August 18, 2021
Healthy Home Tips From Master Plumber John
Our very own Master Plumber John appeared on Channel 7’s Mile High Living show to talk about Applewood and review a few ‘Healthy Home Tips’. John touched on the importance of changing furnace filters, maintaining a sump pump and why you should never use flushable wipes.
Below is a full transcript of the conversation.
Gina: Hello and welcome to mile high living. I’m Gina Belich. Alright, we’ve all been there: it’s a 90-degree day and your home’s air conditioner just isn’t working right. Or maybe that leaky bathroom faucet is keeping you up all night long. Well don’t suffer any longer. Call the company that’s been helping homeowners in the Denver and Boulder area for almost 50 years. Joining me is John Murphy, master plumber and service manager for Applewood Plumbing, Heating and Electric. Alright John, thanks for being here.
John: Thank you Gina.
Gina: We’re gonna start with sump pumps. A lot of people might not know what they are. Can you describe a little bit what they are and why they’re really important to some homes.
John: Well, Gina – the sump pump takes rainwater that has collected on the ground or dumped on the ground and keeps it away from your house by directing it back to a central location which is our sump pump and then pumps that outside – hopefully away from the house – following elevation.
Gina: I know growing up in the Midwest those were in everybody’s home, especially with all the moisture we’d get. For sure. You actually help with the maintenance on that as well, right?
John: Yes. In today’s world, thankfully, they’re pretty much maintenance free but you do have to take care of a few other things and that is making sure there’s not debris and things that can get caught in the pump as it’s doing its job.
Gina: Now with the last year or so with the pandemic hitting I know one thing that was not on the shelves and that was toilet paper, paper towels, things like that. Some people, in lieu of getting toilet paper when they couldn’t find it, would get flushable wipes. That’s a no-no, right?
John: That’s a big no-no for the homeowner. What it can do is that it doesn’t dissolve and break up like toilet paper and because it’s a fibrous material once it soaks up, it just kind of lays there in the sewer pipe and doesn’t float out. Sooner or later, it builds up and we get the phone call that “My plumbing’s backed up. Come see why.” And a lot of those are in there.
Gina: So really it should be non-flushable wipes is what those should be(laughs). Don’t use them if you can. What kind of damage can be done to the pipes in your home or underground?
John: Well, build up, back up as it were – all kinds of damage that’s caused by backing up and flooding in your home. It’s also a biohazard so it’s one of those things you want to be proactive rather than reactive and anytime you’re having to dig up or run a cable down to clear these types of things out of your sewer line it can diminish the life expectancy of your sewer line.
Gina: You don’t want a busted pipe. We’re going to switch gears with a little heating and cooling. Air filters – this is something a lot of us either overlook or forget about, right? Talk to us about the importance of them.
John: It was once said that if you don’t have air flow, you don’t have anything. That’s never so true than in the majority of what we see out there for heating systems in the Denver market. They’re forced air systems. They have to have adequate air in order to work properly and, again, not to diminish the life expectancy of it. When we have a furnace filter, it’s there to protect not only the air we breathe, but to protect the equipment as it were. Excess dirt and debris that builds up within the system can cause inadequate air flow and therefore lots of detrimental effects can happen to the heating system and cooling system as well.
Gina: How often should we be changing them?
John: Most manufacturers recommend, for most models, that you change every 30 days. You’re buying the 30-day throw-away filter and you’re doing that every 30 days to make sure that your system doesn’t receive any of this dirt, dust, debris, dander that’s floating in the air.
Gina: It’s something too where you just set a little alarm on your watch or calendar, right? To remind yourself.
John: That’s so true. It’s so easy these days with iPhones and phones the way we have them.
Gina: Yeah, smoke and air filters. Big deal for our homes. Correct?
John: Yes.
Gina: When we think about changing our air filters and in our furnaces, is there anything that comes into our home that may be a give-away that we should be doing this? Are there symptoms in our home giving us indications that we need to change them?
John: There are a lot of different things – you start to notice excess dust build up, things like that. That means it’s not being filtered out. So, if you’re having to dust more often, you might want to think “Have I changed my furnace filter recently?”
Gina: 30 days folks. Doesn’t seem very long, does it? Now you guys are offering a great deal right now. Talk about that.
John: We’re offering $50 off any service. As most of our viewers know, we provide electrical services for the homeowner, plumbing services obviously, heating services and air conditioning services. $50 off any service – there’s no restriction on that and we’re happy to be able to offer that to our customers during such a busy time.
Gina: Go over those services one more time so folks know exactly what it is you offer everybody.
John: What we’re talking about today is plumbing, heating, air conditioning, and electrical services residentially for the homeowner. If you need something taken care of right away, we have the crew that can get out there and take care of it for you.
Gina: Alright, John. Thank you so very much.
John: Thank you Gina.