The Importance of Cleaning and Sealing Your Ducts

Ducts carry heated and cooled air from your furnace and air conditioner throughout your home. However, dirty ducts also carry dust, pollen, and other allergens along for the ride. Poorly-sealed ducts allow air to escape, lowering the efficiency of your heating and cooling system and raising the cost of maintaining comfort indoors. Having your ducts checked, cleaned, and sealed can alleviate allergy and asthma symptoms and lower the cost of heating and cooling your Detroit home.

Why Duct Cleaning Is Important

Over the years, dirt, dust, pollen, pet dander, and other allergens can accumulate in your home’s ducts. Changing your HVAC filter regularly is an excellent way to cut down on the amount of debris that enters your ducts, but without regular cleaning any dirt that has built up in your ducts remains there. When forced air travels through your system from your furnace or air conditioner, allergens are carried along as well. If you or a family member suffers from allergies or asthma, dirty ducts may exacerbate these symptoms and make breathing more difficult. Ducts that have been exposed to moisture may harbor mold, a common indoor allergen. Clean ducts mean that the only thing traveling through your home and exiting your air registers is clean, comfortable air. Although duct cleaning has not been explicitly proven to alleviate allergy symptoms, it can be helpful in eliminating mold, pests, and other vermin that may be contributing to respiratory problems.

Why Duct Sealing Is Important

The ducts in your home transport heated and cooled air to air registers in each room. Ductwork inside most homes is comprised of a network of ducts that meet, join, and branch off in many directions. Leaks in the ducts or their connections mean air can escape rather than traveling to its final destination. Lost air results in lower heating and cooling efficiency inside your home, causing you to crank the thermostat higher or lower than necessary to achieve the desired result. Leaky ducts can raise the cost of using your air conditioner and furnace while decreasing their useful lifetimes by adding stress on the system. Duct sealing improves the energy efficiency of your HVAC system by up to 20%, allowing you to enjoy more comfortable indoor temperatures at a lower cost.

Your home’s ducts are an essential component of your HVAC system. Even if you already regularly maintain your furnace and air conditioner, ignoring your ducts can cost you in comfort and efficiency. You can find more tips on maintaining or replacing your home’s HVAC system by clicking on our website. We invite you to check out our duct cleaning services in Detroit, Ann Arbor, and Troy to learn more.

Caring for and Clearing Your Toilet

You rely on working toilets in your home. With proper care, you will never have toilet trouble to cause stress. Severely-clogged toilets can overflow, damaging your home and resulting in costly repairs. If you run into trouble you can’t handle on your own, call a plumber promptly to address the issue.

Preventing Toilet Clogs

Your toilet may seem like a convenient trash receptacle, but its plumbing is not meant to handle most manmade waste. Toilet paper is designed to break up in water to prevent plumbing clogs, but other paper products do not have the same properties. Never flush tissues, paper towels, or baby wipes down your toilet, even if they claim to be flushable. Waste such as dental floss, hair, packaging, cigarettes, and food should not be flushed down your toilet. These items are too large to travel through your toilet’s plumbing, causing clogs and backups as they accumulate in your pipes. Other items that should never be flushed include condoms, cat litter, diapers, and feminine hygiene products.

Clearing a Clogged Toilet

If your toilet is clogged and will not drain, you can take steps to clear away the clog yourself. If the toilet is overflowing, first close the water shutoff valve to prevent further damage. The water shutoff valve is typically a silver handle located on the wall behind your toilet’s tank near the floor. Once the water has been turned off, you’ll need a toilet plunger to clear the drain. Place the plunger over the drain in the toilet bowl so it is completely covered. If there is not enough water in your toilet to cover the lip of the plunger, add water from a sink before proceeding. Depress and pull up on the plunger’s stick about ten to twelve times in a row without lifting the plunger away from the drain. Next, pull the plunger up out of the bowl in one smooth motion and see if the water drains away. If not, try again—it may take a few rounds with the plunger before the water will drain. Once the water drains properly from the bowl, turn on the water intake by rotating the water shutoff valve in the opposite direction and flush the toilet to check that it is working. If plunging does not clear out your toilet, it’s time to call a plumber to assess the situation. Never pour chemical drain cleaner down your toilet, as it may overflow and cause skin irritation or damage to your home. If you don’t have a plunger, you can try a few additional tricks to clear your toilet without a plunger before calling your plumber for help.

