How to Unclog a Toilet Without Using a Plunger

Clogged toilets are amongst the most common plumbing problems you will experience in the home. Whether you simply do not want to pay for plumbing services in Glasgow or you believe you can solve the problem yourself, you might be tempted to attempt to deal with the issue without professional help.

Plumbtec24.co.uk endorses people who can fix minor problems using common household items. In the case of a clogged toilet, you may not have a plunger available. This does not mean you cannot clear the blockage. Here is our favourite way of doing it, and by far the most successful.

Chemical Drain Cleaners

A word on the use of chemical drain unclogging agents before we begin.

These do not work. They often do not fully clear the blockage and they do a good job at eroding the pipes. No respectable plumber will find himself or herself using them. Long-term use of these chemicals will only lead to more expensive and more significant problems further down the line.

What we are going to do in this article is show you how a homemade agent can do the same job as these dangerous commercial cleaners.

What You Need

You need nothing more than detergent you would normally use for the washing up, a large pot, and some warm water. The goal of this mixture is to loosen the blockage and provide a form of lubricant to allow it to slide down the pipes and out of your home.

This will work with the majority of obstructions. Only the most serious blockages will not react to this solution.

Create the Mixture

Begin by putting some detergent into your toilet. This acts as the lubricant. You’ll only need a few squirts from the bottle. Now you need a large pot filled with water. Place it on the stove, heat it, and bring it to the boil.

Start Pouring

Take the pot of boiling water and pour it into the toilet from a height of about three feet. Any lower and the water will not fall with enough force to begin breaking up the obstruction. If you pour from too high, the water may splash so much it comes out of the toilet. You do not want this to happen because it is incredibly unhygienic.

Plumbers in Glasgow recommend pouring slowly and continuously. You should notice the contents of your toilet disappearing. In the event the blockage does clear, the water level in the toilet bowl should return to normal.

Rinse and Repeat

There are some scenarios where this will not work. Particularly large blockages may require multiple rounds of this treatment process. Keep doing it until the water returns to a normal level. If the blockage is serious, you will notice no change.

As a test, you should flush the toilet when you are finished. The flushing process will remove any residues and should return the water to a normal level. If the water does not return to normal, it means there is a blockage further down the pipes. This will require the services of a professional to step in and help.

Revealed - A Guide to the Plumbing Problems in Your Bathroom

The bathroom is one of two areas where you are likely to experience problems with plumbing. In most cases, the problem will not be anything major. Even when you have water running across your floor, it is important to not panic. You will not always have to shell out for a plumber in Glasgow to solve the problem.

In this article, we are going to go through some of the plumbing problems you will experience in your bathroom, with the help of plumbtec24.co.uk.

Clogging

The clogging of a toilet or sink is perhaps the most common problem. It is rare for a clog to appear out of nowhere. Rather than this happening, you will notice water draining away slightly slower each day. Eventually, water will stop draining completely. Act before this happens to make the repair easier.

A plunger or snake can be used to remove clogs. Clogs that are more serious further down the system may require an emergency plumber in Glasgow to unscrew the pipes and remove the clog manually.

Take note, chemical drain unclogging agents should be avoided. These may or may not clear the blockage in the first place. Furthermore, even if they do they can lead to the pipes eroding away. In time, the pipes will get weaker until you start to notice holes in them. They cause more damage than they are worth.

Dripping

Dripping is a relatively minor yet irritating problem. The problem with dripping is it can be a side effect of so many problems. It could be that a part has come loose and all you need to do is tighten it. It could also indicate a much deeper problem, and become the prerequisite to a major leak.

If you are not experienced in plumbing repair, it is highly recommended you call in an expert when you notice a dripping tap or toilet.

Leaking

Leakages are similar to drips in that a large number of problems can cause them. Most of the time, they are not a cause of concern. It could be a case of a cracked washer in a sink, or a compression fitting that needs replacing. Leaks range from the little drips you get from a pipe all the way to the torrents of water racing across your bathroom floor.

