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You have a large family or you have guests over, and your shower turns cold on you. Conventional water heaters have a limited volume of hot water, you know this, so you also know there’s no choice but to hurry up in the cold water or get out and wait for your conventional water heater to replenish the hot water.

This situation is a thing of the past with tankless (or on-demand) water heaters. The best thing about tankless water heaters is that you get endless hot water. No need to keep 40-50 gallons of water hot 24 hours a day. Everyone in the house can shower before you, and there will always be hot water on tap for your shower and any other use in the house. Also if you need to fill a hot tub, whirlpool or warm a swimming pool, there is no better tool for the job, and like solar, tankless is here to stay.

If it’s a business like a restaurant, there’s never a need to worry that the tap will run cold on the dishes when the dining room is really busy and the pressure is on.

A few years back, we installed a tankless water system for Hula’s restaurant in Chico, California. We carefully surveyed their hot water usage, and installed multiple tankless water heaters in tandem that now supply the wide variety of hot water needs for this popular Northern California business. The system is much more efficient than the traditional system they had, cutting their hot water gas emissions in half.

There are a few important advantages to tankless water heaters:

– Endless hot water. That’s a big one.
– The units run on gas or propane and only heat the water when needed, saving a lot of energy, typically 40-50%!
– Due to their on-demand nature, they produce less emissions than conventional water heaters.
– They mount on the wall so they take up much less space.
– New technology minimizes the potential of gas leaks and ventilation issues that can be experienced with conventional water heaters.
– We offer the units directly, so there’s no need to purchase them separately, making installation that much easier.

The main disadvantage is that you have to buy one and have it installed, as unfortunately, installing a tankless water heater is not a do-it-yourself project. Because tankless water heaters have high-powered burners, they also have unique venting requirements, like a dedicated sealed venting system that needs professional installation by Accurate Plumbing.

Like any energy saving appliance that you install in your home nowadays, the up front investment is a necessary thing, but having a tankless water heater installed is one of those good investments that, like solar energy, provides very real returns in energy savings for years to come.

At Accurate Plumbing we sell the Noritz line of Tankless Water Heaters. Noritz is a company that has a wide variety of units and sizes that are affordable, and fit any use. They are also some of the most efficient on-demand water heaters ever built. We install them all the time and even have a current special offering $50 off your next tankless water heater at Accurate plumbing. So if you think endless hot water is a good fit for your family or business, be sure to call Accurate Plumbing first at 530-894-1800.

Water Use is at an all time high in the United States. Every state predicts it’s rainfall and secures it’s reserves in an attempt at a sustainable water infrastructure and strong water security, and yet, as the world changes, all these predictions and reserves are less guaranteed than ever before.

The general public uses a small fraction of what big agriculture does to feed the population, but it seems to most people that it’s us, not the corporations that are feeling the pinch. Not true. Virtually every industry across America is seriously looking into their water consumption and how to streamline their water usage processes to conserve water. We just deal with it on a person by person basis. Education about water is really the key, and that’s what we’re all about here at Accurate Plumbing, educating people so that they can make the best decisions about their plumbing and water use.

Keeping our water safe and where it is for the future is requiring major evolution across every household, town, city and industry these days. River diversion for agriculture, evaporation off reservoirs and storage ponds, general water waste in regards to machinery, water use on crops, home use and rural irrigation, all these contend as the most serious issue these days.

So where does this conservation process start at home? With water leaks.

To remind Americans to check their properties for leaks, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reports the following statistics in relation with their “Fix a Leak Week” celebrated in March each year:

–  The average household’s leaks can account for more than 10,000 gallons of water wasted every year, or the amount of water needed to wash 270 loads of laundry.

–  Household leaks waste more than 1 trillion gallons annually nationwide. That’s equal to the annual household water use of more than 11 million homes.

–  Ten percent of homes have leaks that waste 90 gallons or more per day.

–  Common types of leaks found in the home include worn toilet flappers, dripping faucets, and other leaking valves. All are easily correctable.

–  Fixing easily corrected household water leaks can save homeowners about 10 percent on their water bills.

Faucets, Shower Heads & Toilets:

– A leaky faucet that drips at the rate of one drip per second can waste more than 3,000 gallons per year. That’s the amount of water needed to take more than 180 showers.

– A showerhead leaking at 10 drips per minute wastes more than 500 gallons per year. That’s the amount of water it takes to wash 60 loads of dishes in your dishwasher.

