Frank The Plumber
Well-known member
In the world that you and I live in there will always be the constant distraction, the forgotten item, the over looked maintenance schedule.
There will always be two types of person, the proactive minded maintainer and the oops I'm in trouble victim.
I get the unique opportunity to view each of these types of people. I know first hand that the proactive maintainer saves money by acting upon a situation rather than having a situation act upon him.
He saves in service charges and their cost, insurance premiums, minor incident damage and he saves in lost work time as he takes less time away from work to address the little or sometimes fantastic mishaps that occur in his day to day life. I say he but ladies this especially applies to you, most incidents require a large amount of heavy moving and brutal work to clean up, so let's have you if no one else organize your home for services and maintenance, my Mrs. in particular gets a red Faced I'm gonna die look from all of this, so let's keep you safe.
Ok, I captured you at saves money, so let's show you how.
Any mechanical device apparatus or doo dad that we use in our homes has a service life. This could be determined by the number of times a switch can cycle or just the composition of the make of the item
One prime example of this would be a device that many of us regard as a blessing yet a demons creation, the old venerable sump pump. You either love or hate this contraption. Love it for working or hate it for not.
Alright.....how old exactly is your sump pump?
Have you written down, I dunno?
That would be a problem.
The average sump pump has a cycle life capacity of 500,000 cycles per a major pump techs just off his collar confident endorsement.
Hey that's a lot, why worry?
If your pump goes on and off 5 times in one minute during a ground water saturation event (heavy to moderate rain) would that be a problem?
Want to do a little math quiz? 5 x 60 x 24 x 365...........That is a big number is it not?
Now it's most likely that you would not be cycling this often on a regular basis, if you are cycling this often you may have a design problem.
You can see however that you could consume the life expectancy of this mechanical servant quite rapidly. This is why we need to know how old it is.
This system of organization is not so difficult, any of use who has a common kit or bill paying procedure can simply go through their homes, take an inventory of the mechanisms that serve us and construction a system for their convenient replacement before they fail.
You might say, hey if it ain't broke don't fix it. OK, I agree, that is an enticing way to go about the subject. And that is why during the last rain event here I replaced 42 sump pumps in 7 days, every one in a basement under a foot of water minimum. Sadly you now are going to need to service almost every mechanism in the basement due to flood water encroachment.....You'll come around...I have faith in you.
Some of the items that need to be on your list of mechanisms will include:
Sump pumps; Replace every 5 or 6 years, have the floats checked every 2,
Battery back up pumps: Same applies
Back up Batteries: Wet 5 to 6 but have them checked at 3 years for voltage, have them cleaned every year.
Sealed replace at 4 to 5 years. Clean the contacts and have them checked annually.
Flood stop devices: Clean annually or after each rain event that could cause a flood, replace at 4 years.
Check valves: Replace each time you change a pump.
Flexible gas connectors: Replace per the manufacturers recommendation or at 8 years minimum, if the maker says 5 that does not mean 8 cause I say 8, follow their recommendations.
Ejector pumps: Ejector pumps should be inspected every year or so to be sure no detritus is being captured on the float mechanism, 6 years for a service life is about it for these. You could say, I don't hardly use it. Ok, but look at the environment it is sitting dormantly in, non use of a bearing motor in that environment is worse than a properly cycled life. The gaskets are still being reacted upon as well.
Faucet washers or cartridges: About 10 years
Dish machine hoses: I've seen a lot of delivery men use hoses that have been under a machine for 30 years. What do they care? About 10 years on a soft hose or out with the old machine.
Flexible white plumbing connectors: Minimum of 5 years and out, if they are puffed or crunchy or do not flex get them out of your home. Replace them.
Braided connectors: All types 10 years and out, same applies, these are just jacketed, there is still a cheap plastic hose in there. not more than 10.
Wash machine hoses: 8 years. these are just black garden hoses, that get old and crack and flood your house.
Toilet flapper: Large diameter such as Toto or early Kohler replace the flapper at 3 years. All others replace at 5 years.
The simplest thing to do is to start from this point forth tracking these items replacement. If you do not know how old something is, ask yourself have I ever replaced it? How long have I lived here? 20 years? Yeah buddy I have a stitch of work to do, 3 or 4 years, I should get my act together, start with a date of now and slowly and systematically start to replace these items.
Keep in mind, it is not only the plumbing items that are consumed. There will be a whole list of gidgets gadgets and gizmos to consider from the heating man to the appliance service tech.
I am sure that you could feel overwhelmed by the concept of replacing all of these things and wonder why or just say, hey this man is just angling towards work. Fact is, in the end you will replace these items at the same frequency, or interval, you will just be inconvenienced less and find catastrophe less.
