Plumbing – Auckland

Most dwellers and maintenance manager knows that if they want their heating system to work for a long period, they must pay attention to boiler maintenance. Boiler maintenance in Auckland not only makes it reliable but also reduces boiler operating and energy costs, improves safety and increases its life.

Thinking how to maintain your boiler?

Then keep reading. The article here aims to provide you guidance for performing preventive maintenance on an established schedule.

Daily Boiler Maintenance

• Inspect the floor under and around your boiler for water leakage.
• Make sure your boiler area is clear and free from combustible materials.
• Frequently check the pressure or temperature readings to ensure they’re within the designed range.
• Check whether the vent termination is blocked by snow, ice or debris. Also, check your boiler for unusual noises or vibrations.

If you find any of the above problems call the plumber in Auckland and ask for advice. These problems can be corrected effortlessly by you.

Periodic Maintenance

• First and foremost, you must check the flue gas vent piping and combustion air piping for any signs of blockage, leakage or deterioration.
• Also, check the boiler relief valve and discharge pipe for weeping or leakage. Finally, check the condensate drain system for blockages.
• After analysing the above two factors, now inspect boiler hydronic piping for leaks. Check burner flame (if possible). If the flame changes from the norm, take immediate action.

Yearly Service

Annual servicing should be performed by central heating specialists as it is a risky task. So, it is better you hire an expert for annual maintenance by doing few home work. Select the specialist after researching thoroughly and check his accreditation as well as certifications. Your hired specialist will do the following to make your boiler reliable:

• They meticulously inspect your heating system and identify problems, if any.
• Inspect all the boiler wiring & connections, and clean your boiler heat exchanger.
• Ensure that the water PH level is right.
• Inspect, clean and flush the condensate system along with the burner assembly, ignitor and flame sensor.
• Inspect venting system, air inlet, vent terminations for blockage, corrosion or deterioration and also ensure all joints and connections are right.
• After boiler inspection and cleaning, they finally check the boiler operation.

All this preventive maintenance is necessary for your boiler’s good performance. Then why wait, start inspecting your boiler and save your hard earned money on costly repairs.

Hiring a plumber means whipping out the phonebook and investigating which of the hundreds of professionals suit you best. It is long and time-consuming, but by asking a number of key questions, you can find the right person for you.

JG Pumbing, based in Auckland, believes there are a number of ‘must ask’ questions you should ask any plumber on any job. In this article, we go through the questions you should always find the answers to.

Do You Charge a Flat Rate?

It is important to establish immediately whether your plumbing services in Auckland are charged by the hour or not.

Every professional is different. You might have a preference for one or the other. The main goal of this question is to make sure you know what you are likely to pay before you hire them.

Will You Carry Out a Free Assessment and Offer a Free Quote?

You shouldn’t have to pay a plumber to find out how much you need to pay to get a job done. What if they come to give you a quote and charge you for the time spent forming a quote? It is not fair and it will mean you end up paying plumbers even though you have not hired them. Thankfully, most plumbers in the city are competent enough to provide comprehensive quotes over the phone.

Will You Provide a Written Quote?

This is essential. You should always have the quote/rate written down. If you don’t, there’s no evidence a plumber ever said anything about the price. This ensures the price you pay is fair and your plumber is not being unreasonable.

Can You Offer Any Written References?

You want to know your plumber has a history of doing good work. Unfortunately, you cannot take what they say at face value. Even the worst plumber in the world will not admit they cannot do their jobs correctly.

What you need is a written reference from a previous customer. The vast majority of plumbers have no issues providing written references. Reading these will give you peace of mind when hiring them.

Do You Have Insurance?

Every plumber should have public liability insurance. They are working in a public place and you do not want to have to deal with any legal repercussions if things go wrong. All plumbers should be fully insured and should have employer’s liability insurance if they have a team working with them. You should be able to see evidence of a valid insurance policy.

If they have no insurance, they should not be practicing their profession.

What about an Emergency Service?

A Plumber in Auckland will be able to attend to you at any hour of the day or night. You need to have this assurance in place. If something goes wrong, you cannot afford to wait until the morning. What if a pipe bursts and it is leaking water (or worse raw sewage) onto your kitchen floor? Things like this cannot wait.

You can expect to pay more for an emergency plumber, but it is important to have this type of service available to you. Most prominent plumbing agencies will have this service already available for their customers.

