Boston Plumbing and Heating Blog

A heat pump heats your home during the winter and cools it during the summer. It is recommended that homeowners perform routine maintenance on home heating systems and heat pumps before the cold weather sets in for good in Boston and Worcester.

Heat pump maintenance is important. Small problems that are not addressed early can lead to very expensive problems down the road. Maintaining a heat pump is more technical than maintenance for the average more traditional heating system, so a professional service person is needed when and if the pump malfunctions and for regular service and maintenance calls. You can keep the system free of dirt by keeping the filter clean and by keeping the flow of air unobstructed.

Cold weather can wreak havoc on outdoor air conditioning and heating equipment. The outdoor heat pump may ice up outside. Some of that is normal in a heat pump. However, excessive build-up of more than 1/8 of an inch is a reason to call the professionals.

If the outdoor heat pump is steaming, don’t panic. The colder the outdoor temperature, the more the system needs to go through a defrost cycle. Do not be alarmed; people with new heat pumps have seen them steaming in the cold weather and have thought the heat pump was on fire.

Outdoor Maintenance for a Heat Pump

It's important to replace the filters and clean and lubricate the components of a heat pump on a regular basis. But heat pumps have an outdoor unit that contains a compressor, a coil, a fan, and other components. To function properly, this unit should be kept free of debris such as leaves and dirt. The unit should be level on its concrete support pad.

Clean pine needles, leaves, and dirt out of updraft fans regularly. Make sure the power to the unit is off before tackling this type of cleaning. A vacuum cleaner hose can sometimes be inserted between the fan blades to remove debris from the sides and bottom of the unit.

At the beginning of each heating season, the unit should be serviced. It is important to be sure that the metal cabinet is level from side to side and from front to back. The piping insulation should also be checked for deterioration. If this insulation is faulty it needs to be replaced.

For heat pump service, maintenance, and repair, contact Greater Boston Heating and Plumbing.

digitaljournal.com/howstuffworks.com

In this housing market, many people are building new homes rather than buying. In most cases, they rather build the home they want and need rather than inherit old problems. Breaking ground on a new home can be an exciting time. But did you know that you don’t necessarily need to use your contractor’s plumber? You can hire a plumber for new construction on your own when you are building a home.  In fact, hiring a plumber on your own may save you money and time.  By hiring your own plumber you can ensure that you have a reputable, reliable licensed and insured plumber who is interested in your needs and requirements.
 
Initially, you will meet with your plumber with your home plans to determine the layout of your home and where you want everything to go. The plumber will layout the plumbing pipes, the fixtures, which rooms will have water and why, and they will be sure that all the plumbing will be coded for those rooms. Having a great plumber is very important because all plumbing will have to pass inspection before you can move in.

You need a plumber to handle the water supply lines that go into your new home. Sewer and water ‘tie-ins’ are taken care of during the site work. After the foundation is built, the water and sewage and gas lines are brought into your home from the street.

The plumber will also help you with specifications for which plumbing materials are needed for new construction and they will help guide you in the most efficient and longest lasting appliances.  Of course, once the home is built, toilets, sinks, water heaters and gas lines also need to be placed and tied into the sewer and water lines. Having a plumber you can trust ensures that your new home does not encounter plumbing problems after you move in.

If you are building a new home, and you would like to hire your own plumber, contact Greater Boston Plumbing and Heating.

Your plumbing problems may not be as bad as the Oakland A’s plumbing problems. But, if you suffer through them once, like the A’s did back in June, then you should hope to get it fixed right the first time, hire the right plumber, that way you won’t have a repeat problem , like the A’s did.

The A's smell like contenders. But, their dugout is another story. Oakland's home dugout flooded on Tuesday night due to a backed-up toilet during the A's vs. Angels game. The maintenance workers had to mop up the disgusting mess during the seventh inning.

It's the second time this season that the aging stadium has had to deal with a sewage backup. Back in June, the stadium suffered a massive backup that spilled sewage into both clubhouses, the managers' offices and all the clubhouse level bathrooms.

Fortunately, after June’s mess they ripped out the carpet so the mess wasn’t as ‘gross’. Actually, it sounds gross to us. That is why Greater Boston Plumbing and Heating is committed to fixing your plumbing problems the first time.

The VP of stadium operations blamed the plumbing issue on a single toilet and said the problem would be fixed before the start of Wednesday's matinee. The A’s certainly hope so.  It better be as it would be a shame for ongoing plumbing problems to soil Oakland's pennant chase.

To solve your plumbing problems the first time, contact Greater Boston Plumbing and Heating.

Excerpts  - NY Daily News

There is a fairly new product on the market in the tissue and paper supplies section of the grocery store: flushable wipes. Folks, flushable wipes don’t exist. In fact, these so-called flushable wipes, which are becoming more and more popular are wreaking havoc in commercial and residential plumbing, causing headaches for homeowners and plumbers.

