Phantom Flushing, My Toilet Phantom Flushes.

Phantom flushing, my toilet phantom flushes.  This is a common problem that Wimpy’s Plumbing & Air comes across.  Customers in Sarasota and Bradenton, call and tell “Lori” our office manager that their toilet just flushes by itself.

They say they are sitting in the next room and hear the toilet turn itself on and then it stops.  Thus, the phantom flush.  The phantom flush is usually caused by a deteriorated flapper in the toilet.  The chemicals in the water, most typically, chlorine, will cause the rubber the flapper is made of to swell and deform or get hard.  This will cause the flapper not to seal to the surface of the flush valve mechanism in the toilet. The age of the flapper can also be why it failed.  Nothing lasts forever, except the love I have for my wife!

The solution is to replace the flapper in the toilet.  Beware, there are many different manufacturers of toilets and everyone has their own flapper, so finding a replacement could be a trial and error until the correct one is found.

A professional plumbing company, such as Wimpy’s Plumbing & Air, carries a wide variety of OEM flappers to fix your phantom flushing toilet.  We know toilets and which flapper belongs in your toilet.

There are other causes for a phantom flushing toilet, however it would be wise to call your Florida State Certified Master Plumber, to find out the source of it, if the new flapper does not stop the phantom flushing.

Wimpy’s always shows up in a clean, fully stocked plumbing truck, with a Florida State Certified Master Plumber to take take care of your plumbing needs.  Why would you want to call a company that would send out a helper or technician, as some call them, and pay the rate for a real plumber?

Call Wimpy’s Plumbing & Air 941-322-1911 or schedule on line at www.Loveyourplumber.com.  We will be there for you.

When My Kitchen Drains, It Comes Up In My Laundry Tub.

When your kitchen drains and comes up in your laundry tub, this is a sign of a stoppage in your plumbing system. These things happen sometimes if you overload your garbage disposal.  Too much at one time going down an old corroded cast iron line can cause the kitchen drain to  come up in the laundry tub.  If this happens, you will more than likely need the help of a plumbing professional.

A plumber will need to snake-out the drain.  The professional plumber will know exactly how to clear the stoppage.  He will also be able to tell you if your disposal if working correctly.  Garbage disposals should grind the food waste into a slurry, so as not to create a clogged drain as it discharges into your plumbing system.

Here are a few tips on using a garbage disposal:

Always turn the water on first, using cold water, then turn on the garbage disposal, then add the food waste.  Let the disposal run until all the waste is gone.  Then let the water run just a little longer.  This will help prevent clogged kitchen drains.

If you have old pipes and clogged drains, you need to call Wimpy’s Plumbing & Air in Sarasota.  We will take care of your problem and explain ways to prevent this from happening again.

Perhaps you or your spouse don’t like turning on the disposal because it is so loud.  Call Wimpy’s at 941-322-1911 to find out about powerful, yet quiet garbage disposals that are available.

Check out our website,www.Loveyourplumber.com.

A family business since 1973, serving the Sarasota, Bradenton areas with Florida State Certified licensed plumbers.

My Shower Leaks Downstairs When I Use It

My shower leaks downstairs when I use it.  Two different customers called our Sarasota plumbers with this identical problem this week.  We sent one of our Florida State Certified licensed plumbers to the jobs, to find the cause of the water from the shower leaking downstairs when the shower was being used.

Here are a few things that may cause this to happen:

1) The cover plate around the shower valve or tub spout may not of been sealed with caulk, causing the leak from water splashing off the body and going behind the cover plate and down the wall and into the ceiling below.

2) The pipe from the shower valve up to the shower head could be leaking.  This pipe is called the shower riser.  The threads on the shower arm holding the shower head on could be broken.

3) The shower pan, which is the safety liner, similar to a water bed liner has failed.  If the shower pan has failed and is causing the leak, you will need a tile man and along with professional Sarasota plumbing services.

These are the common reasons for water leaking downstairs when a shower is being used.  On the first bathroom plumbing call in Sarasota, we found the shower riser leaking. Wimpy’s was able to replace the shower riser and fix the problem. This customer is now saying, I Love My Plumber!

The second plumbing call was also in Sarasota.  This customer had the same complaint, but when our Florida State Certified Licensed Master Plumber, from Wimpy’s Plumbing & Air, went through the proper steps to test the shower, he found that the shower pan had failed.

Our Master Plumber assured them, that Wimpy’s could take care of the entire process of the shower repair.  Wimpy’s works with some very talented sub-contractors, such as our tile man.  It takes experience to do these types of repairs, so that when the job is done, it looks like it was done by professionals.  We want all of our customers to say, I love my plumber.

