Plumbing Blog | Modern Plumbing Industries

How Water Softeners Work

July 3rd, 2017

When you call on our water treatment professionals for water testing services, one of the issues we’ll look for in your home’s water is the presence of “hardness.” Hard water is water that has a high amount of magnesium and calcium suspended in it. This isn’t harmful to drink, but it’s extremely damaging to residential plumbing. The magnesium and calcium leave limescale deposits along pipes and fixtures, leading to clogging and leaking, and also causes major damage to appliances like water heaters. Hard water also makes it more difficult to work up soap lather and it leaves filmy deposits on household surfaces, skin, and hair.

Hard water is unfortunately common in household plumbing. Magnesium and calcium can enter freshwater pipes through ground water seepage. It’s estimated that 85% of homes in the U.S. have hard water. Unfortunately, Florida is one of the states where hard water is at its worst, with more than 15 grains of hard water minerals per gallon.

Thankfully, eliminating hard water is easy for professionals. All we have to do is install a whole-house water softener, one of the various water treatment systems we install in Orlando, FL and the surrounding areas.

Why Is My Toilet Constantly Running?

June 19th, 2017

You know the sounds your toilet makes after the flush lever is pushed: there’s about a minute where you hear the slow run of water as the water in the tank flows down into the bowl to fill it. After that, the water will shut off and you won’t hear any more sounds.

But what if the sound of running water continues without stop? This is a running toilet, and although it won’t create a huge emergency, it does create a huge amount of water waste. This is definitely something you’ll notice on your next water bill. But you also can’t flush the toilet while its running—something you may have noticed before if you immediately push down the handle after the first flush. These are good reasons to have bathroom plumbing repairs done. When you have a running toilet that won’t stop, call for professional plumbers in Winter Springs, FL to take care of it.

4 Reasons Your Water Bills Are High

June 5th, 2017

A few weeks ago, we wrote a blog about how you can save water in your kitchen and cut down on your bills. This week we’re going to look into water saving from a different angle by investigating reasons your monthly water bills may start to rise past what they usually are. It’s important to never ignore a spike in water prices. If you can’t account for the rise in the amount of water you regularly use, you may have a major plumbing issue that requires the assistance of our professionals for plumbing repair in Orlando, FL. We’ll find the source of your water cost woes and see that they’re remedied.

Here are 4 of the most common reasons for an unexpected rise in water usage:

Making a Choice between Gas and Electric Water Heaters

May 22nd, 2017

You can’t expect that your Winter Springs, FL water heater will last forever, no matter how much you would like never to have to worry about losing hot water for your showers or for cleaning dishes. (Have you ever tried to scrub out grease from pots and pans using only cold water? We don’t recommend it.) But a water heater is a device that puts in a tremendous amount of work each year, and can account for 40% of your annual heating bills. That stress means one day the water heater will either fail on you or give off enough warning signs it’s close to failing that you can have it replaced before it does.

We hope you end up in the latter situation—you won’t have to stay unshowered until the new system is put in! But no matter the reason you need to a new water heater installed, you’ll face a few important choices. One of the age-old water heater questions is “gas or electric?” Sometimes the answer is simple. Other times it’s not. But you have our professional plumbers ready to see that you have the right answer, no matter what.

How to Save Water in the Kitchen

May 8th, 2017

The kitchen has a large number of plumbing pipes and appliances serving it. The only room that uses more water for plumbing is the bathroom, and kitchens often have more appliances in them. This makes the kitchen a key place to focus in a home when it comes to finding ways to cut down on water use. And you do need to cut down: every home right now is probably using more water than necessary, and it doesn’t require many changes to start lowering your monthly water bills (and helping the environment in the process).

We’re going to look at some of the ways you can lower water use with your kitchen plumbing in Orlando, FL. Some of these methods need the assistance of great professional plumbers, and if you live in Central Florida, we’re the people to contact!

