Does your home or office suffer from noisy pipes? While different noises can come from your plumbing system, and no system will ever be completely silent, if you mainly hear the sound when you turn on the water, the pipes are probably loose somewhere and hitting against something.
Banging pipes are much easier to fix when they are visible, but in most cases pipes are located in the walls. To find the source of the noise, you should follow these steps.
Go to each faucet, turn on the water and look for any movement or shaking. If you find movement, place padding or foam insulation at each end where the pipe comes out of the wall or goes under the home or business. This added insulation should stop the noise.
Unfortunately, the noise may continue, and you may need to go under the house or access pipes behind walls. You may need to examine them to make sure the U-clamp, or strap holding the pipe, is not loose, allowing the pipe to hit the wall.
To eliminate the noise, you will need to strap the pipe back down and add some insulation between the wall and the pipe. This can include a piece of rubber, foam, or anything that will not wear down with the movement of the pipe when the water is turned on.
As you anchor or strap your pipes down, it is important to remember to allow for some movement. Pressure and temperature changes will cause pipes to expand and contract, and you do not want to cause a pipe to break because it is secured too tightly.
Should the knocking sound only happen when you turn on the hot water, then you only need to turn down your hot water heater, as it is set too high.
Additionally, if the banging sound is happening at an older home or business, check to make sure you have a water-pressure regulator and make sure your water pressure is not set too high. High water pressure is wasteful and can also cause damage to your appliances, including dishwashers, icemakers, washing machines, and other water-supplied appliances.
If problems persist after you’ve taken these steps, contact Drain King for assistance.
Fat, oil, and grease can clog treatment systems, wastewater collection, septic tanks, holding tanks, and grease traps. Blockages cause water to overflow from holding tanks, leading to sewage spills. This can result in serious problems like property damage, environmental pollution, and health hazards. Restaurants that dispose of animal- and vegetable-based oil and grease wastes also contribute to this problem.
Institutions producing grease should ensure maximum control in order to evade these problems. In addition to damaging wastewater treatment, hazardous materials like mold and bacteria can enter the environment through the air and may lead to health problems once inhaled.
Winds transport untreated fat, oil and grease (FOG) materials to the environment. Untreated FOG materials can also attract pests like cockroaches, mice, and rats.
Disposal of FOG materials without treatment leads to their accumulation in pipelines. This makes it difficult to transport wastes to drainage lines, as they tamper with the smooth flow. Companies that dispose of large amounts of waste may be forced to stop their activities if blockage by FOG materials is not attended to urgently.
Grease causes serious problems, thus it needs serious attention. Below are some methods of effective grease control.
Establishment of Grease Arrestors
Arrestors are compact and lightweight and can be installed in existing or new facilities. They can be placed anywhere to help reduce disposal. They have an advantage over concrete ones because they are portable. Also, they are built with polythene and thermal plastics, which are anticorrosive. Devices like these are used in grease-cleaning facilities and to trap other chemical pollutants. Contact us for information to on the use of arrestors and how they can help your business.
Establishment of Dosing Systems
This method is widely used in companies that deal with water treatment or use disinfected water. It makes sense for companies to invest in their own dosing systems. This device is easy to handle and install. Its maintenance cost is also low, which adds to its appeal.
Oil Grease Separator Device
This device prevents oil and other greasy wastes from mixing with sewer and stormwater. These machines help reduce problems that may arise due to contamination. Drain King advises companies to purchase these machines online to ensure they receive correct pricing and find the best dealers in the market.
Cleaning Sewers
Sewer cleaning is also another effective grease-control method. This helps to restore and maintain hydraulic capacity, thus preventing blockage or spills. Blockage can also occur after the sewers are cleaned, due to the nature of residential, industrial, or commercial discharges. Most cities keep records of performance at high-problem areas to ensure close supervision.
Cleaning of sewers is costly and resource-intensive. Therefore, if not performed consistently, it may not prevent all grease in these areas. In areas where cleaning is done at short intervals, extra effort might be needed to control the source of the problems. These efforts may include replacement of broken sections of sewer pipes or inspecting grease-removing equipment.
Water is our most precious natural resource. Animals and plants alike depend on its nourishment to live, as all living things are composed mostly of this vital element. Our planet is also 71 percent water, which seems like an immense amount, and it is. However, it is crucial to remember that the Earth’s water is a finite resource. Not all of the water on Earth is considered usable, as a lot of it is salt water, and smaller amounts are present as vapor in the air or moisture in the soil.
As we are so dependent on this resource, it makes sense to use it as sparingly as possible in our day-to-day living. With 7 billion people on the planet, all equally dependent on available water sources, it is time to get creative and really start paying attention to the amount of water we use…and how to use less.
The average American goes through 80 to 100 gallons of water per day. This number includes everything from washing clothes to drinking a glass of water. North America, Canada, and Australia have about the same water usage per capita, which amounts to a range of 1,037 to 5,375 gallons annually. Granted, this is a large range and a fluctuating one, but the fact remains; a lot of water is being used per person. We could easily decrease those numbers by changing the way we operate each day in our households and offices.
