What’s Wrong With My Pipes? An Emergency Plumber Can Help | San Antonio, TX
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Your plumbing system is bound to fail at some point just like everything else. You may not even see it happen over time and something just fails. At that point you will have to call an emergency plumber to get your house cleaned up and back in working condition. San Antonio, TX is a big city with a wide range of house ages, styles, and situations that could lead to issues with your plumbing system, including your pipes, forcing you to make a call for a plumber fast.
Age Before Beauty
The first thing to consider when your plumbing seems off or you notice water everywhere is the age of your pipes. Most materials can last 100 years but it is likely that the harsh summers will lead you to being locked into calling an emergency plumber at some point. Even if you have inspections of your plumbing on a regular basis it’s inevitable that something will fail. We’ll start with supply lines that always have water inside them from your water supplier. If you have galvanized steel pipes those are the most likely to fail with maximum life expected to be about 50 years making them not very liked for actual water lines and will likely require an emergency plumber call quicker than other types. Brass lines, which aren’t very popular, have an expected life of at least 40 years and can last longer than 70. Meanwhile the similar looking copper lines that are popular, albeit expensive, are expected to last at least 50 years but can last for much longer. The most common type of piping in both supply lines and drain lines is PVC, abbreviated from polyvinyl chloride, can in theory last forever but the will likely have issues at connectors over time. Finally a common sight in older homes for drain lines is cast iron which can last 100 years but should never be used for supply lines.
Joints Elbows And Knobs
As with pretty much everything else the parts of your plumbing system that has the most human interaction will likely be the part that fails. That’s nothing against a former plumber but every time a piece needs to be joined together it adds another layer of complexity which increases the chance of failure. When you call for an emergency plumber and the issue seems to be where a pipe is against another pipe or a turn at least it should be an easier fix. If you have copper pipes the issue could be with the soldering. In theory a good solder job should last as long as the pipes, but if there is a gap in the solder or a bubble in it that could lead to a leak. With galvanized or threaded brass the issue could be with the threads itself. There should be some form of waterproofing put on the threads that fully seals these kinds of connections like a plumbers tape. In PVC pipes there is a compound that can go on them that keeps water from leaking out of the tight threads on it but on a drain line of PVC it may not have that compound. But if a PVC connection is not threaded tight enough, or could be over tightened and damaged the threads. Knobs themselves because they have a few more pieces could cause problems especially if they are exposed to the elements or have an emergency plumber called in for something else. Knobs are also likely to be exposed to impacts from stuff around them.
The Environment Around You
Extremes are bad for your plumbing, and for most things. Extreme heat, extreme cold, extreme humidity, or a lack of humidity can all wreak havoc on your plumbing. We’ll go with the one you’re most used to in San Antonio, TX and his heat. With average highs into the 90s during the summer months and can reach much higher than that. That heat can lead to the pipes expanding a little which could damage connections. In the winter down here you don’t need to worry as much because lows generally don’t hit levels where freezing of water in the pipes can happen, although as we saw recently this isn’t always the case. When temperatures dip below freezing and your house can’t stay heated the water can freeze in the pipes, and since water expands as it freezes it leads to pressure on the pipes and can cause them to rupture up and down your lines, making an emergency plumber call a literal emergency as it warms up and melts all over. Extreme humidity can lead to moisture forming on the outside of your pipes which generally should be harmless but may cause you to panic, although you likely wouldn’t notice that much. Conversely you should be wary of long stretches with a lack of humidity as that can cause fittings to dry out at the connections allowing water to leak through. Finally solar exposure can destroy certain pipes, specifically PVC. PVC is highly susceptible to ultraviolet rays and will get brittle over time causing the pipes to crack and need a quick call for an emergency plumber to fix it. Natural disasters can also cause issues with your plumbing like floods, tropical storms, winter style storms, wind storms, or long droughts will all present their own challenges to your plumbing system to different extents.
When you’re in need of an emergency plumber give the specialized training of bluefrog Plumbing + Drain of San Antonio a call. They have a suite of tools and experiences available for you to call and as a recognized emergency plumber they will come out 24 hours a day and seven days a week to get your back to normal as soon as possible. From anything small like a drain cleaning to water heater replacement all the way to extensive plumbing system repair and replacement the experts at bluefrog Plumbing + Drain can do it for you.
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