Auckland Plumbers need to have the professional expertise required to perform a quick and accurate estimate. In the industry, it is considered good practice to provide a written estimate and to stick to this estimate. Getting it wrong can lead to a lot of embarrassment for any Auckland plumbing agency.

Customers also need to know how estimates are conducted, so they know they are getting a fair deal.

A Visit to the Site

The fact is most Auckland plumbing jobs are easy to provide a quotation for without a visit. Most professionals will be able to give you an idea of how much they will charge for a clogged toilet or a leaky tap. They will not need to visit your home or business to figure it out.

Sometimes, it will be necessary to conduct a visit. This is because the details matter. It is not a case of looking at the symptoms of a problem and coming up with a solution. For example, a leaking tap could be indicative of a broken part or a much deeper issue. You just do not know until a thorough inspection has been conducted.

The Blueprints

Auckland Plumbing professionals are also responsible for building new plumbing systems. They will have blueprints for these jobs. A Plumber in Auckland will inspect these blueprints and begin listing the materials they will need to purchase and how long the job will take to finish.

Estimates and Quotes

It is not just the customer who gets an estimate. To give you an accurate quote, Auckland plumbers will go to a local supplier and get an idea of how much the materials will cost. This is not where they make their profits. The price they pay for materials is the price you will pay them for the materials. You are paying for their labour not their supplies.

Most Auckland plumbing agencies will already have deals with local suppliers, which lower their costs due to them being regular customers.

Additional Expenses

Any miscellaneous overheads will be added on to the total bill. There are many added fees they have to take into account to keep their business afloat. Some of these expenses include:

1. fuel
   2. insurance
   3. taxes.

Most Auckland plumbers will aim to make about a 25% profit margin. This is what they will charge for their labour costs. Everything else goes towards covering what they have to pay out to initiate the job.

Written Estimate

Responsible consumers should always look to have some form of written estimate. You do not want to receive an estimate verbally only to discover this is not the price you are charged when the job has been completed. There’s nothing you can do to prove the original quote, so you’re left with a bad taste in your mouth from having to pay more.

Always remember an estimate is an estimate and nothing more. If the cost does need to increase, due to unforeseen problems, it’s considered good practice for them notify their customer of this as soon as possible. You should the choice as to whether they continue the project.

A blocked toilet is perhaps the most common plumbing-related problem in the bathroom. Auckland Plumbers are constantly being called to homes that have toilet water running across their pristine floors. The issue with dealing with a clogged toilet is you are never quite sure what the reason is for it.

In this guide, we are going to give you some insight into what you can do to troubleshoot the problem. If you do have to call in the help of a plumber in Auckland, you will save them time by notifying them as to what you think the source of the issue is.

Precautionary Actions

There is always a danger of overflowing water. There are actions you can take to stop this from happening. Begin by taking off the lid of the toilet tank. Press down on the lever to close it,which should stop any rising water.

As an added precaution, we recommend turning off the water supply entirely. You can usually find the panel for this where you keep your gas and electric metres. Most homes tend to have everything in roughly the same location.

The next precaution you should take is to take the funnel cup plunger and rinse it under hot water for about a minute. The goal is to soften the rubber so you can better mould it over the exit hole of the toilet bowl. You do not want a particularly nasty clog to lead to the water level rising too high.

Plunging into the Problem

Add a slew of hot water from a pot. You can also help loosen the clog by adding some detergent. The detergent acts as a type of lubricant. It lubricates the pipes to provide the blockage with an easier path out of your home and into the sewerage system.

Place a plunger into the toilet bowl and make sure the cup is directly above the exit hole. Press it down and pull it up quickly. The plunger should remain in contact with the toilet at all times;otherwise,you are only going to get a splash of water hitting you in the face.

You will soon start to see little bits and pieces come up into the toilet bowl if it is just a simple blockage.

Using the Auger

So you’ve established the plunger is not getting rid of the problem. Try the auger. It’s a piece of metal used to unblock curved pipes. Place the auger cable in the hole and force it through the hole. If you feel some resistance soon afterwards, this is the clog you need to get rid of. Keep breaking up the clog. If it snags the obstruction, pull it out and this should solve the problem.

What if it Doesn’t Work?

If this does not work, you have a more serious problem, which will require the help of a professional. One of the tell-tale of this is if the water begins to back up into the shower and the sinks. This is a main line obstruction and will require the plumbing system to be taken apart, which is something a home DIYer should not attempt.