– If the average family replaces its older, inefficient toilets with new WaterSense labeled toilets, it could save 13,000 gallons per year. Retrofitting the house could save the family nearly $2,400 in water and wastewater bills over the lifetime of the toilets.

Well, everyone knows automatically that leaks are bad, it’s just that they don’t realize that even though they don’t see any leaks, they do in fact have one or even multiple leaks around their property, they just can’t see them. They can be underground, or under the house, they can happen only when the sprinklers are on, stuff like that. We get calls all the time with people who suspect they may possibly, just maybe have a small leak somewhere, they’re almost always right and basically every time it’s a bigger situation than they considered!

We do have it covered here at Accurate Plumbing when you call in regards to any potential water leak, but what can people do that’s simple at home to safeguard against both the the easiest and worst water leaks?

– A good method to check for leaks is to examine your winter water usage. It’s likely that a family of four has a serious leak problem if its winter water use exceeds 12,000 gallons per month.

– Check your water meter before and after a two-hour period when no water is being used. If the meter does not read exactly the same, you probably have a leak.

– One way to find out if you have a toilet leak is to place a drop of food coloring in the toilet tank. If the color shows up in the bowl within 10 minutes without flushing, you have a leak. Make sure to flush immediately after this experiment to avoid staining the tank.

– Ensure that your in-ground irrigation system is not leaking water and check your garden hose for leaks at its connection to the spigot. If it leaks while you run your hose, replace the nylon or rubber hose washer and ensure a tight connection to the spigot.

As we experience worldwide climate change, water is changing it’s ways around the planet, but it’s the homeowner and business owner that still rule how water changes it’s ways around their properties. The EPA’s annual “Fix a Leak Week” in March every year is a good start to remind everyone that water is a finite resource that all our lives depend upon. Let’s work together to fix all the leaks first.

At Accurate Plumbing we cover every type and size of water leak. We specialize in leak detection so even when you don’t see a leak, and may not even think you have one, we’ll still find it for you. We use special technology like video cameras to survey sewer lines for leaks, and we can test any residential or commercial water system for evaporation, runoff, and any leaks from the biggest down to the smallest. Call us if you suspect you may have a leak or even just haven’t checked for leaks in a long time. One of our current specials is to offer you $35 OFF your visit, so you don’t have to wait. Call Accurate Plumbing first at 530-894-1800.

Just when you least expect it, the bathroom really smells bad, or multiple sinks or toilets won’t drain well. This can be a big emergency plumbing problem. If water can’t get out of the house fast, your sewer line or septic tank may have serious issues.

There are many things that can restrict flow in a sewer line or septic line, and we can see them all with the video camera:

– Root Intrusions
– Collapsed and Cracked Pipes
– Separated Pipes
– Holes in Pipes
– Septic Tank Separations
– Any Obstructions from household items to construction debris

In the past, the answer was to use the “snake” and send it down into the pipe to try to break up the obstruction, but what if it’s a root intrusion or a broken or settled pipe? Now, we can send down our video camera so that we can see exactly what the obstruction is and decide what must be done to remove or repair it.

If the video camera has shown us that a simple obstruction or buildup is restricting flow, we can use the Jetter that can hydro scrub the pipes clean. If it’s not that simple, then we can electronically locate the head of the camera from above ground, enabling us to pinpoint the exact location of the problem. No more digging up the yard to find pipes, we can dig a simple hole and replace only the section that needs it.

For example, there’s one situation that happens frequently around our Northern California service area, that of septic line settling. Over the years, septic line pipes can separate just slightly from the septic tank itself due to soft sediments or shifting in the ground over time. This can allow the end of the pipe to settle below the septic tank’s supply hole, seriously restricting flow. An hour with the video camera and our diagnosis is complete, with us standing directly over the spot that needs to be fixed.

Orangeberg pipes must be replaced by code in our area in Northern California, and the video camera is an invaluable tool we use to identify underground the extent of the pipes we need to replace.

For bathroom and kitchen remodels and re-construction jobs we use the video camera to easily locate existing lines in the house to be able tie on branch lines needed for the project quickly and affordably.

We use the video camera much more in the winter months when rain and ground water are effecting our customers’ properties most. It’s interesting to see first hand how the changes in seasons effects water and our daily lives underground around our homes.

When you call us, first we’ll send our video camera down there to look for the problem, next we’ll show you on the screen exactly what the problem is, then we fix it for good. And to top it off, one of our current specials is to offer you $50 OFF your sewer line or septic line video inspection, you don’t have to wait.

So if you think you may have a sewer line problem here in the North State, call Accurate Plumbing right away at 530-894-1800.