In general, you should be looking to call in outside help. It is not uncommon to see amateur DIYers making things worse by attempting to fix a leak themselves.

Toilet Seals

Toilet seals are a major source of problems. First, you need to know more about them. There are the various points that keep the water within flushing toilets. You have five separate seal points on your average toilet. If you have an older toilet, it may be different, but most models are standardised these days.

If a seal is cracked or broken, you could find up to five gallons of water on your floor every time you flush.

In conclusion, you should react the moment you spot a problem with your bathroom. Leaving plumbing problems to fester will only result in costlier repairs in the long-term.

What to Ask Your Plumber before Hiring Them

Hiring a plumber means whipping out the phonebook and investigating which of the hundreds of professionals suit you best. It is long and time-consuming, but by asking a number of key questions, you can find the right person for you.

Plumbtec24.co.uk, based in Glasgow, believes there are a number of ‘must ask’ questions you should ask any plumber on any job. In this article, we go through the questions you should always find the answers to.

Do You Charge a Flat Rate?

It is important to establish immediately whether your plumbing services in Glasgow are charged by the hour or not. Every professional is different. You might have a preference for one or the other. The main goal of this question is to make sure you know what you are likely to pay before you hire them.

Will You Carry Out a Free Assessment and Offer a Free Quote?

You shouldn’t have to pay a plumber to find out how much you need to pay to get a job done. What if they come to give you a quote and charge you for the time spent forming a quote? It is not fair and it will mean you end up paying plumbers even though you have not hired them. Thankfully, most plumbers in the city are competent enough to provide comprehensive quotes over the phone.

Will You Provide a Written Quote?

This is essential. You should always have the quote/rate written down. If you don’t, there’s no evidence a plumber ever said anything about the price. This ensures the price you pay is fair and your plumber is not being unreasonable.

Can You Offer Any Written References?

You want to know your plumber has a history of doing good work. Unfortunately, you cannot take what they say at face value. Even the worst plumber in the world will not admit they cannot do their jobs correctly.

What you need is a written reference from a previous customer. The vast majority of plumbers have no issues providing written references. Reading these will give you peace of mind when hiring them.

Do You Have Insurance?

Every plumber should have public liability insurance. They are working in a public place and you do not want to have to deal with any legal repercussions if things go wrong. All plumbers should be fully insured and should have employer’s liability insurance if they have a team working with them. You should be able to see evidence of a valid insurance policy.

If they have no insurance, they should not be practicing their profession.

What about an Emergency Service?

A Plumbers in Glasgow will be able to attend to you at any hour of the day or night. You need to have this assurance in place. If something goes wrong, you cannot afford to wait until the morning. What if a pipe bursts and it is leaking water (or worse raw sewage) onto your kitchen floor? Things like this cannot wait.

You can expect to pay more for an emergency plumber, but it is important to have this type of service available to you. Most prominent plumbing agencies will have this service already available for their customers.

Quick Fixes to Make Sure Your Plumbing System is in Tiptop Condition

An informed consumer is a better consumer. People who take the time to learn about the most common problems will ultimately get more out of their plumbing systems. In this article, we are going to show you a number of ways in which you can keep your plumbing system in tiptop condition, with the help of www.plumbtec24.co.uk

The Main Turnoff

It is not uncommon for an emergency plumber in Glasgow to hear someone screaming down the phone that his or her kitchen has been flooded. Every householder should know where his or her main turnoff source is.

This is the button or lever that switches the water off completely. Even a burst pipe will not be a problem if there’s no water flowing into your home. The longer you leave it, the more damage you will cause, and then you’ll require more than the services of a plumber.

Stop Throwing Baby Wipes Down the Drain

One of the biggest causes of blockages in the home is baby wipes. Thesedo not break down like normal toilet paper. Flush enough of them down the toilet and it will soon lead up to a complete blockage.

Hanging off the Pipes

It is not uncommon to see exposed pipework in the cellar being used as a place to hang clothes. These might look sturdy, but even clothes can put an unnecessary amount of strain on them. Eventually, they will begin to bend and break. This can completely flood the cellar and mean a costly repair running into thousands.