Some great ways to save water include swapping out showerheads, toilets, dishwashers, and faucets for newer models fitted with low-flow capabilities, most of which cut water usage in half. Replacing any of these would lower monthly costs, as well as ease the conscience.
When making the switch to a low-flow faucet or appliance, it is always a good idea to have your plumbing lines checked to make sure they are free of debris and potential blockage. These could slow or stop the flow of water, ultimately making you regret the change to low flow in your home or office.
Small changes do make a difference in the impact we have on the planet, and when it's as easy as switching out a few everyday appliances in the home, why not do our part? If you are considering switching to low flow fixtures, contact Drain King for an assessment of your water lines today.
If you are involved in a food business such as a restaurant, café, or hotel, you are probably aware that you have to prevent grease from entering the sewer system after exiting your establishment’s sink and drainage. By law, all commercial kitchen areas in the U.S. are required to have grease traps installed to prevent this from happening.
A grease trap, also known as a grease interceptor, is part of the plumbing structure designed to prevent grease and other food-waste materials from entering a septic system or sewer. Without it, grease and oily substances will congeal, form a solid mass, and cause blockage, which may lead to burst pipes. Damages caused by grease blockage can be very costly and taxing. That is why law requires installations of grease traps in establishments where a huge amount of grease is used.
Different types of grease traps are available, depending on how your business operates. These include single-tank traps, double-walled tanks, solid interceptors, oil-water separators, and above-ground interceptors. There are slight differences in how each type works, but they all perform the same basic function, to separate fat, oil and grease from water and solid-food waste. Imagine taking a pail of cold water and pouring in oil. The oil will float to the top of the pail and solidify.
This is how a grease trap works. From the drain, it captures the untreated water (water with grease, oil and other solid-food wastes) and deposits it into the grease-trap tank. This tank acts as a reservoir and holds the wastewater and food that passes through the trap. Solid-food wastes, being the heaviest, drop to the bottom. As the greasy substances harden, they float to the top of the tank, displacing the liquid at the middle. A tube fitting is attached to the tank, allowing the liquid to flow into the sewer or sanitary system. Some grease traps are designed to have a second tank to trap additional grease that may have escaped through the first tank, and the same process is repeated.
Like any other equipment, grease traps need to be properly cleaned out so they work as intended. Over time, it is possible to develop clogs in the flowing line (both ingoing and outgoing) and crossover tube, even if the grease-trap tank is not full.
If you have any technical issues with your grease interceptor, contact the manufacturer or hire a Drain King professional to test for and repair any malfunctions. Alternatively, a full grease trap is no longer capable of filtering any grease or solid food. You can either call the manufacturer or hire us to empty the contents of the tank and restore its operative capacity.
Common grease-trap maintenance expenses include drain snaking, power jetting, and line jetting. Maintenance is needed when plumbing between the drain, grease traps, or sewer gets blocked with grease deposits. These deposits are removed by forcing water down the pipes with high pressure to push the grease out with power-jetting or line-jetting procedures.
Clogged drains, pipes, or sewers can be caused by a number of factors. These can include excess debris, overgrown roots, waste blockage, sediment build-up, or grease clogs, to name a few. In order to effectively clear a clogged drain/pipe/sewer, sometimes our professionals need to have a good idea of the cause of blockage this helps them employ correct, appropriate methods.
To properly diagnose and treat a drain clog, we use state-of-the-art, video inspection technology. By inserting a small camera into the blocked area of the drain, which allows for real-time visual inspection, our professionals can determine the cause and location of the blockage. This in turns helps them pinpoint the most effective solution to clear it up.
The technician inserts a high-resolution digital camera attached to a flexible fiber-optic cable down the pipes or drains. This tool is also equipped with powerful lights, enabling the inspection of the inside of the pipes. The video camera utilizes an infrared lighting system that contains a small transmitter. It is also attached to a screen or monitor for real-time visualization that can also be recorded. This footage shows the technician exactly where excavation is required, locating the problem in the drain line and confirming the interior condition of the line.
These cameras are capable of traveling up to 1,000 feet inside any pipe from 6 to 30 inches in diameter and inspecting any portion of the pipe, using tilt and pan technology. This innovation greatly increases productivity and helps in performing repairs or clearing up clogs in an efficient manner, saving time, effort and money.
For more information about our professional video camera technology, please feel free to contact us at Drain King today. We would be happy to provide you with a free quote on our services.
Water is our most precious natural resource. Animals and plants alike depend on its nourishment to live, as all living things are composed mostly of this vital element. Our planet is also 71 percent water, which seems like an immense amount, and it is. However, it is crucial to remember that the Earth’s water is a finite resource. Not all of the water on Earth is considered usable, as a lot of it is salt water, and smaller amounts are present as vapor in the air or moisture in the soil.
