Category: Blog

No matter which water source in your home we’re talking about, ensuring water is clean and healthy is a vital task for homeowners. Unclean, contaminated water can pose several threats to human health, especially when consumed regularly as drinking water.

At Action Plumbing, Heating, Air & Electrical, we’re happy to help with any and all areas of improving your home’s water quality as part of our plumbing services. We offer reverse osmosis water filtration systems that will allow you and your entire family to drink safely from the taps in your home, plus will help you identify other potential contaminants or issues in primary water streams.

One possible such contaminant: Small black materials, called “black specks,” which may show up in a few different formats when using the tap or faucet and can be dangerous if ingested in large enough amounts – and also might signal other plumbing issues nearby. Here are a few different circumstances under which you might see these black specks, what they mean in each case, and what you can do about them.

Cold Side of Faucet

If you have begun to notice these small black specks coming from the cold side of your faucet, the most likely cause is general corrosion to the pipes leading to this faucet. These are often city pipes, not your own home’s, and you’ll often see these specks right after your water has been turned back on by the city after an outage or some similar event.

Unfortunately, even the best pipes may corrode over time, leading to small pieces breaking off and causing these black specks. In these cases, both our plumbing pros and city officials can help correct your issue.

Hot Side of Faucet

On the other hand, you may see similar specks coming from the hot side of the faucet. This is also usually due to corrosion, but in this case it’s generally coming from the hot water heater rather than any pipe source. However, it’s also possible that the corrosion is due to the water lines between the water heater and your faucet, which you can check after examining the hot water heater itself. Our plumbers will provide full flushing and maintenance services to water heaters and all connected water lines.

Rubber-Like Appearance

Finally, have you begun to notice specks large enough to spot their rubbery qualities? In these cases, these pieces could be coming from items like washers, gaskets or even supply hoses that connect to various plumbing areas. Rubber can break down due to long-term wear-and-tear plus the presence of certain disinfectants. Replacing these small pieces of equipment will generally solve this issue.

For more on identifying and remedying black specks showing up in your faucet’s water supply, or to learn about any of our plumbing or HVAC services, speak to the staff at Action Plumbing, Heating, Air & Electrical today.

If you’re considering finishing your home’s basement, arranging for proper heating and air components is often among your first steps. While finished basements may or may not end up containing plumbing, depending on your precise needs and desires, virtually all of them will require basic HVAC setups to make them comfortable and livable.

At Action Plumbing, Heating, Air & Electrical, our expert team of plumbers, electricians and HVAC professionals is here to help you with any and all such remodeling or construction services within your home. Let’s go over some basic tips on hiring the proper professionals for this kind of job, the heating and cooling areas you’ll need to consider for a finished basement, and a couple other tips to help prevent any long-term issues in the new space.

Hiring the Right Team

So why is it important to involve HVAC professionals in a basement finishing project, anyway? Well, for several reasons. One such reason is the potential need for permits, which could be the case in your area if you’re installing ductwork, getting certain pieces of new equipment or making major additions to certain parts of the system.

In addition, HVAC contractors can help with large pieces of equipment like furnaces or hot water heaters. We’ll assist you with concealing these items but not closing them off entirely, plus ensuring you meet accessibility requirements for the space.

HVAC Areas to Assess

A couple general areas to think about when it comes to a finished basement and HVAC equipment:

• Space: Finishing a basement means adding significant extra square footage to the area of your home that requires heating and air services. This means you’ll want to take a hard look at your current equipment, such as your furnace and AC unit, to ensure they can handle this additional space. In some cases, the more efficient move will be to replace a component or upgrade the system for this reason.
• Purpose: What will the finished basement be used for? Will it be an occasional fun space for the kids, or will someone in the home be living in the space on a daily basis? These questions will help you determine what kind of temperature control you need in the basement, including whether you might require a zoned thermostat system.

Moisture and Air Quality

Another vital area our pros will help you with is ensuring you have proper drainage, waterproofing and dehumidifying solutions present in the finished basement. Basement spaces are more prone than others in the home to moisture and condensation issues that may lead to mold or other air quality concerns, but the right simple precautions taken here will prevent these risks entirely.

For more on how our HVAC pros can help you finish your basement, or to learn about any of our plumbing or HVAC services, speak to the pros at Action Plumbing, Heating, Air & Electrical today.

Congratulations, Utah homeowner: You’ve made it through the winter! This one was a heavy, wet cold season, one that surely placed a great deal of strain on your home’s plumbing and HVAC components – and now that spring is here, it’s time to assess where things stand headed into a big season change.