Never hang anything on the pipes.

Abstain from Chemical Drain Cleaning Products

Chemical drain cleaning products do more harm than good. For a start, they often do not clear the entire blockage. If you do not clear the blockage completely, you will see it return time and time again.

The biggest problem is the fact these products eat away at the pipes inside. They steadily erode them, leading to leaks and bursting. You have no reason to use them because a sewer snake will be able to deal with a blockage far better than any chemical drain cleaner.

Water Pressure

Between 40 and 85 psi is the ideal water pressure level. Anything above this is too high and puts too much stress on the pipes. The problem is high water pressure is considered a good thing for anyone taking a shower or filling a pot. This is why we rarely consider it a problem until something goes wrong.

Check the water pressure on a regular basis. If it is above 85 psi, call a plumber for help. They can install an automatic pressure management module. This will forcibly keep the water pressure at an acceptable level.

Act Quickly

The best way to maintain a plumbing system is to act quickly when you notice a problem. Little leaks and heavy moisture can easily be ignored, but the longer you leave it the worse the problem gets. Do not make the mistake of doing this. Act immediately and you can save hundreds of pounds on repairs.

It is always wise to have an emergency plumber Glasgow on call for this reason.

How to Go About Becoming a Plumber in Glasgow

Plumbers have an important role in maintaining water and waste management systems within residential and commercial facilities. You have to be able to contend with difficult work conditions, unreasonable hours, and major health hazards. In return, you can earn a lucrative salary going all the way up to £35,000 per annum, and sometimes more.

Glasgow is one of the UK’s major cities. There are always new construction projects around the city. This makes it an area where there is always a demand for people with the right skills. If you want to join this profession, read on to find out more.

Can You Work?

You need to understand the requirements of the job. Although you do not need a permit to begin your training as a UK national, you need to have the right attributes. Plumbing requires you to be physically fit. You have to be comfortable with staying on your feet for extended periods.

What Qualifications Do You Need?

The UK government requires you to hold the City and Guilds National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) in Mechanical Engineering Services – Plumbing (Domestic) at levels 2 and 3. In short, this is the primary plumbing training course in the UK. There are plenty of local colleges in Glasgow for a prospective plumber to get started with.

Take note, some colleges will require an entry test. This is a popular profession and spaces are often taken up quickly.

Some people, instead, train with a private company. These courses are an option, but they do cost up to £7,000.

Take an Apprenticeship

If you want to offer plumbing services in Glasgow, you can train as an apprentice under the UK government scheme. This scheme applies mainly to people up to the age of 24. On the other hand, there are also options for older workers who want to retrain and join this profession.

We discussed college training above, so by the time you think about taking an apprenticeship you should have passed your college course, or be well on the way to passing it. Most people do both at the same time. Plumbing requires you to have both a theoretical and practical knowledge of the job.

As an apprentice, you can earn up to £10,000-a-year.

Final Qualifications

Even after all this, you still have to have another qualification. This is the City and Guilds Technical Certificate. It is made up of Level 2 Plumbing Skills and Level 3 Plumbing Studies. You can take these at a local college in the city or through a private company. Experienced engineers and plumbers are able to skip the basic mechanical courses outlined above and move directly onto these.

Once you’ve passed these qualifications, what you do next is entirely up to you. You can register as self-employed and begin plying your trade, or you can apply for a job with an established company.

Take note, it is far better for novices to join a company to give them real experience of the job. Running a business at the same time only adds to the pressure on you to get things right.

How to Find a Plumber in Glasgow

Glasgow is filled with plumbers. This is both a blessing and a curse. You have many professionals to choose from, which offers you a lot of choice, but you also have to spend time finding the right plumber for you. You do not want to pick the one who ends up worsening the problem.

This is why this guide is here to show you how you should go about finding plumbing services in Glasgow. Let us look at some of the things you need to look at.

