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Villa Park & Chicago Plumbers Give Your Sump Pump The All-Clear

Proper maintenance can extend the life of your sump pump and protect your home against flooding. However, if the sump pump becomes clogged, it will not function properly and can result in water damage to your home. To maintain your sump pump, simply perform an annual check-up. Here are 3 things you can do once a year to make sure the sump pump is in working order:

1. Check the motor on the sump pump.
Activate the switch to make sure that the motor is functioning. If not, the sump pump cannot effectively move water away form your home. You may need to replace the pump or the motor to avoid flooding.

2. Disconnect the sump pump from the power source.
Always disconnect the sump pump before reaching inside. You can avoid injury by disconnecting the pump before cleaning it.

3. Clear debris from the sump pump.
Blockage can cause a sump pump not to function, and can lead to costly basement flooding. By keeping the sump pump free of dirt and debris, you will not need to replace it as frequently. You can unclog the sump pump manually and restore its functioning in many cases.

Maintain your sump pump in 3 easy steps to protect your home from water damage. Scottish Plumber will gladly install your automatic sump pump or manual sump pump, you can easily inspect it to keep it running smoothly. Scottish Plumber will gladly install sump pumps anywhere in Chicago and Villa Park, IL. Call us today for more information.

Plumbing Tips: Toilets

Toilets are greedy for water at their best, but if there’s a leak, it will really cost you. When you do your spring cleaning, check your toilet’s overall health. If there’s a problem you’re not comfortable fixing yourself, call a Scottish Plumber expert to your Chicago area home.

First, try to wiggle the toilet to make sure it doesn’t move. Check for cracked or crumbling caulking around the base of the toilet, and if necessary, scrape it off and re-caulk. Lift the lid and look inside the tank for any parts that appear rusty or broken. Add a few drops of food coloring to the tank and let it sit for half an hour. If the color shows up in the bowl, your tank has a leak. Flush the toilet. If you have to hold the handle down to get a full flush or jiggle the handle to get the flap to seat, it’s time to replace the tank parts.

Finally, check the hoses and valves for moisture on your fingers, and if you see wetness on the floor behind the toilet, you probably have a leak. A Scottish Plumber expert can help you with any necessary repairs to keep your toilet working properly and save on your water bills.

Chicago Plumber Tips #2

Spring cleaning time is as good a time as any to check every faucet in your Chicago area home. Drips are the most obvious thing: they waste water and cost you money.

Look for leaks when you turn the faucet on or off. Check for wetness, puddles, corrosion or mildew where the faucet connects to the supply hoses: this may mean it’s time to replace the faucet. Run all faucets to be sure the water flows strongly. A slow faucet with low water pressure may have a build-up of sediment within the faucet, or something wrong with the water line. Check outdoor faucets for strong water pressure, dripping and leaks where the pipe passes through the exterior wall of your home. A leak may indicate a cracked pipe that needs to be replaced.

Maintaining your faucets is an easy way to save money on water, prevent damage to surrounding walls and floors faucets and generally make the faucets work better. If you’re not comfortable replacing a faucet, call in a Scottish Plumber expert to do it for you.

Chicago Plumber Tip #1: if it smells bad, it is bad

That foul odor you’ve begun to notice throughout your Chicago area home may mean something is happening that could really make you sick. The odor could be caused by a clog or a leak in your sewer vent pipe. This pipe exits your home through your roof and allows the sewer system to suck fresh air in from outside to keep fluid moving through the pipes. If the vent pipe in your Chicago area home is clogged or leaking, it could suck in the air it needs from your fixture drains, drying out the drains and allowing the odor of sewer gas to escape.

The clog or leak could also be causing your heating or air conditioning system to broadcast the odor throughout your home via the duct system. Sewer gas is toxic, so more than being unpleasant, it could really cause illness. Don’t try to ferret out the funk yourself; if you try to open your sewer and drain system, you could actually release sewage into your home. The Scottish Plumber has special equipment that can allow us to pinpoint the source of the sewer gas odor quickly and without making a mess.

To schedule an appointment for a free assessment, please call 888-451-6137 or click here.

Bio Clean

Bio Clean- It is safe as a septic cleaner and can be used in all drain types even plastic drains. It is not poisonous, and creates no heat or fumes.