At Action Plumbing, Heating, Air & Electrical, we can offer you a wide range of air conditioner and overall HVAC maintenance as your transition your home from the cooler season to the warmer one. Here are several areas many handy homeowners like to take care of themselves when it comes to spring AC and HVAC maintenance.

Filter Replacement

For starters, spring should represent a continuation of a major theme from every other season of the year: Changing HVAC filters. This should be done around once a month or so, depending on your precise filter type and a few other air quality factors, and this is the case throughout the year. If you have pets or poor air quality in your home, you may have to change your filters even more often than this.

Failure to replace filters properly has a few negative results. For one, your air quality will be notably poor, even awful if you let it go long enough. For another, a clogged filter will force the rest of the HVAC system to work harder on a daily basis, raising your monthly bills and wearing down various components faster.

Floor Registers

One of the simplest HVAC risk areas that may form over a long period without service, such as winter, is dirt, debris and hair of various types building up and making their way into your floor registers. The best way to prevent this sort of thing throughout the year is by regularly vacuuming and sweeping major areas, especially near registers.

It’s always good, however, to add a deep spring clean to your list. Remove each vent from the floor and clean it with soap and a strong brush or sponge, getting rid of both dirt and any rust present. Before reinstalling the registers, allow them to dry completely.

Air Vent Grill

You should also locate your return air vent grill in your HVAC system, and clean it thoroughly during spring. You can use either a vacuum or hose here, plus a rag or even a knife to get in between the grill spaces and remove and additional grime or debris.

AC Unit Cleaning

Finally, make sure you address the actual AC unit, which can be prone to significant buildups of debris and even random household items during the winter. Check for any such blockages that might impact the air condenser’s ability to properly pump air in and out, and remove yard waste that could interfere here. If any plants or shrubs have grown out to the point that they impact the condenser unit, trim these back or remove them.

For more on basic spring HVAC preparation tips, or to learn about any of our plumbing, heating or air services, speak to the staff at Action Plumbing, Heating, Air & Electrical today.

When you purchase filters for your home’s HVAC system, you’ll generally be able to find basic information on how often they should be changed, whether on their packaging, online or elsewhere. Most filters need to be changed somewhere in the range of once every month or two, though there might be certain types that vary from this.

At Action Plumbing, Heating, Air & Electric, however, our HVAC and indoor air quality professionals can tell you from experience that there are plenty of situations where you may have to diverge somewhat from the stated filter replacement guidelines. Said guidelines don’t really account for several circumstances where filters may fill up faster than usual – let’s look at several of these and identify situations where changing your filters more often is the best bet.

Renovations and Dust Presence

Have you been performing any recent renovations or construction projects in or around your house? These projects almost always come with large quantities of dust and general dirt, and much of this ends up in your furnace filter after being picked up by basic air flow.

If you’ve recently done such a project or are preparing to, take some extra care with your filters. One good visual clue here is the spaces near your vents and registers – if you notice dust building up here, it’s a clear sign that levels are higher than usual and you should change your filters more often.

Pets and Hair

Another group of homeowners that should take special care with filters is those who own pets, particularly shedding animals like cats and dogs. Their hair will be caught by filters, and it will clog them up much faster than usual. On top of brushing your pets often and performing basic cleaning tasks like sweeping and vacuuming, take care in this area.

Leak Concerns

You should also check your ducts regularly for leaks, as these can allow in many particles that will clog the filter quickly. Particularly if your leaks open the ducts up to air from the attic, this air could contain many more contaminants than other air.

Fan Settings

Most thermostats have two fan settings: ON and AUTO. The former means the fan will run at all times, regardless of whether the HVAC system is actively heating or cooling the home, while the latter means the fan will only come on in coordination with the HVAC system.

In general, your thermostat should be set to AUTO most of the time. If you leave yours ON for longer periods, however, whether to rotate air or for another purpose, this will increase the amount of air that passes through the filter and require changing more often.

Using the Wrong Filter

Finally, you might simply be using the wrong filter if you find you have to change yours too often. Filters are defined in large part by their MERV rating, which lays out how fine a degree of particle they can capture – and while it’s great to get a high-MERV filter, there’s such thing as taking this too far and installing filters that will pick up too much, therefore clogging faster.

For more on common reasons why you might need to change furnace filters more often than recommended, or to learn about any of our plumbing or HVAC services, speak to the staff at Action Plumbing, Heating, Air & Electric today.

During the winter we’re finally nearing the end of, did you notice your furnace turning off and on more often than usual? If so, was this observation accompanied by unusual heating bills during those months, whether larger or smaller than you’d expected?

