Dolan Plumbing Solutions

I was surveying a job and this mess was right next to the front door. The client wanted me to set a toilet, but I had to shut off the water because the valve to the toilet would not shut down, and neither would the valve to the house. I can turn it off at the meter in emergencies, but the client could not. I told them the situation and they agreed it was an eye sore, but most importantly they should be able to shut off the water without a plumber's assistance.

The irrigation system had not been used in years, so they asked me the put in a future valve for a new system. They loved way it turned out. I was glad they could shut the water down themselves in case of an emergency.

This was a call from a client stating they had high pressure and then no pressure throughout the house. After checking the house, I found that the pressure regulator was only allowing a little bit of pressure into the system. The question was, why was the pressure high when the faucet was first turned on, then slowed down after leaving the faucet on for a few minutes. The answer was thermal expansion from the water heater and a failed regulator. I confirmed the issue by going to the pressure and temperature relief line from the water heater and found that it had been leaking, which means the pressure had been building high enough to discharge from the valve. These valves are designed to discharge at 150 psi, and too high of pressure can cause some serious problems. They asked if the pressure relief valve needed to be replaced, but I thought it was not likely because the water heater was new. We decided to replace the regulator and add an expansion tank, so the additional pressure had some where to go.

After the replacement of the regulator and the addition of a tank, we checked the relief line and no water was present. I checked in with them later to see if any issues came up after the fact, and they were pleased to tell me that all problems were resolved.

I received a call from a client that had an emergency water leak and called an after-hours plumbing company. They have a booster system which ramps up the water to a more comfortable pressure. The leak happened when the control system that regulates the pump failed to turn off and kept pumping up the pressure until it blew up and dried out the pump until it seized. The plumbing company turned the water off to the house and told the customer he needed a new pump and left him and his family without water. The client was in a bind and the other company could not get to them for a few days. He called me, desperate to get his water back on. I was able to bypass the booster system and get him water, but the pressure to the house was so low that some of the fixtures were dripping. I explained that some valves are designed to have a minimum amount of working pressure to keep the valves closed and leak free. The new pump was a few days out and he didn't want to lose water, so I showed him how to turn the water on and off in the meantime. I came back and installed a variable speed pump system that changes speeds depending on the demand of water. He was happy with a greener solution and the energy savings the pump will offer in the future. The client was also pleased with the aesthetic and functionality of the pipe work. No more valve leaks and now, if it happens again, he knows how to turn everything off and on himself.