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Messages - DUNBAR PLUMBING
16
« on: March 23, 2011, 01:34:25 AM »
Dunbar Plumbing was called out to an emergency plumbing call regarding a sewage backup. Customer explained that sewage was backing up into the toilet on the ground level (basement) whenever the plumbing was used on the first floor level of the home. This was a quad level home that has numerous living areas at different elevations with steps inside the home never more than 4 to 6 steps. Customer gained our phone number by searching Google for Northern Kentucky Plumbers where we showed up at the top of the list for emergency plumbing service. The customer went on to state that not even a week/two weeks prior that another plumbing company had been out there to clean a kitchen sink drain that was running slow. The plumber didn't have much success and used a larger cable, retrieved a disposable wipe that the customer thought was extremely odd given it was a kitchen sink drain. Clover Nook Drive is off of Camp Ernst road, a very heavily travelled road in Boone County Kentucky. Briargate is the street that turns off of Camp Ernst road that leads to this street. Customer was glad to see us arrive no later than 45 minutes from the time we called. The toilet had already been removed from the closet flange on the ground level where the backup was occurring. Customer showed us the piping directly behind the bathroom so we could directly diagnose exactly where the clog is, and that we wanted the closest proximity to the clog as possible. We set the machine up and within the first 20 feet we ran into a hard obstruction inside the 3" drain piping. When we removed the cable back out of the drain, the last foot of the cable was wrapped with numerous disposable wipes that most likely was responsible for the clog in the drain line. Customer went on to say that the prior family member that lived at the property always put these disposable wipes into the drain, and there was a good chance that possibly hundreds of them could be inside the drain line. In knowing this, we instructed the customer that when the drain was open and free flowing that heavy amounts of water should be ran down the pipe while the cable is in the drain to get the majority of those wipes out of the drain. We always state to our customers that toilet paper and urine, fecal matter is the only items to go down a toilet. The rest belongs in the garbage, always. Once it is after the fact, there's not much you can actually do since the buildup continues inside the piping where accumulation of these wipes will slow down the flow of the drain system and create a clog in the drain. In total we made three passes with our cable which was 80 feet in total, making sure the drain was completely open and free of the disposable wipes. As part of the service, we told the customer that we would reset the toilet back down on the closet flange and hook it back up, test it to make sure the system was working the entire time. Also encouraged the property owner to flush the toilet repeatedly after the drain cleaning work was done, running sinks, filling up the laundry tub and operating the washing machine to create the heaviest amount of water flow into the drain system to move any remaining disposable wipes from the drain. Call Dunbar Plumbing at 859-359-4833 or visit DunbarPlumbing.com for your plumbing needs. 
17
« on: March 23, 2011, 01:09:26 AM »
Customer contacted us in regards to a kitchen faucet replacement along with an outdoor faucet that was leaking on the back side of the house. The job location was Ashgrove court in Independence Kentucky, back in the Villages of Beechgrove. Beechgrove is a part of Independence, one of the first few "large" subdivisions that was created in the late 1970s. The age of this home is stamped by the fact that the drain piping in the home is cast iron for the ground work, the upper drain waste and vent piping is PVC. Subdivisions such as the one we visited today are subdivisions where you can expect to see modifications to the plumbing systems, along with some products that have served almost 3 decades with sufficient/good reliability. When we arrived to the property, customer stated there was two faucets leaking which concerned us that possibly high water pressure may be playing a role. Before the water was shut off to make the necessary repairs, we test the water pressure at the rear outside hose faucet which revealed 60+ pounds pressure without a pressure reducing valve present on the main line. We could see the entire water service coming out of the floor without any indication that there was a pressure reducing valve anywhere. No thermal expansion tank was present at or near the water heater as well. Once the water was shut off, we proceeded to repair the back outside faucet. Removal of the stem for the faucet revealed the black rubber washer was old and hardened along with a crack in the mating surface where the seat washer comes in contact with the seat. We replaced the seat washer and reassembled, fixed the problem. 
Next, the kitchen sink faucet replacement. 
