Salmon Plumbing Guarantee to ARRIVE ON TIME to your scheduled appointment.
In the rare instance that your plumber has been delayed due to unforeseen circumstances beyond our control, we promise to give you a MINIMUM 30-minutes notice of ANY change in arrival time and will offer to reschedule, if that’s more convenient for you
If we don’t give you at least 30 minutes notice in advance, we will happily give you a FREE Hour of Service on your plumbing job.
This offer is not to be used with any other offer.
Does not apply to quoted jobs.
Discounts will not be applied to overdue amounts.
Deposits
Deposits are not refundable however partial or total refunds of deposits may be made at the sole discretion of Salmon Plumbing.
Cancellations
Salmon Plumbing reserve the right to charge for lost time as a result of cancellations and or postponement made less than 2 business days from the scheduled appointment time.
Warranties
Salmon Plumbing offers a 6 and half year warranty as per the Queensland Building & Construction Commission (QBCC).
Old galvanised pipe was used to plumb water into homes fifty years ago. Unfortunately, many homes still have these pipes as the source of their water lines to their home. Without a doubt, there can be issues within the plumbing of the home due to not updating these pipes to copper.
Galvanised Pipes are a bit gross
Brisbane is jam-packed with antiquated galvansied pipes. After more than thirty years as plumbers in Brisbane, we have seem some truly disgusting galvanised water pipes. Would you drink water sitting in a rusty bucket overnight? Probably not. But this is what many of us are doing when we drink tap water that has been through old galvanised water pipes in our homes. Older and exposed plastic pipe is also not great for our health. Old pipe work can cause long term issues in other areas of the home too. It’s time to ditch your galvanised water pipes, here’s why.
1. It will improve the taste and odour of the water
Rusty water has a metallic taste and odour. Sure, Brisbane water isn’t exactly reputable for its sweetness but you might be drinking water that’s extra flavoured by rust particles. Regular ingestion of rust particles can lead to health complications including hemochromatosis. This is a condition where iron builds up in your body. The cure? Regular bloodletting. Sounds sooooo good right?
2. It will remove the probability of legionella bacteria
Around 30% of homes with galvanised or old plastic piping in their home have tested positive for legionella. To avoid the growth of legionella bacteria, replace your water pipes.
3. Can prolong the life of your dishwasher and washing machine
The rusty water used through the dishwasher and washing machine (and plumbed in fridge, water filters and other appliances also being supplied by old galvanised iron pipes). Rust and mineral buildup can affect the effectiveness and life expectancy of your appliances.
4. Will avoid build-up of scale and sludge in hot water system
Hot water units can also be affected by rust-contaminated water from galvanised pipes. Hot water units are expensive to replace. If you want to prolong the life of your hot water unit too, consider changing your water pipes.
5. You will have clear water
This is the best benefit of all after replacing your galvanised water pipes. Brown water from your taps if often rusty water, not dirty water. This water can stain clothes, leave a film on crockery and glasses and can cause the water to be brown through the tap faucet. A brown bath anyone?
If you want to protect your belongings and avoid a brown bath, upgrade your water pipes. Clear water is healthy and vital for washing, hygiene and general wellbeing. It will also eliminate the need for a higher than normal reliance on detergents and cleaners to keep your items clean because of the brown water. This can help save money and the environment.
For help replacing the old galvanised water pipes in your home, contact Salmon Plumbing for an inspection.
Let’s talk about the importance of gutter maintenance. Sure, you probably climb a ladder once a year and clear out the worst of the leaf litter, but could your gutters handle a freak hail storm in Brisbane? Is your water tank well maintained to ensure any overflow of water is stored in the tank?
It’s been a decade of heavy downpours. Nothing like droughts and flooding rains to put pressure on your guttering and water tanks. But with the more turbulent Brisbane summer storms, those turbulent 5pm thunderstorms, comes isolated pockets of hail. It’s not just about clearing out the leaves, your gutters need to withstand being pounded with ice – sometimes the size of a pebble, occasionally the size of a golf ball. Are you gutters in the right shape for summer hail storms in Brisbane?
Gutter Maintenance
Rusty galvanised pipes aren’t Brisbane’s only rusty problem. Leaf litter build up in your gutters can lead to rust holes forming. Poorly maintained, damaged or incorrectly installed gutters don’t just mean a bit of leakage during big rain events, there’s a whole lot more going on up there.
Well-maintained gutters can:
Protect fascia boards and
roofing timbers
Prevent damage of overflowing
water to footings and foundations
Prevent water ingress during
rain events
Remove the attraction for
mosquitos carrying RRF and Zika, as pooled water is the perfect breeding ground
Prevent the breakdown of moist
leaves and debris, which can leach acid and rust gutters quickly
An inspection from our pro Brisbane plumbers can check your gutters are correctly installed and we can identify rust and give a quote for the replacement before it becomes an emergency plumbing problem.
