Speaking for myself, sometimes I am in no position to get to the phone. The thing about plumbing is, and many tradespeople will bear this out, we often have our hands full. If, for example, I am replacing or repairing a toilet, I will often have to cram my head, shoulders and both arms into a space that not only isn’t big enough for them but which (if many of my customers are anything to go by) smells pretty awful. I’ll then be holding one or possibly two spanners and I just won’t be able to take the phone out of my pocket and press ‘answer’.

As I say, I am sorry but please don’t let this deter you from leaving a message because I will call you back! Also, please make sure your phone takes voicemail messages because I will need to leave one if you don’t answer.

Remember; we’re not ignoring you, we just – literally – have our hands full.

Merry Christmas all.

The Plumber Guy

If I change the washer, the same problem might return in just a month, a week, or even a day. Even if I tell a customer this, they won’t appreciate paying me twice – once to fix the drip and…once to fix the drip. If, however, I change the whole tap for just a bit more money on the first – and only – visit, we both know that unless there’s a problem with the tap manufacture, I’m not going to need to come back a second time (and if I provide the tap I’m going to change it for free).

In the main, where I work most problems with taps are caused by limescale so changing a washer isn’t going to do a great deal anyway. Don’t take the chance, go for the new tap straight off. But if you don’t, remember that your plumber is perfectly within his rights to charge for that second visit.

And one final thought. Know what water system you have – check my posts for an explanation. If you have a combi boiler, make sure your taps are going to work under higher pressures.

The problem with these is obvious if you’re a plumber but not so much if you’re a customer. When a bath is originally put in, the taps are fixed and the whole thing is then put in place and piped up. This means you have all the room in the world when fitting the taps.Once they’re in place the bath is fixed to the wall, screwed to the floor and just to make sure you can’t move it, it’s sealed with silicon. Nothing will budge this bath!

BUT when the original taps have had their day and they need replacing, you can’t move the bath and no one will have thought to make the job easier for the next plumber. There might not be any isolation valves in place so you have to drain the whole header tank (gravity system) and using a spanner to tighten compression fittings is one hard slog as there’s almost no room to use your tools. There may be blood and there will certainly be a lot of bruising – not to mention the odd rude word. A plumber will have to solve several problems in a very tight space and this will take time.

Six hours later you may have a lovely set of working taps as we did yesterday. The sense of relief and achievement when you make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear is fantastic and that’s what I enjoy the most about plumbing but as always with my posts I’m really making sure YOU know what you need to know before you get a plumber in.

That’s quite enough typing for now – it’s time to rest my fingers and have a nice cup of tea!

This is something that I was talking about with a 78 year-old retired plumber – when he came off the tennis court the other day! He used to get this issue all the time.

Let me give you just one example. Gate valves in your airing cupboard if you have an indirect hot water system. These are designed so that you can isolate water between the tank in your loft and wherever it is going.If you have to change bath taps they are very helpful – if they work. Last week I carefully tried to close one and it came off in my hand.

Essentially, the valve wasn’t fine before it was touched. It was probably hanging on by a thread but because I had to touch it in order to do my job, that last thread broke. It’s a great shame and I can’t actually think of another profession in which this might happen.

Unfortunately, such is people’s opinions of tradespeople that the owner of the house was immediately suspicious that I was trying to get more work for myself. My philosophy is that if I do a good job for a customer I’ll reap more rewards in the long term than charging more and alienating them in the short term.

Another example of this kind of thing was a ball valve in a central heating header tank. The washer went after I’d emptied the system but because I was concerned about the 100 or so soldered joints I’d put in copper piping on the first floor I didn’t notice it until late on after I’d refilled everything.

Of course, some plumbers may be ‘trying it on’ but the vast majority aren’t. I think common sense and asking yourself if you can trust someone will go a long way towards helping you in this respect.

Thanks again for reading!!

BUT there are a few things that every customer needs to know before radiators go in. Here are the most common problems a plumber might have and which might add to the time and cost of the job:

1) Your drain valves might not work or they might not even exist. Generally speaking it’s best to drain the system to add a radiator and you have to be able to let the water out of it somehow. You can of course freeze a pipe before cutting it but only if you’re not going to melt the ice by soldering near it!

2) You need to specify if you want the piping to come straight up from under the floorboards or not. This might sound obvious but if we can pipe from the existing feeds (when replacing radiators) and it looks good, we often will choose that option. If the floor is already up, no problem. If, however, it’s down we will be extremely concerned about cutting through electric cables that we just can’t see to get the boards up or joists that may be right where the pipe needs to come up and which will make it far more difficult to get a pipe vertical.

It also takes far more time to lift the floorboards and put them back properly so please remember that. And don’t even get me started on tiled floors!!

3) Vented systems airlocking when they are refilled. There are ways to sort this out of course but they do take time. To be safe, it’s best to assume it’s going to happen. Last year, out of all the vented systems I worked on only 2 didn’t airlock.

