Water is expensive — sewer bills are directly linked to your water bills, so water is actually doubly expensive than your water bill.

The daily water use by a typical Scranton family of four is as follows:
ACTIVITY GALLONS
Toilet 100
Bathing 80
Laundry 35
Dishwashing 15
Cooking and Drinking 12
Bathroom sink 8
Utility Sink (hand washing) 5
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Total 225

To save water, look at your toilet and see if it is running or occasionally must fill up for a few seconds. If it is, you can test your toilet for leaks by placing a small amount of dye or food coloring into the water tank on the back of the toilet, and wait 15 minutes. If any of the food coloring is visible in the actual bowl of the toilet, you have a leak. To replace the toilet guts, it is extremely inexpensive and Nero Plumbing would be glad to give you an estimate.

Check that your toilet is high efficiency. Older toilets used as much as 4.8 gallons a flush! Modern toilets use only 2.2 gallons.

Plumbing supply and hardware stores sell water saving shower heads and sink faucets (they have an aerator in them), and can cut down on your water bill substantially.

Don’t run your laundry machine and dishwashers at half loads. Wait until you have enough laundry for a full load.

While there are many ways to reduce your water bill, call Nero Plumbing today at (570) 309-3555 and we can give you a free water usage survey and recommendations on how to save on your future water bills.

If you still can’t solve a problem however, call Nero Plumbing, a licensed Scranton plumber and Wilkes-barre plumber, as water heaters do use deadly high voltages, explosive natural or propane gas, and can cause significant damages to your home. Thus said, proceed at your own risk. These tips are only given as the steps that a licensed plumber would first rule out in solving your problem.

Step 1 – The pilot light
If you have a gas operated water heater, it most likely uses a pilot light. If the pilot light goes out, your water heater will shut down until you relight the pilot. The pilot light is like a little match flame that helps the bigger burner’s flame (the one that actually heats your water), light.

To see if your pilot light needs to be re-lit, go to your heater and look at the bottom for a little circular window to see it there is a tiny blue/yellow flame. If there isn’t, it needs to be re-lit.

Step 2 – The circuit Breaker
If you have an electric hot water heater, make sure that the circuit breaker hasn’t tripped. It the breaker is tripped, try resetting it and see if the problem goes away. If it hasn’t tripped, look for a reset button on the thermostat located on the front of your heater and push it. If either the reset or circuit breaker continues to trip, do not continue to reset it. There may be a problem that needs to be corrected by a professional plumber.

Step 3 – Incorrect temperature setting
Another simple item that is often overlooked is to see if the temperature has been set too low or to vacation on the heater. Look to see what the temperature is set to and adjust it if it is too low. Do not just turn the temperature to the top, however, as this could produce excessively hot water and even over pressure the heater.

Step 4 – Sediment Build-up
Now that we have checked the basics, we can look at a less common cause. Sometimes sediment can build up in the water tank and needs to be flushed out. All water heaters are required to have a shutoff valve on the feed side (the side coming from the cold water main) — turn off this valve. Attach a garden hose to the bottom drain valve of the water heater tank, and put the other end in a drain or sink suitable for handling the volume of water and potentially hot temperature. Carefully and slowly open the drain valve on the bottom of the tank and flush out an build up that may have occurred. Close the drain valve, and re-open the supply valve.

If your heater still doesnt work, and you are in need of a plumber in the Scranton / Wilkes-barre or surrounding areas Nero Plumbing services, call us at (570) 309-3555 and we will be glad to give you a free diagnosis.

Banging
Pipes can bang when you turn the water on or off because they are loose. Pipes are supposed to be anchored every 6 to 8 feet horizontally, and every 8 to 10 feet vertically by plumbing code. You may need additional pipe straps added to tightened, the addition of a rubber blanket or other cushioning device around where the pipes are supported, or even duct tape wrapped between the pipe and the pipe straps to provide added noise suppression. Pipes, especially plastic ones (PCV Schedule 40 or others), need expansion room. Don’t use galvanized straps on copper pipes as they can react.

Squeaking
Only hot water pipes can squeak. The squeaking is caused by the pipe moving in its strap as it expands, and the friction between the strap and the pipe cause the “squeak.” The solution? Cushion the pipe as you would for a banging pipe.

Water Hammer
This occurs when you turn off the water at a faucet or an appliance quickly. It sounds like a loud bang. The water flowing through the pipes suddenly comes to a stop, and continues pushing the pipe, as if a hammer hit it, into the next joist, beam or wall. The solution? Check for loose pipes and anchor them. Sometimes an air chamber needs to be added or replaced to cushion the rapidly stopping water. Air chambers become flooded with water over time, and once there is no longer any air left in them, has no way of slowing the rapidly flowing water. While the long term solution is to use a diaphragm air chamber, as recommended by modern plumbing code, that can not become flooded — a service Nero Plumbing can perform for a very low cost – a possible quick home remedy is to turn off the water at the main shutoff valve, open all the faucets to drain the system, and then close the faucets and turn on the water again. Sometimes this will fix the problem for several months. In the long run, you should call a master plumber and have it corrected professionally.

Another potential problem for water hammer can be too high water pressure. If your pressure is above 80 psi (pounds per square inch), a pressure reducing valve will solve the problem and save on your water bill.

Conclusion
Although there are a many reasons pipes can make noise, there is usually a simple explanation and solution for even the most complex and bothersome problems. The master plumbers at Nero Plumbing can give you a free estimate and professional opinion on how you can stop your pipe noises today.

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