Two Great Companies
One Easy Choice!
916.710.8070
Boyd Plumbing is now a proud member of the Bonney Family of companies
Owning a home is not for the faint of heart. When something goes wrong, you don't have the luxury of calling a landlord to handle the matter. Instead, you are left to find a solution all on your own. However, being a homeowner doesn't mean you have to break the bank to keep your house in working order. Instead, you can make some cost-effective plumbing upgrades that can help you save money while increasing your home's resale or rent value.
As you decide on the right enhancements for your home, review our top four money-saving plumbing upgrades to make in 2024.
Older shower heads usually have tiny cracks or grime that can rust over time, creating gaps that cause leaks. Even a slow leak can waste hundreds of gallons of water in a single year. Since these older models also have a higher flow rate than newer models, they'll produce more water than you need and raise your water bills.
To solve a leaking or inefficient shower head, replace it with a modern model with strong spraying power that doesn't use as much water. For example, some newer shower heads reduce water usage by up to 60%, resulting in serious savings on your water bills. Don't let water constantly leaking from the shower cause money to leak from your wallet—install new shower heads instead!
Another great money-saving idea is to install a low-flow faucet in the kitchen. If you haven't replaced your kitchen faucets in a while, the hardware inside them has likely worn down. This wear can corrode your faucets and cause them to leak. Mineral deposits also build up on a faucet's internal parts, decreasing the faucet's efficiency. Besides the potential for wear, older faucets aren't water efficient and may use three to seven gallons of water each minute.
Since older kitchen faucets typically use a lot of water, you can likely benefit from upgrading your kitchen faucets with low-flow models. A low-flow model reduces water flowing through the tap, lowering your total water usage. In fact, the newer models can reduce water usage by 2.2 gallons per minute. This significant drop in water usage means you can save money on water bills and make your kitchen more attractive to potential buyers.
Of all the rooms in the home, guess which has the highest water usage? If you answered, "the bathroom," you're right. Showers, sinks, and bathtubs all use water, but one fixture gets more use than the others and can drain your pockets.
Every time a conventional toilet is flushed, it uses around 3.6 gallons. However, the new low-flow models bring that number down to 1.6 gallons. That's two gallons of water being saved during each flush. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that most families will save 13,000 gallons of water and a little more than $140 each year with a low-flow toilet.
If you're still using a tanked water heater, it's time to consider trading it in for a tankless version. With the storage water heater system, you must wait for it to be filled with water. Next, the water is then heated and stored until needed. Electricity or gas is used to keep the water hot, which means energy is constantly being drained to ensure you have hot water.
However, a tankless water heater is much more energy efficient as it uses high-powered burners to heat the water quickly as it goes through a heat exchanger. That's why it's also known as an on-demand water heater.
When switching to a tankless system, you'll pay more for equipment and installation than a traditional storage tank system. However, it's worth it in the end. The lifetime savings are more significant, and you always have hot water when you need it.
If you're looking for fast home upgrades near you in Sacramento or the surrounding areas, turn to Boyd Plumbing. At Boyd, our experienced technicians are trained to recognize and solve your issues as quickly as possible so that you can get back to taking care of the things that matter to you most. We'll install new fixtures and equipment that will improve your home's value and keep your money where it belongs—in your pocket. You can also review our coupons to save even more money on plumbing upgrades and services.
Learn more about our plumbing services today. If you have any questions or want to schedule an appointment, please call us at (916) 710-8070 or use our online form.
If you’re having a backflow problem, it could be due to a backed up drain that causes dirty water to flow into your home or business from a drain. You could also have an issue where your water or irrigation system is allowing stagnant water to enter your home. Either plumbing backflow issue can impact your water’s safety, as backflow can enter your home’s potable water distribution system. Instead of potentially drinking dirty water, you can prevent these problems by knowing the main warning signs you might have a backflow issue.
When you have a backflow issue, your water might not be safe to drink, and you’ll need to take action fast to solve the problem with backflow prevention services. To ensure you’re prepared to spot a backflow, learn more about the top five signs of a plumbing backflow below:
If you’ve noticed your water doesn’t look as clear as it once was, you could have a backflow issue. Since backflow causes contaminants to get in your drinking water, it will also change your water to a brown, yellow, or pink color, and you might notice visible particles floating in it. While discolored water can be due to another plumbing issue, such as a rusted anode rod, you’ll want to immediately stop using the water. Next, call a plumber for an inspection to see if backflow is causing the discolored water.
Backflow can cause your plumbing system to leak frequently. Like water discoloration, frequent leaks can be signs of other issues in your system, and as soon you notice them, you’ll want to have a plumber inspect your system for signs of damage. Taking action fast on leaks can prevent water damage, conserve water, and stop the cause of the leaks from spiraling out of control.
Another easy-to-spot sign of backflow is water that smells bad. Usually, the water will smell like sulfur or rotten eggs, but any foul smells could indicate backflow. For safety reasons, don’t drink the water until a plumber can confirm it’s safe. You’ll also know you might have a backflow issue if your water tastes strange. After tasting something strange in your water, don’t drink any more until a plumber checks for a backflow problem and fixes it.
If you’ve noticed a drop in water pressure around your home, backflow could be the problem. When you have a backflow issue, it creates a vacuum-like effect in your pipes, stopping proper water flow and slowing down its speed. Over time, this vacuum-like effect raises the risk of your pipes breaking due to increased water pressure in your pipes. A backflow prevention specialist can fix your water flow and restore your water pressure to the correct levels.
When you notice slow-draining water or standing water in your sinks, backflow could be the cause. Since backflow disrupts drainage and prevents water from flowing out of your home properly, it’s something you’ll want a backflow prevention specialist to handle quickly. Slow drainage can also be a sign you have a clog in your pipes that can do serious damage if not removed, but either cause can do major damage if not caught quickly.
