Tis the Season for a Little Bathroom Tech

By Billy Aldridge

Believe it or not, the average American spends anywhere from thirty minutes to an hour in the bathroom on a daily basis.  As a result, there are a number of companies that are capitalizing on this trend by developing bathroom technology that is designed to make better use of the time spent there.  With the holiday shopping season upon us, this could also be the perfect time to add a touch of tech to your bathroom.

1.      Bath TV – We all knew that sooner or later the TV would find its way into the bathroom.  The only thing stopping it was the fact that electricity and water don’t mix.  But there are now manufacturers offering waterproof flat screens and even mirrors with built-in TV sets.  What will they think of next?  

2.      Shower Power – If you love singing in the shower, Kohler has developed its Moxie Showerhead with you in mind.  Combining a showerhead with a magnetic wireless speaker that is Bluetooth enabled, the system is fully rechargeable and is literally a snap to remove.  

3.      Digital Bathroom Scales – If you think that bathroomscales are only good for bragging or nagging rights, guess again.  Digital scales can now do much more than just weigh an individual.  They can now be programmed to track the vital statistics on multiple members of a household.  Some can also measure everything from weight to body fat to body water.  

4.      Touchless Faucets – If you go gaga over germs you can find a range of touch-free faucets for the home from most manufacturers.  These units are designed to also save water and they stay cleaner than traditional faucets since you won’t ever have to turn off the tap with wet hands.  

5.      Bathroom Cleaning Robots – The bad news is that nobody enjoys cleaning the bathroom.   The good news is that technology makes it possible to turn the chore over to a robot.  Most consumers have heard of the robotic vacuum cleaner named Roomba.  Well the makers of Roomba, iRobot have recently unveiled a line of wetbots designed to clean the bathroom floor.  Called Scooba, this robot is designed to clean hard to reach places, including around the toilet and under the cabinets with a three-stage cleaning process that  neutralizes up to 97% of bacteria. 

6.      On a Budget?  - If you are a little more cost conscious there are also a number bathroom gadgets from waterproof notepads to hands-free soap and toothpaste dispensers that can add a touch of tech without breaking the bank.

Billy Aldridge is one of the Doctors of Plumbology at Aldridge and Sons Plumbing in Jacksonville, Florida.  For more helpful hints and how-t videos, visit their website at http://plumbers-jacksonville-fl.com

Don’t Let a Stopped Drain Ruin Your Ho Ho Holiday Cheer

By Billy Aldridge

We all remember the choreographed mayhem that Chevy Chase endured in the motion picture Christmas Vacation.  Most of us can relate to a happy holiday being undermined by wayward relatives, hapless delivery drivers and a culinary catastrophe or two along the way.  So the last thing that you want is for everyone to remember the Christmas when Santa appeared dressed as a plumber.

The Ghost of Christmas Dinner Past

Being home for the holidays usually means preparing Christmas dinner for the family.  The downside to cooking the holiday feast is that the cleanup can easily wind up overwhelming your pipes, resulting in a call to yours truly.  If you don’t want to add yet another mouth to feed during the holidays, here are some things you need to be made aware:

•   Fat is not your friend – While gravy helps make the turkey go down better in people, when it comes to plumbing the opposite is generally the case.  Anything containing fat, such as gravy boats, plates and serving platters need to be wiped clean with a paper towel before being washed in the sink.  Even then you want to use plenty of hot water before, during and after doing the holiday dishes.  That’s because any fat left in the pipes can quickly congeal into a blockage that requires a snake to clear.  One of the remedial steps is to fill your sink with hot water and a few drops of  liquid detergent, then pull the stopper to flush out the pipes after the dishes are done.  
• Don’t give your disposal indigestion – While the modern garbage disposal is a wonderful invention, it was never designed to eat everything.  While most people know to avoid putting bones, gristle or other hard to grind substances into the disposal, they may not be aware that these devices also do not like to be fed a diet of celery, poultry skins, potato and onion peels, all of which can be hard to break down.  Disposals also need an occasional deep cleaning in order to eliminate odor.  (Below is a video that shows you how to eliminate “Stinky Disposal Syndrome” from your home.)

•   Is stuffing going to stuff your pipes? – As a rule anything that is pulpy, such as stuffing, pumpkin flesh and squash can form a paste that can quickly gum up the works.  Just like pancake batter (another substance you should never pour down the drain), once past the disposal, these substances can quickly swell up and clog any drain.  Again, the solution is not to put these substances into the disposal.
• The extended family can also prove to be a strain on your plumbing.  While you can’t exactly read relatives the riot act, you can make sure that in their effort to help you clear the holiday dishes that they don’t inadvertently break any of the rules set above.  (That is if you can get them to help with the dishes.)

