Understanding Kitchen Plumbing

The kitchen is most likely one of the most active rooms in your house. This is particularly true if you have a family that loves cooking and eating. Frequently, the kitchen sink will develop leaks and other plumbing issues due to all the use it gets. If you’ve ever had to call a plumber to fix any of these things, you know how expensive that can be.

If you’re interested in cutting down on those expenses, you should learn how to fix these plumbing issues yourself. Understanding kitchen plumbing isn’t as hard as you may think and it will help you save a lot of money in this particular area of home improvement. When you learn more about fixing your own kitchen plumbing issues, you’ll see just how much money you’ll save from not having to call a plumber. Simple kitchen plumbing is simple and nearly anyone that can read and comprehend what he’s reading can do it. Many manuals and handbooks on kitchen plumbing will help you study and gain the knowledge you need to fix something as soon as it breaks in your kitchen rather than having to wait your turn for the plumber. Take the time to study these. Your kitchen plumbing mostly includes faucet fixture, water supply and drain system. These are the main parts of the kitchen sink. Typically, this is the only area that needs some simple plumbing repairs. If you have a dishwasher, it’s typically attached to the kitchen water supply and drainage to let clean water come in while taking out the dirty water. There are only a few supply pipes along with a drain pipe. These supply pipes may lead to the dishwasher, main kitchen faucet and other appliances needing a water supply. Typically, they share one drain pipe to remove the dirty water or wastes from your home.

kitchen_plumbing.png

There’s not a lot to learn about kitchen plumbing. When you have the basic information, you’ll learn and understand how your kitchen’s plumbing system works. This will help you understand the plumbing issues there. You can determine what’s causing the problem and how to fix it. Your kitchen’s plumbing system is quite simple and this means when something happens, you’ll be capable of taking on the job of fixing it.…

Understanding Water Supply

Each one of us uses about 160 liters (35 gallons) of water a day, and takes it for granted. Only in a long spell of dry weather comes awareness that we should use it carefully. Our use is controlled by the supply system — this is how it works.

water-supply.jpg

In the last 50 years the consumption of water has almost doubled. Rising standards of living have given rise to increased consumption, and a greater awareness of the need for hygiene has also played a large role in increasing the demand. Faced with this high demand, supply sources have been hard pressed to keep up. Understanding Water Supply Where it comes from Water is supplied by the local water authority (or the Undertaking as it is known in the plumbing trade). After falling as rain it is collected in reservoirs which are ted by streams and rivers, or is pumped from underground wells. Water varies a lot in its chemical makeup since it picks up minerals and gases as it flows, If it picks up calcium, magnesium and sodium salts it will be hard – the menace of pipe systems. Before being distributed it is usually filtered through said and pebble beds to remove solids and organisms, and may have chlorine added to it to ensure that it is ‘potable’ — drinkable. Fluoride is also sometimes added for the protection of teeth. Distribution is carried out by a network of pipes starting with ‘trunk mains’ which may be as much as 61 0mm (24in) in diameter. These split into mains and sub-mains which run underneath streets and side streets. It is these sub-mains which are tapped by individual houses for their supply. The house system may be ‘direct’ in which all cold water supplies are piped direct from the rising main, with the cistern only being used to supply the hot water tank. Or it may be an ‘indirect’ system in which all coldwater supplies are taken from the cistern, with the exception of a direct supply to the kitchen sink for drinking purposes. For water to flow through the trunk mains — and eventually into your house — it must be under a certain amount of pressure. This pressure is assisted by pumps but it is vital that somewhere in the mains system the water should reach a height in a reservoir or water tower, higher than any domestic system it has to supply.

The vertical distance through which the water ‘falls’ is known as the ‘pressure head and without it our cisterns would never fill up without a lot of expensive additional pumping. The storage cistern also provides a pressure head inside the house, which is why it’s preferable to have it in the roof space.…

Using a Locksmith to Open Your Safe

Most people don’t realize just how much locks impact their lives. Locks are found everywhere. They protect you, your family, your home and your possessions. A secure home provides peace of mind. Many people use safes as a way to protect their most valuable possessions. The two types of safes are burglary and fire. Burglary safes are used to protect things such as money and jewelry from being stolen. Fire safes protect important papers and documents.

safe-opening-omaha-locksmith-services.jpg

Locks or combinations on safes can malfunction for various reasons. You may lose the key, the safe can get damaged or you simply forget the combination. Any of these situations can have you contacting a professional locksmith to help you. Locksmith services need to be high quality and worth the price they’re going to charge. Unless you’re a trained locksmith, trying to get into the safe on your own without a key or the right combination will simply damage the inside of the safe. In the end, that will cost you more money. That’s why you need to simply call a locksmith from the start. Safes can be vastly different from each other so there’s more than one way to open them. A professional locksmith will know all of the techniques required to open any safe. This experience is why you should call a locksmith before attempting to fix the problem on your own. A locksmith that’s highly skilled can use touch and sound to manipulate a dial combination into opening easily. Sometimes, it may be necessary for the locksmith to drill holes into your safe to get it unlocked, but that’s rare. New York City is a location where a high number of residents have safes in their homes and offices. If you have any issues with getting your safe to open in that city, you’ll be happy to know that there are NYC locksmith services all over the place. Many of these services work 24/7 so no matter what time of day or night you have a safe issue, someone will come and help you.