If you’re looking for backflow service near you in Sacramento or the surrounding areas, turn to Boyd Plumbing. Our plumbers are trained to help diagnose the cause of backflow and fix it. We can also inspect your home and provide backflow prevention services, such as maintaining air gaps, reducing pressure principle assembly, and using an anti-siphon vacuum breaker. Additionally, you can review our coupons and financing services to ensure any of our services fit your budget.
Learn more about our backflow prevention services today. If you have any questions or want to schedule an appointment, please call us at 916.710.8070 or use our online form.
Mornings can be a drag. Waking up and slowly moving towards your showers only to have it greet you with a rush of cold water as your plumbing system warms up. To make matters worse, you’re really just watching all that water go down the drain… what might be only a few pennies today, adds up over time. Some Sacramento homeowners don’t even have the luxury of having to wait only a moment or two for the warm water to come: old water heaters can increase the time it takes for your day starting warm shower to be ready. This doesn’t only affect you in the morning either, does it? Every time your pipes get a break the water inside cools down, making the time you have to wait for warm water and the water wasted creep along.
There has to be a better way!
As with any other plumbing issue your home might face, your local Sacramento plumbers at Boyd Plumbing have the answers you need. For all of your home’s hot water woes, you need a hot water recirculating pump.
Hot water recirculating pumps work hard to deliver instant hot water to you when you need it. Gone are the days of hitting the shower and waiting around for hot water to warm your day. When you draw hot water, the water that is still in your pipes comes first. This water isn’t heated and comes through cold. With this pump, the cold water is routed back into your water heater, while the hot water is sent straight to you.
The best thing about hot water recirculating pumps is there low operation costs and virtually no maintenance requirements. Don’t let that cold water water you hate so much just flow down the drain, call the plumbing experts at Boyd Plumbing to get your hot water circulating pump installed today! It’s a great time to have a check up on your water heater too, so don’t forget to ask the office about a water heater inspection.
If you’ve ever been standing over your bathtub's drain, watching the stagnant water slowly drain down your pipes, you know how frustrating a clogged drain can be. A bad clog can quickly become a major problem as toilets and bathtubs get backed up: sooner or later you’ll need to take action. If your first thought is to grab some chemicals and pour until it works, think again. What you really need is local Sacramento drain cleaning specialist that can properly identify the issue and provide you an effective resolution.
Store bought chemicals: It says “cleans drains in no time” right on the box! What could go wrong right? Right? These solutions are great when built up gunk is what ails you, but what about when the problem is greater? Having a technician fully inspect your system with a camera is the only way you’ll actually know if the solution you’ve used will properly address your issue. You may putting a bandage on a bullet wound while the real issue lurks in the shadows.
Using a snake or jetter without training: You just stick it down the drain and let it do it’s thing right? Wrong. Very Wrong. Using a snake without the proper training will not only fail to solve the issue, you also run the real risk of causing major damage to your pipes. This won’t only be expensive to fix, but will also cause collateral damage to your home. Never let anyone who isn’t properly trained and certified in the equipment work in your home without supervision.
Hiring a second rate plumber: Everyone has “a guy” when it comes to home services, but you might want to think twice before you give him or her a call. Only a trained professional can properly assess this issues. You may end up with an overly larger bill for a very minor problem, and if they don’t have the supplies, you might be waiting days before your issue can be fixed.
Your water heater’s shut off valve is very important. If a problem develops and you can’t turn off the water supply, the area where your water heater is located could be seriously damaged due to flooding. If you are handy with tools you should be able to take care of this job yourself.
Call Boyd Plumbing today if you want us to take care of your water heater shut off valve replacement.
Many older homes don’t have sewer clean outs. A clean out is a part of a sewer line that juts out of the ground and has a removable cap. It attaches to the main portion of a sewer line and provides access should any sort of blockage be present. If you don’t have a clean out, the only way to access the sewer line would be to remove your toilet and go through your bathroom.
If you have cast iron lines but no cleanout, we can install one for you. In most cases, this involves digging into your sewer line and clearing out all of the dirt. Then, a two-foot section of the old line is removed and a PVC cleanout is attached. The PVC section comes with fittings so that it will be adaptable to the cast iron line. Afterward, the excavated area will be filled and smoothed over.
In many cities, plumbing codes require new homes to have two cleanouts, one close to the house and the other close to the curb.
If you want a sewer line clean out installed for your home, call Boyd Plumbing today.
A customer called us to report that her kitchen sink had cracked. A few days before calling, she said her son had placed a hot plate in the sink without first cooling it off with water. She didn’t notice anything more than some discoloration at first, but then the crack developed. It progressed to the point where she wanted the sink replaced, so we installed a new one for her.
Kitchen sinks are extremely durable in most instances, but can crack if something heavy is dropped inside or, as in the example above, something extremely hot is placed inside by mistake. If this happens to you, call us and we’ll send someone out to let you know if your sink can be repaired or needs to be replaced.
Don't worry if your sink does need to be replaced, though. A change like that can make a nice addition to your kitchen, and might even spark an interest in an entire room remodel. Change can be good, sometimes!
For any remodeling or kitchen sink installation needs, call Boyd Plumbing today!
We received a call from a customer who said his shower was draining slowly and he was unable to find the reason for the clog. He said he didn't want to work on the drain himself because he didn't want to take the risk of making the problem worse. That is a smart thing to do because you don't want to accidentally turn a small problem into a larger one.
A shower drain will usually be clogged due to soap scum, hair and other debris. If you remove the drain plug, you may be able to take out debris that collects on the drain flange with your fingers.
If this still doesn't work, you could try a drain cleaner and see if that removes the clog. If you’re still unsuccessful, call one of our professionals at Boyd Plumbing!