Rainwater Collection Maintenance
The condition of your gutters and downpipes will determine the health of your rainwater collection system. When hail melts, it will carry whatever is sitting in your gutters, through to your rainwater tank.
A well-maintained rainwater collection system can:
Prevent health hazards
Prevent mosquito infestations
Extend the life of your water pump
Prolong the life of your toilet
cisterns. Dirty tank water can cause the inner parts of your toilet cistern to
deteriorate. It can also cause the toilet to smell. When a toilet flushes,
water turns into an aerosol which you can inhale and this can be bad for your
health.
Prolong the life of your
washing machine as dirty tank water can stain the inner drum of the machine and
leave an odour.
Prolong the life of your irrigation or pool gear. If you’re using rainwater tanks to supply outdoor water systems, keeping the water clear of rust particles and other debris will reduce damage to your irrigation or pool systems.
To ensure your gutters and rainwater
collection system are in good working order, contact Salmon Plumbing for
an inspection.
At Salmon Plumbing, we’re familiar with the stress of a clogged drain during a nice, hot shower.
We also know the frustration that can follow when wrestling with the mass of hair, soap scum and other gunk that’s blocking your water flow just isn’t working!
This is a pretty common problem, so we’ve decided to put together three proFISHional tips from the team at Salmon Plumbing to help you clear blocked drains and avoid any upset.
Alternate baking soda, vinegar and plunging
It’s often a surprise when our customers haven’t heard of this one – it’s in every mother’s homecare cookbook! Please note that baking soda may be helpful to unblock a shower drain but can cause build up – so, as always, if it doesn’t work the first time, call in your favourite Brisbane plumbers!
For this, you’ll need one cup of baking soda, one cup of vinegar, plenty of boiling water and a cup plunger.
Then you simply follow these steps:
Pour a cup of baking soda down the drain.
After that, pour a cup of vinegar down the drain (this should create a chemical reaction that will cause fizzing in your drain).
Once the fizzing has died down, wait five minutes and boil some water.
Next, pour the boiling water slowly down the drain.
Finally, run some water down the drain and start plunging.
The baking soda and vinegar will break up any hair and gunk, and the boiling water helps to pass this waste through the drain, removing the blockage. The plunging ensures that the blockage is completely dislodged and out of your system. If the shower drain keeps getting blocked, then step back and call the plumber, there’s a bigger problem down there!
Remove the drain stopper and use pliers to extract the hair and gunk
This is certainly the hands-on approach most want to avoid, unfortunately, sometimes it’s necessary if your shower drain is very clogged. There’s nothing worse than dealing with a chunk of hair and soap scum, we feel you. But if you’re facing a “no showers” situation, get out the gloves!
For this, you’ll need a screwdriver, rubber gloves, a torch and needle-nose pliers.
Then, you simply follow these steps:
Remove the shower grate from your drain, this is where you may need your screwdriver.
Once you’ve got a clear opening to the drain below, shine your torch in it.
You should see the hairy culprit sitting in the drain.
Put the gloves on and use the needle-nose pliers to pull out the mass in your drain.
After removing the gunk, run some hot water down the drain.
Finally, reinstall the grate and ensure everything’s working properly.
Drain Cleaners – The Last Gasp
We know that a lot of people don’t like the supermarket drain cleaner option because of the chemicals that are often found in drain cleaners. We don’t really like them either as a lot of them can hurt our fishy brothers and sisters in the ocean!
Luckily, we’ve found a plumbing pipe cleaning product that contains no harsh chemicals. It’s called the CLR Power Plumber.
It essentially works the same way as a plunger, except without the mess!
To use it, run the water in your shower and allow some water to pool. Then, submerge the cap of the CLR Power Plumber can and place it over the drain opening. Then, press firmly down. This should expand the gas in the can and push the blockage down and out. Then Hey Presto – No more clogged shower drain!
Red flags your DIY shower drain cleaning isn’t working!
The problem with cleaning a shower drain pipe yourself is that a hair-clogged drain could be a bigger problem than first meets the eye. Hair tends to grab passing particles and can form large blockages in a relatively short time. If you try to clear your shower drain but the problem keeps coming back, you could be forcing hairballs deeper and deeper into your shower drainage pipe. If you clear the blockage you can see, get all the hair out of the drain and then it blocks again, do not keep attempting to unblock it yourself.
The team at Salmon Plumbing are available at our North Brisbane site around the clock to support the Brisbane region with their plumbing problems and enquiries.
If you need help, simply dial 07 3862 2600 at any hour of the day and our team will pick up the phone and organise the assistance you need.
For more at-home plumbing tips, or to learn about Australia’s plumbing history, click here to read the Salmon Plumbing blog.
