March 30, 2009
One of my listeners has bad water: We are on a small community water system. It's awful. We have mineral buildups everywhere. I've heard water from softeners isn't good to drink. Should we do it anyway?
I do like the traditional sodium ion exchange water softener system. Yes, it's probably better not to drink the output, since it does contain a little extra sodium in the form of dissolved salts. You have several choices here. You could soften the hot water only, which would help with showers, clothes washing and the dishwasher; if you have access, exempt the cold water line to the kitchen sink, so that water stays "hard"; or you could treat all the water in the house (outside faucets excepted, of course). In that case, you could pipe in a small reverse osmosis treatment system under the kitchen sink to remove those salts and clean up the taste. You can buy such a kit for, say, $200 to $300. Then you'd have the best of all possibilities: soft water everywhere except the kitchen cold faucet, which you can drink from--plus use it to water the plants and pets, too.
Diane says enough is enough: I have pigeons nesting under my porch roof overhang. Help! How can I send them someplace else?
Sometimes all it takes is a little chicken wire. Use a staple gun to secure it to the fascia boards as a barrier to their nesting habits. That may work, or, on the other hand, they may simply move to the opposite eave. If so, you can buy some stick-um to apply on the roof itself (one brand is called Tangle Foot). It comes in a tube and you squirt it on to whatever area they prefer. It turns out that birds can't abide standing on a sticky surface. Checkout www.tanglefoot.com. Or check with a wild bird or regular pet store for more help.
George has a naughty disposer: It only hums. I've tried the broom handle trick to get it to spin, also pushing the red button and spinning it with the crank. It does turn, but won't turn on.
I think it's time for a new one. You can buy a decent disposer for $50 to $60 or so. You'll be surprised how much more efficient it'll be. That's because disposer blades dull very gradually, so you don't notice the diminished performance . This is a fairly easy job for two people: one holds the new unit at the bottom, while the other pair of hands turns the whole thing so it nests in the collar under the sink drain. Easy as pie. Most importantly, don't forget to connect the ground wire from the cord to the little green screw inside the disposer. Also, check the plug in the wall with a polarity tester to make sure it's actually grounded. In some older homes, there can be a three-prong plug, but it may not really be grounded.
Kitty has a drain problem: We have a cabin we visit only occasionally. When I get there and use the lavatory, there is a horrible moldy smell. What do you think is going on?
It could be a drain that needs some attention. While you're away, hair strands or dental floss could be siphoning out the trap, so the water disappears and sewer gas then has an easy time coming up through the drain hole to gross you out. Take the P-trap apart and thoroughly clean it out in a bucket. Then use a small plumber's "snake" to clean out that horizontal line that disappears into the wall.
Another smell you may notice when you return is a rotten egg odor from the hot water faucet side of any faucet. With long periods of disuse, the minerals in the water have time to rearrange themselves chemically in the hot environment of the tank-sort of like a witch's cauldron. If that's the case, run enough hot water to exhaust the smelly stuff. Since, hydrogen sulfide is flammable, avoid any open flames until the smell is long gone.
