A few weeks ago we posted something about a new high-efficiency water heater out from Rheem (Rheem Heat Pump Water Heaters Promise Super Efficiency). Someone did point out that this heat pump style machine is not exactly new - although it is new for Rheem, but the real news is that the machine has now been pulled from the market. That's what we hear from our supplier. No word on what led to the recall.
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Thursday, February 25, 2010
FYI on the Rheem Heat Pump Water Heater
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
'Fix a Leak Week' Coming in March
It's startling how much water is lost to leaks that are pretty simple to fix. Replacement parts for dripping faucets, running toilets, leaky showerheads and such are relatively inexpensive and pay for themselves in water savings.
So prepare to get ready for summer by checking for leaks now - or at least between now and March 21st. March 15-21, 2010 has been declared `Fix a Leak Week', so it's the thing to do.
Here are a few tips to get you going:
- Fixing easily corrected household water leaks can save homeowners more than 10 percent on their water bills.
- 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 15 minutes without flushing, you have a leak. Make sure to flush immediately after this experiment to avoid staining the tank.
- If your toilet is leaking, the cause is most often an old, faulty toilet flapper. Over time, this inexpensive rubber part decays, or minerals build up on it. It's usually best to replace the whole rubber flapper—a relatively easy, inexpensive do-it-yourself project that pays for itself in no time.
- An irrigation system should be checked each spring before use to make sure it was not damaged by frost or freezing.
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Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Half-baked Half-pipe Sidelines Tech
Aw maaaaan!
Our schedule is kind of in disarray this week all because Casey and Chris decided to go off and enjoy the snow last weekend. Well, that in and of itself isn't the issue. We grudgingly worked around their absence Friday and Monday (a four-day weekend!). Tom and Alan hustled, and we managed.
The catch came Tuesday when Chris showed up walking a little like Frankenstein. Something about one last jump and a crunched shoulder.
Off to the doctor he went. All day calls to his cell phone went unanswered. It seems his phone stayed behind in Tahoe. Lodged in a snow bank. Somewhere. We hope the vibrations from all our calls didn't cause any avalanches.
The good news is nothing's broken. The hopeful news is that he could be back in a week. The bad news? Chris is 'the skinny one' who does all the crawls, so it's starvation diets for the other guys.
He surfs with sharks, rides dirt bikes and mountain bikes, now this. Couldn't he just stick to plumbing?
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Thursday, January 21, 2010
Rheem Heat Pump Water Heaters Promise Super Efficiency
Want to cut your electric water heating costs by up to 50%?
A new-style energy efficient electric water heater from Rheem saves energy and money.
Plus, it qualifies for a federal tax credit - 30% of cost of the heater, up to $1500.
Call and ask us about it today.
BODEN PLUMBING
996-8683
We haven't tried this machine yet ourselves but think it looks promising. If you have any experience or knowledge of it, we'd be interested in hearing your comments.
Boden Plumbing is certified by GreenPlumbersUSA for a more sustainable Sonoma Valley, and we are always on the look out for new options for our customers that save energy and resources and reduce waste and toxics.
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Friday, January 15, 2010
Free toilets for Sonoma Valley County Sanitation District customers
The Sonoma County Water Agency's direct install program is in full swing. Low-flow toilets have been flying out the door here at Boden Plumbing. If you have not yet replaced your old-style, water-wasting toilet, now is a real good time to do so.
To qualify for the program, you must be a Sonoma Valley County Sanitation District customer (on public sewer, not private septic) and have a toilet that uses more than 1.6 gallons of water to flush.
The 1.6gpf toilets became standard beginning in the early 1990s. Many older toilets use 3.5 gallons per flush, and some use as many as five gallons each flush. So lots of water can be saved when you change over to a newer toilet.
For more information, or to schedule an on-site evaluation, call us here at the office: 707 996 8683.
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Boden Plumbing primarily serves Sonoma Valley, Napa Valley, and the Petaluma area. We provide a full range of residential plumbing repairs and services.
