Protect Your Plumbing During Cold Snaps
As Knoxville heads into the winter months, family gatherings and holiday celebrations are just around the corner. Knoxville Plumbing would like to offer you some tips to protect your home from cold snaps and freezing temperatures so that you can enjoy the season’s festivities without worrying about plumbing emergencies.
Here are a few tips for Knoxville residents to consider as we head into the winter months.
Update Fixtures
Family gatherings and holiday parties mean extra guests and extra use of faucets and toilets that can put a strain on your home’s plumbing. This also means more water consumption overall, but you don’t have to waste valuable money and water over the holiday seasons. Consider replacing old fixtures with high efficiency options. Newer fixtures work exactly the same as your old ones did but will be more effective at saving water because they actually consume less when used.
Water Heater Inspection
Whether your home has a newer tankless water heater or you use a standard model it’s important that you get your water heater checked every couple of years. Most traditional tanks are meant to last a few years, but without a good flushing of the system, sediment can build up within the tank over time and decrease performance. Everyone should have their water heater inspected otherwise, you could be left without a working system when you need it to work the most.
For an inspection, call the best plumber Knoxville has to offer. Knoxville Plumbing can check your tank and make sure it is functioning at its best possible performance level. Knoxville Plumbing has a team of trained technicians that can flush out your tank and have it running smoothly without debris so that the increased use of hot water during the holidays won’t wear out your tank.
Circulate warm air
It can be tempting to bundle up during the cold season and not turn on your home’s thermostat unless you absolutely have to. However, if your home’s internal temperature reaches 55 degrees or less your pipes could easily freeze. It is important to keep circulating warm air throughout the house every now and again to keep pipes from freezing. It is also important to open cabinets under sinks and faucets and near exterior walls so that pipes have a better chance of staying warm all winter long and preventing costly water damage from pipes rupturing.
Possible Causes
You might think that store bough chemical drain cleaners are an easy fix, but this is not really the case. The only real advantage that store bought chemical drain cleaners offer is convenience. However, this convenience is minimal due to the fact that the issue with your drain will not be fixed permanently and will only continue to worsen. It is simple and easy to pick up a chemical drain cleaner in any local retail store, but it does not work as effectively in cleaning out your drains as you might think. There are many reasons why using chemical drain cleaners is not the ideal option for your home.
“Know any good plumbers?”
Water heaters are sturdy devices and they use state of the art technology. Collectively, the durability and the technology ensure that water heaters remain operational for many years without causing much headache to the homeowner. But water heaters also need some occasional maintenance, especially when they get old. It is not necessary that every need for maintenance is due to a severe problem or serious issue. There may be some very minor and considerably insignificant problems that may require some attention.
1. Knoxville is considered the “cradle of country music” it is the place where country music first came down from the hills.
2. Dolly Parton got her start in Knoxville as did the Everly Brothers.
3. Hank Williams Sr. spent his last night alive right in Knoxville.
4. Elvis Presley did not get his start in Knoxville but he did get a nice sized push when a record exec heard his first song being played in a store in Knoxville on the radio and as they say the rest is history!
5. Country singer Kenny Chesney grew up in Knoxville TN and calls it his home.
7. The list of accomplishments and fun facts about this city is long and pretty amazing when you think that it is nestled in the middle of the state of Tennessee without access to many of the large ports although Knoxville can be considered an international port in its own right. If someone was so inclined they could travel to the Great Lakes and back down to the Gulf of Mexico on the Tennessee River, which of course runs right through Knoxville.
13. Peyton Manning the star quarterback got his start at UT.
16. Quentin Tarantino the award winning movie producer was also born in Knoxville.
18. George Dempster was born in Knoxville and invented the first garbage dumpster. The Dempster Dumpster was considered an engineering marvel of the time. He also was the FIRST stems shovel operator to move earth for the Panama Canal project. Upon his return to Knoxville he became Mayor of the city but not without a bit of controversy. He is credited with getting “rid” of the old market square and building the new square. The newspapers of the day reported that there was a “suspicious” fire but while there were plenty of whispers no one outright accused Mr. Dempster of inappropriate behavior.
20. Jack Hanna the world renowned zoo keeper often appearing on television shows like Good Morning America claims Knoxville as his birth place!
23. Knoxville is credited with planting the seed of conservation for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park as early as 1913 with the National Conservation Exposition that was held to raise awareness of the beauty of the Great Smoky Mountains.