The bottom line is that like it or not, the day after Thanksgiving and Christmas are two of the busiest days of the year for plumbers like me.  If you follow the advice above you should be able to make sure that I stay out of your home for the holidays.

Billy Aldridge is one of the Doctor’s of Plumbology at Aldridge and Sons Plumbing, a residential and commercial plumbing contractor located in Jacksonville, Florida.  For more information and helpful how-to videos visit their site at http://plumbers-jacksonville-fl.com

Get Your Mind Out of the Gutters

By Billy Aldridge

Being a homeowner means having to wear a lot of hats.  Other than the privilege of paying the mortgage and utility bills every month, there are also a lot of honey dos that need doing on a regular basis, such as mowing the lawn, watering the lawn, trimming the shrubs and blowing off the driveway. (Thank God in Florida we don’t have to shovel the snow.)  There is also the occasional need to play Mr. Fixit.  The point that I am trying to make is with the exception of watering the lawn, which can be more or less automated with the installation of an irrigation system, most of these chores are not exactly labors of love.  Therefore they rob us of what little free time our hectic work week will allow.  So the last thing you want to do is waste any more of your time cleaning out the gutters.

Gutter cleaning is a lot like paying taxes in that it is a necessary evil that we all have to deal with from time to time.  In Jacksonville where the leaves more or less fall all year round, it isn’t unusual to have to clean them on a quarterly basis.  To neglect the gutters not only encourages the downspouts to back up and refuse to discharge water when the occasional gully washer comes through, which in Florida can also occur at most any time of year.  It can also result in damage to your home should water back up and make its way indoors. 

Of course, being a homeowner myself, I can appreciate not wanting to stick your hands into several inches of built up muck every three months in order to keep the gutters clear. Not to mention the danger of having to climb up on a ladder or the roof to do the deed.  If left unchecked, gutters become the ultimate if unintentional compost machines which are quite capable of turning leaves into dirt.  I have seen gutters on neighboring properties sprout grass and even saplings, so full of soil were they.  Once I even discovered a fire ant nest inside my gutters.  Talk about waiting a bit too long before taking action.

While technology has not yet come up with a self-cleaning gutter system, there is a simple way to eliminate 90% of the problem.  What I am referring to are gutter guards.  These are screens that fit snugly atop the gutter that allow leaves and other wind and rain-born debris to pass over while allowing precipitation to pass through the gutter.  They are relatively easy to install (or you can have them professionally installed) and come in a variety of materials, including plastic, rubber or metal to make sure they won’t clash with your home.  While they won’t eliminate 100% of gutter maintenance, they will make the chore of gutter cleaning a lot less of a hassle.  More importantly they become a barrier to prevent the birds and the bees from nesting there. (I’m not so sure about fire ants.)

Since installing gutter guards on my home I have found that the amount of time and hazard saved was no less than 12 hours per year, which is about the time it took me to install the guards.  All in all a good investment of time and money. Now if they could only perfect the robotic lawn mower.  So if you want to keep your mind out of the gutters, Google “gutter guards” today.

Billy Aldridge is one of the Doctors of Plumbology at Aldridge and Sons Plumbing, a residential and commercial plumbing contractor located in Jacksonville, FL.  Visit their website at http://plumbers-jacksonville-fl.com for more tips and how-to videos.

Plumbers Jacksonville FL - When is the Right Time for Floridians to Winterize their Homes?

by Billy Aldridge

With the night time temperatures only going down to the fifties and the day time temp in the mid-seventies you wouldn’t think that it was time to start thinking about winterizing your home.  But you’d be wrong.  While we don’t get the kind of bone chilling breezes that the folks in say Chicago or Milwaukee do, we Floridians do have some days and a fair number of nights when the thermometer dips below freezing.  So the last time you want to start thinking about wrapping up the pipes is when one has burst and you are forced to start bailing out the kitchen.  By getting a jump on winter’s steely grip now you will save yourself a considerable amount of time and money in the coming months.

1.      Insulating exposed pipes - While is standard operating procedure to wrap outdoor spigots and drains when we are expecting a freeze, one of the areas that many people overlook in the Sunshine State are water pipes and drains that are either on the exterior of the home, or are in the garage.  These can freeze and burst if left unprotected.  To avoid damage, simply wrap the pipes with electrical-resistance heat tape, or to allow the tap to drip.  When it comes to outside spigots, always remove the hose and wrap the tap with a towel to keep frost from creeping in. 