'Flushable' wipes are causing very expensive problems for homeowners and plumbers who are stuck with the clogged pipes and their results.  Increasing calls to plumbers are about clogged pipes and plumbing problems and it appears towel wipes are to blame.

These flushable wipes are flushable in so much as they do go down the drain when the toilet is flushed. However, once they disappear down the drain, they go on to cause considerable problems in pipes and sewer systems where they clog pipes, jam pumps, and cause blockages.

These new type of wipes are marketed as being sewer-, septic-, and plumbing-safe .They aren’t, they just go down the drain. They’re not biodegradable and they cause pipe clogs and stoppages.

In the meantime, the Federal Trade Commission is apparently looking into the dubious “flushable” label and wipes manufacturers are working to develop products that “reduce wear and tear on sewer systems and septic tanks.” (mnn.com)

Do yourself a favor and stop buying and flushing flushable wipes. However, if you find yourself with a plumbing problem, contact Greater Boston Plumbing and Heating.

As a homeowner, you have to pay attention to all of your home utility bills. You know what you usually pay for water, but have you received a water bill that is unusually high?  Usually, the reason for a dramatic increase in the water bill is because you have a water leak somewhere in your home.  

Unfortunately, the time you think of plumbing is when you have a problem, when something goes wrong.  A water leak, if left untreated or undetected, can lead to serious damage and costly repairs.

Water can be your home's worst enemy.  Leaving leaks unattended can lead to serious damage to your home. For example, a water leak behind a wall could require drywall repair. A small drywall repair job can cost as much as $400, not to mention if you end up with mold. And a mold remediation job can be anywhere from hundreds of dollars to thousands of dollars.

It is best to find and tackle plumbing leaks, no matter how small, immediately.

An easy sign of a leak in your house could be a stain on the wall or on the floor and it might smell musty.

There are a couple of simple ways to check if your toilet is leaking.  Place a few drops of food coloring in the toilet tank and wait several minutes. If the food coloring has entered the toilet bowl without the toilet being flushed you know you have a leak. Another thing you can do, lay toilet paper along the base of the toilet and flush the toilet.  If there's a leak, the tissue paper will be wet.

To find out if you have a leaking sink, place a few paper towels below the sink drain pipes. Run the water, if the paper towels are wet, you could have a sink pipe leak.

Some additional sources for water loss include dripping faucets within the house and a garden hose mistakenly being left open for days.

For more information on plumbers in Boston and Worcester, contact Greater Boston Plumbing and Heating.

WXOW

Cooler weather is fast approaching and smart home owners are making sure that their furnaces are ready to perform properly and efficiently. Make sure you home is warm this winter and that your heating bills are as low as they can be.

Do you know if your furnace or boiler is working optimally and that you are not wasting energy? This will ensure that you are as warm as you can be this winter. Did you know that almost half of all heating equipment in our homes does not perform to its optimal standards and efficiency? This is mostly due to incorrect installation. And if you have an older heating system built before more modern efficiency standards, you could be spending more than you need to on heating your home this winter.

If your boiler or furnace needs to be replaced have it installed properly by a professional, certified technician.

Beyond that, there are some other steps to make your home warmer and more efficient:

Have your heating filters cleaned and check them every couple of weeks. Change them at least twice in the season, or as directed by the manufacturer.

Check and maintain insulation and add weather stripping and caulk around windows and doors. This can also improve a home’s insulation.

Turn down the thermostat or install a programmable thermostat.

Clean around the furnace or boiler. Don’t keep chemicals or cleaning products near a heater, and don’t store anything next to it that could impede ventilation.

Keep the vents and returns free of obstructions. Don’t lay carpet over vents, place furniture over or in front of them, or obstruct the flow of air.

Dry air feels cooler than moist air, so install a humidifier. A simple humidifier may make the home feel five degrees warmer than a home with dry air.

Have your heating system, furnace or boiler serviced regularly for optimal performance. Greater Boston Plumbing & Heating can service and repair all of your forced hot water boiler or steam boiler system issues. By making sure your heating system is operating properly you can maintain a warm, comfortable home while keeping heating costs down.

For more information, contact Greater Boston Plumbing & Heating.

If you live near water, or if your home was built in or around the ‘50’s, your home may be built on a slab rather than on a foundation. Homes built on a slab are just that, a rectangle of concrete is poured and the home is built atop it.  Often, people want to add an additional bathroom to homes built on slabs, but they don’t know if they can.

When homes are built on a slab, the plumbing is laid before the concrete slab is poured. You can add plumbing after the fact, but it is labor intensive. This is similar to adding a bathroom to an existing basement.