25. Knoxville has our own special way of celebrating Labor Day! Each year the “Boomsday” celebration is a work of art with one of the largest fireworks displays in the country over the Tennessee river! Boomsday is a huge event where people come from miles around to participate and enjoy the spectacle.
26. In 1940 Mountain Dew was born in Knoxville TN. It may not seem like a big deal now but it was a pretty big deal for the region than!
29. In 1901 a member of the famous Butch Cassidy’s outlaw group was captured in Knoxville after shooting two sheriff deputies. He was incarcerated in the city jail and was able to shoot the sheriff and escape on the sheriff’s horse and gallop to freedom once again.
31. In 1982 Knoxville became the smallest city to ever host a worlds fair.
34. The Golden Globe of the Sunsphere (a giant gold globe that sits in the middle of down town Knoxville) houses offices not “old wigs” as mentioned in the hit TV shows the Simpsons.
35. The Susphere is only one of two buildings that remain from the 1982 worlds fair.
39. Knoxville is named after Henry Knox the first ever Secretary of War for the United States.
40. Knoxville is currently home to HGTV a home and garden cable/satellite network.
41. In 1860 Knoxville had a population of about 3500 residents today the population is about 170,000, which does not include the approximately 25,000 students that attend the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. 
Water pressure in your home is strictly regulated by a simple truth; that water flows from higher altitudes to lower altitudes. The water pressure in every tap or shower in your home will depend on the natural flow of water from a storage tank through the pipes to the eventual faucet. The only way you can determine the water pressure other than the natural flow of water is by using air pressure tanks. Unless you have air pressure tanks, you will have to rely on the natural pressure. There are some plumbing fixtures which can increase or reduce the water pressure but they won’t have the capacity or ability to influence the water pressure through the plumbing network. They can only play a role once the water flows into the special faucet or tap system, after which the pressure is controlled, increased or decreased.
It might not be as easy to spot, but an old rusty pipe in your home can act in much the same manner as thief in the night. This is due to the fact that they burst when you least expect it and cause extensive damage that ravishes your home. You won’t be able to believe your eyes when you see the amount of damage and destruction that a bursting old pipe can do to your home. However, we are a plumbing company that can help you avoid this type of damage and destruction by taking advantage of our repiping services. Repiping projects are quite complex and are best left in the hands of experienced and qualified plumbers that you can count on.
Having a trained and licensed professional inspect that important part of the house will give you the relief and security to move in and live comfortably. While he cannot see what is inside the walls, he can judge the condition of what is inside, by looking at the condition of what is visible outside the wall; by looking at how and where a pipe enters the wall, and the way it was constructed. Their trained eye will spot things that may look fine to you, but shows signs of poor practices and materials.
A water heater is a much needed appliance. It is difficult to do without a water heater and thus if there are problems, then the days without the heater can be quite troublesome and painstaking. While a water heater is a sturdy device and can perform regularly without much tantrums or problems, it is still an appliance at the end of the day and it will have some problems from time to time. If you have a new water heater then you have your warranty and most common problems are taken care of. But if you have an old water heater, then not only would you have to brace for more problems but you will also have to attend to those problems without any warranty’s help.
Pipes are sturdy installations. They are meant to last for years, unless a compromise had been made initially to install poor quality pipes. Plumbing installations are usually durable if the right brands and specs have been chosen at the right prices. However, everything has a lifespan and that holds true for pipes as well. Pipes are not meant to last forever. While some poor quality pipes may last just a year or few years, most pipes will show signs of ageing after several years. Also, the type of use and other external factors also play a role in determining the life of your pipes.
Should I call the Plumber?
If you are tired of dealing with hard water in your home, you can have a water softener installed by a Knoxville plumbing professional that you trust. At first, you might assume that the concept of a water softener is difficult to understand, but it is relatively simple if broken down into basic terms. The fact is that some of the groundwater that flows into your home is filled with dissolved minerals. This type of water is referred to as hard water.
Almost every plumbing problem is an emergency, or can soon become one. It may be as simple as a dripping faucet, or as much as a broken pipe in the wall. What should you do?