Wimpy’s utilizes the Hilti Dustless Technology System, to minimize the amount of dust that will occur in this type of repair.  We strive to be the cleanest, most professional Plumbing Company in the Sarasota-Bradenton area. Next time, save yourself some time and call our team instead of searching for “plumbers near me.”

Call Now for Plumbing Help!

How Do I Choose a Toilet?

How do I choose a toilet?  For a homeowner this can be an overwhelming concern.  If you are shopping for a new toilet, it is because yours is old, broken, doesn’t flush well or you want a new color to fit your new bathroom.

When you walk into a big box store to shop for toilets, they will carry about four different brands. And the brands will have three to four models between them.  That is a lot of choices!  Do you just ask the $10.00 an hour guy which one is the best?  How would he know?  Do you just pick one by the price?  Do you pick a toilet because you like the seat that it shows it comes with?  Would you just get overwhelmed and pick a brand you know?

Years ago, there was a tire commercial that the guy would always say, “Tires aren’t pretty”, just so he could sell you some tires.

Well most people want their toilet to have some style to it.  But what everyone wants is their toilet to flush the first time, with-out any hesitation and no swirling around and around.  Most people do not like it if their toilet sounds like a fighter jet taking off.  How is the $10.00 guy, in the big box store, going to know how the toilets he is showing you, functions?

Toilets today use 1.28 – 1.6 gallons of water.  Different companies have different engineers that design them.  Some work a whole lot better than others, and it doesn’t necessarily have to cost the most.

A toilets job is to evacuate everything that is in the bowl. With 1.6 gallons of water, it can be done.  However, that same 1.6 gallons of water is supposed to carry down your sewer line without leaving wads of paper and material behind.

Plumbers in Sarasota, such as Wimpy’s Plumbing & Air,  sees all the different brands and models of toilets on a daily basis, by being a plumbing repair specialist. Wimpy’s recommends and installs Gerber Avalanche toilets.  They have style, flush better than any other toilet on the market, and have standard parts inside that won’t cost a fortune to replace, when they need repair in the future.

Wimpy’s can also evaluate your sewer line, with our sewer camera, to let you know if changing your 3.5 or even 7.5 gallon toilet will cause stoppages.

Call Wimpy’s, 941-322-1911 and we will talk to you about toilets.

Wimpy’s wants to make sure you are happy with your plumbing choices.

Cheap, Handyman Plumber, Is Not A Wise Choice

Cheap, Handyman Plumber, is not a wise choice, when it comes to repairing plumbing in your home.  As a professional Florida State Certified Plumbing Contractor, Wimpy’s Plumbing & Air comes across a lot of repairs done by a handy man who professes to be a Plumber.  Many times our Sarasota Plumbing Company is called out to re-do something done by a handyman plumber.  Sometimes what the handyman has done, caused a flood in the house or ruined a cabinet.  More serious is when we find plumbing lines not vented properly, which cause sewer gas to come into your home or your toilets not to flush.

Cheap Handyman Plumber, is not a wise choice, if something does go wrong.  Check out the pictures  of what we found recently.  One of the pictures shows the drain on the safety drain pan of a water heater.  The handyman put in this water heater.  He knew he needed a pan, but he only drilled though the base board, for the pan drain.  When he came to a block wall, he must not of had the proper tools to drill though the block wall, so he just stuck the drain fitting in the baseboard to make it look like he ran the drain to the outside.  Well, needless to say, this water heater leaked with-in two weeks of being installed, due to a defective tank which can happen and did.  This leaking water heater choose to leak when no one was home and flooded the house.  If the drain was run to the outside, there would of been no flood damage.  Instead, the cost to not only replace the water heater, but install a pan drain properly and to code, and to re-mediate the damage, was not as good of a bargain as the customer got on the initial installation of the water heater, by the handyman plumber. Oops.

The second picture shows a safety liner pan in a shower.  A handyman plumber did not tear out the original pan that had leaked due to the corners being cut out.  Instead he choose to put a marble slab on top of the old leaking pan and tile back.  This leaked also.  Then much to our amazement, the handyman plumber, put another pan on top of all this and still had not changed the shower drain.  then he proceeded to cut the corners of the pan out again and re-tiled the shower.  It leaked again.

The customer finally had enough of the cheap, handyman plumber and called one of Sarasota’s finest Plumbing Companies, Wimpy’s Plumbing & Air, to solve their problem. Whether you live in Sarasota, Bradenton, or one of the surrounding beautiful Keys we have here, rest assured, we are not a handyman plumber.  Wimpy’s is fully licensed and insured.  Our staff of Florida State Certified licensed plumbers will always do your job right.