Clogged toilets are amongst the most common plumbing problems you will experience in the home. Whether you simply do not want to pay for plumbing services in Auckland or you believe you can solve the problem yourself, you might be tempted to attempt to deal with the issue without professional help.

JG Plumbing endorses people who can fix minor problems using common household items. In the case of a clogged toilet, you may not have a plunger available. This does not mean you cannot clear the blockage. Here is our favourite way of doing it, and by far the most successful.

Chemical Drain Cleaners

A word on the use of chemical drain unclogging agents before we begin.

These do not work. They often do not fully clear the blockage and they do a good job at eroding the pipes. No respectable plumber will find himself or herself using them. Long-term use of these chemicals will only lead to more expensive and more significant problems further down the line.

What we are going to do in this article is show you how a homemade agent can do the same job as these dangerous commercial cleaners.

What You Need

You need nothing more than detergent you would normally use for the washing up, a large pot, and some warm water. The goal of this mixture is to loosen the blockage and provide a form of lubricant to allow it to slide down the pipes and out of your home.

This will work with the majority of obstructions. Only the most serious blockages will not react to this solution.

Create the Mixture

Begin by putting some detergent into your toilet. This acts as the lubricant. You’ll only need a few squirts from the bottle. Now you need a large pot filled with water. Place it on the stove, heat it, and bring it to the boil.

Start Pouring

Take the pot of boiling water and pour it into the toilet from a height of about three feet. Any lower and the water will not fall with enough force to begin breaking up the obstruction. If you pour from too high, the water may splash so much it comes out of the toilet. You do not want this to happen because it is incredibly unhygienic.

Plumbers in Auckland recommend pouring slowly and continuously. You should notice the contents of your toilet disappearing. In the event the blockage does clear, the water level in the toilet bowl should return to normal.

Rinse and Repeat

There are some scenarios where this will not work. Particularly large blockages may require multiple rounds of this treatment process. Keep doing it until the water returns to a normal level. If the blockage is serious, you will notice no change.

As a test, you should flush the toilet when you are finished. The flushing process will remove any residues and should return the water to a normal level. If the water does not return to normal, it means there is a blockage further down the pipes. This will require the services of a professional to step in and help.

Doing your own plumbing can be an important part of your home improvement. You need to do all of your research, so that you don’t wind up losing a ton of money or destroying your home and your stuff. There are some tips listed here to help you begin with it.

If you are paying someone else to do the plumbing in your home be sure that they are licensed in your state to do that work. Some people who have little or no knowledge of plumbing will try to pass themselves off as a pro. So you can see the importance of checking to see if your Auckland plumber is licensed. You should also see if you can find positive testimonials about the plumbers work.

If your pipes bang when you turn on the water, and all the pipes are anchored correctly, you should add some straps or cushion the pipes with a rubber blanket. There may be times when you will need to do both. Make sure that if you have copper pipes, you are not using galvanized straps.

Don’t be afraid to call a professional. Don’t take on jobs to save money, if you aren’t sure how to fix them. Calling a professional plumber saves you money, the experience and know-how can fix your problem sooner and with less fuss.

Certain things shouldn’t go into your plumbing system. By knowing what you can and cannot flush or throw into the garbage disposal and sink, you can save yourself from a costly repair or disaster. A plumber can usually get your plumbing back into working condition, but can be avoided if you know how to dispose of items correctly.

Some people have problems with their plumbing system in that the pipes sweat and drip condensation. You do not have to hire a plumber to take care of this nuisance. You can purchase self-adhesive drip tape from your local hardware store. This drip tape will insulate your “sweating” pipes which are dripping with moisture built up from condensation. To make sure the tape sticks firmly, dry the pipe thoroughly before applying the tape.

In order to keep your garbage disposal in optimal working condition, run it on a regular basis. Just a simple 60 seconds per day under cold water can keep it running clean and smooth. If not run regularly, your disposal can be susceptible to corrosion that will eventually make it inoperable.

If you are using PEX tubing for the supply lines in your home, make sure you get the right tools for the job. PEX tubing requires a completely different tool type than regular lines. PEX has a lot of benefits though, so don’t let the different requirements throw you off.
Doing your own plumbing can be very rewarding, but it can also be a lot of work. Regardless, if you know what to do and how to do your plumbing properly. So, do yourself a favor by doing your research and applying these tips to your home plumbing endeavors.