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A Day in the Life of a Water Technician

Water Qaulity

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In the last post we talked about a day in the life of a water treatment installer. This time let’s take a look at water technicians. The big difference between a technician and an installer is that the installer will just install or replace equipment that needs to be upgraded, whereas the technician is going to be doing both maintenance and service to existing units that need to be kept in good working condition. It might be a new client that has older equipment or someone who doesn’t have a maintenance agreement and has a unit that needs to be worked on.

Similar to a water treatment installer, a typical day for a water technician starts with breakfast that we offer here in the company. The team talks with each other and goes over what their day is going to look like. The technician has to prepare for their routes because they might make anywhere from 4 to 6 stops a day. They need to load the materials and parts ahead of time to be prepared and efficient enough to head home before it gets super late. Unlike an installer, the technician’s day is spent communicating either with the clients or with the office and dispatch. Because technicians go to more jobs, they need to be very comfortable with communication, collaboration, and time management. They diagnose systems where the water might not be correct, so there’s definitely more of a problem-solving skillset required for this role.

Water treatment installers and water technicians are very different from each other. It really depends on the person as to where they’re a better fit. If someone doesn’t really like a great deal of communication and collaboration, they’ll probably fit better in the installer role, whereas if someone gains energy from working with a wide range of people, then they can really shine in the service-oriented role of a technician.

We’re definitely looking for water treatment apprentices to join our team right now. If you’re interested, be sure to head over to WislerJobs.com for more information. Or if you need a new water treatment system in your home, just give us a call at 540-483-9382.

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I love my job to pieces, but one area of our business that I could see myself loving just as much is water treatment. It’s just so cool to take not-so-great water and make it become really great. Water treatment is such an essential part of what we do—it’s cool to be able to make people happy with the water they use for drinking, laundry, washing cars, and cooking. That’s just part of what a water treatment installer gets to experience on a typical day.

The day generally starts with some breakfast, which we offer here in the company. This is when the team talks about the installs, service calls, and maintenance calls they have lined up for the day. After that is handoffs, which is where the service tech or salesperson who gained the customer’s approval to put in a new unit will meet with the installer and hand off a packet of information including pictures and job instructions. We do handoffs so the customer expectation isn’t dropped and the installer knows what they need to do, where they need to do it, and how they need to do it. (These handoffs usually aren’t for jobs lined up on that same day, just to give everyone enough time to be prepared.)

Next, the installer will prep the water treatment equipment and load up all the supplies with job packets that are laid out in the warehouse. They will try to make sure to get to their destination on time and talk with the customer (if available) to discuss what work they’re going to do, how long it’s expected to take, and whether they’ll meet again at the end of the day.

Certain tasks have different timeframes, including soaking media with water, backwash, and the cleaning process. Installers make sure to do all of these at the right time to be as efficient as possible. If present, the technician will review the new piece of equipment with the customer so they know how to work it, what to do if it starts beeping, and how to take care of issues if they don’t have a service agreement. (We like to review these topics just to make sure the customer is 100% satisfied.) Then the installer collects the agreed upon amount and moves on to get ready for the next day.

We’re definitely looking for water treatment apprentices to join our team right now. If you’re interested, be sure to head over to WislerJobs.com for more information. Or if you need a new water treatment system in your home, just give us a call at 540-483-9382.

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I think most people who hear the word osmosis think of plants absorbing water. But we’re talking about reverse osmosis today, which is generally referred to in RO drinking water or RO treatment. Reverse osmosis treatment is a way to purify food-grade water for cooking and drinking. It’s generally done at the point of use (e.g., the kitchen sink). One thing to remember about RO is that it takes good water to make great water. If really bad water was put through reverse osmosis, the filter would get plugged up very quickly.

Reverse osmosis is a pretty extensive process, with four different stages of filtration. Water first goes through a pre-filter to remove any sediment particles large enough to get trapped. After traveling through the filter, the water goes through the reverse osmosis membrane. In layman’s terms, the membrane is a piece of plastic that the water runs through. Any contaminants or larger particles will get caught in the membrane and might cause it to get stopped up. To get the water to go through the plastic, it has to have enough pressure and be at the right temperature. The hotter the water is, the easier it will go through the plastic. Higher pressure helps too, but is limited because the membrane is extremely fine.

