out. We’ll also have some gifts for the attendees. That particular night is what the Rail Yard Dawgs call family four pack night. So if you have a family, you can get discount tickets for concessions along with the admission tickets themselves.

It’s going to be a fun start to the hockey season this coming year, and we definitely look forward to having a fun family night at the Rail Yard Dawgs hockey game. If you have any questions about Wisler Plumbing and Air hosting the 2nd Annual Dawgs Night, contact us online or give us a call at 540-483-9382.

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It’s completely understandable for someone to want to do as much as they can to prevent having to spend money on a professional. The temptation is always there no matter what the issue may be. But how should you define what to tackle and what to leave to a professional?

 

Sometimes we minimize issues and make them less important than what they really are. For instance, anything that you do incorrectly with the electrical system in your home could potentially cause a fire hazard. If something was to arc or short out, it could lead to a very catastrophic incident. Water damage can be just as catastrophic as fire damage, and pretty much anything plumbing related is going to have water attached to it.

 

It’s just a nightmare to have to deal with water damage. Your belongings might still be there if they get wet, but they will probably be ruined. If you’re not completely sure about what you’re doing when it comes to your plumbing system, the whole home could flood and ruin all of your valuables and keepsakes. The job might look easy, but all you have to do is overlook a tiny detail for a catastrophe to occur.

 

Next, keep the safety of yourself and your family in mind. Homes need to be constructed in a specific manner so that they are structurally sound. If someone doesn’t know what they’re doing and they decide to remove a load bearing point in the home or build a set of stairs, for example, it could become a potential safety issue. If we start doing things on our own, we might not be schooled well enough to know whether or not what we’re doing could be a safety issue.

 

With all these considerations in mind, sometimes people will decide, since they can’t spend the money on hiring a professional, they’ll just leave it be. Think about the very real cost of doing nothing. Say for instance that a toilet is leaking on a wooden floor. The floor will slowly start to rot, and maybe the wood supports under the flooring will be compromised as well, causing the repair to be much more expensive than if the simple issue had been dealt with immediately.

 

Then there’s the cost of doing something wrong. Even though there might not be as much investment upfront for a DIY project, think about how expensive it would be to fix it again if it needed to be done a second time. If you were to mess something up, it could end up being way more costly than hiring a professional in the first place.

 

Remember the three things to keep in mind regarding DIY projects: fire, water, and the safety of yourselves and your families. Then consider how much it would cost if you did nothing, or if you did the job wrong. Those things should be the deciding factors on whether to embark on a project on your own or contact a qualified professional.

 

If you’re uncertain about tackling a DIY project, 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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