If so, it’s possible your furnace is short cycling. At Action Plumbing, Heating, Air & Electric, our furnace repair experts are happy to help you determine whether this is what’s happening to your system and find cost-effective solutions to keep your entire family warm. In this blog we’ll help you understand what short cycling is, plus detail some of its primary causes and how you can prevent them from cropping up.

Defining Short Cycling

As we touched on above, short cycling refers to a situation where the furnace turns on and off more often than usual. The most common format is when it turns on for short periods, then turns off in a stop-and-start cycle that lasts the entire day.

There are a few negatives that come with short cycling, starting with the way they can increase your heating bill. Short cycling often takes place because the furnace is too large for the home (more on this below), which can also cause major issues of overheating that costs you hefty sums. In addition, short cycling puts significant strain on the furnace and other HVAC components, including vents, all of which may wear down faster and require expensive replacements sooner than usual.

Addressing Causes of Short Cycling

There are several possible causes of furnace short cycling to be aware of:

• Filter issues: Perhaps the most common source behind a furnace short cycling is filters in the furnace that have not been changed often enough. Filters are meant to draw impurities out of the air before it reaches you, but if they’re left too long, they’ll build up blockages and will actually stop air from passing through the heat exchanger properly. In turn, this will overheat the furnace and activate its automatic shutdown feature, beginning the short cycle pattern. Change your filters regularly to avoid this.
• Furnace size problems: As we noted above, furnaces that are too large will heat your spaces too quickly and then turn off. If installing a new furnace, speak to our staff about selecting the proper size and capacity.
• Thermostat concerns: In other cases, a faulty thermostat is the cause of short cycling. Some thermostats deal with built up dust or gunk over the years that may mess with their circuits, while others might simply be low on batteries and not functioning well. Another potential thermostat issue: Thermostats placed too closely to a heat source, meaning they mistakenly think the home is properly heated even when it’s not.
• Insulation problems: In some cases, short cycling takes place due to air leaks that allow warm air to escape too quickly. This forces the furnace to start back up again sooner than it should. Check regularly for leaks in insulation, plus in door and window areas.

For more on avoiding furnace short cycling, or to learn about any of our HVAC or plumbing services, speak to the staff at Action Plumbing, Heating, Air & Electric today.

The long Utah winter has ended, and for anyone who knows this local climate well, you’re well aware that the heat of summer will soon be upon us. This means homeowners across the state are looking for ways to stay cool during the heat, and they’re attempting to do so without taking a major hike in their utility bill each month

At Action Plumbing, Heating, Air & Electrical, we’re here to help with everything from air conditioner maintenance to electrical, air quality and several other areas. One sneaky area we often remind our clients about when they’re looking to help keep the home cool during spring and summer without increasing the bill: Utilizing your landscaping in intelligent ways. Here are a few basic areas to show you what we mean.

Trees and Shade

One massive area that not enough homeowners take advantage of when it comes to cooling is shade. The sun’s heat is incredibly strong, and providing the home with respite periods and areas from this heat can go a very long way.

Generally, you want trees that are tall enough to reach to the windows and even the roof of your home. The less sun exposure your entire structure has, the cooler it will remain in general. Deciduous trees here are often a great first choice; they shade the home very well during the summer but then lose their leaves during the winter, allowing for the sun to heat the home and assist with warming areas. Our only additional tip here is to plant trees far enough away from the home that they and their roots don’t risk any structural damage when they grow.

Shrubs and Bushes

Down similar lines you can keep lower areas of the home and property shaded using the right shrubs and bushes. One important area to use these in is on sidewalks, driveways and other paved areas – particularly if there’s asphalt involved, these areas can reflect light up and onto your home, increasing its temperature slowly over the course of a day. Well-placed shrubs, however, will block this light.

Trellis or Pergola

If trees and shrubs are not an option or a preference for some reason, or if you don’t want to wait for them to grow, a trellis or a pergola can help instead. Place it on the sunnier side of your home, and consider vines or leaves to provide additional cover.

Water Features

Finally, consider a water feature in your back yard. You may not think this will have a direct impact on the indoor temperature, but you’d be surprised – a small pond or fountain can actually cool the entire yard by several degrees, and this is much of the same air that moves in and out of your home as well.

For more on how to use landscaping to your advantage when it comes to heating your home, or to learn about any of our plumbing or HVAC maintenance services speak to the staff at Action Plumbing, Heating, Air & Electrical today.

