Author: infogenix

A Sewer Line Problem or a Simple Drain Clog?

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Nobody wants to have a drain in their house that clogs up or drains so slowly that it’s leaving a few inches of water at the bottom of the shower. There are many reasons for slow drains and drain clogs, ranging from something as simple as an object that was accidentally knocked down the drain (or put down the drain in the case of small children in the house) to as extensive as damage in the sewer line that connects the home’s plumbing to the municipal sewer line.

If you’re going to be stuck with a clogged drain, you’d much rather it be something simple and easy to fix. But it’s important to be aware of the possibility of a major sewer issue. You’ll need plumbers to handle any sewer line trouble, and you may also need them to handle obstinate clogs. Let’s look closer at the signs of how bad a slow/clogged drain might be.

The basic plunger or drain snake solution

When you first encounter a drain that isn’t, well, draining, the first instinct may be to reach for a sink plunger or a hand-cranked drain snake. (Don’t, under any circumstance, reach for a chemical drain cleaner. These are damaging to drains.) If you do have a basic clog, these tools can often clear out the drain. If they can’t, or the clogs are reoccurring, you either have a much tougher clog or deeper problems in the drainage system.

More than one drain is slow/clogged

A major warning sign that a drain problem is bigger than basic clogs is if one or more are clogged at the same time. If the first drains that start to clog are located in the lowest parts of the house (such as in the basement), then you probably have a sewer line that is clogged up or possibly broken. Multiple drain clogs can also indicate trouble with blocked drain vents. No matter the case, this is something that needs the attention of a licensed professional plumber.

Bad odors from the drains

When a sewer line is clogged up with tree roots or debris, one of the early warnings of the trouble is a backup of sewer gas will start to waft up through the drains. So if your drains are not only clogged or slow but also emitting a horrible smell, we recommend getting a professional plumber on the job right away. Even if it isn’t the sewer line, you’ve got a major plumbing problem somewhere.

Drain cleaning for clogs

If you’re fortunate to only have standard clogs making trouble in your drainpipes, we still recommend calling for professional plumbers for drain cleaning. Plumbers can eliminate the toughest clogs without damaging the piping material, and the thorough cleaning process makes it less likely for clogs to return in the near future.

To arrange for drain cleaning and sewer line services in Bethesda, MD, talk to our plumbers. We have the best tools to get any job done, including trenchless technology to make sewer line repair and replacement fast and clean.

Schedule drain or sewer service: Mallick Plumbing & Heating is the Service Contractor of Choice for Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia.

Watch for Warnings You Need Bathroom Plumbing Work

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The bathroom has the most plumbing of any room in your house: more pipes than the kitchen, and more taps and fixtures as well. More than 40% of indoor water use goes to the bathroom toilet alone. The plumbing in your bathroom handles an enormous amount of work—and sometimes this leads to it needing repairs.

Cleaning silt out of an aerator in a faucet or getting rid of basic clogs with a plunger are bathroom plumbing fix-it jobs you can tackle on your own. Anything more complicated will take the work of licensed professional plumbers. Below are a few of the warning signs that you have bathroom plumbing in need of some expert work.

Slow Drains

A completely stopped up drain is an obvious problem, although you may be able to clear it out with a plunger or a hand-cranked drain snake. (Don’t use chemical drain cleaners, which can damage the drainpipe.) But if shower and sink drains are draining slowly, and you find yourself standing in a few inches of water in the shower, it’s probably time to have professionals clean out the drains. There may be other problems deeper in the drainage system, so call a plumber to be sure.

Low water pressure

The water from the bathroom faucet is coming out much weaker than you expect. The first thing to check is the aerator, which may be filled up with minerals. If this isn’t the source of the problem, you will need to have a plumber find out exactly what’s wrong. This issue might be hidden leaks, trouble with the water heater, or a clog in one of the freshwater lines. (Yes, freshwater lines can clog up as well, often because of hard water deposits.)

Damp spots around the toilet

If you notice a feeling of dampness from near the toilet’s base, the toilet is leaking because of a deteriorating wax ring around where it connects to the floor. This must be repaired as soon as possible, since the water damage done to the floor will weaken it, leading to significant damage that may result in the toilet going through the floor. (This happens more often than you may think.) In general, any sign of leaking from the toilet is a reason to call a plumber right away.

