Your Holladay Plumber

YES! We will have a technician come to your home or place of business, assess what needs to be done, and give you a free, no obligation estimate.

MR. EXPERT Plumbing charges by the job, NOT by the hour, and THAT saves you money! We pride ourselves on our upfront pricing policy. Estimates are always free and our technicians always wait for your approval prior to starting anything.

Generally when you have water that is seeping back into the dishwasher it is because the hose that discharges to the kitchen sink was not installed properly. Dishwasher hoses need to travel uphill from the dishwasher to the underneath side of the counter top, then run downhill to the kitchen sink where it’s tied in above the sink trap, creating an upward loop which prevents water from the kitchen sink draining into the dishwasher. If the loop is up as high as possible under the kitchen sink, the water goes down the drain. If the dishwasher hose is installed incorrectly, then the inlet water solenoid valve is not functioning properly. An appliance technician should repair or replace the valve. Another cause of standing water in dish washer base could be failure of DW motor; in this case, your best option will be have it check by the appliance repair man.

When the drainage from one fixture backs up into another, it means that the two lines are connected on one branch line before it enters the main drain. Water always seeks its own level so it will come up in a lower fixture or another sink at the same level if the branch line connecting the fixtures has a blockage after the connection. Sink lines get filled up with lint, hair and soap scum from the fixtures. As the water goes down the drain, a film is left on the inside of the piping, eventually building up so thick that they reduce the internal diameter of the drain and slow the water flow. A hand snake is designed to open minor clogs in small traps or branch lines. A hand snake can punch a hole in a clog, but it is often like punching a hole in jello. The sludge builds up so thick, when you pull the snake back the sludge just fills back in. Hand snakes are not designed to open piping under the floor, so if the clog is there, you’ll need a plumber. Once the line is cleaned you can use an enzyme-type drain cleaner like MR. EXPERT Plumbing enzyme Drain clean Product to eat away biological material and prevent it from sticking to the inside of the piping, which keeps the line open and flowing. You can buy this from MR. EXPERT Plumbing, please click on our product info.

Gurgling or bubbling is an indication of a blocked branch line off the stack or main drain or a blocked vent. When water goes into a pipe, it pushes the air through and if there is no place for the air to go, it comes up the trap of the fixture or another fixture. The line needs to be cleaned to remove the blockage. If the blockage is far down the line, a hand snake may not have the power and the proper end to open up the pipe. Liquid drain cleaners don’t work on long horizontal pipe sections, because the cleaners settle on the bottom of the pipe and clean only the lower portion of the pipe.

We recommend an enzyme-type drain cleaner, such as MR. EXPERT Plumbing’s favorite enzyme drain cleaning product Pipe Shield, the natural enzymes eat the grease and hair and keep the pipe from filling with sludge. Used as directed, these products turn the sludge into a liquid that will flow out of the pipes and into the main sewer. Pipe Shield’s exclusive formula uses natural bacteria to breakdown deposits, so it’s safe for the environment. When used as directed each month, build-up can be prevented for up to 30 days.

When you have run a main line cable down your drain and it is still backing up, it is time for a camera inspection. Many times when people rent equipment, they break through the clog, but don’t remove all of the roots. It takes an experienced technician to do a thorough job. The roots simply grow back again or fall back into place because they were just moved aside by the cleaning equipment and not cut out. Pipes need to have all of the roots scraped off of the full interior diameter of the pipe and pushed out to the sewer main. It is possible that the city sewer is backing up but not as likely as what I’ve described above. In addition, if you have roots in your piping, I would have a professional run a video inspection camera down your line and the two of you can examine the condition of the piping by looking at the video monitor. Many people resist paying the extra money for the camera inspection, but you will learn the exact condition of the piping, any damage caused by roots and how much longer your pipes will last. Just remember the sewer line in your yard is your responsibility, it doesn’t belong to the city. A camera inspection will show you if the problem is inside the house or out in the yard. The camera will also measure the distance between clean-outs and even locate missing clean-outs you didn’t know were there. With a camera, you can see the vertical riser for a clean-out coming off the pipe and locate it exactly with the radio transmitter on the end of the camera head.

Once you get to a point where the water is backing up in multiple fixtures it means either the main sewer line from the house to the city sewer or septic tank has a blockage. Once these lines get filled, a small hand snake is ineffective. The same with chemical clog removers. You’re way past that point. Right now you are at the stage where you need a professional.

Over time, galvanized pipes fill up with calcium and minerals, and there is no code-approved way to clear the line. Calcium and minerals are leeched out of the water and bond to the inside of galvanized pipe, it forms a rock-like substance. These minerals begin to choke off the inside of the pipe and slow the water down. As water slows down, more calcium is removed from the water. Eventually the inside diameter is reduced so much that water does not flow freely. The best solution is to replace the line with High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) pipe, which will provide better pressure and volume.

​Turning off the water is not enough. You must also disconnect the garden hose connected to the faucet to allow the water in the pipe to drain out. This will allow the piping to withstand the cold weather.

RV antifreeze in toilet bowls and sink traps will not evaporate and keeps the sewer gas in the pipes. Be sure to shut off the water heater or put on vacation setting. Shut off the water to the washer because washer hoses can break while you are gone and cause flooding. Open cabinet doors to allow air to circulate around pipes and set the thermostat setting no lower than 55 degrees to prevent frozen pipes.

When we winterize a home, we remove the meter and use air pressure in all of the water pipes to empty the lines. We then drain the water heater and shut off the burner. We empty the toilets and tanks and fill all the traps in the home with RV antifreeze. If there is a dishwasher, we flush out the supply with air. Even with everything shut off, you have to supply heat to the meter area to keep the inlet water supply from freezing. This can be done with a 100 watt light bulb.