Start with a Recommendation

The easiest way to find a competent professional is to ask someone you know for a recommendation. The chances are you know someone who has required their services before. They will be able to tell you how good they are and whether they are worth calling. Even if you do not get a recommendation, you might well gain some useful advice on who to avoid.

In the event you do not receive a convincing recommendation, search for some of the major companies in your area of the city. It is best to go with an established name over a local self-employed person with no real reputation.

Always Get a Quote First

Make sure you get a quote for the job. Most plumbers can conduct an assessment over the phone. Unless it is a specialist job with a number of unique nuances, they will not need to complete a preliminary assessment before giving you a quote.

Get them to write this quote down before they accept the job. This protects you in the event they attempt to jack the price up, or charge for work or additional services that were not mentioned in the beginning.

Qualifications Not Words

All plumbers in Glasgow should have the appropriate NVQs in plumbing. You should be able to see these before they start the job. Choosing an unqualified professional is putting your home at an enormous risk. You do not know whether they are a maverick genius or someone who is prone to botching every job they take up. It is just not worth the risk.

Your plumber should also have the appropriate insurance forms. You need to know they are covered against causing harm to both your home and the general public. Without insurance, it can make recouping any damages difficult, if not impossible.

Contact Them at the Right Address

One way to avoid picking up a bad plumber is to make sure they have a registered office address. This is why you should contact them at this address. Do not contact them via a mobile phone. Anyone can have a cheap mobile phone. The problem is when someone does not have a proper business address they can easily disappear when things go wrong, therefore leaving you in the lurch.

Use the Internet

The best way to find a plumber, though, is to use the Internet. It gives you a complete directory of prominent plumbers and plumbing companies in your area of the city. Make sure they fulfil your needs before working with them and you can’t go wrong.

Finding a Plumber in Glasgow - All About What a Plumber REALLY Does

Plumbers are portrayed as professionals who spend all their time unclogging drains and dealing with leaky taps. Whilst these are tasks they attend to quite regularly, there is much more to it than that. Before you locate a plumber in Glasgow, for example, the first thing you need to figure out is whether you even need a plumber in the first place. Does the job you need attending to require the services of a plumber?

Residential Plumbing Services

Residential plumbers are by far the most common. If you need any new plumbing fittings or any existing ones replaced, you will require the services of a plumber.

One area people do not associate with plumbers is gas lines. The gas lines used to power things like your hot water heater are the responsibility of the plumber. All plumbers are completely trained in how to deal with potentially explosive gas lines.

Glasgow has a range of on-going construction projects. You will find plumbers in Glasgow working on new housing estates by laying pipes and welding new fittings.

Commercial Plumbing Services

Commercial plumbers do most of the same jobs as a residential plumber. It requires a completely different set of skills, however. Plumbers who specialise in this field have to be able to cope with work on a grander scale. Instead of installing one fitting, they might have to install hundreds as part of a single job.

There is also a greater level of emphasis on fire suppression and other safety devices. Generally, commercial buildings have to adhere to far higher standards of safety than residential buildings.

In the case of commercial projects, they may find themselves working as part of a larger team.

Working Environment

The working environment of a plumber is not always lying on the floor underneath your sink. Contrary to what many people think, this is not the regular working environment of your average plumber.

They also have to concern themselves with sewerage lines, which can involve remaining in a contorted position for an extended period. A plumber must demonstrate a high level of physical fitness in order to carry out the work they do. It is why you so often see plumbers demonstrating a great degree of physical strength and durability.

What about the Emergency Plumber?

If you are searching for an emergency plumber in Glasgow, you do not have to worry about this being an entirely different area of the profession. Emergency plumbers do exactly the same things as a conventional plumber. The difference is these plumbers tend to operate on an on-call basis. They receive additional pay in return for operating at unreasonable hours, such as in the middle of the night.

Overall, plumbers have to be able to accommodate a wider range of tasks than people think. It is easy to mix many of their roles up with other professions, especially when it comes to specialist tasks like repairing broken sewerage lines. Just remember, a plumber is responsible not only for the flow of water in a building, but also everything to do with managing the waste management systems.