Drips that won’t stop

The dripping bathroom faucet is a notorious nuisance for keeping people awake at night. It also wastes water. If you’ve got a dripping faucet and tightening up the faucet head isn’t fixing the issue, don’t try to tamper more with it. This may mean high water pressure, broken valves, or poor drainage inside the pipes of water left over after the tap is turned off. Not only is the dripping wasting water and creating an annoyance, but the problems behind it may cause serious damage to the plumbing.

When you need to call professional plumbers in Silver Spring, MD to handle bathroom plumbing concerns—or for new installations and other plumbing services—we’re the contractor you’re looking for.

Get a great plumber out to your house! Mallick Plumbing & Heating is the Service Contractor of Choice in Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia.

Things to Consider for a Heat Pump Water Heater Installation

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Time to get a new water heater. No, this isn’t as exciting as “time to get a new flat screen UHD television and pre-order the 50th anniversary 4K Blu-ray of 2001: A Space Odyssey.” (Seriously, who isn’t excited for that? Have you ever seen the film in a crystal clear large format? A-MAZ-ING.) However, getting a new water heater is one of the most important things you can do for your home since you use hot water every day and a good portion of your monthly utility bills goes toward powering the water heater.

Now that you’re thinking of getting a water heater, you may be considering a heat pump water heater rather than a conventional model. This technology may be new to you, so let’s look closer at some of the facts of heat pump water heaters to think about.

The potential savings

A heat pump water heater works similarly to the familiar tank water heater: water is stored in a tank and energy is applied to raise the temperature of the water to keep it ready for use. The difference is that where a standard water heater creates energy to heat the water through gas jets or electrical heating elements, a heat pump water heater uses refrigeration. How does that work? It’s a refrigeration system working in reverse. Instead of pumping heat out of space, it pumps heat into space. The heat isn’t created, it’s moved from the air outside the water heater and then released into the water.

This process of moving heat consumes less power than creating heat. In theory, you should spend less to power a heat pump water heater. According to the ENERGY STAR program, a large family can save $3,500 over the unit’s lifetime. The savings depend on what type of water heater you used before. Changing from an electric water heater to a heat pump water heater is usually a huge improvement. Going from natural gas to a heat pump might not be as significant a change.

A heat pump has special requirements

Not every home is right for a heat pump water heater installation, and this is why it’s crucial to work with professionals to ensure the new system is a good match. A heat pump water heater needs to be placed in an unoccupied space with sufficient room (around a thousand cubic feet of air, or a 12’ by 12’ space) for it to access the heat it needs. It cannot be placed in an area that grows extremely cold in winter such as an unheated garage. The ambient temperature should fall between 40° and 90°F around the year for the water heater to work efficiently.

Call water heater professionals

We’d love for you to experience the benefits of a heat pump water heater, but we also want you to have the right water heater to meet your needs. When you’re planning for a water heater installation in Gaithersburg, MD, contact our team and they can help you out. Tell them you’re interested in a heat pump unit, and they’ll see what can be done. No matter what type of unit you end up with, our professionals will see that it fits your budget, helps lower costs, and delivers the volume of hot water you need.

Install the best new water heater for your home with the Service Contractor of Choice: Mallick Plumbing & Heating.

You May Need Backflow Prevention Assistance in Your Home

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Backflow prevention is a service that homeowners often don’t realize they need. When people think of “backflow preventers”—when they think about them at all—they think of the large assemblies sitting outside of commercial and industrial buildings. The purpose of these backflow preventers is civic: they stop the wastewater from the business from flowing the wrong direction through the plumbing, leading to bacterial contamination entering the public fresh water supply.

With homes, backflow prevention is a bit different. There are fewer places in a house where there are direct cross-connections between the wastewater and freshwater sides of the plumbing. For example, there’s a natural air gap in a sink between the drain and the faucet—the wastewater in the drain won’t leap up and go the wrong way down the faucet! But there are places in your home’s plumbing where you’ll need backflow prevention devices, and our certified plumbers can help you with ensuring your freshwater supply is protected from stale water getting into it.

