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Plumbing Guides for Avondale Homeowners

Straightforward guides to everyday plumbing problems, from hidden leaks and high bills to slow drains, tired water heaters and stubborn valves.

All guides

Every guide covers what is likely happening, which checks you can try yourself and the point at which to phone a plumber.

With a meter, some dye tablets and a slow walk through each room, you can shrink a hidden leak to one zone before phoning a plumber.

A bigger bill almost always has an ordinary explanation. Walk through the likely ones before blaming the meter.

Moisture at the bottom of a tank may come from a fitting, a valve or the tank body. Here is how to tell them apart and what to turn off first.

Weak showers can come from one clogged aerator or from a failing main line. Narrow it down by checking where the weakness shows up.

A sewage smell can mean a dry trap, a loose toilet seal or a cracked line. Check the simple causes first, then call if it stays.

A dead handle, a weak swirl or a bowl that fills and stalls each point to a different cause. Match the symptom to the fix.

Hissing or random refilling means water is draining away all day. Most cases trace back to the flapper or the fill valve.

A bang in the walls when a tap shuts is water hammer. The cause is often pressure or a loose pipe, and the fixes are simple.

A drip at the handle or water behind the wall from a hose bib can waste water and damage the house. Learn the simple fixes.

Know where the shutoff is before a pipe bursts. Learn the two valves, which way to turn them and how to test that they hold.

Evaporation or a leak? A bucket on the pool step and a marker give you a fair answer in a day.

White crust on faucets and short-lived heaters are signs of hard water. Learn what scale does and how to deal with it.

Both work for repiping. Learn how they differ in cost, install, heat, water chemistry and repair.

Ring the 24/7 line and describe the situation in your own words. A dispatcher writes down the details and tells you what comes next.