Plumbing Tips
12 things your plumber wishes Arlington homeowners knew
By All Purpose Anytime Services LLC
Plumbing in Arlington depends on whether you own a unit in a Metro-corridor high rise or a detached house in North Arlington. In the high rise, the building controls a lot of what you would expect to control yourself. In the house, it is all on you. These twelve cover both.
1. Find your main shutoff today
Look where the water line enters the house, which in most Arlington houses means the basement or the crawlspace. If you live in a high rise, the valve for your stack is the building's, so ask the management office today who can close it and how fast.
2. Arlington runs its own water and sewer
Arlington handles its own pipes and sewers, with the treated water bought from the Aqueduct. When the question is about your service line or your sewer lateral, the county is who you call. WSSC is a Maryland utility and plays no part here.
3. Wipes don't flush
Even the ones labeled flushable. They don't break up in the line the way toilet paper does, and in an older house they snag on whatever is already narrowing the drain.
4. Grease goes in the trash
Hot grease poured in the sink turns solid once it hits a cold stretch of pipe, and every pan narrows the line a little more. Wipe the pan out with a paper towel and bin the towel. It is the same reason the restaurants on Wilson Boulevard have their grease lines cleaned.
5. A running toilet costs real money
EPA WaterSense figures a leaky toilet can lose around 200 gallons in a single day, all night and all weekend. The culprit is nearly always a worn flapper or a tired fill valve, and swapping either one is a short visit.
6. Low pressure at one tap is usually that tap
Weak flow at every tap is a different problem. First make sure the main valve is all the way open, then look at the pressure reducing valve. If both check out in a pre-war North Arlington house, old galvanized pipe narrowing on the inside is the likely cause.
7. Water heaters have a label
The manufacture date is printed on it, or hidden in the serial number. Most tanks give out somewhere between eight and twelve years. In a condo where the heater lives in a bedroom closet, water in the drip pan is your cue to replace it before the carpet finds out.
8. Know what's behind your condo wall
Water on your ceiling could be coming from your own bathroom, the neighbor upstairs or the common pipe between floors. Finding out which is the first job, because it decides whose repair it is. Anything inside the common pipe gets scheduled by the building.
9. Don't ignore a slow drain
When the floor drain in the basement burps or backs up as the washing machine empties, the sewer line out of the house is getting narrow. Get it looked at while it is slow. A camera will find the spot.
10. Chemical drain cleaners are hard on pipes
Reach for a plunger first. Bottled drain cleaner often leaves a real clog where it was, it is rough on old pipe, and it is still sitting in the trap when someone has to take it apart.
11. Outdoor spigots need winter prep
The average first freeze in Washington is around November 12. Unscrew the hose before that night comes and let the spigot drain. Leave it on and the trapped water can freeze the pipe behind the faucet, inside the wall, and you won't know until it thaws.
12. Garden apartments are at the age where parts fail
The garden apartments off Columbia Pike, Buckingham and Colonial Village among them, date from the years around World War II. Their valves and drains are wearing out unit by unit, so if the apartment next door just had a shutoff seize, try turning yours before you need it.
Need a plumber in Arlington?
Say whether it is a house or a unit in a building, and what the plumbing is doing. A condo job may need the building office first.