Once we looked under the sink into the cabinet, we realized it was going to be a difficult task to replace the kitchen sink faucet. The faucet itself was loose on the deck, and the nuts were froze into position. Along with that revelation, the way the flexible supply lines connected to the copper water lines was a serious conglomeration of transition fittings that needed to be removed from the equation to simplify the replacement. The first thing we did was cut/remove the existing shutoff valves and install 2 new 1/2" by 3/8" shutoff valves so the faucet had new isolation valves and no numerous points in the system where it could possibly leak. Using our famous Ridgid kitchen sink faucet installing tool, we removed the existing faucet. The tool we used is designed with slots to mesh into the tab pattern of the common plastic nuts used for holding down/anchoring new faucets to sink decks. The tool works quite well and even though it does work all the time, it works the majority of the time and that's far better than before. Before, the only tool out there for that application of moving the holding nuts was a basin wrench which was notorious for ripping the ears off of the nuts. Once that happens, removal is very difficult and involves the difficult task of breaking/splitting the nut. Once the faucet was removed, we installed a customer supplied Delta two handled kitchen sink faucet with sprayer. This was a long necked spout, chrome finish. Very nice and elegant and the customer really enjoyed the looks of the faucet. Underneath the sink we installed new stainless steel faucet supply lines connected to the new shutoff valves for the hot and cold.
As always, Dunbar Plumbing follows the traditional design of using silicone grease to cover the holes of where the allen screw holes are for the handles, along with the fine threads of the aereator. We make a point to show this to our customers while this is being done, something that proves that no matter who works on that faucet in the future, the correct steps have been taken to allow for removal of the handles without fighting to get the allen screws out. Customer was very pleased with the finished results and we are very glad to service this new customer. Call Dunbar Plumbing at 859-359-4833 or visit DunbarPlumbing.com for your plumbing needs.
18
« on: March 20, 2011, 11:19:51 PM »
This is a sad story of hardship of an animal. "Knut" the polar bear began his journey into this world by being the recipient of an animal that was rejected by his mother at birth. This brought international celebrity to this polar bear and people from all over the world came to see this polar bear. Abruptly, this polar bear died at age 4 this past week with 600 people present in the viewing area when this happened. Here is a article that will bring tears to your eyes just by looking at the pictures, seeing this animal that lost the most important part of his life without rhyme or reason, his mother. From the standpoint of humans and human life, the bonding relationship with mother and son is crucial. It is very evident when a child has been robbed of this opportunity and it shows up through the aging/developmental process. There is nothing that replaces this action and time in those very crucial beginning years. This animal was dealt that devastating blow and was forced to grow up having something that he never got a chance to endure. The video above changes in context, the very reason I wrote the story about this animal 'after' the reader of this thread would most likely watch the video first. Most if not all of us had the luxury of having a mother in their life. But to see this animal celebrate his birthday, alone, it's the crossing of wires to even understand what this animal is going through, being separated for no reason other than his mother totally disconnected from him. Can you imagine the pain that is felt in a human child, knowing that their mother doesn't care, love and nurture them? I find the whole situation quite disturbing. Humans are animals. People don't always think animals have emotions, but we're almost built with the same setup; bones hair head and a heart. There's a good chance this polar bear, beloved "Knut" died of a broken heart. So very sad. 
19
« on: March 20, 2011, 10:55:24 PM »
HB 333 has passed the house and senate. Gov. Steve Beshear is scheduled to sign the legislation Monday, March 21. This is going to be a huge change in history for the state of Kentucky, given that many fireworks have been restricted/banned all over the state, forcing underground sales of fireworks. Indirectly at one time the only way to get the "good" fireworks, meaning anything above and beyond sparklers, smoke bombs and small fountains would mean a trip out of state where the product was legal. People did not think twice about bringing such illegal products back to Kentucky as at one time it was legal. There are local sellers of these illegal fireworks but you have to sign a document stating that you will be either taking them out of state OR lighting them off in the presence or under the supervision of someone designated to use them. With this latest change of the fireworks being allowed to be bought sold and detonated in Kentucky, this should promote sales in Kentucky and keep revenues here in the state, thus promoting income for Kentucky businesses. If you knew "where" to buy them all these years, you wasn't travelling to Indiana or Ohio to purchase fireworks. I believe there's a good majority and the creation of future firework's businesses that this will be a good move for Kentucky. To think this will create a more harmful situation for people in Kentucky is unwarranted as they've been in the hands of childrens and adults in this state for decades. Here is a video of the Independence Fireworks in Independence Kentucky in the past few years.
21
« on: December 11, 2009, 10:48:19 PM »
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22
« on: December 11, 2009, 10:37:45 PM »
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