Plumbing Myths That Will Cost You Money

There are some common plumbing myths that many people believe to be true, however in reality they could end up costing you lots of money in repairs!

Here, we’ve compiled some of the most common plumbing myths to save you money and hassle in the long run!

1. It’s OK to flush wet wipes and kitchen roll down the toilet 

Flushing wet wipes, kitchen roll or anything other than the obvious and toilet roll down any toilet can be a very expensive mistake and brand you as a bad neighbour with an expensive toilet unblocking, cleaning and drain clearing bill to pay!

Fact is, wet wipes, kitchen roll and anything other than loo roll simply do not break down in water at all, they can get stuck in toilet pipes, causing the contents of your loo to back flow into your WC, can clog up entire plumbing systems, and external drains. 

A blocked drainage system can in turn cause problems in the toilets of your and your neighbouring properties, with the blockage causing the external drainage system to back up. This could in turn lead to your neighbours toilet pipes not allowing anything more into their toilet, which certainly would not leave you with neighbour of the year award, but will leave you with a hefty drain clearing company bill!

Beware the additional wallet busting myth of the “flushable” wipe as these may well be flushable but still take too long to break down in water and will cause a blockage in the drainage system.

Nationally, more than £100 million is spent every year in mitigating both environmental and operational impacts of flushing wipes, including sewer flooding of homes, with costs ultimately passed onto water company customers/bill payers. Source: The Rivers Trust.

2. The boiler works fine so there is no need for a yearly service

No matter how new, or how well you believe the boiler is working, you must get an annual service, as while It is not a legal requirement for homeowners who do not rent out their property, they do have a duty of care to ensure all gas appliances are safe, and are not liable to cause harm to themselves or others.

An annual service will also keep the boiler’s warranty valid and ensure the longevity of the boiler, whilst ensuring it is running efficiently and safely. If your boiler has even a minor fault that goes unnoticed or unattended, it could cost you much more money to fix in the long run at best, at worst it could cause a catastrophic explosion, so it is best to get any issue picked up and remedied in its early stage with a boiler service. 

It is not a legal requirement for homeowners who do not rent out their property to have an annual boiler service. However, they have a duty of care to ensure their gas appliances are safe, and not liable to cause harm to themselves or others. An annual service will also keep the boiler’s warranty valid.

Did you know that faulty boilers caused around 250 hospitalisations a year as a result of non-fire related carbon monoxide poisoning between 2001 and 2010 in England and Wales (source: British Gas). 

So, You may think you don’t need a regular boiler service, but this is definitely a myth! If you are in the Chelmsford area and need a boiler service, get in touch with Gas Safe Registered LKG Daughters for competitive local services.

3. I don’t need to to bleed my radiators

Bleeding radiators in the home is something that many people believe is not necessary, or perhaps don’t know about it at all. Radiators do indeed need bleeding because air can get trapped inside them, this leads to warm water not being able to circulate around them and subsequently leaving you without sufficient working radiators.

Not bleeding your radiators can end up costing you lots of money in repairs, so it is worth doing once a year, even if you do not think there is anything wrong with them, you will notice the difference when they are bled and working at maximum efficiently!

4. It is not important to have a Gas Safe registered engineer

Such a dangerous myth, this one! Using an engineer that is not Gas Safe registered is extremely dangerous, not to mention illegal. By law, all gas businesses and their engineers must be registered as Gas Safe to legally work on gas equipment.

LKG Daughters’ professional team are Gas Safe registered and can carry out any plumbing and heating work within the Chelmsford area. If you are not in the area, you can quickly find a Gas Safe registered engineer or business using an online tool. All you need is your postcode, to know whether the work required is domestic or commercial, and the appliance type. Keep you and your family safe and save money on having work redone by ensuring your engineer is Gas Safe before allowing them to do any work on your home.

5. It is okay to leave a dripping tap – it will stop by itself

A dripping tap will not fix itself! Leaving a dripping tap without resolving the issue will lead to limescale, as well as shortening the life of the fixtures and wasting water.

6. I don’t need a scale reducer

You may think that you do not need a lime scale reducer in your property main to prolong the life of your faucets, shower and boiler, however, this is in fact untrue and not having one can actually void the warranty on your new boiler installation if you do not have some kind of  scale reducer such as a Magnaclean on the inlet pipe to the boiler, a very costly error and one any reputable company, such as LKG Daughters would gladly explain, quote and install for you, simply drop us a line.

Get in touch too, if you are fed up with the limescale building up on your faucets and shower, a device such as a Combimate limescale reducer on the incoming water main of your property will lower the limescale content of your water and prolong the life of your beautiful faucets and power shower for sure! Invest in a scale reducer such as a Combimate or Magnaclean.

7. It’s okay to leave my guest bathroom flusher not working! 

Is your guest bathroom flusher not working? This is definitely not okay! This is as embarrassing for your guests as it is for you and a super quick fix for LKG Daughters Plumbing and Heating. Let us look after your reputation! 

Get in touch with our friendly and professional team today for help on any of the topics. 

Professional Plumbing and Heating services in and around Chelmsford, Essex 

If you require any of the services mentioned, get in touch with LKG Daughters Plumbing and Heating for a free consultation!

Contact us here or call 01245 478111.