2.      Check all the windows and doors for heat loss and repair or replace any cracked or missing weather stripping.  This is one that is a no brainer, since it not only prevents frost damage, but it actually pays for itself by reducing the electric bill.  Other than a visual inspection, the best way to detect a draft is to hold a lit candle up to window and door jambs on a breezy day.  If the candle flickers, there is significant heat loss.  Just be sure not to get too close to drapes or you might wind up with a more serious problem to contend with than heat loss.

3.      Inspecting the heating system – Don’t wait until the coldest night of the year to find out that your heat pump no longer pumps heat.  Now is the best time to get the heating system inspected.  Also make sure that you change the filter every month to keep the system from blocking up.  I once had to help a friend chip his filter off of a frozen air exchanger on the hottest day of the year due to the fact that he hadn’t changed it in six months.  Not only can this be a nuisance, but it can cause serious damage to the system.

4.      Drains and Gutters – Clearing out the gutters and drains in the fall means that they won’t freeze over, block up and perhaps fall down during a hard freeze in January.  A sure sign to know if your gutters need cleaning are if a garden is beginning to sprout up there.  A sure sign that your drain needs clearing is when you can no longer see it beneath the leaf litter. 

While Jack Frost isn’t exactly nipping at our noses right now, a sudden freeze can come down from the Northeast at any time during December, January and/or February.  The best time to tackle the chore of winterizing your home is now, while the weather is pleasant and everyone isn’t gang rushing the shopping centers as will be the case after Thanksgiving.

Billy Aldridge is one of the Doctors of Plumbology at Aldridge and Sons Plumbing, a residential and commercial plumbing contractor located in Jacksonville, Florida.  Visit their website at http://plumbers-jacksonville-fl.com for all your plumbing needs.

Small Things Add Up to BIG Savings When it Comes to Water Conservation

By Billy Aldridge

When the economy is bad the last thing anyone wants to do is waste money.  But that’s exactly what many people do month in and month out without ever knowing why.  What I am talking about is wasting water needlessly.  Whether you realize it or not, there are a number of ways in which you can save money due to undetected water leaks.  Below are four things you can do every month or so to prevent your money from going down the drain.

1.       The Toilet

Other than installing a high-efficiency toilet which will save you money with every flush, the one Achille’s heel on every toilet is the flapper.   Over time, hard water and chlorine start to take their toll on the flapper, causing it to become warped.  Two of the ways to determine if it is time to replace the flapper are to look and listen.  If you remove the cover from the back of the tank, you should be able to see if the flapper is beginning to warp.  But if you hear the toilet running from time to time when there is no one in the bathroom, this is a sure sign that you need to replace the flapper.  Best of all, replacing the flapper is one of the simplest DIY plumbing projects in the book.  (Below is a video that takes you step by step through the process.)

2.       The Bathroom

Of course, the toilet is not the only culprit when it comes to rounding up the usual suspects when you are trying to track down a leak.  Another common source of water loss is due to leaky faucets and spigots.  You may not realize it, but that drip, drip, drip can add up to hundreds of gallons of water loss each and every month.   The shower can also rob you if you haven’t shifted to a high-performance shower head that can reduce consumption down to less than two gallons per minute.

3.       The Kitchen

While many people spend tens of thousands of dollars to upgrade their kitchens, there are a number of low cost ways to reduce water wastage in the kitchen, including changing the aerator on the faucet to a high-efficiency model, waiting until the dishwasher is completely full to run it and using the spray attachment or filling up the sink instead of simply letting the water run non-stop while you do the dishes.

4.       The Sprinkler System

The irrigation system is another robber baron when it comes to wasting water.   Just as with the kitchen and bath, there are high-efficiency sprinkler heads that can save water every time the system is activated.  There are also moisture sensors that will automatically turn the system off when it rains.  But the single biggest waste of water in the yard is due to cracked pipes and damaged sprinkler heads.  Even though the irrigation system operates on its own, every homeowner still needs to manually check to make sure that it is in proper working order and free from leaks.

The bottom line is that if you don’t want to make the utility company any richer, a little due diligence is all that it takes to make sure that your hard earned cash doesn't go straight down the drain.

Billy Aldridge is one of the Doctor’s of Plumbology at Aldridge and Sons Plumbing, a commercial and residential plumbing contractor located in Jacksnville, FL.  Go to http://plumbers-jacksonville-fl.com for all your plumbing needs.