When we get done with your plumbing repair, we want you to be able to say, I Love My Plumber!  Call Lori at Wimpy’s, to schedule your plumbing repair when you need it. You will be glad you did. 941-322-1911.  Or you may schedule on line at www.loveyourplumber.com.

Lavatories Draining Slow, Need Sarasota Plumber That Is Honest.

Lavatories draining slow, need Sarasota Plumber that is honest, was what a customer called and said the other day.  She was a first time customer, who found us on Google.  After calling our office and speaking to Lori, she was certain she had found an honest, Sarasota Plumbing Company. One just gets that gut feeling, when speaking to someone, what their integrity and personality seem to be.

Upon the arrival of one of our Florida State Certified, licensed plumbers, she felt the same way.  When we listened to her explain her plumbing problem of her lavatories draining slow, we knew she had a plumbing problem that would not be solved like the television commercials show.  You know the one I’m talking about.  Where they show a lavatory stopped up and full of water, and they pour this liquid in it, and poof the drain is clear.  Very rarely, does the chemical in the television commercial work.  But everyone has a bottle of it. ( I really need to buy stock in that company.)

We explained to our customer why her lavatories were draining slow. We gave her different options to clean the drain and options to clear the drain.  These are two different methods.  We showed her where her lavatory drains were stopped up. We told her what she could do about her lavatories stopping up and when her lavatories might stop up again, depending on what method of clearing or cleaning the lavatory drain she chose.

From the moment she called the Sarasota Plumbing Company, Wimpy’s Plumbing & Air, to the point of deciding how to proceed with unstopping her lavatories, she felt at ease, with her plumber.  That’s the way we operate.  We want our customers to Love Their Plumber!

You Plumber should give you options and be honest with you.  Wimpy’s has been a family owned, Plumbing Company in Sarasota, since 1973.  That’s over 42 years of plumbing is Sarasota.  A company can’t do that unless honesty and integrity is what they are about.

Check out the picture of why this customer’s lavatories were draining slow.  This may be the problem with your pipes too, or it might just be something simple.  For an honest answer, call Wimpy’s Plumbing & Air, 941-322-1911, to solve you plumbing problems.  Schedule on line if you prefer, www.Loveyourplumber.com.

Water Heater Sizing & Pricing Is Changing Dramatically, By April 2015.

Water heater sizing and pricing is going to change dramatically in April of 2015.  Due to the government agency, The Department of Energy (DOE), new energy efficiency standards will have to be met on all water heaters.  This is going to create challenges in an existing home or condominium.  The footprint, (diameter) and the height of water heater manufactured after April 2015 is going to increase.

So, who is affected by this?  Plumbers, heating and HVAC contractors, designers, engineers and most of all, You!  If the new size water heater does not fit in the space where your old heater is, you will be forced to either down size or re-locate the water heater.

Now is the time to talk to your Plumbing Professional to find out all of your options on which water heater to choose.  Your Plumber will be the most knowledgeable to help you choose which one is best for you.

The manufacturers have to increase the energy rating to comply with the DOE.  They will do this in electric water heaters by adding more insulation, which will make the unit larger and possibly not fitting in the  spot where your water heater is presently located.

If your water heater is over 55 gallons and is electric, the government will make you put in an electric heat pump water heater. This will save on operating costs, however the initial investment is going to be a lot more.

While all water heater models will see an increase in the EF requirement, the larger capacity, 55 gallon and up will have the most dramatic change. The only technology that meets the energy efficiency for electric heaters over 55 gallon are electric heat pump water heaters.

As of this writing, all the old stock of water heaters are pretty much gone, because the manufacturers are re-tooling for the new larger models.  So when your plumber tells you that he can’t get your common 30, 40 or 50 gallon water heater from any manufacturer, believe him.

Just call, Wimpy’s Plumbing & Air at 941-322-1911, we will be happy to answer your questions or schedule an appointment on line, at www.Loveyourplumber.com.  We have been serving the Sarasota, Bradenton area for 42 years!

Water heater leak?  Wimpy’s works on weekends and holidays. 

Water heater leak?  Wimpy’s works on weekends and holidays.  Murphy’s law will dictate when your water heater will leak.  Weekends and holidays seem to be ingrained in that law of his.

Water heater leak?  Wimpy’s works on weekends and even during the Thanksgiving holiday.  Usually during the Thanksgiving holiday, we as Plumbers, have the ” my kitchen sink is stopped up or my guests stopped up my toilet, type of service calls.  However this year, it seemed as if all the water heaters ganged up and said lets leak at the same time.  Kind of like a bunch of red ants that crawl on you and decide to bite at the same time once they are in position.

Water heater leak?  Wimpy’s works on weekends and holidays, because we know what a bother it is to have a leaking or flooding water heater in your home.  It is a mess and needs to be addressed promptly.  That’s what we do at Wimpy’s Plumbing & Air.

