Wisler Plumbing and Air

Serving Roanoke and surrounding areas.

Menu
Schedule Online
or call (540) 483-9382

Making Garbage Disposals Cleaner and Less Smelly

Plumbing Repair

by

Play

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | RSS

Making Garbage Disposals Cleaner and Less Smelly

My wife always says that the garbage disposal is the grossest thing in her kitchen. Whenever we think about a garbage disposal, the first thing that probably comes to mind is the smell. (If you peer down into one, it probably looks kind of disgusting, too.) Here’s what everyone can do to make garbage disposals a little bit less gross.

One way to effectively combat bad smells is by putting citrus peels down the disposal. Orange peels, lemon peels, and even clementine peels will do a good job of giving it a fresh smell and covering up any foulness. (Of course, how effective this solution is really depends on how long the disposal has been neglected.) Another effective solution would be to use a product like BioSmart, which eats the bacteria that causes bad smells. We make BioSmart available to our clients because it’s a very effective form of drain care.

When it comes to cleaning the disposal, a good strategy is to use ice cubes. It’s commonly said that ice cubes will sharpen the blades of the garbage disposal, but that’s not actually the case. The blades are made out of steel, which isn’t sharpened with ice. What’s really happening is the ice cubes are removing most of the debris stuck to the blades. This can also help to prevent foul smells.

If you have any trouble with your garbage disposal this year, reach out to the team at Wisler Plumbing and Air. Contact us online or give us a call at 540-483-9382.

by

Play

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | RSS

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.

How We are Changing in 2020

by

Play

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | RSS

Now that fall is here and we’re heading into the cooler temperatures, there’s no better time to start getting ready for the change in seasons.

Be Vigilant of Debris

If you have an outside stairwell that has a drain at the bottom, all you have to do is make sure that it stays clean of any accumulated debris so it doesn’t get stopped up. Leaves, acorns, or sticks can definitely get stuck in there more easily during the fall.

Outdoor Plumbing

Aside from that, almost everything related to plumbing will really be about staying one step ahead of winter. The best time to be prepared is now that it’s not an urgent issue—that way you aren’t scrambling the day before a cold spell. The first thing to prepare for the winter months is outdoor plumbing (like an outdoor kitchen or shower). You’ll need to winterize it by removing any water. Disconnect any hoses attached to an outdoor hose faucet, especially if you don’t use them. Any water left inside can freeze and cause them to burst.

Check Underneath

Make sure you also focus on getting any crawlspace or cellar doors closed and ready for the cold weather. If there is any insulation that needs to be repaired or replaced, now is the time to get that taken care of, too. You might have had a leak during the summer, or rain might have caused an outside area to become wet. Get it sealed up and replace the wood insulation so you can prevent any freezing of the water lines or drain lines once it gets really cold.

If you have any pressing plumbing issues this fall or winter, you can always reach out to the team at Wisler Plumbing and Air by contacting us online or giving us a call at 540-483-9382.

 

by

Play

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | RSS

The Most Common Issue

Where do homeowners even begin when it comes to choosing a new water heater? The most common mistake that I see in homes is a water heater that isn’t sized properly, or one that wouldn’t be able to meet the demand for water in a household. But how does such a common issue even occur in all these homes in the first place?

What is the Demand on the Unit?

What often happens is, a family will buy a home and the people living there before them might have been an elderly couple who lived by themselves. (This home might have been a bit on the large side, so they moved into something more suitable.) Once the family moves into their new home, what would have been just fine for the elderly couple simply can’t stand up to the large family (especially with teenagers). The water heater may be very undersized and it just won’t be able to handle the demand.

While choosing a water heater, it becomes incredibly important for homeowners to consider the actual demand for hot water. Is the family’s water usage habit resulting in a very large demand? Or is there actually not very much demand? From there, you can determine the water heater that will make the most sense. A household with very large demand would be best served by a tankless or gas water heater, which will help maximize the efficiency of the system. Whereas, if there isn’t very much demand at all, an electric tank water heater or hybrid electric water heater would make the most sense. Ultimately, your choice will really be centered around how much water you need.

What is the Best Kind?