866-663-7477
www.nodrips.com
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Waterless Urinals
Design and technical improvements make the new generation of waterless urinals well worth considering when looking for ways to save water. Maintenance is much easier on these latest models, and advances have made them more hygienic and odor-free. Pretty spiffy, really.
Besides saving water, a big benefit of waterless urinals are the associated costs - they're cheaper to buy than flush urinals and, with no moving parts to break or leak, they are cheaper to maintain. Plus, there are no water costs involved to operate. There are also energy savings overall in that the water saved didn't need to be pumped, piped or treated.
Given all those benefits, it is still the water savings that is driving increases in the installation of waterless urinals.
"According to a report for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, a waterless urinal saves one to three gallons of fresh water per flush, compared with a normal model. Take a big office building or university campus with 10,000 men in it, peeing several times daily. That represents a savings of nearly 16 million gallons a year." (cited in Passing Water Without the Water: Waterless Urinals Save H2O, Dollars)Now there are not any locations in our service area that big, but one to three gallons a flush times however many times the conventional urinals around here do get flushed adds up big time.
Last fall the City of Los Angeles approved waterless urinals for all of its buildings, specifying the H2Zero Waterless Urinal from Caroma.
The H2Zero’s unique patented cartridge technology does not use an oil-based seal, as traditionally used in waterless urinals. Within the cartridge is a Bio Fresh deodorizing block that is activated during use. The Bio Seal™ allows urine to pass through the seal freely, eliminating unnecessary waste build-up within the cartridge. The Bio Seal, which lasts up to 10,000 uses, also acts as a one-way airtight valve to seal the cartridge from the drainage system.
As urine flows into the cartridge and around the Bio Fresh deodorizing block, heat from the urine activates the block, which emits a lemon fragrance. The urine then flows through the Bio Seal valve and into the drain line. The Bio Seal closes, protecting against back-pressure situations, ensuring good hygiene.
“For more than three decades, Caroma has been a leader in designing advanced technology for the bathroom, and the H2Zero waterless urinal is one example,” states John Karas, North America Product Manager. “The H2Zero can save the City of Los Angeles millions of gallons of water per year through replacing older, water-consuming one gallon urinals. In addition, the unique technology in the H2Zero minimizes service required and manages odors and waste build-up, unlike other waterless urinals currently on the market.”To service the urinal, the H2Zero’s cartridge tool is used to remove the grate and access the internal components. The Bio Fresh deodorizer and Bio Seal can then be removed and replaced as required. This touch-free tool ensures no direct contact with the replacement components, and no special disposal method is required.
It's a little surprising given all the interest in these new and improved fixtures that less than 1% of urinals now in use are the waterless variety. So lots of opportunity for water saving.
For more information on the H2Zero and other Caroma high efficiency products, email info@caromausa.com or visit www.caromausa.com.
To find out about rebates available in Sonoma Valley for purchase and installation of high efficiency urinals, visit www.vomwd.com or www.sonomacity.org.
You can also read more at this waterless urinals link.
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Boden Plumbing primarily serves Sonoma Valley, Napa Valley, and the Petaluma area. We provide a full range of residential plumbing repairs and services.
866-663-7477
www.nodrips.com
Monday, December 14, 2009
Amazing Video of Water Drop at 2000 Frames per Second
Despite water's very simple atomic structure, it exhibits some amazing properties.
"This structure consists of two hydrogen atoms bonded to one oxygen atom. The nature of the atomic structure of water causes its molecules to have unique electrochemical properties. The hydrogen side of the water molecule has a slight positive charge. On the other side of the molecule a negative charge exists. This molecular polarity causes water to be a powerful solvent and is responsible for its strong surface tension."
For a somewhat less technical explanation and a very cool demonstration of some of water's almost amazing properties, check out this video...
For more about the physical properties of water see www.physicalgeography.net.
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Boden Plumbing primarily serves Sonoma Valley, Napa Valley, and the Petaluma area. We provide a full range of residential plumbing repairs and services.
866-663-7477
www.nodrips.com
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