One of the best and most environmentally friendly products on the market today for clearing blocked drains is Bio Clean. It is a biological drain cleaner which uses a blend of bacteria and enzymes that are natural to clear out drains. It is safe as a septic cleaner and can be used in plastic drains. It is not poisonous, and creates no heat or fumes. It eliminates bad smells in drains and garbage disposals, as well as costly backups and build ups in tanks and pipes. It does not harm live tissue or inorganic materials such as your gloves or hands, but will get rid of organic waste such as grease, hair, food, paper, etc.

If you want a safe, environmentally friendly way to unclog your drain without chemicals, give Scottish Plumber a call – we utilize bio clean when cleaning out drains. We service the whole Chicagoland area, including Villa Park, Joliet, Aurora, and of course, Chicago.

https://www.scottishplumber.com/drain-cleaning-services/bio-clean

Flood Prevention Chicago

The Scottish Plumber has been working Chicago’s neighborhoods for generations and knows the ins and outs of old plumbing, the permits required and areas of the city and suburbs with specific flooding concerns.

Chicago has aging sewer systems causing more and more local flooding problems to occur. Systems are being overtaxed by snow melt and rainwater mixed with sewage. When this happens this filthy and unhealthy mixture backs up in to residences and commercial buildings which do not have working flood control systems in place.

We will continue to get more and moisture here in Chicago according to Scientists (article below). For this reason it is advisable for business’ and residents who have encountered basement flooding in the past to install or update their flood control systems. Yearly visual and/or professional inspections should be done to confirm these systems are working properly. These are mechanical systems which need yearly maintenance so they will be ready to provide the protection needed when called upon. Sump Pumps and Ejector Pumps jobs are to keep ground water out and to pump sewage into city sewers. These pumps are not intended for flood control and cannot be expected to hold back a sewage backup caused by storm water.. Professional advice is suggested so a complete system (correctly sized and engineered for your specific needs), which will keep your belongings and building from safe from water damage.

The Scottish Plumber’s specialty is flood control systems, no-dig trenchless sewer repair and drainage issues. We install, repair and design flood control systems for clients with hard to solve drainage issues. We are so confident in our flood control system that it comes with a 10 year guarantee against this type of flooding. Call today for a free estimate.

Experienced Scottish Plumbers know the ins and outs of old plumbing and drain systems

BEST PRACTICES ON FLOOD PREVENTION, PROTECTION AND MITIGATION

The major part of population and goods are located in big urban areas so efforts for avoiding flood problems should be focused on these urban areas. Rivers overflowing do not always cause urban floods; they can also be caused by high rain intensities over the city combined with aging sewers systems. Special attention should be taken to the present drainage of rainwater, for instance the capacity of the sewer systems of our cities.

The probability of flooding is expected to increase: the earth’s climate is changing rapidly. Since the warm period in the Middle Ages and after the Minor Boulder, the earth is undeniably growing warmer again. Scientists reached agreement on this point at a conference in Shanghai in early 2001. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assumes that we will see an average of temperature rise in the 21st century (1.4 to 5.8 degrees Celsius). Based on this assumption, the sea is expected to rise (9 cm to 88 cm by the year 2100). The precipitation pattern will also change. Humid areas will generally become more humid and arid areas more arid. The amount of precipitation will also fluctuate more sharply (Interreg Rhine Meuse Activities best practices – IRMA -2003). In general, this means a greater probability of flooding and extremely low rivers during dry periods. The rising sea level will make it more difficult for the rivers in the delta to drain into the sea. The impact of flooding increases: the impact of floods in terms of human health and economic losses has risen, and the planning of protection against floods can no longer be limited to protecting some isolated assets from certain types of danger.

Reference: Executive Summary dated Sept 25^th, 2003

http://www.floods.org/PDF/Intl_BestPractices_EU_2004.pdf

Sewer Rodding – Glenview

Sewer Rodding Glenview Homeowners Can Trust

There are two types of people in Glenview: those who hate sewer backups and those who hate them even more.

Hate is a strong word, but probably appropriate. A sewer backup never happens at a good time, and when it does, it can cause quite the mess. But don’t despair. The Scottish Plumber is here to help.

Our technicians are trained and skilled sewer rodding experts who will treat your home like their own.

Whether the clogged sewer is caused by the roots of your neighbor’s century-old oak, a Batman action figure your son accidentally flushed down the toilet, or something completely different, we promise to do everything we can to get your sewer flowing again as quickly as possible.