You can simply look up locksmith NYC in the phone book and find multiple listings for professional locksmiths. In such a large city, you can imagine how busy they stay. However, even if you have to wait a little while, it’s still better to have a locksmith open your safe than to risk damaging it yourself.…

Water Supply System – Pipes And Taps

Water leaves the storage cistern in distribution pipes which are usually 22mm (3/41n) or 15mm (1/2in) in diameter. In a direct system, supply from the cistern will usually only be to the hot water tank, and in an indirect system this link must also be direct — but other distribution pipes are used with branches to supply the other appliances — basins, baths and WC cisterns. Distribution pipes usually end in taps but in the case of a WC a low pressure ball-valve controls the flow.

The WC in an indirect system has a low pressure ball-valve because when the water leaves the storage cistern it is no longer at mains pressure but at normal atmospheric pressure which is pressing down on the surface of the stored water. This means that the higher up the house a tap or other outlet is situated the lower will be the water pressure. In practice this means that you can’t have a tap in an indirect system which is above the level of its distribution outlet from the cistern. Showers are particularly affected by this difference of pressure, and if there is not sufficient ‘head to ‘drive’ the shower a special pump may have to be installed. Cold water supplied to the hot water tank is heated in two different ways again called indirect and direct systems — or, respectively, closed and open. In the latter the cold water is circulated through the boiler, where it is heated, and returned to the tank from where it flows to tapped outlets. In the indirect system the cold water supplied never actually goes to the boiler, instead it is heated in the tank by a coiled pipe or jacket containing hot water which is continuously circulating through the boiler. In either case a pump often helps the water flow through the boiler, and supplementary or alternative heat may come from an immersion heater. If there is no boiler but only an immersion heater in the tank the system is essentially direct with the heating of the water taking place in the tank rather than in the boiler.

indirect-water-system2.gif

Draining the system Just above the rising main stop-valve should be a drain cock. With the stop-valve turned off the drain cock can be used to drain part of the cold water system when repairs are necessary — the hot water system has its own drain cock.…

Water Supply System – The Cisterns

The ‘tank’ in your loft or attic is in fact a cistern’. Cisterns are not sealed — though they should be covered — and so are subject to atmospheric pressure. Tanks are completely sealed — as with a hot water storage tank — and are not subject to atmospheric pressure.

water_supply.jpg

Cold water cisterns have traditionally been made of galvanized mild steel and it is quite likely that you will find one like this in your loft. They are still available, but are not usually installed in new houses. Other materials used have been asbestos, cement, copper and glass fiber, but today the most common material is plastic, of which glass fibre reinforced polyester (GRP), polythene and polypropylene are the most common varieties.

The advantages plastics have over all other cistern materials are their lightness in weight, resistance to corrosion and flexibility. Galvanizes steel is heavy and liable to corrode, while asbestos and cement are not only heavy but can become porous and are prone to accidental damage. Don’t forget the capacity of a typical cistern is 227 liters (50 gallons), and this water alone weighs nearly 0.25 tonne (1/4 ton), so all cisterns must be fully supported on the joists. With rigid materials such as steel the cistern can rest across the joists, but with plastic and glass fibre a platform should be installed to support the whole area of the bottom, otherwise the material may develop local weaknesses.

Cisterns should be covered to prevent any contamination of the water. Where the underside of the roof is exposed dust and dirt are liable to fall in. The top and sides should also be insulated to minimize the risk of freezing. The bottom is left uncovered to allow rising warm air from rooms below to keep the water above freezing point, and so you shouldn’t insulate the roof space under the cistern.

Cisterns were often installed before the roof was put on and if you want to replace yours, perhaps because it’s made of steel and is corroding, you may not be able to get it through the trap door. While it is sometimes suggested that a cistern should be cut up to get it out this is in tact a very heavy and arduous job in such a confined space and it would be better to maneuver it to one side and leave it in the loft, installing a new cistern alongside. Modern plastic cisterns can literally be folded up so they can be passed through small loft hatches.…