The winter freeze has officially arrived in Colorado, which means we need to cover the topic of sprinkler systems! Hopefully everyone has taken the time to read over our blog about preparing your home for the winter; if not check it out here!

It’s very important to make sure you have your sprinkler system completely blown out and dry, and that all hoses are disconnected before the ground begins to freeze. It is also very important to make sure that your main sprinkler feed shut-off is not leaking. If you have already had your lines blown out but notice water continuously dripping through the line then it’s likely your main sprinkler feed shutoff has failed. If so it is very important to have this replaced immediately, a service McAdams Plumbing would happily provide. If not replaced it can cause damage to the atmospheric vacuum breaker or the sprinkler lines themselves. This can lead hundred of dollars in unnecessary repairs (due to freeze breaks).

If you are reading this and still have not had your sprinkler lines blown out, be sure to give our friend Hans Wimmer from Wimmer Landscape and Irrigation a call. Check out his website here, or call at 303-252-1420. Email: [email protected].

As always thanks for stopping by to check out our blog! Hope you learned something today and please feel free to leave comments/questions. Also, if you have a topic you would like McAdams Plumbing to cover in our blog, please let us know in the comments section.

P.S. HAPPY VETERANS DAY to all who are serving, or have served, as well as all of our emergency responders. Our nation is in your debt. Thank you!

 

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Albert Einstein was named an honorary member of the Plumbers and Steamfitters Union after saying publicly that he would become a plumber if he had to do it all over again.

We couldn’t agree more Al! Happy Monday to all our friends and fellow plumbers. Let’s make this a great week everyone!

Hope you enjoyed the fun fact this week! Be sure to leave a comment on this post or make a suggestion of something you’d like to see us discuss in the future, we love suggestions! Check in next week for something new from the MP crew…

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One thing any Coloradan knows is that the winters here can be very, very cold. While this is one of the reasons most of us love Colorado (winter = ski/snowboard season!) we must also be sure we prepare our homes for the low temperatures.

Frozen Pipes

One of the largest concerns during the winter is frozen pipes. Non-insulated pipes within exterior walls or in crawl spaces can freeze during days with sub-freezing temperatures. As you may know when water freezes it expands. This expansion presses against the walls of the pipes and if it continues the pipes may burst! This bursting can allow hundreds of gallons of water into your home, causing severe damage to walls, carpets, ceiling, etc.

Avoiding Frozen Pipes

In order to avoid frozen pipes in the winter be sure that all of your exposed waterlines are properly insulated before temperatures drop. Types of insulation you can use include heat tape, foam rubber sleeves, or fiberglass insulation in either roll or sheet form. Also, make sure all garden hoses are detached and sprinkler systems are turned off and blown out. If you are concerned about freezing being a problem and would like to have a professional inspect your home and get it prepared for winter we would be happy to come out and take a look. Just give us a call at 303-465-1900.

In order to prevent any pipes from freezing inside of the home McAdams Plumbing recommends that you leave the thermostat at no less than 62*F. This is especially important if you are going out of town, say for holiday travel.

WaterCop

McAdams Plumbing does offer another defense against pipe bursting, it’s called the WaterCop Automatic Water Shutoff System. This amazing little device attaches to your main water supply which receives a signal from strategically placed sensors to monitor for signs of water. If these sensors do detect water they send a wireless signal to the WaterCop unit which then shuts off the water supply to the home! Talk about flood deterrence! McAdams Plumbing is a licensed installer of WaterCop and if you mention this blog post we’ll install a unit in your home with sensors for only $995.00 (this price does not include service fee, permits, or requirements). Some insurance agencies even offer a discount if you install a WaterCop in your home, so be sure to contact your provider and see if you qualify! More information about WaterCop can be found here.

What if I Have a Broken Pipe?

If you have a pipe that has burst, immediately cut off the main water supply. This will prevent the water from continuing to gush out into your home. Once it’s been shut off immediately call your preferred plumbing service provider to set up an appointment to have the pipe repaired.

Thawing a Frozen Pipe

If you notice that you have a frozen pipe but it has not yet burst you may be able to thaw it out by yourself. An interesting fact to know is that pipes do not break at the point of the freeze. They break somewhere down the line where the water pressure is building up because it can not get past the freeze. Because of this it’s important to thaw the pipe as soon as possible if you can get to it. Click here to be taken to the Frozen Pipes page on our main website which has detailed instructions on how to thaw out your own pipe at home. The instructions are located toward the bottom of the page.

Hopefully you got some good takeaways from this blog. If you have any questions please do not hesistate to call, email, or leave a comment here. All contact information can be found here. Thanks for stopping by!

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For the McAdams Plumbing folly of the week we decided to show you an example of a good intention with a, well, uncomfortable result…

WE’RE GOING GREEN!

HAPPY MONDAY!

The post Folly of the Week – 24/SEP/12 appeared first on McAdams Plumbing, Inc.

On Wednesday, August 1, a licensed plumbing contractor and his two man crew were lighting a commercial hot water heater at Erie Middle School. This was the first time the natural gas in the building had been turned on since an extensive remodel had occurred. As of now no specific details have been released but OSHA has launched an in-depth investigation. Somehow the natural gas had leaked into the room, unknown to the plumbing crew, and when they attempted to light the pilot it caused a massive explosion, severely burning and injuring all three men. Thankfully, one worker was released from the hospital the same day and there were no fatalities.

The strength of the blast was powerful enough to actually cause a portion of the roof of the gymnasium to collapse, compounding the workers injuries. While this is an uncommon result with water heaters, it does go to show that even licensed professionals can be in danger when performing their job. This is why we always recommend you use a licensed and insured plumbing company to perform these more complicated tasks.

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Did you hear that someone broke into our local police station and stole the toilet?

Right now the cops have nothing to go on…

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This is the new McAdams Plumbing brand. What we really wanted to show in our logo was our dedication to our residential customers. We did this by incorporating the “M” in McAdams as a twin gabled roof over a residential home. Since we do not perform commercial service our equipment and servicemen are much cleaner and do not leave odor or residue behind. This also allows us to not only offer a 2 hour service window, but we can set appointment times with 24 hours notice as well.

We chose “The Proof is in the Plumbing” as our tag line because we want to prove our quality standard to our customers personally. There’s only so much we can do over the phone to earn your trust, but if you give us a chance to be your plumbing company, we’ll prove it in our service.

With our new website we finally have the chance to give customers not only information about our business, but tips and advice for helping you stay educated and safe! Each page will offer tips related to the service on that page, and soon will have video interviews with current customers telling you what they think of our company. These are local customers, so keep an eye on the site because you might just see someone you know!

Our blog will continue to offer information about specific plumbing services, along with walk throughs on fixing some of those easy to do plumbing issues. Also, we would truly love to hear from you on what topics you would like us to discuss. We are here to serve you, so suggest to us what you want to know! We’ll either address your questions/comments directly or catalog them for future blog posts.

Lastly, we do have a specials page up on our website. These deals are very good and they will change every month or two. So if you have a service need, make sure you check the specials first to see if we have a matching offer. Of course if you call in for a service and we have it on a deal, we’ll let you know over the phone.

Thanks everyone and we can’t wait to hear from you!

-Chris McAdams

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