Tuckers Air Conditioning, Heating & Plumbing Blog: Archive for February, 2014

Why You Need Backflow Testing

Tuesday, February 25th, 2014

Backflow is a potentially hazardous problem that can affect your plumbing. It refers to when your home’s wastewater enters into your fresh water supply, a mixture that can lead to serious health problems. Your home’s plumbing is designed to avoid this backflow, but it can never be foolproof.

One way to help prevent this problem is with the installation of a component onto your plumbing called a backflow preventer. You should also consider having professional backflow testing to make sure that the preventer is working correctly and that your drinking water is not in danger of contamination from other sources.

Call Tuckers Air Conditioning, Heating & Plumbing when you want to schedule backflow preventer installation or backflow testing for your plumbing in Rockville, MD. We are also available for free second opinions should you need them.

Backflow Testing

How important is it to keep your potable water and wastewater separate? The consequences of wastewater contamination can be severe, leading to numerous diseases and public health hazards. It’s important for the health of your family that you keep your plumbing in good condition and safe from the dangers of backflow.

The drinking water in your plumbing is pressurized, but the wastewater is not; it instead moves through gravity and ventilation. The design of plumbing, with different pressure areas, is what prevents cross-contamination between wastewater and potable water. A drop in water pressure can cause wastewater to flow into the potable water pipes through back-pressure. A plumber can install a backflow preventer at a strategic point to prevent this from occurring. There are other sources for backflow trouble: any faulty cross-connections—such as bypasses, jumper connections, or change-over devices—can lead to backflow.

Backflow testing is an important procedure to discover out how best to prevent contamination in your water supply. A proper test can identify the type and location of backflow preventer to help keep your fresh water clean. After a backflow preventer is installed, you should still schedule yearly testing to see that the device is working correctly.

Testing is a basic procedure for professionals: they connect a testing kit to the backflow preventer, shut off the water downstream from the device, and check that the preventer is working correctly. Because the backflow preventer is installed outside your house, you do not need to be home for the test.

Contact Tuckers Air Conditioning, Heating & Plumbing to start with backflow prevention: we can perform the testing to see where your plumbing can use help to keep your fresh water safe, and we’ll install backflow preventers to help. For safe and healthy plumbing in Rockville, MD, trust to us!

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How Does a Sump Pump Work?

Monday, February 17th, 2014

A sump pump is a device placed in your basement designed to protect your home from flooding. Most of the time, it works during heavy rainstorms, which we get our share of here in Maryland. In the unfortunate event of burst pipes, the sump pump can do the job as well: removing the excess water and giving you a clear basement for the plumber to fix the pipes. But how does a sump pump work?

The sump pump is placed in a sump pit, which is dug at the lowest point in your basement and usually runs about two feet deep. Because it’s at the lowest point in your house, floodwaters will gather there as they leak into the basement. That’s when the sump pump goes to work. A float activator detects the presence of the water and turns on an impeller, which spins around and pushes the water to the sides of the pump. That creates a low-pressure spot at the center of the impeller, which pulls in the water and forces it up through a pipe. The pipe leads outside the basement where it can then safely discharge the water and leave your basement dry and safe.

Sump pumps are designed for use in emergencies, which means that ideally you’ll never need to use it. When the rains fall and the waters rise, it can be worth its weight in gold. It also helps to have in installed by the right plumber, and Gaithersburg MD residents have one with Tuckers Air Conditioning, Heating & Plumbing. We have the expertise to install a sump pump at the ideal spot in your basement, and ensure that it functions exactly as intended when the time comes. If you need specifics on how a sump pump works or want to schedule an installation, give us a call today. You’ll be glad you did!

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Who Wrote the First Valentine’s Day Poem?

Friday, February 14th, 2014

The celebration of Valentine’s Day is often seen as a modern institution, even if the roots of the holiday go back to Late Antiquity and the figures of St. Valentine of Rome and St. Valentine of Terni. It’s difficult to separate our view of February 14th from the more recent phenomenon of greeting cards, comical cupids, and specialty treats from candy companies.

However, not only are some of these traditions older than we might think (mass-produced Valentine’s Day cards were an enormous success in early 19th-century England), but the earliest Valentine’s Day love poem comes from none other than the first great English author, Geoffrey Chaucer, who wrote in the second half of the 14th-century.

Chaucer’s most famous work is The Canterbury Tales, an enormous collection of linked stories in poetry and prose. But his 700-line poem “Parlement of Foules” has the special distinction of being the first surviving record of a connection between Valentine’s Day and romantic love. Chaucer probably composed the poem in 1381–82. At the time, he was a member of the court of King Richard II, holding an important bureaucratic position in London. The date suggests that Chaucer wrote “Parelment of Foules” to honor the first anniversary of the engagement of the English king to Princess Anne of Bohemia.

The poem follows the dream of the narrator, where he walks through Venus’s temple and discovers a meeting of birds where they all choose their mates. This is where the mention of St. Valentine’s Day appears (English modernized):

For this was on St. Valentine’s Day,                                                                         

When every bird cometh there to choose his mate.                                                                  

The poem also contains a familiar Valentine’s image, Cupid with his arrows:

Under a tree, beside a well, I saw

Cupid our lord his arrows forge and file;                                                             

And at his feet his bow already lay.

When Chaucer mentions St. Valentine’s Day, is he referring specifically to February 14th? Late winter isn’t a time when birds in England would mate. However, the date for the start of spring—when some birds would have started nesting in England—was on February 23rd in the calendars of the time, certainly close enough for Chaucer to take poetic license and nudge it a bit to match with Valentine’s Day.

Love birds remain a popular symbol of Valentine’s Day even now, and for this we can thank Chaucer. In fact, he may very well have invented the link between love and Valentine’s Day, although we will probably never know for certain.

Whoever started these traditions, all of us here at Tuckers Air Conditioning, Heating & Plumbing  hope you have a wonderful February 14th!

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Which Heating System Needs the Fewest Repairs?

Thursday, February 6th, 2014

Heating systems need to do their job day in and day out, and as the seasons roll on, they’re going to face their share of repairs. When considering a new system, you need to think about the potential frequency of repairs as well as the installation cost and the monthly bills. Which heating system needs the fewest repairs? That’s a tricky question, and the answers depend on your unique circumstances.

In the most general terms, heaters that have more moving parts tend to require more repairs, since those parts create friction and friction increases wear and tear on the unit. That usually means gas furnaces and heat pumps tend to undergo repairs the most often. Boilers usually undergo fewer repairs, but because they usually use very complicated piping systems and those systems can spring leaks, repairs for boilers are not uncommon as well.

Geothermal systems use fewer moving parts and thus don’t need as many repairs on the whole as other systems. Geothermal heating runs a loop of tubes – carrying a mixture of water and antifreeze – through the ground. The tubes facilitate a heat exchange between the liquid and the ambient temperature of the ground, which remains constant no matter what the weather is like outside. Because many of the components are buried underground, repairs are rare, though maintenance is still important.

Again, this is a generalization and specifics vary depending on each individual case. With proper maintenance from a qualified service technician, you can help avoid breakdowns on many types of heating units, and keep repair calls to a minimum. For heating repair in Rockville, MD, the experts at Tuckers Air Conditioning, Heating & Plumbing can help. We can help you decide which heater works best for you. Pick up the phone and give us a call today –
301-670-0034!

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