Sewer Rodding at a Fair Price

The Scottish Plumber takes pride in providing quality sewer rodding at affordable prices. We also take pride in being up-front and transparent.

We don’t charge a service charge to come out and we are happy to provide you with pricing on some of our more common Glenview sewer rodding services:

Sewer rodding from an outside cleanout is just $99
Sewer rodding from an inside cleanout or catch basin is just $199

After the rodding is complete, we can follow up with a free video inspection of your sewer line. If the line is clear and in good condition, we will provide you with up to a 1-year warranty on the flow.

Please note that If the sewer is longer than 100 feet or if there is no cleanout access available, additional charges may apply. See our Sewer & Drain Cleaning page for more information.

How to Schedule an Appointment

To schedule an appointment simply fill our the red appointment form on this page, give us a call at 888-451-6137, or contact us here.

Slow Drain Lines

If you’re living in one of the older homes around Oak Park, Elmhurst or Hinsdale and you have problems with slow drains in your house, then your real problem could be sludge in the drain lines.

If you’re living in one of the older homes around Hinsdale, Elmhurst or Oak Park and you have problems with slow drains in your house, then your real problem could be sludge in the drain lines. If this is the case then chemicals and plumbing alone won’t solve your problem; what you need is for someone to get up on your rooftop and use a metal snaking system to clear our your drain lines. It’s a very difficult, very messy job that requires a trained professional plumber.

If your home drains are slow and giving you trouble, give Scottish Plumber a call to see what their plumbing technicians can do to help you out. We are drain cleaning experts serving the whole Chicagoland area, including Elmhurst, Hinsdale, Oak Park and of course, Chicago.

https://www.scottishplumber.com/drain-cleaning

Cast Iron Sewer Repair

Repairing and Replacing a broken Sewer Line

This is one of several buildings we have come across in Chicago where the builders hooked up the new building to the old sewer line. This is not good or “legal” and it should have been discovered by the plumbing inspector. This type of shoddy workmanship is not usually discovered until long after the builder is gone and the homeowner association or homeowner figures out what happened. We were called in to re-line a sewer since a large front stoop and sidewalk would have needed to be demolished and replaced if using the old fashioned excavation and pipe replacement method making the project financially prohibitive for the building owners .

Saved the front stoop by re-lining sewer

In the case pictured we had to put in a new cast iron sewer line and disconnect and cap off the old PVC line which lead outside to the old collasped sewer line. There was a maze of old pipe outside some of which we re-lined and some we had to replace completely because part of sewer line had collapsed. It cannot be re-lined if it is collasped. This job was 1/4 the price of excavation & replacement due the concrete work that would have needed to be re-done. Re-lining saves time, energy and money.

Three Most Common Toilet Problems and How to Fix Them

If your toilet is broken or not working properly, it is very often a job to be handled by a professional. We serve the whole Chicagoland area, including Villa Park, Joliet, Aurora, and of course, Chicago.

Generally speaking, the toilet is a very sturdy contraption, and tends to be pretty low maintenance. Of course, everything needs a tune-up once in a while, and your porcelain throne is no exception. Here is a quick fix for three of the most common problems:

Not Enough Water When Flushing

The quick and easy check to make is whether or not there’s enough water in the tank, because the water in the tank is the water that gets flushed. Generally speaking the water should be at least one or two inches above the overflow tube. If too little water is coming into the tank, bend the arm up to make let more in.

Toilet Tank Leaking

Leaking toilet tanks are a huge headache- not only do they leave ugly stains on your toilet, but they can also ruin tiles if you’re using chemical cleaning solutions. The best solution is to use a temperature valve, which stops sweating by mixing hot and cold water as it flows into the tank. This causes a relief in condensation. The valve should only be installed if the temperature of your toilet tank remains less than 50 degrees Fahrenheit.

Broken Toilet Seat

Nobody likes sitting on a cracked or broken toilet seat- and sometimes you can’t sit on it at all. Fortunately, changing the toilet seat is a 1-2-3 job. There are a ton of different styles, even electronic ones that will warm your butt and keep you cozy on those cold winter mornings. You can buy them at the Home Depot or other hardware supply stores, but MAKE SURE TO GET THE RIGHT SIZE! Remove the existing toilet seat by taking out the two nuts holding it in place- it will lift right off after that. If the nuts are rusted and not coming off, a little oil should fix the problem.