The trade contracting industries of Australia are behind some of the biggest and best man-made marvels. For plumbers, one of the most well-known is the Hamilton Syphon.
Many people typically associate plumbing with backed up toilets, burst pipes or leaky roofs. But, what about the modern systems that solved large-scale community problems like sewage and water treatment?
Plumbers have been at the forefront of sanitation for longer than many care to think, and it’s important to tip our hats to the hard work that the men and women of our past have done.
The Hamilton Syphon was the solution to a sewage problem that had plagued Brisbane for decades. Bad planning, debt, a depression and World War II had meant that the city was around 40 years behind others when it came to providing sewage and water treatment services to its outer suburbs.
Its creation was part of a plan to transfer sewage from the south side of the Brisbane river at Cowper Street in Bulimba to the treatment plant on Kingsford Smith Drive in Hamilton via a tunnel under the Brisbane River.
Tender for the project was won by MR Hornibrook Pty Ltd, a prominent civil engineering contracting company at the time. The work designed by the team at MR Hornibrook involved the sinking of two vertical shafts at each side of the river, and then the connection of them with a tunnel roughly 600 metres long underneath.
Perhaps the most daunting and dangerous part of it all was that the digging of the tunnel was not supported by the advanced technology we have today. Instead, the tunnel was constructed by men with rock-drilling machinery mounted on a wheeled hydraulic system. With such a simple, yet cumbersome, system, progress was slow, with the tunnel only lengthened by about 9 metres each week.
To give you an idea about the conditions these fearless men were working in, here’s a quote from page 3 of a 1951 edition of The Courier Mail that details the project:
“The four experienced miners at the tunnel face work in a roaring wet, grey fog. They guide two long rock-drills fixed to a wheeled hydraulic mounting…River water seeps down the brightly lit walls enclosing the 10ft diameter tunnel. The men leave the tunnel when gelignite plugged into the drill holes is exploded electrically from above.”
Once the tunnel was finished, the work wasn’t done either. It then needed to lined with a special concrete sealer that prevented leaks from the river entering the tunnel – meaning more tradesmen were sent into the dark depths to work quickly and efficiently.
Then, sewage pipes had to be installed and maintained to ensure they were working correctly – meaning that sending tradesmen down into the tunnel was a regular occurance.
Work was completed on the Hamilton Syphon in 1955. However, the tunnel is still used today and has even undergone further maintenance.
A few years ago some major renovations were required to repair some cracks that had occurred in the Syphon and upgrade access areas for workers that would be maintaining the Syphon.
Meyjor Industries Pty Ltd took on this renovation project, with their director noting it’s difficulties and the precision-planning it required:
“Tough engineering challenges were inherent in this project form the start, including the requirements of confined space entry, the likelihood of sulphuric gas being present in the horizontal tunnel and requiring ventilation, workers requiring breathing apparatus in case of emergency and the difficulties with being able to get a man box down the shaft to ensure workers could safely remove and install platforms. Intensive planning was undertaken by the project crew before works commenced to ensure safety of workers was paramount, and to ensure project completion would be on schedule.”
To this day, the Hamilton Syphon is still used by Brisbane, and is regularly maintained and walked through by tradesman.
It is one of the great marvels that the trade contracting world has to offer, and a true testament to the notion that man will go anywhere.
To read about other plumbing marvels or learn about Salmon Plumbing and the services we offer, click here to read our blog.
We’ve all been there. You’ve just finished dinner and a long day, and you just want the washing up to be done so you can crawl into bed. Or you’re groggily walking into the kitchen the morning after a big night and can’t believe the mess you made.
In these times it can be tempting to wash anything and everything you can down the sink. It’s easy, it’s fast and it means you can have a clean kitchen sooner. So, what’s the harm, right?
Wrong. While we know it’s easier, washing a number of different things down your sink can be dangerous for your plumbing system and lead to cracked pipes, blockages or worse.
Here’s our advice for 10 things you should avoid washing down your kitchen sink.
1. PASTA
The plumbing system that connects to your sink has a fixed width. The semolina in pasta can cause it to absorb liquid and swell which means that too washing too much down the drain can block, or worse, corrode your pipes.
2. BONES
Especially those from beef, pork, lamb or poultry. Bones from these animals are big enough that they can cause a blockage in your sink and leads to overflows that can damage your plumbing system and your property.
3. GREASE
This liquid can stick to the inside of your pipes, and the pipes that your water flows into in the street, causing major blockages over time. If you’re looking for other options, leave the grease to cool first, and then dispose of it in your rubbish bin.
4. FLOUR
Much like pasta, flour coagulates when mixed with water. This mixture when washed down the drain can coat the edges of your pipes and catch other bits of food or debris that is washed down, which can cause a blockage and break down your pipes.