Plumbers Jacksonville FL - Surviving the Perfect Storm

By Billy Aldridge

With Hurricane Sandy making a beeline for the New Jersey coastline, we Floridians are glad that we managed to duck another bullet.  But you have to remember that major storms hitting the Northeast are not an everyday event.  In sunny Florida, storms are a common occurrence.  With that in mind, the last thing that any homeowner in Florida wants to do is wait until the next major deluge is underway to batten down the hatches.  Below is my take on a storm preparedness checklist.

A stands for Action Plan

While many Floridians have weathered a hurricane or two in their lives, you would be surprised how many people choose to wait until the last minute only to fly by the seat of their pants.  While this may have gotten you through some tight spots in the past, this scenario is not going to be sufficient to protect you and your loved ones if a prolonged power outage accompanies a blow.  While help inevitably comes, after a major disaster, there is no telling how long you are going to be on your own.  One of the things every family needs to do long before hurricane season begins is to have an action plan to know what to do when Mother Nature turns nasty.  While you may choose to ride out the storm in your home, you need to establish a regrouping point should you be forced to flee.  While having a cellphone is a wonderful way to communicate, this is usually one of the first things to go down in a hurricane.  So you will need to have alternative means of communicating such as a walkie talkie or handheld marine radios.

B is for Bathrooms

Bathrooms are not only a necessity, they can also be a life saver.  While most people can go without food for days or even weeks, the human body can fail in three days without water.  If a storm is severe enough, it can compromise sewage treatment plants, which means that water coming out of the taps would be considered unsafe to drink.  While many people stockpile bottled water during an emergency, this is one of the fastest commodities to become depleted should disaster strike.  One of the best things you can do to prepare for an emergency is to fill the bathtub up with water.  Not only will this supply be safe to drink, but you can also ration it out for washing and cooking purposes as well.

C = Camping Gear

If you will recall the four hurricanes that came barreling down I-95 to hit JAX in 2005, then you know that power can be cut off after a major storm for days or even weeks.  If you want to get through the worst of it without having to turn into a refugee, then you need to have a supply of camping gear available.  This should include a tent or two, depending upon how many people you hope to shelter.  You should also have a camp stove and supply of waterproof matches, a saw, an axe and no less than one hundred feet of rope at hand.  Not only will this help you campout in your backyard, which may prove more comfortable than staying in a house without air conditioning.  But it will also allow you to begin the cleanup process and secure your valuables until help arrives.

D means keep your drainage clear

Water, not wind, is the cause of the worst damage during and after a major storm.  If Hurricane Katrina was any indication, the last thing you want to do is have four feet of standing water inside your home once a storm has past.  While many of the poor souls in New Orleans live below sea level, as all too many homeowners in Jacksonville know, there are many low lying areas in town.  So when the rain is coming down in buckets, that’s the worst time to find out that you have either a partial or total blockage in your drains.  If you suspect your drains are becoming blocked, it’s best to contact a plumbing contractor to clear the blockage before a storm can flood your home.

E stands for Electricity

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that big storms cause big damage to the power grid.  When you are sitting inside your boarded up home listening to flying debris bonking off the plywood covering your windows, you know that it probably won’t be long before you are plunged into darkness.  The problem is that once the lights do go out, most people don’t realize that they need to throw the main to the off position so that when the power comes back on, the surge created won’t do damage to major appliances.  If you do have a backup generator, make sure it is well clear of the house before you start it.  There’s nothing more toxic than carbon monoxide.

F is for Food

While a supply of ice in the fridge is usually sufficient to keeping groceries from spoiling for a couple of days, you certainly don’t want to open the fridge until the lights come back on.  This means you need to have at least a two week’s supply of canned goods and packaged food on hand.  You will also need something and somewhere to prepare them.  If you don’t have a camp stove, you can always use the gas grill (outside once the storm breaks) to cook.  Therefore you need to make sure you have a full bottle of LP gas ready before the storm starts. 

G means Gutters

If you have gutters on your house, they are a natural sump for leaves, branches, loose shingles and all forms of wind whipped debris that if not cleared can cause a backup and roof leak as standing water can get under the shingles and into the house.  Therefore you need to make sure that the gutters are clear and that water can flow freely before the start of a downpour.  You should also have a number of tarps handy that you can use to patch any roof leaks that can be caused from fallen limbs and flying debris.

H stands for Hanging on until help arrives

While time seems to slow down and storms seem to last forever when you are hunkered down in the middle of one, the last thing you want to do is to start wandering around in its aftermath.  As bad as things on the home front might seem once the storm is past, there are still imminent dangers from downed power lines, broken branches and receding flood waters that are best to avoid.

