Backflow prevention may not be first and foremost in your mind, but it’s crucial for the safety of your home and family. Imagine the horror of a toilet exploding or contaminated water flowing back into your clean water supply. It’s a definite damper on your quality of life and a recipe for health calamities. That said, there are ways to mitigate backflow risks, which we’ll investigate in this blog. Understanding Backflow What is Backflow? Backflow is a plumbing aberration where water reverses direction from its intended flow. This leads to the potential contamination of clean water with pollut ..read more

Does your toilet run constantly?  Is your toilet tank slow to refill? The first place to check is the flapper, the toilet part that wears out most often. Next comes the toilet fill valve. If you’re lucky, it may require an adjustment. Otherwise, it will have to be replaced. Toilet fill valves are cheap; professional plumbers are not. Fortunately, replacing the fill valve is one of the easier plumbing repairs to perform DIY, saving you a ton of money. This blog will walk you through the steps. What’s a Toilet Fill Valve? A fill valve is a simple mechanism controlling water flow into the to ..read more

Low-flow toilets can save up to 2 gallons of water per flush or up to 20 gallons per day for a household of four. Advanced low-flow toilets use 1.28 gallons per flush or 77% less water than conventional toilets. Low flow is good. Slow flow or no flow is, well, problematic. A toilet is the one genuinely indispensable fixture in your home. Plus, a malfunctioning toilet can lead to health hazards. Here, we list a few common low-flow toilet issues you can resolve without calling a plumber. How Low-Flow Toilets Work Unlike conventional toilets, which typically use around 3.5 to 7 gallons per flush ..read more

Water is scarce during Orange County, CA’s hot, dry summers. Imagine you’re a tiny ant whose only access to H2O comes from bathroom plumbing. From an ant’s viewpoint, your moist bathroom is an oasis in the Sahara. This explains the ants in your bathroom, with its abundant water sources like sinks, showers, and toilets. Plus, bathrooms tend to be warm, making them an ant’s paradise. Now that you’ve invited them in, how can you ask them to leave? And without harmful chemicals? Chemical repellents can pose health hazards to your family and pets. They can also harm the environment. Non-chemical me ..read more

Do you know your humble water meter is a secret weapon against leaks and water waste? Unless you’re equipped with professional leak detection technology, like the good folks at Orange Coast Plumbing, you might want to keep an eye on it — not just to lower your bills, but to nip plumbing disasters in the bud. Trust us, if you haven’t yet experienced the full glory of a slab leak in your living room, it’s something you want to avoid. Why Check Your Water Meter? Water scarcity is a growing concern worldwide. Conservation ensures adequate future resources and reduces the strain on water treatment ..read more

Is your toilet leaking at the base? You may have a cracked toilet base, loose or corroded mounting bolts, or a deteriorated wax ring. Or it could be the flange that connects the toilet to the drainpipe. When the seal between the toilet and flange breaks, water can seep out each time you flush the toilet. It’s an unpleasant, unsanitary, and potentially dangerous situation, and you should address it ASAP. But what if you can’t afford or find a plumber? Or what if you pride yourself on your handiness? Replacing a flange is a relatively simple though grubby repair that you may be able to perform o ..read more

Cleaning a toilet tank is an unglamorous task. It doesn’t make for exciting TitTok videos or Instagram posts. But neglecting this often-forgotten area of home maintenance can lead to unpleasant odors, stains, and even plumbing problems. So, let’s roll up our sleeves and get to it. Signs Your Toilet Tank Needs Cleaning Foul Odors: Does your toilet have a lingering, unpleasant smell, even after you’ve scrubbed the bowl? Then, it’s time to look past the bowl and to the tank. Visible Stains: Peek inside the tank. Are the walls or floor discolored or stained? This could be due to a build-up of min ..read more

One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. For trees, that treasure is sewage. Sounds disgusting, right? But think about it — sewage is packed with all those nutrients trees love. Your sewer pipe is like an all-you-can-eat buffet! While your tree feasts, your plumbing suffers. Drains slow to a trickle or completely back up. Your toilet gurgles, overflows, or refuses to flush. You call the plumber, and — surprise! — he finds tree roots at the “root” of the problem. What do you do now? Understanding the Issue: Tree Roots in Sewer Lines Before we go into possible solutions, here’s what you need t ..read more

It’s no secret that the average American wastes a lot of water in the bathroom. In fact, the average person uses about 17 gallons per minute in the shower alone! That might not seem like a lot, but if you multiply that by minutes in your showers or baths each day, it starts to add up fast. The good news is that there are some easy ways to save water and money that you can start doing today. One or more of the tips below may be all that’s neceessary for you to save money in the bath right away. 1. Test Your Showerhead The first step in determining how much water is used in the shower is to meas ..read more

Tankless water heater, continuous water heater, or instant water heater. These terms all describe the same thing: a powerful, compact water heater delivering near-instant hot water for as long as needed. Near-instant, virtually continuous, and without a water storage tank. Tankless heaters are the latest and greatest water heaters on the market, and they offer an easy way to save energy, water, and money while boosting convenience and comfort. While they’re relatively new to the USA, the technology is nearly a century old. In Germany and Japan, where space is at a premium, tankless water heate ..read more