Monday, July 28, 2014

Kitchen Faucet Replacement

This is in one of the newer and pricier neighborhoods in Whatcom County. The mansion is less than 5 years old and used as a retreat from the owner's job.

As is common here, the builder got the plumbing fixtures (faucets, toilets, etc) from some discount store. The property manager called Ball Plumbing about the leaking faucet and general sadness of the set up.

The plumber took everything out and started over. Plumber kept it really simple with a Delta faucet with pull out hose and a new air gap for the dishwasher. Gone is the under-counter water filter that was never cleaned and the insta-hot that was never used.

Before Kitchen sink faucet

After kitchen sink faucet



Friday, July 25, 2014

Broken toilet in Bellingham

Ball Plumbing gets a lot of calls for toilets that are leaking from the bottom.  Sometimes, the toilet leak is from the top, but the water runs down, around and across before it falls to the floor. The picture below is a little obvious, but it shows that toilet tanks do crack for whatever reason.

broken toilet in the Numbered Streets 'hood of Bellingham.

Thursday, July 24, 2014

Bellingham Chamber of Commerce

Ball Plumbing is back at the Bellingham Chamber of Commerce! We took some time off during the Great Not-A-Recession Depression, but things are looking different now, so time to get involved again.

Ball Plumbing hosted the Chamber's radio show for a number of years and hopefully we will be able to do it again.

Bellingham Chamber Page

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Bellingham Water Heaters

water heater expansion tank and circulation pump
This work of art is seven years old. It is looking and acting a lot older, though.

The unit of the right sprung on Sunday afternoon and I bypassed it to get the house hot water. There are a few major code and common sense violations in the current set up, so we're looking at different options for replacing the system. Quite a mess.

Bellingham water heaters


Friday, June 27, 2014

Another Bellingham sewer clean out

This sewer clean out was a little more manageable than the 15' deep one we did last month.

A good sewer clean out is installed as close to the house as possible, which some plumber did back in 1989. Where he went wrong was to install it 12" below ground level and then put the stairs back over it.

I found the old clean out after selling the new homeowner on installing a clean out in order to clear the whole house sewer stoppage. Turns out the stoppage was at the joint the other plumber installed for his clean out.

All is good now. I did use the old clean out to clear the stoppage and installed the new clean out above ground level in front of the steps.

Got eaten alive by mosquitoes, too. I got 12 huge bumps on my arms from the li'l vampires.




Monday, June 23, 2014

What's in your faucet?

The plumber has a low water pressure call, okay? After checking all the usual suspects, he unscrewed the faucet screen and found this:



Thursday, May 22, 2014

Sewer Clean Out Bellingham, Wa

Anyone who has had the a sewer stoppage has heard the question, "Do you have a clean out?"

This is a sewer clean out Ball Plumbing installed recently. Yes, it's 15' deep!