5. UNUSED MEDICATION
Tipping or dissolving unused medication down the sink may seem harmless, but the truth is that the chemicals you’re getting rid of may end up back in your drinking water and the environment.
6. EGGSHELLS
The impact of eggshells down the drain is very similar to flour. They can build-up and cause blockages and overflow quickly and easily. Try putting these in your compost or rubbish bin instead.
7. MILK
This one often catches people off guard. Milk, like all dairy products, is considered a highly polluting substance due to its high oxygen demand. This means that when it is released into environments with sewage, it can deprive other organisms of oxygen to survive.
8. PAPER PRODUCTS
You remember spit balls from primary school? Those things you’d load up into a straw and rocket at a friend? Picture that but bigger and blocking your drainage and causing overflow in your kitchen. Putting paper products down the sink is nothing but trouble for your pipes.
9. FRUIT AND VEGGIE STICKERS
These bad boys belong in the bin. When they get washed down your drain, they can they clog your pipes and also block filters in water treatment plants due to their adhesive being unable to dissolve in water.
10. COFFEE GROUNDS
Everyone loves a good brew in the morning – but what you might not is the blockages that can occur when you tip coffee grounds down the kitchen sink. Grounds can stick together and cause a blockage that cannot be easily moved with water. Instead, try using these grounds as part of your compost.
IT’S TIME TO MOVE YOUR RUBBISH BIN A LITTLE CLOSER TO THE SINK
Disposing of liquids, solids and the in-between properly will help you preserve your pipes for longer and avoid any other damage occurring to your property as a result of blockages and overflow.
If you do find yourself stuck in a mucky situation though, don’t fret! The team at Salmon Plumbing are more than happy to help you. Give us a call on 07 3862 2600 for any plumbing assistance you might need.
To learn more about how you can care for your home’s plumbing system, check out our blog.
When it comes to saving money on plumbing projects, there is something we think you should know.
Those same Youtube videos, Pinterest hacks, and family recipes that are keeping your toilet bowl sparkling clean or your house odor-free may be doing more damage than you think.
As plumbing professionals, we want to make sure you’re not doing more bad than good when it comes to your home or business’ plumbing. So, we’ve decided to bust five popular plumbing myths and show you the right ways to look after your water and sanitation systems.
Myth 1: You can flush more than toilet paper
One of the most common issues Salmon Plumbers have faced is attending to, what we call, a UTB, a.k.a an Unidentified Toilet Blockage. See, when it comes to your bathroom, there are many things that might appear flushable, but actually they aren’t.
Objects like paper towels, maxi pads, tampons and makeup remover wipes are not designed to go down the toilet and can easily cause a blockage if they are flushed.
Nothing except toilet paper, not even flushable wipes, should be flushed down the toilet.
Myth 2: You should use bleaching tablets to clean your toilet
Bleach can be a very effective toilet cleaning agent. However, when left to sit in your toilet for too long (usually more than 10 minutes), it can damage the toilet bowl surface and degrade many of its working parts.
A drop-in bleach tablet continually releases bleach over an extended period of time. So, by placing this in your bowl and simply walking away, you run the risk of issues above, or in some more serious cases, the complete corrosion of your toilet bowl!
While it may require a more hands-on approach, manual cleaning processes with the occasional inclusion of bleach will help you achieve the safest and best clean for your toilet.
Myth 3: You only need to think about your pipes when there’s a problem
Hair and shampoo in the shower, food and coffee grounds in the kitchen sink, and more, can all accumulate in your pipes over time. So, while you may not think anything is immediately wrong, the slow build-up of a blockage may mean water could start backing up without warning.
To avoid issues like these occurring so suddenly, arrange regular inspections of your home or business’ plumbing system. This can help you identify problems before they become costly, and enable you to learn the best tactics for maintenance from the plumbing professionals.
Myth 4: You can flush fish down the toilet
Before sending a fish to the porcelain pet heaven, you need to be certain it is no longer alive.
Many fish that are flushed can end up surviving their journey through the sewer system. From there they can become oversized and reproduce at alarming rates. This can put a number of natural ecosystems at risk.
Myth 5: You can use drain cleaner to avoid calling a plumber
If you find drains in your home are gurgling or slow to empty, don’t reach for the baking soda and vinegar or drain cleaner right away. It’s actually best to contact a plumber to remove the blockage that is impacting your system.
Liquid drain cleaners, and drain cleaning methods, are not actually that effective at clearing blocked drains. What they are 100% good at, however, is eating away at your pipes and flushing dangerous chemicals out into natural ecosystems.
Fact: Your local plumber will have the best advice for plumbing issues
When you can, it’s best to call your local plumber if you are facing a problem, or need some advice for care and maintenance.
By consulting a professional, you can trust that you are taking the best care of your property’s plumbing system.
