1. If you are having issues where your P-Trap is drying out or you are experiencing a septic smell in the unit, have the exhaust vent on the roof checked before you start tearing into the wall. If you vent pipe is clogged, your P-trap will dry out very quickly. (obviously employees will NOT get on the roof!)
2. WEAR YOUR GLOVES!- When ever any of you are working with any kind of plumbing, including lifting a toilet seat- you MUST wear your latex gloves. This is so important as there are countless germs and diseases on these plumbing surfaces. Also, never reuse your latex gloves and always sanitize your rubber or leather gloves. Most germs can live up to 30 days on surfaces.
3. When you are about to perform a work order, always visualize the job before you start it. This means going through the steps in your head before you go to the maintenance shop. There is no point in making a dozen trips back and forth to the shop to get parts. Bring everything you need with you the first time.
4. Wear your eye protection. This is extremely important. There are dozens of very harmful diseases and other parasites in the water. If you get splashed in your eye….its going to be a very bad day!
5. Sanitize your tools! When ever you are using a tool in a potentially bio-hazardous area, you have to sanitize your tool when your done. Keep a bottle of Lysol in your tool bag or at the least in your shop. These germs including Hepatitis can live on the hard surfaces for 30 days.
6. When you have to replace an angle stop or you have to shut the water off to a building, you should go ahead and replace the old technology “gate valves” with a new “1/4 turn ball valve” (unless you have a dual supply line). The gate valves are notorious for breaking off in your hand at the worst time. Also, if your replacing one in a unit, you might as well do them all as the water is already off and you will need to replace it sooner or later. The ¼ turn ball values are not lined with plastic which means that the chlorinated water that we all have running through our pipes will not corrode these valves, thus they wont become weak and break off in your hand.
7. When you have to replace a supply line…DO NOT replace it with a cheap plastic tube. Plastic will corrode and break. Spend the extra $1 and get a braded stainless steel supply line. And if you are replacing a supply line…now is the time to also replace that gate valve!
8. “Zip It’s”- these are a maintenance man’s best friend. No it’s no nitrous oxide- Sorry. Zip It’s are a long barbed piece of plastic/ vinyl that can be thread down a tub drain or sink to remove the hair and clog. Buy a couple of them because they always come up missing when you need them. Using your needle nose pliers is not the way to do it. Your working too hard if you are doing it that way!
9. When you are unclogging a tub, don’t just run your snake, whip it or what ever down the main drain. You should first run your line through the over flow drain as to catch everything that my be clogging the drain and bi-pass the basket.
10. This one is my favorite—If you have a toilet tank that is constantly sweating….take ½ of a standard red masonry brick and place it in the bottom of the tank. Make sure not to cover the flapper. This creates a reef like environment and will make the condensation magically disappear. So I hear. Its definitely worth a shot!
11. If your toilet tank is sweating, I also hear that spraying lemon pledge on the tank may help as well. It acts like “rain-X” and prevents the water from sticking to the tank. I cannot vouch for this…but I hear it a lot.
12. When replacing your toilet flapper, spend the extra $1 and buy the red “Korky Plus” replacement flapper. It has a stainless steel chain vs. the vinyl strand and it will last longer against the chemicals and cleaners. Spend the $2.99 and you shouldn’t have to replace it again.
13. When setting a toilet or replacing a wax ring—ALWAYS use a double thickness wax ring. The best way to do this is to place the wax ring on the toilet base then stick the toilet to the ground. Much easier than trying to guide the toilet on the ring from above. Work smarter not harder!
14. Water Heaters—By Law, you can not have a water heater set above 120 degrees. No matter what a resident says-Do Not adjust the heater above 120. If your heater has no numbers on the gauge, its probably half way between A-B. If your not sure, run the sink on hot and test it with a meat thermometer.
15. Flushing your hot water heaters- No one is doing this and everyone should be doing it once or twice per year! At least do it on every turn. If you flush your water heater once or twice a year, you will add three years to the life of that heater. All you have to do is turn the power off, hook up a garden hose to the bottom bib on the water heater, run the hose to external drain outside, then turn the water on to the water heater. The water in the hose will run very dirty with white sediment for several minutes. When the water is clear…your all done. If the tenant is upset for the inconvenience, just explain to them that we are doing this to save them money. The water heater likely has 20% of the tank filled with sediment. So, the water heater is constantly running because its trying to keep the tank hot. If the tank is 20% filled with junk, then your tank will hold less water.
16. If you are constantly having plumbing fittings break, CHECK YOUR WATER PRESSURE! The water comes to the property from the City at around 100 PSI. Your water then runs through a regulator into the units and should decrease the pressure to around 65 PSI. Your plumbing fixtures are designed to optimally perform at 65 PSI. If the water pressure is too high or too low you will have problems. Don’t know your PSI? Here’s how to find out:
-You will need a water pressure gauge: Take a reading at the hose bib on the side of the building. This should be your highest reading as its closest to the main line and regulator. Then take a reading at an upstairs shower towards the back of the building furthest away from the main line. Then add those two readings together and divide by two. That is your average PSI for the building. If you are more than 7 or 8PSI over or under, we need to look at your regulator and make adjustments.
