Hot Water Heater Maintenance Can Make Your Tank Last Longer
February 22nd, 2010 · DIY Blog · DIY Plumbing · Water Heaters
If you’ve grown accustomed to replacing your hot water heater every 10 years, chances are good that you’re not doing much maintenance on your tank. A hot water heater that’s properly maintained can last for decades, but those that go without maintenance can break down and become inefficient within a few years of installation. If [...]
Boston dodged a bullet with last week’s snowstorms, but this week brings another opportunity to experience the joys of winter. Heavy snow can also create problems with your Boston home heating equipment. Boston Standard Plumbing does more than just take care of your pipes; we also offer full-service heating and cooling maintenance and repair [...]
For some plumbing repairs in Boston, homeowners can effectively service and maintain their own systems. In other cases, the repair may be too large, complicated or dangerous to attempt on your own. In addition, some repairs require special tools or skills to complete. Today, we’ll focus on the difference between repairs homeowners can do [...]
There’s nothing like the utility bill in January to make homeowners think about lowering their Boston heating bills. For the most part, how much you spend on heating will be primarily related to how you heat your home and your home’s construction. Other factors, like insulation and new windows can also have an impact [...]
Because Boston is one area where supplemental home heating is required, Bostonians face an increased risk of carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning in Boston homes in the colder months. Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless, tasteless gas, and is a by-product of combustion. In small amounts, CO can cause nausea, shortness of breath, dizziness, drowsiness, [...]
All Boston homeowners worry about the possibility of frozen pipes in the winter and with good reason. Frozen pipes can lead to expensive plumbing repairs, property damage, and other disasters like mold growth. Ice in a residential plumbing pipe can exert more than 2,000 psi of pressure. Your pipes aren’t designed to handle this kind [...]
What Will An Outdoor Reset Control Do For Your Boston Home?
January 8th, 2010 · DIY Blog · DIY Heating
Winter has settled on us in a big way and homeowners are looking for ways to cut down on Boston heating costs. Home insulation, weather-stripping, window replacement, programmable thermostats and a move to a high-efficiency furnace are the first actions that come to mind when trying to lower home heating costs.
Many homeowners in the [...]
High Efficiency Furnace Maintenance Can Save Service Calls
January 5th, 2010 · DIY Blog · DIY Heating
In the past, the efficiency of a home’s heating system wasn’t considered much. The most popular Boston home heating systems were (and still are) powered by natural gas or electricity. Steam or hot-water heat systems, fuel-oil systems and natural gas forced air are commonly found in Boston-area homes. Within the last couple of [...]
Plungers don’t come with an owner’s manual, so using them should be intuitive, right? Maybe, but even the most useful tool can be misused to the point of complete ineffectiveness. Plungers are designed to push an obstruction forward through the pipe using air trapped in the plunger. They’re not, contrary to popular belief, [...]
Mature trees take up as much space underground as they do above ground, and over time, trees can do substantial damage to your sewer connection. In their search for water, tree roots can crush your home’s sewer connection, causing sewage leaks and backups in and around your Boston home. While most sewer lines [...]