Tankless water heaters are great, don’t get me wrong.  They provide nearly limitless amounts of hot water and can lower your gas bill significantly by not heating and re-heating stored water.  Even though they sound great, they’re not optimal for every situation.  Tankless water heaters have become a “buzz” in the plumbing world and dare I say it, a new fad.  Don’t blindly convert your conventional tank-style water heater to a tankless without considering the other available options.  There are lots of choices when it comes to high efficiency water heaters and the list is growing almost daily.

Here’s a couple of high recovery/efficiency gas water heaters that are currently available, I’ll write more about each one in the next few days.

Don’t fret if you’re not in the market for a gas water heater.  Electric tankless water heaters have been available for a long time but are very impractical for most retrofit applications due to the enormous current draw and need for 3 dedicated 220v breakers.  Often, the typical residential home doesn’t have room on the panel for the needed upgrade.  Heat pump water heaters are now making a big impact in the water heater market.  I’ll go over them later…

With the nice weather around the corner also comes root growth in your sewer lines.  Chances are if you have an older home with clay, cast iron or orangeburg drain lines, they have roots in them.  Trees are growing again and the roots will be causing you problems if you don’t take action.

Rocksteady Plumbing can help you with either maintaining your sewer line or replacing it with a new plastic line.  We are able to control root problems with cable machines or hydro jetters but both options are a management plan, not a permanent solution.  For that, the line may need partial or total replacement.  To determine the condition of your sewer main, we have state of the art video inspection and line location equipment.

If you want to stay on top of the situation and stop a costly and messy problem before it develops, give us a call at 805-237-7625.  For every dollar spent in prevention you stand to save several more.

Everyone at Rocksteady Plumbing wants to wish our customers a very happy Easter.  We’ll be hanging out with the family but we’re also here if you need to call.  24/7 Emergency Service is what we do.

Here is where I spent the last 2 days.  The crawlspace was tight with almost no room to maneuver but the plastic that the homeowner had laid down was much appreciated.  I was under the house to replace all of the undersized gas lines with new Trac pipe.  While under there, I also replaced a small amount of the water lines.

After the new gas lines were installed, a new Rinnai 9.4 tankless water heater was installed.  No pictures of the new water heater, sorry.  I’ll get some on the next install.

Well, it’s 2010.  The party’s over and it’s time to get back to work.

For us at Rocksteady Plumbing, 2010 is looking pretty good.  We’re trying to keep upbeat and stay positive in this tough economy but the year is starting off well and we see no reason why we can’t keep it rolling.  We owe all of it to our customers so we thank every one of you for your patronage over the last year.  Hopefully with the new year, will come new customers as the good word spreads.  We also hope to offer new services, acquire new equipment and embrace new  technology to better serve our customers.   Here’s to a prosperous 2010 to all of you!!

All of us at Rocksteady Plumbing would like to wish everyone a happy and healthy Thanksgiving. We’re hoping that you are all able to spend some quality time relaxing with your friends and family this year. Watch some football on tv, maybe go see a movie, have too much food and just generaly relax. As you’re enjoying the day don’t forget to give thanks for what you have.

We at Rocksteady Plumbing give thanks for all of our wonderfull customers this past year. Without all of you, we’d be nothing.

Thank you, from all of us.

What began as a typical mainline blockage turned into a much larger problem. This line was supposedly replaced not too long ago but as I found out yesterday, it’s original to the house. I really hope the customer wasn’t taken advantage of by a unsavory plumbing company. After clearing the line the cable was being retrieved when it got stuck under the street out front. Luckily, I was able to enlist help from another local plumber and his son/helper to get the line pulled back to within 35 feet of the house. It became bound up one more time and now it wasn’t going to cooperate. We had to dig up the line in order to remove the roots from the cutter head in order to remove the cable. A temporary repair was done to save the customer some money since the entire line needs replacement. What was thought to be relatively new ABS plastic pipe turned out to be 30+ year old clay with root impactions at multiple spots. Every day is an adventure.

There are a lot of rental companies that will rent anyone a profesional drain cleaning machine. You can also buy these machines from some hardware stores or tool supply stores. While they may seem simple, they can be very dangerous. In reality it takes years of experience to be able to work one in less than ideal circumstances. These machines pack a big punch and can go from good to bad very quickly if you get tied up in a bunch of roots or a broken sewer line. This is where the experience comes into play to keep your arms and fingers from being broke or worse.

There comes a time when a fixture isn’t worth repairing. Obviously some products last longer than others but nobody has invented the “forever” fixture. Many times when you factor in the costs and longevity of a repair, replacement is a better investment.

This Mixet shower valve was technically repairable but the cost to keep an old and inferior design going wasn’t a good investment for the homeowner. For a few hundred dollars more they were able to replace the old, non pressure balancing valve with a much better Moen.

The first step is to cut a clean and neat access hole behind the valve. This shower backed up to a bedroom but often times there is a closet that can hide the hole. Through this hole the old valve can be removed without damaging any of the tile in the shower itself.

After the access hole is made, the old valve can be cut out. By making a good, workable access opening you can assure that there is plenty of working room.

After the old valve is removed from the wall, the new one can be soldered into place. Always keep in mind that there is a flame inside the wall. This can be a dangerous job to undertake yourself if you are not experienced soldering copper pipe. Take all precautions to avoid starting a fire and make the access hole large enough not to cramp the working space.

After the new valve is installed and checked for leaks, the new trim can be installed from the front.

Now that the new Moen valve is installed the customer can enjoy a trouble free shower for decades to come. Along with getting a new and easy to use shower valve they also received a safety upgrade at no extra cost. The new Moen valve is equipped with a pressure balancing cartridge to eliminate unwanted bursts of hot or cold water. This is especially important when installing in a bathroom used by children or the elderly. A loss of cold water pressure on an old style valve would certainly send an extra burst of hot water and could cause sever burns. Those concerns are a thing of the past and all you need to do is enjoy a relaxing shower and forget all of your other problems. At least your plumbing is fixed!

A.O. Smith, in joint venture with one of the nation’s leading design engineering firms, has developed a 76,000 BTU conventional tank-style water heater that promises a thermal efficiency rating above 90% and virtually “endless hot water.” We at Rocksteady Plumbing are extremely excited about its possibilities. Just imagine: the reliability of a tank style heater that just about every house is already plumbed for with the energy saving benefits of an on-demand heater. Not to mention the nearly endless supply of hot water that up until now only tankless heaters could provide.

The development of the Vertex™ was part of a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) project. With an average 78 percent thermal efficiency, the conventional tank-style water heaters left some room for improvement. The Vertex™ jumps to 90 percent thermal efficiency and still provides an estimated 127-gallon first hour delivery and a 93 gph recovery rate. It’s like getting the output of a 75-gallon water heater without the gas bill you’d expect.

The Vertex™ gains by replacing the standard straight vertical flu tube with an internal helical heating coil. This increases the surface area over which heat is transferred to water in the tank and allows the unit to accept 76,000 BTU. “Higher input with more efficient combustion produces much more hot water, with lower operating costs,” A.O. Smith.

Another huge plus is the simplified install. When changing a conventional water heater to a tankless heater often times there are changes required to the plumbing of the home. Gas lines need to be changed, venting is sometimes a major consideration, water lines need to be rerouted, etc. With the A.O. Smith Vertex heater many of these existing systems can be used as is. This saves hundreds of dollars on the installation. Many times the price of a tankless heater itself is matched by the parts and labor to install it. Rocksteady Plumbing is experienced with the installation of these new heaters and can guide you through the process.