Backflow and what causes it

First, we want to clarify on what backflow actually is. If there is a change in pressure in the plumbing system, with either an increase in pressure on the wastewater side or a decrease in pressure on the freshwater side, it will cause water to move the wrong direction through the plumbing. In a home, this can mean water from the common residential system—non-potable (i.e. non-drinkable) water—spreading into the fresh drinking water. There are a number of reasons for this change of pressure: the water main may be broken, firefighters may have placed a heavy demand on the local freshwater supply, a power outage has occurred, or there’s a new water-using appliance that alters the pressure.

Where backflow can be an issue in your home

Backflow can happen in any place where water can move backward and go into a freshwater pipe. For example, a hose showerhead can be lower than the water level in the shower. However, the appliances of the highest concern are boilers, radiators, and especially irrigation systems like sprinklers. To stop backflow at these locations, plumbers place special backflow valves. These valves will close in the event of water moving in the wrong direction, shutting off the movement of water.

If you’re unsure if your home needs backflow preventers or has them in already place, call on licensed and certified plumbers. Working with backflow prevention requires special certification, so not all professional plumbers can perform the work. In order to be a certified Backflow Tester in Maryland, a plumber must be at minimum a Journeyman Plumber and complete a State of Maryland-sanctioned 40-hour certification course for Cross-Connection Technicians. Afterward, the plumber must re-certify every three years.

We offer service for backflow prevention in Frederick, MD and the surrounding areas, and have certified Backflow Testers on staff. We can install prevention devices in places where you need them and take care of the occasional checks and replacements that will continue to protect your water supply.

Look to the Service Contractor of Choice for your backflow prevention services: Mallick Plumbing & Heating.

Strange Things That Can Cause Drain Clogs

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In the years we’ve been in business, we’ve unclogged a lot of drains. A lot. That comes with the territory of being a professional plumber: slow drains and drain clogs are one of the most common plumbing problems in homes.

There are some basic causes of drainpipe obstructions. Hair caught in the p-traps of shower and bathroom sink drains. Accumulated fats, oils, and grease in the kitchen sink drain. Soap scum residue in almost any drain. However, we’ve also seen our share of unusual reasons for drain clogs. Below are some odd reasons you may have a clogged drain or toilet in your house. No matter what it is, the services for your plumbing in Rockville, MD, that will clear out the drain are right here at Mallick Plumbing & Heating. You can reach us 24/7 for emergency service.

Smartphones

Why would a smartphone be jammed in a drain? It’s actually not too difficult. People often complain about smartphones slipping out of their pockets. If you’re looking around your bathroom, the phone in your shirt pocket just might tumble out and down into the toilet. Yes, it happens! Another reason for this is when a young child gets hold of the phone—and decides to see what happens when it gets thrown down the toilet. We can get the toilet clear of this obstruction—although we’re afraid there’s not much we can do to rescue the phone.

Cat litter

This one is a good warning for all those cat lovers out there: never pour cat litter down a toilet to dispose of it. Always put the litter in a bag and take it out to the trash. Cat litter can easily clog up your toilet or even parts of the municipal sewage system. Not only is cat litter heavy—it’s really like pouring actual sand down a drain—it also clumps. The clumping is great for cleaning up cat litter, but it’s absolutely horrible if it’s down in a drain creating obstinate clogs.

Cement

You’re confused about this one, aren’t you? We’re not suggesting you may accidentally pour cement down one of your drains. The cement that could end up blocking one or more of your drains is from poor construction. Old pipes that are no longer in use are often sealed up using cement—and if the job wasn’t done well, the cement may end up in other pipes and block them.

False Teeth

Dentures need to be cleaned and soaked often to prevent bacteria from developing in them. Cleaning them twice a day is often recommended. That means a lot of time spent in the bathroom with the dentures over the sink—and plenty of chances for the dentures to slip from the hand and go down the drains! Call for plumbers to come to the rescue when this happens.

Wedding Rings

We’d just thought we mention wedding rings while we’re here. These may not clog up a drain—but they’re items people definitely want retrieved! If you lose a wedding ring down the sink, don’t use any more water and call for a plumber right away. Most of the time, we can rescue the ring for you.