You will be a happier person in the end and you will put out a lot fewer personal keep sakes momentos and valuables at the curb after a rain event.
There will always be two types of person, the proactive minded maintainer and the oops I'm in trouble victim.
I get the unique opportunity to view each of these types of people. I know first hand that the proactive maintainer saves money by acting upon a situation rather than having a situation act upon him.
He saves in service charges and their cost, insurance premiums, minor incident damage and he saves in lost work time as he takes less time away from work to address the little or sometimes fantastic mishaps that occur in his day to day life. I say he but ladies this especially applies to you, most incidents require a large amount of heavy moving and brutal work to clean up, so let's have you if no one else organize your home for services and maintenance, my Mrs. in particular gets a red Faced I'm gonna die look from all of this, so let's keep you safe.
Ok, I captured you at saves money, so let's show you how.
Any mechanical device apparatus or doo dad that we use in our homes has a service life. This could be determined by the number of times a switch can cycle or just the composition of the make of the item
One prime example of this would be a device that many of us regard as a blessing yet a demons creation, the old venerable sump pump. You either love or hate this contraption. Love it for working or hate it for not.
Alright.....how old exactly is your sump pump?
Have you written down, I dunno?
That would be a problem.
The average sump pump has a cycle life capacity of 500,000 cycles per a major pump techs just off his collar confident endorsement.
Hey that's a lot, why worry?
If your pump goes on and off 5 times in one minute during a ground water saturation event (heavy to moderate rain) would that be a problem?
Want to do a little math quiz? 5 x 60 x 24 x 365...........That is a big number is it not?
Now it's most likely that you would not be cycling this often on a regular basis, if you are cycling this often you may have a design problem.
You can see however that you could consume the life expectancy of this mechanical servant quite rapidly. This is why we need to know how old it is.
This system of organization is not so difficult, any of use who has a common kit or bill paying procedure can simply go through their homes, take an inventory of the mechanisms that serve us and construction a system for their convenient replacement before they fail.
You might say, hey if it ain't broke don't fix it. OK, I agree, that is an enticing way to go about the subject. And that is why during the last rain event here I replaced 42 sump pumps in 7 days, every one in a basement under a foot of water minimum. Sadly you now are going to need to service almost every mechanism in the basement due to flood water encroachment.....You'll come around...I have faith in you.
Some of the items that need to be on your list of mechanisms will include:
Sump pumps; Replace every 5 or 6 years, have the floats checked every 2,
Battery back up pumps: Same applies
Back up Batteries: Wet 5 to 6 but have them checked at 3 years for voltage, have them cleaned every year.
Sealed replace at 4 to 5 years. Clean the contacts and have them checked annually.
Flood stop devices: Clean annually or after each rain event that could cause a flood, replace at 4 years.
Check valves: Replace each time you change a pump.
Flexible gas connectors: Replace per the manufacturers recommendation or at 8 years minimum, if the maker says 5 that does not mean 8 cause I say 8, follow their recommendations.
Ejector pumps: Ejector pumps should be inspected every year or so to be sure no detritus is being captured on the float mechanism, 6 years for a service life is about it for these. You could say, I don't hardly use it. Ok, but look at the environment it is sitting dormantly in, non use of a bearing motor in that environment is worse than a properly cycled life. The gaskets are still being reacted upon as well.
Faucet washers or cartridges: About 10 years
Dish machine hoses: I've seen a lot of delivery men use hoses that have been under a machine for 30 years. What do they care? About 10 years on a soft hose or out with the old machine.
Flexible white plumbing connectors: Minimum of 5 years and out, if they are puffed or crunchy or do not flex get them out of your home. Replace them.
Braided connectors: All types 10 years and out, same applies, these are just jacketed, there is still a cheap plastic hose in there. not more than 10.
Wash machine hoses: 8 years. these are just black garden hoses, that get old and crack and flood your house.
Toilet flapper: Large diameter such as Toto or early Kohler replace the flapper at 3 years. All others replace at 5 years.
The simplest thing to do is to start from this point forth tracking these items replacement. If you do not know how old something is, ask yourself have I ever replaced it? How long have I lived here? 20 years? Yeah buddy I have a stitch of work to do, 3 or 4 years, I should get my act together, start with a date of now and slowly and systematically start to replace these items.
Keep in mind, it is not only the plumbing items that are consumed. There will be a whole list of gidgets gadgets and gizmos to consider from the heating man to the appliance service tech.
I am sure that you could feel overwhelmed by the concept of replacing all of these things and wonder why or just say, hey this man is just angling towards work. Fact is, in the end you will replace these items at the same frequency, or interval, you will just be inconvenienced less and find catastrophe less.
You will be a happier person in the end and you will put out a lot fewer personal keep sakes momentos and valuables at the curb after a rain event.