2. WEAR YOUR GLOVES!- When ever any of you are working with any kind of plumbing, including lifting a toilet seat- you MUST wear your latex gloves. This is so important as there are countless germs and diseases on these plumbing surfaces. Also, never reuse your latex gloves and always sanitize your rubber or leather gloves. Most germs can live up to 30 days on surfaces.
3. When you are about to perform a work order, always visualize the job before you start it. This means going through the steps in your head before you go to the maintenance shop. There is no point in making a dozen trips back and forth to the shop to get parts. Bring everything you need with you the first time.
4. Wear your eye protection. This is extremely important. There are dozens of very harmful diseases and other parasites in the water. If you get splashed in your eye….its going to be a very bad day!
5. Sanitize your tools! When ever you are using a tool in a potentially bio-hazardous area, you have to sanitize your tool when your done. Keep a bottle of Lysol in your tool bag or at the least in your shop. These germs including Hepatitis can live on the hard surfaces for 30 days.
6. When you have to replace an angle stop or you have to shut the water off to a building, you should go ahead and replace the old technology “gate valves” with a new “1/4 turn ball valve” (unless you have a dual supply line). The gate valves are notorious for breaking off in your hand at the worst time. Also, if your replacing one in a unit, you might as well do them all as the water is already off and you will need to replace it sooner or later. The ¼ turn ball values are not lined with plastic which means that the chlorinated water that we all have running through our pipes will not corrode these valves, thus they wont become weak and break off in your hand.
7. When you have to replace a supply line…DO NOT replace it with a cheap plastic tube. Plastic will corrode and break. Spend the extra $1 and get a braded stainless steel supply line. And if you are replacing a supply line…now is the time to also replace that gate valve!
8. “Zip It’s”- these are a maintenance man’s best friend. No it’s no nitrous oxide- Sorry. Zip It’s are a long barbed piece of plastic/ vinyl that can be thread down a tub drain or sink to remove the hair and clog. Buy a couple of them because they always come up missing when you need them. Using your needle nose pliers is not the way to do it. Your working too hard if you are doing it that way!
9. When you are unclogging a tub, don’t just run your snake, whip it or what ever down the main drain. You should first run your line through the over flow drain as to catch everything that my be clogging the drain and bi-pass the basket.
10. This one is my favorite—If you have a toilet tank that is constantly sweating….take ½ of a standard red masonry brick and place it in the bottom of the tank. Make sure not to cover the flapper. This creates a reef like environment and will make the condensation magically disappear. So I hear. Its definitely worth a shot!
11. If your toilet tank is sweating, I also hear that spraying lemon pledge on the tank may help as well. It acts like “rain-X” and prevents the water from sticking to the tank. I cannot vouch for this…but I hear it a lot.
12. When replacing your toilet flapper, spend the extra $1 and buy the red “Korky Plus” replacement flapper. It has a stainless steel chain vs. the vinyl strand and it will last longer against the chemicals and cleaners. Spend the $2.99 and you shouldn’t have to replace it again.
13. When setting a toilet or replacing a wax ring—ALWAYS use a double thickness wax ring. The best way to do this is to place the wax ring on the toilet base then stick the toilet to the ground. Much easier than trying to guide the toilet on the ring from above. Work smarter not harder!
14. Water Heaters—By Law, you can not have a water heater set above 120 degrees. No matter what a resident says-Do Not adjust the heater above 120. If your heater has no numbers on the gauge, its probably half way between A-B. If your not sure, run the sink on hot and test it with a meat thermometer.
15. Flushing your hot water heaters- No one is doing this and everyone should be doing it once or twice per year! At least do it on every turn. If you flush your water heater once or twice a year, you will add three years to the life of that heater. All you have to do is turn the power off, hook up a garden hose to the bottom bib on the water heater, run the hose to external drain outside, then turn the water on to the water heater. The water in the hose will run very dirty with white sediment for several minutes. When the water is clear…your all done. If the tenant is upset for the inconvenience, just explain to them that we are doing this to save them money. The water heater likely has 20% of the tank filled with sediment. So, the water heater is constantly running because its trying to keep the tank hot. If the tank is 20% filled with junk, then your tank will hold less water.
16. If you are constantly having plumbing fittings break, CHECK YOUR WATER PRESSURE! The water comes to the property from the City at around 100 PSI. Your water then runs through a regulator into the units and should decrease the pressure to around 65 PSI. Your plumbing fixtures are designed to optimally perform at 65 PSI. If the water pressure is too high or too low you will have problems. Don’t know your PSI? Here’s how to find out:
-You will need a water pressure gauge: Take a reading at the hose bib on the side of the building. This should be your highest reading as its closest to the main line and regulator. Then take a reading at an upstairs shower towards the back of the building furthest away from the main line. Then add those two readings together and divide by two. That is your average PSI for the building. If you are more than 7 or 8PSI over or under, we need to look at your regulator and make adjustments.
2 comments:
Fixing your faucets would be one of the things you need to do when doing home improvement. Broken faucets needs to be fixed immediately because this might cause an accident.
Valve actuators are really needed for complex tasks in the high power market.If the load requires accurate positioning, the electric actuators as well as the valve actuators has the advantage among others.That is why,to familiarize yourself in this kind of industrial application , knowing how an automation works is a wisely action and will positively keep us in track.
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