5 things to do & not do to avoid a plumbing emergency call-out
Nobody, not even plumbers, likes a call out late at night or in the weekends, although we would always come. Call 027 265 4949.
Things our plumbers wished people knew
Our plumbing team are in the business of helping people. That’s what we do. At FlowFix Plumbing, we believe you should get the best possible plumbing services when you need them and without surprises.
Call us when you need a plumber in Rodney, on the Hibiscus Coast and on the North Shore, and you’ll be dealing with a family-owned business run by Dave, a New Zealand registered plumber, and Colette, the office administrator.
Like most of us, we love our weekends. We like spending time with family. Dave is pretty keen on both golf and fishing, and we love family activities on the beach and just hanging out with our two young boys.
Hibiscus Coast plumbing services
We’ll fix a plumbing emergency
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quickly
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efficiently
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at a fair price.
Emergency plumber in Orewa
We are here for all of your plumbing emergencies 24/7, of course. It doesn’t matter when and where they may arise. You can trust us to be there when you need us.
A few handy plumbing tips
However, so we can all enjoy an uninterrupted weekend of relaxation or a worry-free night’s sleep, we’ve put together a list of things, that as your local plumber, we wished people knew.
As we all know, when you really need a plumber late at night, or on weekends, call-out fees can mean our help is more expensive than 8-5 during the week. And to be honest, we want to make a house call at odd hours as much as you want to call us. So, here is a list of some preventable plumbing problems and issues that can be fixed if addressed early on. Let’s all get some quality downtime.
Things to stop doing and things that are helpful
Plumbing problems are often preventable with a little bit of maintenance. Our FlowFix team has put together a list of things to do and NOT do so you can enjoy peace of mind and relaxation
By following this advice, you could avoid potentially costly and inconvenient emergency calls.
1. If your pipes are banging on about something, don’t ignore it
Don’t ignore odd sounds. If you hear strange noises coming from your pipes, don’t just ignore them. They are not caused by ghosts. Annoying and sometimes startling rattling, knocking, banging, hammering, squealing, screeching, and gurgling noises are not OK. Your pipes are trying to tell you something and it’s usually a serious plumbing issue. So please call our plumber to come and take a look before we all have a drama on our hands. The sooner our plumbers can address it, the better.
2. Never underestimate the value of isolation valves
“What are isolation valves?”, I hear you say. An isolation valve is a mini tap turns the water off for an appliance or plumbing fixture at the wall. Having them installed can be a real godsend, believe us. If you have a leaking tap or one that won’t turn off, or another water-going-everywhere kind of emergency, it saves you from running down to find your toby box to switch the water off for the whole house. Which brings us to the next point.
3. What’s a toby?
A toby – also known as a stopcock, shut-off valve or isolated valve – is the valve that turns off the mains water to your house. You should find it at the front of your house, by the road, under a blue or black plastic cover. You should know where it is.
If you ever do have a flooding problem, your top objective until our emergency plumber arrives, is to stop water flowing everywhere. The main water valve, or toby, should be turned off in case of a plumbing emergency.
The importance of knowing how to find the toby was highlighted in a recent plumbing emergency we sorted out. The client couldn’t find the toby box (it was buried). They had to clamp a burst hose with a pair of scissors and hold it while our plumbers were on their way.
4. Don’t pour grease down the sink
Grease may seem harmless. It is not. Blockages are usually caused by built-up of debris like hair, soap scum, fat and grease. When hot grease cools down, it can harden and clog your pipes. Add soap scum and un-dissolved food particles such as rice, which expands in water, and you’ve got a stubborn, gunky clog. To avoid this problem, pour used grease into a container, freeze it and chuck it out on rubbish day.
A major clog in your wastewater drains is a plumbing emergency, so call our plumbers immediately to come and take a look. We’ll use our drain camera equipment to inspect your drains to locate and diagnose the issue and our Hydrojet drain cleaner to rid your drain of any debris, sludge, slurry, and tree roots, leaving them 100% clear.
5. Don’t flush other stuff down the toilet
Toilet paper should be the only other man-made product that goes down your toilet, ever. Never flush wet wipes. Although many wet wipe manufacturers claim their wipes are flushable, wet wipes do not break down like toilet paper and lead to nasty blockages. Consumer.org tested 11 wet wipes whose labels claimed they were “flushable”. None of them broke down. Wet wipes are a major cause of plumbing headaches.
We sort drainage emergencies too
Should any of these drainage crimes take place at your place, we can sort it. We’ll be there with our CCTV cameras to diagnose exactly what the problem is without adding to the mess and drama and then we can sort the whole problem out with our hydro jetting equipment. Call 027 265 4949 and we’ll unblock your drains in no time.