Unclog that drain—no matter what’s clogging it—with a call to Mallick Plumbing & Heating. The Service Contractor of Choice.

Off-Season Is a Good Time to Replace Your Gas Boiler

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When warm weather arrives, one of the last things you want to think about is providing warmth to your home. Most of the time, you’ll be focused on how to keep it cool. But the middle of the year is the right time to make any major upgrades to your home’s heating system. If you use an old, unreliable gas boiler in Chevy Chase, MD to handle your home heating requirements, we recommend using late spring and summer to schedule an upgrade to a new boiler system.

Why Replace a Boiler Now?

First, it’s simply more convenient. You won’t need the boiler in service until the fall, so there’s no period of downtime where you won’t have the heating you need. Scheduling a replacement isn’t difficult because the service technicians who can do the job (like the ones on our team) have more open schedules, especially if you arrange for the work in late spring/early summer before the hotter days arrive. The cool-to-warm days are a time when heating service technicians are the least busy—and ours are happy to help you with a new gas boiler installation.

Putting in a new gas boiler is a job that must never be rushed, so using the time available to you during warmer weather will help you make the right choices. Our installation experts will never rush a job, but with the extra time they can assist you with going through the options carefully, and this includes helping you to make the choice to replace the old gas boiler in the first place rather than to continue with repairs.

Please keep in mind that only licensed professionals can work on a gas boiler. Any appliance connected to a gas main is a potential safety hazard if an amateur tinkers with it. Leave the job to our licensed experts and you’ll have a safe boiler to handle your future heating need.

Mallick Plumbing & Heating is the Service Contractor of Choice!

Can Hard Water Be Harmful?

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Drinking water is something we often take for granted in the U.S. We turn on a faucet in our home and out pours potable water. But a large number of homes in the country face trouble with hard water, which is water that contains a high level of mineral content suspended in it. Hard water minerals include calcium and magnesium—the primary causes of hard water—as well as aluminum, barium, iron, zinc, strontium, and manganese.

All those minerals may sound a bit concerning when you read about them. If your home has hard water, does it pose a significant health risk to your family? And is there anything you can do about getting rid of it?

The Health Concerns of Hard Water

We’ll start with the good news. According to the World Health Organization, hard water has no known negative health effects. Hard water minerals are naturally occurring in many foods and drink, and some are even beneficial, such as calcium. There may even be benefits for people who suffer from cardiovascular illness and types of cancer, although the studies are still inconclusive. Other types of water contaminants that may be associated with hard water are what create health troubles. The presence of aluminum may have a connection with Alzheimer’s disease, but this is also not proven.

So in general, hard water may provide health benefits, has a small and unproven chance of causing health complications, but otherwise isn’t harmful to drink.

But you still need to eliminate it from your house.

Why Treat the Water if Hard Water Isn’t Dangerous?

It’s not dangerous to you or your family. But it’s a serious problem for your home’s plumbing, fixtures, clothing, dishes and glasses, and your general cleanliness.

  • Hard water minerals create scale inside plumbing pipes. This build up along the inside of the pipes will gradually lower the water volume and lead to an increase in water pressure throughout the plumbing, a rise in clogs, and a greater frequency of leaks.
  • The scale from hard water is a major problem for water heaters as well as other water-using appliances. The scale inside a water heater tank can cause it to overheat, and it can quickly break a tankless water heater.
  • Hard water makes it difficult to create soap lather. This makes it more difficult to clean and wash and makes both the dishwasher and the laundry machine less effective.
  • Because soap doesn’t dissolve well in hard water, it leaves a soap scum residue on surfaces, hair, and skin. You’ll see a filmy substance on glass surfaces and glass wear. Hair will feel limp and skin will dry and itchy.

The way to solve the problems with hard water is to arrange for the installation of a water softener for your home. Water softeners exchange the hard water minerals for sodium, which “softens” the water. You must work with professionals experience with water treatment systems in Frederick, MD to find the right water softener for your needs. Call us today and we’ll see you have your hard water problems solved.

Mallick Plumbing & Heating is the Service Contractor of Choice in Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia.

