Preventive Plumbing Maintenance Advice
From Mr Rooter Pittsburgh

Mother Nature has gifted Northeast Ohio and Southwest Pennsylvania with some deluxe weather – if you haven’t taken care of your outdoor water source, this weekend would be perfect for this preventive maintenance plumbing task.  Saving money and saving time with preventive pluming maintenance is always a win-win situation.

Some plumbing jobs you just want to do in the summer; Mr. Rooter refers to this as, preventive maintenance.  “A drip from an outdoor faucet could result in broken pipes,” according to Bob Beall, president of Mr. Rooter Plumbing in Beaver, Cranberry, Sharon, Pittsburgh, Washington and Westmoreland Pennsylvania.  In Youngstown Ohio, as well as the Southeastern region in Pennsylvania, according to the most referred plumber, it gets very cold during the winter months which leads to many emergency calls that are addressed 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Replacing the washer in an outdoor freeze-proof faucet is repaired differently.  According to Beall, “The difference is taking apart one of these devices, specially built to prevent freezing in sub-zero weather.  “The packing nut and stem require several extra steps to disassemble.”

Drips are a common problem with these faucets because their design leads many people to turn the faucet off too hard, causing unnecessary wear on the stem washer.  According to Mr. Rooter, “the faucet is installed at a slight tilt toward the outside wall, so that when the handle is turned off, the small amount of water remaining in the faucet body continues to run out of the spout until the body is completely empty.”

According to Beall, this draining action makes the faucet freeze-proof, of course, but instead of waiting a minute for the trickle to stop, homeowners unfamiliar with the mechanism often try to turn off the faucet harder and thus wear out the washer.

Mr. Rooter’s Tip Of The Day

Tip # 1  Inside A Freeze-proof Faucet:  All parts of a standard stem faucet are present in a freeze-proof faucet, but the sloped, elongated body of the faucet allows the stem to stop the flow of water inside the house, where the temperature stays above the freezing point.  Water remaining in the exposed body drains out of the spout.

Tip # 2  Removing The Packing Nut:  Remove the handle screw and the handle.  Unscrew the hexagonal packing nut–it is designed to come off, even though the faucet body may appear to be all of one piece with the stem projecting from it.  Then put the handle back on the stem.

Tip #3  Removing The Stem:  Turn the handle counter-clockwise to unscrew (Righty-tighty, Lefty-loosey) the washer end of the stem from the faucet body.  Then pull the handle away from the faucet body.  If the stem cannot be budged this way–the packing holds it very tight–remove the handle, set a pair of locking-grip pliers over the round part of the stem and pull the stem free.  Then replace the stem washer in the ordinary way.

Mr. Rooter Plumbing offers 24/7 emergency drain cleaning services:  Call 877-ROOTER-2 and a licensed Mr. Rooter plumber will be dispatched to your home or business immediately.

Beall ‘s goal is to provide affordable costs to homeowners for any of the services they may need, many of which might occur unexpectedly. Mr Rooter coupons help to achieve this goal, as well as expert plumbing advice offered daily to homeowners.  Mr Rooter prides itself on excellent customer service.  Fast, courteous and front line services is what you should expect.  We guarantee that is what you will get and our customers always know the price before we start.

About Mr. Rooter ^® :

Established in 1970, Mr. Rooter® is an all-franchised, full-service plumbing and drain cleaning company serving 2.9 million consumers in the Northeast Ohio and Southwest Pennsylvania region. Recognized by Entrepreneur magazine among its “Franchise 500” and Franchise Times Top 200, Mr. Rooter® provides services to both residential and commercial customers.  24/7 emergency plumbing repairs call 1-877-ROOTER2.  For more information or to schedule an appointment, please visit our Web site at www.rooter2.com .  Follow Mr. Rooter on Twitter (https://twitter.com/mrrootermedia ), or like Mr. Rooter on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/MrRooterPittsburgh).

Mr Rooter currently serves seven major Southwest PA counties: Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Sharon, Mercer, Washington, and Westmoreland.  Mr Rooter Youngstown serves three major Northeast OH counties:  Columbiana, Mahoning and Trumbull.

There’s A Reason They Call Us Mr.™

Debra Santavicca PR, SMM, WebIT
Mr. Rooter Media Center
724-553-9510
www.rooter2.com