The water faucets that are featured in your home are pretty basic devices that normally don’t malfunction in any way very often. However, it is likely that some of eth mechanisms within your faucet will begin to age over time and the results is a leaky or dripping faucet that not only gets on your nerves, but also costs you more on utility bills. The cause of your leaking faucet is what results in either an intermittent dripping faucet or a constant dripping faucet. If notice that you have a leaking or dripping faucet, it is important to call on a professional plumber right away to correct the issue. In many instances, eroding connections can be the problem leading to the dripping of water from your faucet.
Are you beginning to notice that the drains within your home are flowing more sluggishly than normal? This is not abnormal in the least and is often caused by an inability to properly maintain your drains. If you let sluggish flowing drains turn into clogged drains, you will likely have a massive problem on your hands. Just one backed up drain has the ability to disrupt the flow of your whole home. Your drains will naturally become slightly clogged over time and if they are not maintained properly you will be dealing with clogs. This is due to the fact that hair, grease, food and other particles begin to build up over time. Both standing water and organic matter in your pipes can lead to foul smells emitting through your home. If you want to avoid major issues in the future, you should take advantage of professional summer drain cleaning services. This will ensure that your pipes are in good working order.
Drains are like the excretory organs of a property. If the drains work well, then all waste generated at home or at office can be got rid of easily. If the drains are not working well, then most of the waste generated will have to be specially attended to. While drains are usually very effective at flushing out all liquid waste, they don’t typically do well with solid waste or even semisolid waste. Drains have a tendency to get clogged. If there is anything that is not a fluid or even a liquid that doesn’t flow very easily, then it will clog the drains.
Ideally, you don’t need to have your water heater checked out if it is new. As the water heater gets old, you will come across signs that will indicate a need for some preventive maintenance or repairs. There can be problems with new water heaters and those problems will become obvious if you pay heed to the system and observe the kind of water the heater delivers. Unless there are visible or noticeable problems with new heaters, they don’t usually need preventive maintenance. Regardless of whether your water heater is new or old, here are the signs that you should be looking for.
In very old Knoxville homes
A garbage disposal unit is usually a very sturdy device. It works brutally on the garbage and gets rid of a lot of trash that you would otherwise have to collect in a container and carry it out all the way to the front yard. When you have a sturdy device, it is not expected to malfunction or stop working. But given the kind of task it does, a garbage disposal unit may malfunction at times. When your garbage disposal unit doesn’t work, it is not always the fault of the system or the company that has manufactured it. Often, it is the nature of your use and what you have subjected the unit to which causes the problem.
When it comes to the most important social topics affecting our society, energy conservation is at the top of the list. The fact is that as a homeowner you have the ability to make small changes that can add up to make a big difference in the amount of overall energy usage. Reducing your energy use in your home can be done easily by focusing on your water heater. There are numerous simple ways that you can reduce the amount of energy your water heater consumes.
Before you buy a new home, you will certainly have the entire property checked out by a licensed inspector. Almost every homebuyer does this and you should not avoid it at any cost. The exercise of property inspection should be carried out much before you make the final call of signing on the dotted lines. You cannot own a home or buy a property that has not been thoroughly inspected.
Making minor updates in your kitchen can not only make it more convenient for you, but also help you cut back on your waste. Installing a garbage disposal is a great way to make your kitchen more environmentally friendly. Having a garbage disposal installed underneath your kitchen sink is easy and affordable for all homeowners. This handy gadget works by grinding uneaten foods into miniscule pieces that can be passed through the sewage system. This makes an impact because it cuts down on the amount of waste that is disposed of in landfills.
You might not realize it, but regular attention to drain cleaning can have a huge impact on your monthly utility bills. Drain cleaning is a simple and easy way to keep your utility costs low and it also ensures that your facets are functioning properly. Many homeowners are not completely sure of the best methods for drain cleaning, which leaves them searching for the right company to get the job done.
Making sure that the water your family drinks, cooks with and bathes with is of the highest quality should be one of your main concerns. The quality of the water that you consume plays a large role in your overall health and well-being. A water filtration system installed in your home is a great investment in the health of those that mean the most to you. Shielding your family from harmful toxins and chemicals found in tap water supplies is possible with the installation of a whole home water filtration system. The benefits that you get access to with the installation of a water filtration system are well worth the initial cost investment. Keeping your family safe and their health as your number one priority should always be your main goal.
A leaking hot water heater is one of the more common plumbing problems you may have. Depending on the age of the tank, you may have a slow drip, or an unending stream of water. The first is an irritation, and a warning. The second is an emergency.