How a Tankless Water Heater May Malfunction

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We often recommend the installation of a tankless water heater to our customers who are looking to have a new water heater system put in, either as the first water heater for a house or as a replacement for an aging tank water heater. There are numerous advantages to using a tankless water heater, such as lower energy bills, longer equipment life, and unlimited hot water supply.

Another advantage of tankless water heaters is that they encounter fewer repairs on average than storage tank water heaters. This is because they don’t deal with the stress of water stored in a tank and the continual need to use energy to keep the water heater. A tankless water heater simply does less work, and that means it doesn’t wear down as fast.

But … tankless water heaters may still encounter repair needs that will require calling on a professional plumber.

What Can Go Wrong with a Tankless Water Heater?

  • Low water pressure. A tankless water heater moves water from the hot water line through a heat exchanger, where heat from the gas jets is transferred into the water. Deposits inside the heat exchanger can cause the outlets from the tankless system to become clogged. If you notice low water pressure coming from your hot water faucets, these clogs might be the reason. The most common cause of these deposits is hard water. You’ll need technicians to clear out the obstructions, and you should probably have them install a water softener for the house to prevent further problems.
  • Leaks in the heat exchanger. A tankless water heater can develop leaks inside the heat exchanger. When this happens, the escaping water will put the system in danger of corrosion. A corroded water heater almost always needs to be replaced. If the tankless water heater doesn’t properly vent out exhaust gases from the heat exchanger, it can cause the heat exchanger to corrode, and this can be potentially harmful to your house. At the first indication of corrosion on your tankless water heater, call for repair professionals.
  • Gas ignition problems. A tankless system can also fail in the ways that a standard gas-powered water heater or furnace can fail. The gas jets can become dirty and fail to ignite fully—or ignite at all. If the electronic ignition system breaks, the water heater won’t come on and you’ll end up with no hot water at all.

What to Do If Your Tankless Water Heater Has Stopped Working

No matter what issue you start to encounter with your tankless water heater, you must have licensed professionals handle any fixes. The majority of tankless systems run from natural gas, and only certified technicians should work with any appliance connected to a gas main. This ensures that the repairs are done safely and correctly. If the technicians discover that the tankless water heater is past the point where repairs will do much good, they’ll arrange to have the unit replaced.

To schedule water heater services in Rockville, MD with trained and licensed plumbers familiar with working with water heaters, look to us! We’ll do the job at a fair price and on time.

Mallick Plumbing & Heating, Inc. is the Service Contractor of Choice for Maryland, Virginia & D.C. Call us today at (301) 804-6759.

Strange Plumbing Fact: World’s Oldest Toilets?

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The toilet is one of the basic parts of any residential or commercial plumbing system. It’s one of those items you know you can’t live without!

Of course, there were centuries when people did live without them—and it was a much less sanitary or comfortable time. The first flushing toilet was invented in 1596 by Sir John Harrington, which included a flush valve and wash-down mechanism—convenient and sanitary. But it wasn’t for almost another 200 years that the flush toilet as we know it was invented, and only in the 19th century did its use become common because of increased city living, where sewer systems made toilets beneficial for hygiene. This was also the period when being a plumber became a professional occupation. You needed skilled individuals to help out whenever something went wrong with a household toilet. Plumbers were important heroes for public health! (And they still are.)

The Tomb of the Ancient Chinese Toilet

But what’s the world’s oldest toilet? Of course, we don’t know for certain, but in the year 2000 archaeologists in Central China discovered what they believe is the oldest known running water toilet. It was found in Central China in the two-thousand-year-old tomb of a Chinese king of the Western Han Dynasty. Much like the Ancient Egyptians, Chinese rulers were often buried with amenities they might need in the afterlife—and this king thought his flushing toilet was an essential appliance even when he was dead! The toilet has a stone seat, armrests, and running water brought in with a pipe. There’s still some controversy about how far backflushing toilet technology goes: there are stone closets in the Palace of Knossos on Crete that may have held toilets—as far back as four thousand years ago!

You’ve got a much better type of toilet for your home, but should it need any plumbing service in Bethesda, MD, call on our sanitation heroes! We offer 24-hour service, ready to come to the rescue of your home plumbing.

Mallick Plumbing & Heating is the Service Contractor of Choice! We serve Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia

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