Tank water heaters are not going to be anywhere near as efficient as a tankless water heater, which works on-demand. When comparing a gas water heater vs. an electric water heater, gas is going to be much more efficient and produce more hot water. But the best advice I can give someone when making the decision is to just ask a professional. Water heating is something that takes money out of your pocket—it’s something that you have to pay for on an ongoing basis every single month. Whenever you have to make a decision like that, you don’t want to pick something that is inefficient. It would end up costing you more money, month by month, every single month that you own the water heater.

Get Help Making the Decision

Don’t make an off-the-cuff decision about which water heater to choose. Get a professional involved and make sure they understand your needs for hot water. They will know the various different brands and equipment, including what would make most sense for longevity over a period of 10 years. That’s going to save you a lot of money in the long run.

If you’re in the market for a new water heater and want the assistance of a professional, get started today by reaching out to the team at Wisler Plumbing and Air. Contact us online or give us a call at 540-483-9382.

by

Play

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | RSS

Sewer Systems: Repair or Replace? There are two types of sewer systems: septic systems, which are used in rural homes, and municipal systems for homes in the city. We don’t repair or replace septic systems—the health department has to get involved and it can be a very major process. (Sometimes the pipe going to the septic tank needs to be repaired or replaced.) If you use the city sewer, the pipe coming from your home to the city tap is your responsibility, so it’s not as much of an undertaking as replacing the whole septic system. It’s a good idea to have someone look at the sewer system with a camera. After all, you don’t have to dig up everything to see what kind of shape it’s in and what might be causing the problem. This is also how we can determine what kind of pipe it uses, which is a very important thing to know. You don’t want to repair a clay or Orangeburg pipe because it will probably fail right beside the area that was repaired. Depending on the type of pipe, it might be a better idea to replace the entire thing or just a section. Even if it’s a PVC pipe or a pipe made of a relatively new type of material, it still might be a good idea to replace it entirely. If it failed in one place and it was put in by the same team, more than likely they used the same kind of practices throughout the entire system. A premature failure means that another section will likely fail later down the road. It’s extremely frustrating for a homeowner to have to dig up their yard multiple times. Disturbing the grass and landscaping over and over is definitely not much fun. You can save yourself the frustration by going for a replacement. Most people minimize the severity of a sewer backup in terms of damage or the burden it places on a home. I can’t stress this enough: a sewer backing up into your home is not anything that you ever want to deal with. It tends to happen when you have guests in your home because that’s when the sewer system is being worked the most. (A backup isn’t very likely to happen when you’re just using a small amount of water by yourself.) It can be extremely embarrassing to have a backup when family is visiting. Sewage is highly disease and bacteria ridden water, and when it backs up into the home it creates an unsanitary situation that you would not want to have to deal with. The best time to take care of it is as soon as you become aware of the situation. It’s definitely something you don’t want to play around with. If you think you have a sewer issue, contact us online or give us a call at 540-483-9382. We can do a camera inspection of the sewer line and find out its condition.      

by

Play

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | RSS

The Downsides of Tankless Water Heaters

With any product, there are potential upsides and downsides depending on the situation. There are two types of tankless water heaters: electric tankless and gas tankless. One of the downsides is that there are very few times when it would make sense to select an electric unit. So if a home doesn’t have LP or natural gas, a tankless water heater probably isn’t the best solution.

 

Another potential downside of tankless water heaters is the fact that they deliver hot water on-demand, meaning that the water is heated as it flows through the system. For that reason, it requires a large amount of energy during times of increased usage. Although it is very efficient and doesn’t use much energy overall, it will use a significant amount of gas in a span of a few minutes if people are taking multiple showers. Therefore, we find that we have to be very careful about where we install the tankless water heater. We must make sure the gas line is sized to provide adequate volume of gas for the heater to run properly.

 

Poor water quality is bad for all water heaters, regardless of whether they are tankless or tank systems. However, one of the downsides of a tankless water heater is that it may not even function at all with poor water quality. Additionally, the owner’s manual will list certain requirements for water quality that must be met in order for the warranty to be honored.

 

In some situations it could be more expensive to retrofit a tankless water heater into a home (e.g., for a finished basement). During the finishing process, there might be a water heater in the middle of the basement that would need to be relocated. The whole hot water system would need to be converted to that style of installation.

 

If you have any questions about the potential downsides of installing a tankless water heater in your home, reach out to the team at Wisler Plumbing and Air by contacting us online or giving us a call at 540-483-9382.

 

 

 

Diamond Club

Our Ads

Jobs

Blog