In part one of this two-part blog, we went over some of the basic themes you should consider when looking to protect your home’s plumbing if you have pets. There are several impacts home pets may have on plumbing areas, but with the right basic steps, you can prevent them from having any significant negative effect.

At Action Plumbing, Heating, Air & Electrical, we’re here to help with all pet-proofing needs and questions regarding your home’s plumbing. This is a wide area that contains several minor factors that are important – here are a few more vital considerations when it comes to pet-proofing your plumbing.

Yard Digging

For pets that dig in the yard, mainly dogs, you’ll want to keep a careful eye on things. Apart from perhaps being a behavior you want to discourage for overall health and mess reasons, this digging can actually have a major impact on your water lines.

In some cases, particularly with older homes, sewer or water lines can be found as high as just 18 inches underground – easily shallow enough for many dogs to dig to. Most canines that dig do so extremely enthusiastically, and they can easily create a leak or even major damage in one of these lines if they’re allowed to dig unchecked. This often gives way to an extremely expensive area of plumbing repair, so keep a careful eye out.

Cleaning Chemicals

Whether in the bathroom or any other area of your home, all chemicals used for any kind of cleaning or other purposes should be kept away from where pets can access them. Dogs and cats are naturally curious and will absolutely try to get into these products, which can make them extremely sick or can even be fatal in some situations. Make sure they’re behind a locked cabinet door or fully out of reach from your pets.

Exposed Pipes and Chewing

We mentioned the risk of pipe damage in your yard above – these risks are also present for exposed pipes indoors, though in different ways. Dogs or cats will chew on just about anything, including your pipes, which can damage not only the pipes themselves but also your pet’s teeth or gums. If you have any such pipes in areas of the home that pets can access, look for ways to protect them or close off access.

Outdoor Rinsing

If at all possible, we recommend cleaning off your dog or another dirty animal outside before they come in. This is to protect your drains, for one, which we talked about in part one of this blog, but also simply to keep the bathroom and tub clean – dogs in particular can track in crazy buildups of mud and other dirt, to the point where they can permanently stain tubs or leave grime buildups.

For more on pet-proofing your home’s plumbing, or to learn about any of our plumbing or HVAC services, speak to the staff at Action Plumbing, Heating, Air & Electrical today.

In part one of this two-part blog, we went over some of the basics when it comes to the causes of drain clogs and your initial responses to them. Drain clogs are some of the most common plumbing issues out there, and while they may just be inconveniences in some cases, in others they can create significant damage, cost and hassle.

At Action Plumbing, Heating, Air & Electric, we can help with any and all drain cleaning needs. In today’s part two, we’ll go over a few of the options at your disposal for clearing drain clogs that do crop up – we’ll start with minor clogs that can usually be resolved relatively easily, and then move to heavier clogs that might require a bit more effort.

Options for Clearing Minor Clogs

If you notice certain sink drains that are a bit slower than usual to clear out, or even if you’re just a diligent homeowner looking to keep drains clear with a quarterly cleaning, you have a couple simple options that require nothing but home materials at your disposal:

• Basic water flush: All you need is a large pot from your kitchen, in which you should pour as much hot water as you can. Be sure to keep water hot but not boiling, as boiling water may actually cause its own set of drain issues. Pour this down the drain in question, and then follow it with a similar amount of cool water – the hot water will loosen and melt many blockages, while the cool water will flush them down.
• Baking soda/vinegar combo: In other situations, you can try pouring a half-cup of baking soda down the drain, followed by a half-cup of vinegar. After doing so, plug up the drain in question and leave it overnight. In the morning, flush the drain down with hot water.

Clearing Heavier Clogs

In other cases, your drain might be completely or more heavily clogged to the point where the above solutions do not work. In these cases, you have a couple other options you can try before you call in our pros:

• Plunger: The type of plunger you use depends on the location of the clog. Flat drain surfaces require cup plungers, while curved surfaces like toilet bowls require flange plungers with an additional suction device on them. Place the plunger over the drain and plunge up and down – in most cases, you’ll notice the clog loosening as plunging becomes easier.
• Snake or auger: These are tools that actually reach down into the drain to help break up clogs, usually made of either wire, plastic or metal. You feed them into the drain and then turn a handle that spins the head, picking up clogs and allowing you to pull them out.

If the above methods aren’t effective or you aren’t comfortable with any of them, our plumbers are happy to help. To learn about our drain cleaning or any of our other plumbing or HVAC services, speak to the staff at Action Plumbing, Heating, Air & Electric today.