These tips should keep your Memphis home’s toilets in excellent condition for years to come. If you’d like more plumbing information from the pros, we invite you to check out the Mrs. Rooter blog. When it’s time to call in an experienced professional plumber, visit the Mr. Rooter website to find out more or schedule a visit. 

How to Keep Your Drains Clog-Free

When water disappears down your drain, it must travel through your home’s plumbing pipes before it reaches a sewer or septic tank. Keeping those pipes clear will prevent clogs and backups that can damage your home and cause undue stress. If you do experience sluggish drains or a clog that you can’t clear yourself, call in a plumber to assess the situation. Ignoring a clogged drain won’t solve your problem, and could lead to the need for more costly repairs if not addressed in a timely manner.

Don’t Treat Drains as Garbage Cans

Your drains and toilets are not meant to transport manmade waste. Even if you have a food disposal, there is a limit to how much solid matter your disposal can handle. Never put animal bones, fruit rinds, or other hard items down your disposal. Cooking fats and greases are common causes of kitchen sink clogs; although they are liquids when hot, they cool quickly and solidify inside your pipes. Store grease and fat in a can or jar and throw it away with the rest of your solid waste. Avoid treating your toilet as a trash can; never flush paper towels, tissues, baby wipes, paper, dental floss, feminine products, or diapers. All of these items can easily clog your toilet, your pipes, or your sewer line.

Use Hair Traps

Hair traps are small pieces of mesh that fit over the drains in your sinks, tubs, and showers. Use hair traps to prevent hair and larger debris from being washed down the drain. Although a few strands of hair may not seem substantial, over time hair can easily become caught in pipes and facilitate the creation of a larger clog by creating a net that traps other debris. If you have long hair, brush it out before you shower and throw excess hair in the trash.

Use Eco-Friendly Drain Cleaners

Chemical drain cleaners may seem like an easy solution to a clogged drain, but often these products do more harm than good. The chemicals in most drain cleaners loosen clogs by creating heat, which can warp or otherwise damage your plumbing pipes. Choose eco-friendly drain cleaners instead, which use enzymes and helpful bacteria to eliminate clogs by breaking down the organic matter creating the blockage. You can also try other plumbing-friendly methods of clearing clogs such as using a drain cleaner made from a combination of baking soda and vinegar.

Clear drains mean stress-free water usage throughout your South Carolina home. If you need help handling clogs or other plumbing issues, click through our website for more information from the pros or to contact a plumber for fast, effective service in Anderson and beyond. Check out our blog for more tips on easy plumbing maintenance and solutions.  

Maintaining Your Tankless Water Heater

Tankless water heaters offer many advantages over traditional storage water heaters. Hot water is heated on demand, reducing energy consumption and providing as much hot water as you need for your home. Regular maintenance is an important part of owning any water heater, including a tankless model. Keep reading to find out how you can maximize your water heater’s performance for added savings and longevity.

Flushing Your Water Heater

Tankless water heaters can—and should—be flushed periodically. Minerals in your water can build up on the inside of the unit, reducing its ability to heat your water effectively and damaging its heating element. To flush your water heater, first turn off the power and any gas intake to the unit. Turn off the cold water intake and hot water output valves. Your water heater should have two isolation valves that are used during the flushing process: a cold water isolation valve and a hot water isolation valve. Consult your user’s manual or your plumber if you aren’t sure how to find them. Attach the cold water isolation valve to a small circulation pump using a length of hose. Connect a second length of hose to the hot water isolation valve, placing the other end in a five-gallon bucket. Place the inlet hose of your pump into the bucket as well. Fill the bucket with five gallons of white vinegar, and open both isolation valves. Turn on the pump and allow the vinegar to circulate for 45 minutes. After this time, turn off the pump and drain any remaining liquid from the cold isolation valve before closing it and removing the hose. Remove the hose from the hot water isolation valve and make sure the valve is closed. Turn on your cold and hot water valves and run a hot water tap in your home briefly to make sure no air is trapped in the system. Finally, restore power and gas to the water heater.

Cleaning the Filter Screen

Tankless water heaters utilize a filter screen to block incoming debris from entering the unit. This filter screen is located inside the cold water intake valve. To clean the screen, turn off the cold water intake and remove the screen. Flush it gently with water, following any specific instructions for cleaning the screen in your user’s manual. Once the filter is clean, replace it and turn the water intake valve back to the on position.

With a little regular care, your tankless water heater will function efficiently for years to come. If you have any questions, you can contact a professional plumber in Santa Cruz for advice or service by clicking through the Mr. Rooter website. We invite you to read through our blog for more home plumbing maintenance tips and information.