Billy Aldridge is one of the Doctors of Plumbology at Aldridge and Sons Plumbing, a family owned and operated residential and commercial plumbing company in Jacksonville Florida.  To review even more helpful tips and how-to videos visit their website at http://plumbers-jacksonville-fl.com

Plumbers Jacksonville FL - Water You Waiting For?

by Billy Aldridge

When it comes to drinking water, most people don't give it a second thought.  But when you think about it, fresh, clean water is one of the things that none of us can live without.  A human being can go for weeks without food.  But all it takes is three or four days without water to do most people in.  So you would think that most people would be concerned about the water they ingest.  If the sales of bottled water are any indicator, then water quality is definitely an issue to most Americans. According to a bevindustry.com article, consumption of bottled water in the US in 2010 was a whopping 8.75 billion gallons.  This means that on average, every man woman and child in the US drank 28.3 gallons of bottled water in 2010.  

So bottled water is extremely popular.  But how healthy is it?  According to an MSNBC report:

Tests on leading brands of bottled water turned up a variety of contaminants, including cancer-linked chemicals three times higher than California's health standard, according to a study released Wednesday by an environmental advocacy group. Lab tests detected 38 chemicals in 10 brands, with an average of eight contaminants found in each kind of bottled water. Tests showed coliform bacteria, caffeine, the pain reliever acetaminophen, fertilizer, solvents, plastic-making chemicals and the radioactive element strontium.

While contamination concerns are certainly an issue, when you also consider that in some instances the cost of bottled water is more than the cost of gasoline, this gives many people pause to consider the alternatives.

Turning on the Tap

While municipalities from coast to coast treat water before delivering it to consumers, there is a wide disparity between the type and efficacy of treatment systems.  According to the CDC:

Drinking water supplies in the United States are among the safest in the world. However, even in the U.S., drinking water sources can become contaminated, causing sickness and disease from waterborne germs, such as Cryptosporidium, E. coli, Hepatitis A, Giardia intestinalis, and other pathogens.Drinking water sources are subject to contamination and require appropriate treatment to remove disease-causing agents. Public drinking water systems use various methods of water treatment to provide safe drinking water for their communities. Today, the most common steps in water treatment used by community water systems (mainly surface water treatment) include flocculation, sedimentation, iltration and disinfection.  

You have to understand that the mandate of municipal water treatment is not to provide purified water.  Treatment plants are only required to keep contaminants and pathogens below 'acceptable levels."  To do this, various chemicals are added, including chlorine and fluoride.

In fact, the CDC will be the first to tell you that scientists have determined that typical water treatment plants are not designed to filter out such things as pharmaceuticals including pain killers, tranquilizers, hormones and antibiotics.  While these same scientists have not conclusively proven that the public is being harmed by these drugs, they have shown that tiny amounts can have detrimental effects on human cells and DNA.

So this leaves it up to the average American to not only determine whether the water coming out of their taps is 'safe', but it also leaves water treatment up to the individual as well.

Walter Filtration Drop by Drop

Even if a consumer is willing to invest in a home filtration system, there are a number of different technologies from which to choose.  Everything from activated charcoal filters, to reverse osmosis, ceramic filtration and steam distillation systems are available.  So there are a number of choices to be made with regard to such things as cost, as well as the best type of purification system for your needs.  Before choosing a system, you have to understand that all water pollution is not created equal.  Neither are treatment systems.  Certain types of treatment are better at eliminating one kind of contamination as opposed to another.  The only way to scientifically determine the best system for your needs is to have the water tested.

Homeowners also need to understand that there are other factors involved in the purification game. For instance, when distillation, reverse osmosis or carbon filtration systems are initially deployed, they all remove their fair share of contaminants.   However, as time goes by, the percentage of contamination removed decreases.  Inevitably all filtration systems have a finite lifetime and require periodic maintenance.  If you are considering acquiring a whole house water treatment system, you need to cover the frequency and costs of maintaining the system as well as how long it will take to recoup your investment.

The bottom line is that if you are looking to ensure the quality of your water, you should talk to a trained water purification professional to determine the type of system that best fits your needs and your budget.  Because when it comes to your family's health, this is one commodity that's truly priceless.

Billy Aldridge is one of the Doctors of Plumbology at Aldridge and Sons Plumbing in Jacksonville, FL.  To find out more about water filtration and other water related issues, visit http://plumbers-jacksonville-fl.com.