4) Air in the boiler. This sometimes happens – and it can be loud! – but again there are ways to fix the problem.

5) If you buy the radiators yourself please make sure they are complete. I recently spent a significant amount of my own time running around town trying to find screws and rawl plugs strong enough to hold a radiator because my customer hadn’t checked what he’d bought. Of course it wasn’t his mistake but I didn’t get paid for my extra time and mileage. Naturally, if your plumber buys the radiators, it’s his responsibility.

6) When your system is drained down you will lose all the inhibitor that is already in it and it will need replacing. This is the product that prevents the build up of sludge in your heating system and is of course very important. An average size family house with 10-12 radiators should only need one dosage which costs about £15.

Well, I hope that this has helped you understand the process a little better. Happy plumbing everyone!!

Similarly, PTFE tape and the way it’s applied can make the difference between a successful or an unsuccessful DIY job. Simply put, the aim is to wrap the tape so that the nuts you tighten over it don’t tear it, work it loose or make it look like it’s been applied by anyone with a guide dog.

So remember this; if you’re right handed, hold your pipe/tap/valve in your left hand and with your right hand apply the tape so that it goes over the valve etc… AWAY from your body. If you’re left-handed, apply it so that it comes towards your body.

That way, the tape tightens in the same direction as the nut and the job looks a whole lot better. Then you get to show off to your other half who told you to get a pro in to start with!!

What type of water system do you have?

Generally speaking, in the UK there are 2 types of domestic water system; direct and indirect. Did your parents ever tell you not to drink from the cold tap in your bathroom washbasin? They may have added that there was a tank up in your loft and birds could get into it and drown.

They didn’t want you drinking dead bird bits for obvious reasons but this highlights the system we’re talking about (even though nowadays tanks are well covered so birds can’t get in). This tank generally feeds cold taps everywhere apart from your kitchen tap and also a hot water cylinder in an airing cupboard.

There, water gets heated up and is delivered to your hot taps BUT the whole system depends on gravity. The further the distance between the top of the water in your tank and the taps, the greater the water, or head, pressure. If there’s very little distance there’s very little pressure and you may find this frustrating, especially when showering.

Direct systems, however, send drinking water all round your house and involve a lot less piping, tanks and birds! If you have a combi boiler, for example, you have a direct water system.

Both have their advantages and disadvantages but I mention them in the context of recent jobs because it’s easier to turn off direct systems. With the gravity, or indirect systems though, you might have to plug or drain the tank but in the worst case, when there are no working gate valves or easy access to the tank to plug it, things take a lot longer and may involve spillages.

Of course plumbers are prepared for these eventualities but they are going to be with you for longer if you have a gravity system and your bill will therefore be higher. Again, isolation valves can prevent all this bother but if you don’t have them this post will at least help you understand what you’re dealing with before you call a plumber in.

There are many, many more things to say about these systems but I don’t want to overload you with too much information. Thanks again for reading and I hope this post has helped.

A few stings later I arrived at a flat to change bath taps. It’s always difficult replacing these taps because the fittings for the originals go in before the bath is even put in place. You have all the room in the world the first time and none for the replacements. By far the worst thing though is isolation valves being absent and, in gravity systems, gate valves not working. Both happened today and what should have taken 2 hours took about five-and-a-half. If you haven’t seen an isolation valve, this is what they look like:

In short, these valves allow you to turn off the water to taps etc… (you put a flat-bladed screwdriver into the centre slot and turn it 90 degrees) but allow you to keep it on in the rest of the house – and in the upstairs flat, not forgetting next door too. Then the mains didn’t shut off properly so water, clean thankfully, went everywhere so the day ended with a flooded bathroom, badly bruised hands, a thorough soaking, and two lovely new working taps. True, isolation valves would have saved me a great deal of time but any tradesman’s time also has to be paid for. Even if you don’t end up using my services, getting isolation valves fitted will save you money and hassle.

The saving grace of the job? Lots of cups of tea and a new best friend.

Here he is:

The tank sits, not in her loft, but in an airing cupboard in her bedroom and when it filled the dripping sound would drive her mad as she tried to fall asleep. She called a company based in Kent who sent a Croatian plumber round who said the job would cost £200 and if she didn’t get it done the tank would overflow. The job he did did not stop the dripping and when she complained to the company she was told the valve he put in was to stop Legionnaire’s Disease! The siting of the tank and the temperature of the water is what stops Legionnaire’s Disease, not the valve this man replaced.

I went round, moved the filler mechanism so it filled down the side of the tank and therefore did not drip, did another small job and left. I told the truth because I wanted the lady concerned to come back to me in the future and I charged way, way lower than £200! The ‘moral’ here is please try me first. If I can’t do a job I will say so but I want customers for life, not for holiday spending money which the Croatian plumber said he was charging for.

Please also remember that these tips are not designed to replace a tradesman and The Plumber Guy cannot be held liable in any way for loss or damage caused. If you are not sure about what is involved, contact me using the form supplied or call me on 07729 178119.

Tips to come soon!