At Action Plumbing, Heating, Air & Electric, some of the most common calls our plumbers receive for homes and other buildings alike are for drain cleaning needs. Various items may cause buildups and blockages in important drains, casing them to back up and often fail completely to perform their basic tasks.

Our plumbers are here to provide you with everything from basic drain inspection to various repairs, including those needed on an emergency basis. We’re also available to provide basic expertise – drain maintenance is something that you as a home or building owner can play a big role in, to the point where the right approach often prevents our professional services from ever being needed in this area. In this two-part blog, we’ll go over some of the common materials or substances that cause drain issues and should be avoided, some issues with the popular cleaning products you might typically use here, and some solutions we can suggest.

Materials That Cause Drain Issues

Have you ever been told by a plumber or anyone else that only toilet paper should be flushed down the toilet, only to forget or simply disregard this advice soon after? Many have, assuming it’s one of those old wives’ tales that doesn’t actually have much of an impact when you really get down to it.

Unfortunately, those in this camp have been making a big error. There’s a reason this kind of advice is given – toilets and other drains are only meant for certain substances, and issues will assuredly arise if you regularly put other things into them. Some of the primary items you want to avoid throughout all your home drains include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Various forms of grease, fat or oil, often resulting from cooking (these should be disposed of using jars and trash bins instead of the garbage disposal or other drains)
• Bones or eggshells
• Stringy, fibrous or otherwise sticky foods
• Starchy food options like rice, pasta and potatoes, which may stick to drains
• Coffee grounds
• Tissues or paper towels (even down the toilet)
• Feminine products and flushable wipes
• Hair, whether from humans or pets (consider stoppers in showers and tubs to prevent large clumps from going down drains)

Problems With Popular Drain Clearing Products

What’s the first thing you often think of when a small drain clog appears? That’s right, chemicals you’ll find at your local grocery store, such as Drain-O or others. And while these may indeed get the job done and clear your clog, these products also pose significant threats to your pipes when used regularly. Not only this, but they may also be bad for your skin. And finally, they aren’t particularly useful against certain tougher clog types. For all these reasons, we recommend avoiding these harsh chemicals in most cases – and we’ll offer you some alternatives in part two of this blog.

For more on avoiding and clearing drain clogs, or to learn about any of our plumbing or HVAC services, speak to the pros at Action Plumbing, Heating, Air & Electric today.

If you have pets in your home, there are several important areas of home maintenance and upkeep that change ever so slightly. Two such areas that are particularly impacted are your plumbing and your HVAC components.

At Action Plumbing, Heating, Air & Electric, we find it curious that most of the conversation here is about HVAC areas. These are vital, to be sure – changing your filters more often is important with pets in the home, for instance, and their hair and dander can definitely impact air quality. But we’re also here to make sure you don’t forget about important plumbing areas in this realm – this two-part blog will go over some important plumbing-related pet-proofing considerations you might want to think about.

Drains and Bathing

If you have a dog or any other animal that you choose to bathe in your own bathtub or sink, it’s absolutely vital to protect the attached drains from dealing with all their resulting hair. Many pets shed at extreme levels, and simply pushing all that hair down the drain risks major drain clogs far faster than you’d ever deal with otherwise.

The top tool at your disposal here is a drain stopper or strainer. These are simple items you can purchase at home improvement stores and place over drains and block hair from entering. It costs you very little to get one of these, but can cost you a lot if you don’t.

Toilet Concerns

A couple important notes on toilets and pets:

• Drains are not for cat litter: Toilet drains should be used for exactly two things: Human waste and approved toilet paper. Nothing else whatsoever should be flushed down, even including cat litter that may have “flushable” tags on the packaging. Find other ways to dispose of kitty litter.
• Lid closure: Many pets, dogs in particular, will view the toilet as a source of water and will lick at it. This is not only gross, but could risk their health if they ingest cleaners or any chemicals nearby. Keep the lid closed and perhaps the door sealed as well.

Balancing Valves

One minor tip for those who bathe pets in the bathtub: Make sure faucets in your home have pressure balancing valves installed. These are valves that balance the temperature when someone uses another plumbing item in the home – we’ve all been in a shower that turns ice cold or scalding hot when someone else flushes a toilet, but that won’t happen to you or your pets if you have balancing valves installed.

Caged Animals and Floor Drains

If you keep a small caged animal like a hamster, bird or something similar, it’s important to cover floor drains in your home. This is to prevent these pets from ingesting anything in or near these drains.

For more on pet-proofing your home’s pluming, or to learn about any of our plumbing or HVAC services, speak to the staff at Action Plumbing, Heating, Air & Electrical today.