Greater Boston Plumbing and Heating with work with the homeowner on the layout of the bathroom. All fixtures, sink, toilet, shower, will be laid out in their final location. We will then mark where the drains will be located on the floor related to all of the fixtures that require plumbing.

There are two options for running plumbing lines.

1. The concrete slab can be dug out into trenches and the lines can be run through them. We then pour concrete into the trench to level the slab, and the new floor is covered with ceramic tile. This gives the nicest appearance of the two options.
2. A plumbing system can be installed above the slab. The drain lines will be exposed but most of the other plumbing lines will be hidden in the new bathroom walls. An electric pump is used for the drains, and is visible.

For more information on installing a new bathroom on a slab, contact Greater Boston Plumbing and Heating.

In Worcester and Boston home owners are considering how to better heat and cool their homes in order to save on energy costs. Homeowners have been seeing and hearing a lot about “heat pumps” but many don’t know what they are. Heat pumps give you an energy-efficient alternative to furnaces and air conditioners. In many cases a heat pump is preferred to separate heating and cooling systems.

Heat pumps use less energy to move heat from a cool space to a warm space, making the cool space cooler and the warm space warmer. During the winter, heat pumps draw heat from the cooler external air and bring it inside while moving the cooler inside air, out; in the summer, heat pumps move heat from inside your home to the outdoors.  They move heat they don’t generate heat, so they can give up to 4 times the amount of energy they consume. They transfer heat, they don’t burn fuel to create heat, and this makes them very efficient.

If you heat your home with electricity, a heat pump can cut down on the amount of electricity you use for heating by up to 30% to 40%. High-efficiency heat pumps dehumidify your home better than most central AC units. This saves you money in the summer.

There are also gas-fired heat pumps, called absorption heat pumps. These use heat as their energy source, so they can be fueled by natural gas, propane, solar-heated water, or geothermal-heated water.

For homes without ducts, air-source heat pumps are also available in a ductless version called a mini-split heat pump. For homes that have "non-ducted" heating systems this is a good energy efficient add on.

One of the biggest advantages of a heat pump over a standard HVAC system is that you don’t need to install separate systems to for heating and cooling.

For more information on heat pumps, contact Greater Boston Plumbing and Heating.

Homeowners spend a large percentage of money on heating and cooling. The only way to cut these costs is to make the heating and cooling system, or HVAC, more energy efficient. This is  not as hard as you may think.

First, compare your utility bills to friends’ homes of similar size. How do your energy bills compare? Do you use more or less energy? After you figure that out, you can begin to make energy saving changes.

Check the air filter in your heating and cooling system. A dirty air filter slows air flow. This forces the HVAC system to work harder and waste more energy. You should change the air filter at least every three months.

AC service and maintenance is imperative to keep your system running efficiently and effectively. If your central air system is working to hard it will waste energy. Greater Boston Plumbing and Heating can  handle all of your service, maintenance and upgrade needs on your cooling system. A well-maintained heating and cooling systems run more efficiently therefore wasting less energy.

A programmable thermostat saves lots of energy. By programming your thermostat to energy-efficient temperatures you can save about $180 a year, according to Energy Star.

Contact Greater Boston Plumbing and Heating to schedule your heating and cooling system maintenance.

Lots of things get better with age. Central air conditioning and heating is not one of those things. In fact, the federal government recommends that homeowners consider replacing air conditioners that are more than 10 years old. That’s because heating and cooling systems now have significant advancements to save money and energy, and they are more environmentally friendly while improving comfort.

Here are five ways that newer HVAC systems outperform older ones:

Energy efficiency. The purchase of a high efficiency system can help save up to 50% or more on energy bills.

Comfort. Newer systems can better moderate temperature throughout the home. Homes with a multi-stage operation and variable speed blower technology use a “cruise control” type of system that can “accelerate” slightly to avoid temperature swings.  Newer systems also offer the option to “zone” the home, so individual rooms are heated or cooled based on your needs.

Replacement of R-22. R-22 is a refrigerant (also known by the brand name Freon(R)) and has been the refrigerant of choice for residential heat pumps and AC systems for more than four decades. Unfortunately, R-22 is also harmful to the environment and is therefore being phased out, causing the price to skyrocket. Service and repair of AC systems is becoming very costly for existing units. New systems now include R-410A refrigerant, a much more environmentally friendly alternative.

Less noise, better looks. No one likes the sound of the A/C running. Luckily, systems today are engineered to run almost silently. The design of the systems are also becoming more attractive. Furnaces have become smaller and more attractive.

High Tech. New systems can now be operated via WiFi so the system can be controlled with a smartphone, tablet or computer. They even give you guidance on how much energy you’re using every day.

For more information on replacing your homes central air conditioner, contact Greater Boston Plumbing and Heating.

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