If you run a gallon of water through an RO system, it will produce about a half gallon of drinking water. Basically, this means that 50% of the water is wasted. The other half gallon of water is actually used to rinse the membrane and keep contaminants from stopping it up. (This water goes down the drain.) The amount of wasted water isn’t anything to be alarmed about, though. It doesn’t really add up to a ton because a person will generally only drink a gallon or so every day. After the filtered water leaves the membrane, it goes into two different post-filters that use carbon to polish the water. The purpose of this step is to improve the taste of the water and make it as attractive as possible for drinking and food-grade purposes.

Because of the 50:100 ratio of usable water, it takes a little bit of time for the RO filtration to do its job. There’s usually a 2 gallon storage tank that’s part of the system so you’ll have plenty of water immediately available for use. Sometimes overnight or whenever you use a lot of water, the system will kick in, start making more water, and reserve it in this tank. The storage tank easily fits right under the sink because it’s only about 12” tall and 10” around. But since it does take up some space, we might be able to put the system elsewhere and just run a little tube to the sink. (This really depends on the house. There needs to be a place where we have access to run the little plastic tube.) In my house, the reverse osmosis system is located in my mechanical area in the basement instead of under the sink.

There are three different levels of water: utility grade water that’s useful only for pressure washing or car washing, laundry grade water that won’t stain fixtures, and then food-grade water that’s only used for drinking and cooking. It doesn’t make sense to put food grade water throughout the entire house. Not only would that be really expensive, but it is corrosive and not suitable for whole-home use.

To learn more about using reverse osmosis in your home, contact us online or give us a call at 540-483-9382.

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There are five main reasons why plumbing fails. By being proactive, you can make sure your home’s plumbing will run smoothly and reliably.

1. Age

Put simply, most people think that their toilet is going to last forever. However, it’s just like your refrigerator, microwave, coffeemaker, or other appliances in your home. These fixtures have components that do wear out over time. If you’ve got a plumbing fixture in your home that is very old, you can be sure that it will fail at some point. Being proactive will definitely save you from having water getting into your home and damaging its structure.

2. Excessive Water Pressure

Another reason that we find plumbing systems fail is simply because the water pressure coming into the home is too high. Water pressure should not exceed 80 psi. If the pressure is any higher than 80 psi, it will cause excessive wear and tear damage to your faucets, eventually causing them to start dripping. It will also cause more damage to your water heater, due to the increased expansion and contraction. If you notice that your garden hose swells up with bubbles during the summer, this can be another indicator that you have very high pressure. Making sure that you don’t have water pressure that exceeds 80 psi is an often overlooked way to be proactive with your plumbing. It can end up preventing a major problem from occurring in the future. Next time you have a professional in your home, ask them to check your water pressure. It’s something that we do during our diagnosis, because it definitely affects the plumbing.

3. Poor Water Quality

Another issue that needs to be addressed is water quality. There is calcium, acidity, iron, and other particulates in water that can be very harmful to your components (such as faucets, toilets, the water heater, or anything in your home that comes in contact with water). The quality of a home’s water supply is extremely important. If we’re in your home, doing a water analysis is an important step during diagnosis. Again, this can prevent you from experiencing future breakdowns.

4. Lack of Proactive Maintenance

Proper plumbing maintenance is something that also needs to be addressed. If you proactively maintain the plumbing system, you will definitely extend the life of all the fixtures in your home. Maintenance is a lot less expensive than waiting until a major problem occurs and then having to replace or repair components. It can end up being very costly to neglect proper maintenance.

5. Not Fixing Breakdowns in a Timely Fashion

The entire home’s plumbing system is interconnected, and small issues can be a signal that something larger needs to be addressed. For instance, if you have a drippy faucet, it affects your sewage, among other areas. When something is going on with a toilet, it can be causing problems in another area of the plumbing system. If you have a water heater that fails and bursts, or if you have a water main that breaks, it will end up causing your water bill to go up. If you have a septic system, a toilet that is running constantly when not in use can cause major damage. Not fixing it in a timely manner can cause larger problems to arise. If you have a well

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