Why Our Plumbers Favor Copper and CPVC Piping

April 24th, 2017

In the first half of the 20th century, and in fact all the way up through the 1970s, the most common type of material used in fresh water pipes for homes and businesses was galvanized steel, lead, cast iron, and even clay. But the cost of these materials, the ease with which they broke and corroded over time, as well as the dangers they posed from allowing toxicity into drinking water, led to them being replaced with new materials by the 1980s: principally copper and various types of plastic such as PEX, PVC, and CPVC. These newer piping materials reduce costs, benefit the environment, last longer, and help keep drinking water safe for households.

When you call on our plumbers to replace pipes or to handle more extensive repiping services in Winter Springs, FL, they will use a variety of different materials to see that the best job gets done. And the two materials we favor the most are copper and CPVC (chlorinated polyvinyl chloride).

So why are these two the piping materials of choice? Let’s take a closer look.

Sign Up for One of Our Commercial Plumbing Maintenance Contracts

April 10th, 2017

Almost any business relies on indoor plumbing, making regular plumbing service essential for successful operation. Food service companies have even higher plumbing needs, and poor plumbing upkeep can lead to a business shutting down because of code violations.

Although you can always depend on our commercial plumbers for fast repairs for your business—leak detection, booster pump fixes, sump pump replacements—we strongly recommend you arrange for regular commercial plumbing maintenance through one of our customized maintenance agreements. Below are two of the critical services (among many) that come with routine plumbing maintenance for your business.

Why We Recommend Hydro-Jetting for Drain Cleaning

March 27th, 2017

One of the most important jobs that we offer to our customers in Central Florida is regular and emergency drain cleaning. Drain cleaning services are the best way to remove major clogging and slow drains when they happen. It’s also an incredibly effective preventive measure for plumbing. Scheduling drain cleaning in Winter Springs, FL once a year helps to stop future clogs and also keeps away bad odors and other troubles in the drains.

There are different techniques to perform drain cleaning. A common tool that plumbers use is the motorized drain auger (a.k.a. a drain snake). This is similar to the hand crank drain augers you may use at times on simple clogs, only it’s much more powerful. We sometimes use drain augers to do the job, but our preferred method is hydro-jetting.

A Checklist for Your Plumbing This Spring

March 13th, 2017

We’re almost to the official start of the spring season (mark your calendars, if they aren’t pre-marked, for March 20). This means the time for spring cleaning. The term “spring cleaning” can mean plenty of things: it can apply to everything from your garden to the hard drive on your computer—much of which doesn’t really have anything to do with the season except that the name implies you’re getting a fresh start. After all, why not take the time in early spring to attend to some important cleaning and maintenance jobs?

But your plumbing definitely needs some attention that this time of year, since it goes through a lot of work over the winter. Even in sunny Florida, plumbing benefits from some spring check-ups and maintenance from professionals.

World Plumbing Day 2017 Poster Contest Winners!

March 10th, 2017

: 1st Place Sasha Davila – South Seminole Middle School

: 1st Place Emma Rasmussen and Evelyn Cui – Carillon Elementary School

: 2nd Place Iurie Cojocaru – Bear Lake Elementary School

: 2nd Place Adriana Mazadiego (left) – Tuskawilla Middle School. 3rd Place Isabela Zapata (right) – Tuskawilla Middle School

: 3rd Place Aidan Carl – Carillon Elementary School

: Elementary School with the most participation – Forest City Elementary 106 Posters

: Middle School with the most participation – Rock Lake Middle School 145 posters

A big THANK YOU to all who participated in the 2017 World Plumbing Day Poster Contest.
The team here at Modern Plumbing Industries, Inc. loved seeing over 500 submissions and the enthusiasm for World Plumbing Day 2017. We wanted to send out a special post showing all the winners and their posters. Check them out below and join us in congratulating them on a great job!
There was tremendous turnout this year and we look forward to the continued growth of this project in the years to come.

Check out the amazing stats on school participation below!