Our goal, is to provide prompt, professional plumbing service in your time of need.  Whether it be a weekend or a holiday, Wimpy’s Plumbing & Air lives up to its’ middle name,  “Dependable”.

So as the old Ghost Buster lyric goes, “who ya gonna call”, the choice should be simple.  Wimpy’s, because we say what we do, and we do what we say.

We are there for you, because our customers are the most important person in our business.  It is very easy to become our customer, because we want you to Love Your Plumber!

Call 941-322-1911 or schedule on line at www.loveyourplumber.com.  We want to be your Plumber in the Sarasota and Bradenton area.

Sarasota Hydro-Jetting – 32 Year Old Home Gets Sewer Cleaning

Hydro-jetting old cast iron sewer lines is a very effective way to clean your waste lines.  By having your pipes cleaned, it reduces your  chances of having a stoppage or clogged toilet.  Wimpy’s Plumbing & Air in Sarasota, likes to tell its’ customers that are having clogged pipes or stoppages, to Jet it and Forget it!

By cleaning old cast iron lines that have rust, scale and sediment built up inside the pipe with a Jetter, you may get many more years of service from your existing waste lines.

A high velocity, water jetter uses gallons per minute and water pressure, along with specialized, rotating cleaning heads to scour, clean and remove all the rust, scale and sediment in your pipes.  A hydro-jetter can also cut roots and flush them out of your plumbing system.

Wimpy’s, has the latest technology in hydro-jetters, water jetters, and high pressure cleaning equipment.  This sewer cleaning, pipe cleaning machine, along with Wimpy’s state of the art, sewer camera’s, allows us to take care of your plumbing needs in the best possible way in order to save you money.

Jet it and forget it, is a video Wimpy’s Plumbing & Air produced, so we can show our customer in Sarasota, the difference between the method of snaking or rodding out a line, versus jetting out a line with a hydro-jetter.  This video will show you the results of snaking a line and jetting a line in a 32 year old home in Sarasota, FL.

Click on the Hydro-Jetting / YouTube Link

If you live on one of Sarasota’s beautiful Keys, such as Siesta Key, Lido Key or even Longboat Key, Wimpy’s Plumbing & Air, will send you a Florida State Certified Master Plumber, who can give you options on the best way to take care of your plumbing problems.  From the moment you call Wimpy’s to have your backed up plumbing fixed, to the time we fix it and leave, the whole process will leave your thinking, I Love My Plumber! Schedule your hydro jetting in Sarasota today!

Valentines Day and Plumbing Today = Love Your Plumber Today.

Valentines day is upon us once again.  This is the day we are supposed to express our love for that special person in our lives.  I think that we should express our love and appreciation to that special person every day, because life is too short.  I always try to do something unique and out of the box when it comes to expressing appreciation to that person in my life, who by the way, is my bride of 32 precious years.

I just don’t wait for Valentines day to show love and appreciation to my wife, I do it randomly and unexpectedly.  I want to encourage you men out there, to do the same.  It doesn’t have to be a big or elaborate thing, just try to be thoughtful.  I find it fun and challenging, to surprise my wife with little and big things, when she doesn’t expect it.  Here is the definition of surprise: the emotion excited by something, e. g. an act or event, totally unexpected.  Try it, I think your special person will like it.

Why does Valentines day and Plumbing Today = Love Your Plumber Today?  Your plumbing system is the heart beat of your home.  How often do you push the tank lever on your toilet and walk away without even thinking that your toilet might not flush that time.  What if your toilet overflowed and came up in your tub. Then you would know that you had plumbing problems.  Plumbing systems are designed to work for a long time.  But that is the problem.  Your plumbing system works so well that you take it for granted.  Your plumbing needs maintenance and attention, similar to your car.  You have the oil changed every 5000 miles, your tires rotated and a general check-up, maybe even change the wiper blades.  But when your plumbing backs up, you ask why did this happen?

Over the years that you live in your home, the waste lines under your home get scaled, rusted and sludge built up in the pipes.  With enough time, this will cause a main line stoppage.  Sort of like the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Your plumbing system needs maintenance too.  Wimpy’s Plumbing & Air, a Sarasota Plumber, will take to heart your plumbing problems, and treat it like it was their home that has a plumbing problem.  We will give you options on how to solve your plumbing problems.

If you need plumbing today, Wimpy’s is there for you.  A Plumber in Sarasota with a heart.  When we have taken care of your plumbing problems, we want you to be able to tell your friends, I Love My Plumber!

Call Wimpy’s today, 941-322-1911 or schedule on line, www.Loveyourplumber.com.