With the spring rain rolling in or the storm season approaching, you need peace of mind that your home will stay dry and safe. Although it’s an often overlooked device, a sump pump in Paramus can address everything from flooding to melting snow and act as a first line of defense against basement flooding. But what happens when it malfunctions? Who do you contact for sump pump repair, and what do you do next?

The Pros and Cons of Sump Pump DIY Repair

Before you call one of our professional plumbers in Paramus, you may wonder if you can just do a quick DIY sump pump repair. The answer is maybe. It’s important to consider the pros and cons of any home maintenance project before tackling it.

A sump pump under repair.

Pros

  • Enjoy Cost-Savings: The most appealing part of a DIY repair is the money it could save you on labor and other costs.
  • Take Immediate Action: Taking a DIY approach also means you can take immediate action instead of calling and scheduling a plumber.
  • Enjoy the Learning Experience: Some homeowners want to learn as much as possible about how their equipment, systems, and devices work and enjoy cultivating a new skill.

Cons

  • Lack of Skilled Expertise: Without proper training, you may misdiagnose the problem and make your sump pump even worse.
  • Waste Valuable Money: Ever wondered, “How much does it cost to repair a sump pump?” Fortunately, it’s usually just a few hundred dollars, but it depends on your pump’s issue and condition. But if you accidentally make your sump pump worse with a DIY fix or fail to resolve the problem, you could face thousands of dollars in water damage to your basement the next time it rains.
  • Safety Concerns: Working with electricity and water can be a hazardous situation and requires special equipment, care, and industry knowledge.
  • Voiding Warranties: You could accidentally void your sump pump warranty if you attempt a repair on your own and without a qualified professional.

Which Sump Pump Issues Require a Professional?

When you’re dealing with sump pump issues, it’s crucial to take action right away to prevent costly water damage to your home. Although it’s usually okay to test your sump pump, clear away debris, and check your backup power supply on your own, there are some sump pump repairs that require a plumber or qualified professional.

1) Discharge Pipe Repair

When your discharge pipe malfunctions, it could lead to water backing up into your basement and undoing all the pump’s hard work. Signs of a damaged discharge pipe include leaks, clogs, or improper installation.

A licensed plumber in Paramus or sump pump specialist can inspect the discharge pipe for damage and perform any necessary repairs or replacements. Call BZ Dependable today, and our team will inspect your pump and ensure proper drainage away from your home’s foundation to minimize the risk of flooding. We can promptly address any broken pipes.

2) Sump Pump Float Switch Problems

Your sump pump’s float switch is responsible for activating the sump pump when water levels rise above a certain point. When the float switch fails to work properly, it may not activate when needed. The results? Your basement is suddenly vulnerable to flooding and water damage.

If you tested your sump pump and the float switch isn’t working, call us right away. We’ll check for unseen obstructions, damage, or broken parts that are impacting its ability to operate the way it should.

3) Sump Pump Basins

If your sump pump is the wrong size or is leaking, it can keep your pump from removing water efficiently. As a result, your basement could flood without warning.

Call one of our knowledgeable plumbers to assess the size and condition of your sump pump basin. We can also address any issues, such as a structural deficiency, that contribute to your problem.

4) An Aging Sump Pump

Is your sump pump more than 10 years old? Are you constantly trying to make a DIY sump pump? A decade-old sump pump requires replacement. If you’ve maintained it meticulously and don’t use it frequently, it might last for a few more years. But an old sump pump means your home is vulnerable to your sump pump suddenly failing and leaving you exposed during the next rainfall.

Schedule Sump Pump Service in Paramus

A sump pump is a must-have for your home, but it does need periodic maintenance and repair. When something goes wrong, we’re here to help. Call BZ Dependable today! We offer sump pump maintenance, repairs, installations, and replacements to help keep your home or business dry. Schedule your appointment today.

If you want to maximize the efficiency and value of your sump pump, you more than a great warranty. You also need proper maintenance and care. If you need Teaneck, NJ sump pump services, call our Bergen County plumbers right away for help. We can repair, maintain, or install or replace your sump pump. We also put together a checklist of how to avoid sump pump repair with proper maintenance, which you can find below!

If you need professional sump pump maintenance, give the experts at BZ Dependable a call today!

1) Regularly Inspect Your Sump Pump

Sump pumps need periodic care and checks to ensure they’re working the way they’re intended to. Check your sump pump regularly for any signs of damage or rust. The float switch inside of your pump should also move freely while the pump is sitting level inside of the pit.

Sump pump maintenance shouldn't be neglected.

2) Clean Your Sump Pump

Beyond any obvious signs your sump pump isn’t working or damaged, you should also clean it out. Remove any debris, mud, leaves, or stones from the sump pit. This step keeps your pump operating efficiently and in good working order.

3) Test the Pump

Sump pumps can wear down over time and stop working. The last you want is to discover that it’s not operational during a storm. You can periodically test your sump pump on your own by pouring water into the pit. Watch to see that it activates properly without any issues or delays.

4) Inspect the Check Valve

The check valve is crucial to prevent water from flowing back into the sump pit and compromising its ability to perform. Make sure it’s functioning correctly before moving onto the next step.

5) Check the Backup Power

Because sump pumps are usually needed during a storm, a backup battery system or household generator is crucial to keeping it running during power outages. Check the backup power and change any batteries as needed.

6) Schedule Professional Maintenance

Even a good sump pump checklist isn’t a replacement for professional service. Schedule annual maintenance with our Bergen County plumbers or sump pump technician. They can perform a more in-depth inspection and address any issues before they escalate.

7) Replace Old Sump Pumps

At some point, sump pumps will near the end of their life span and no longer be worth repairing. If your sump pump is working erratically, facing costly repairs, or 10 years old, we can help. Call us today to discuss a sump pump installation NJ, before the next storm hits.

Schedule Sump Pump Service in Bergen County

You can avoid sump pump repair with a good maintenance protocol and help from the pros. When you do need help, the team at BZ Dependable is always here. Call us today! We offer sump pump maintenance, repairs, installations, and replacements to help keep your home or business dry. Schedule your appointment today.

Are you struggling with your plumbing and thinking about exploring pipe lining? In an ideal world, we never have to worry about the intricate parts of our plumbing, especially the parts we can’t even see. Just a few decades ago, fixing your pipes, sewer, or hidden plumbing required a big, messy excavation. Instead, you can turn to trenchess sewer repair in Bergen County for an innovative and less invasive way to fix your plumbing.

Learn more about what to know about pipe relining and how our team can help. Or call us right away for help! We’ll send out one of our Bergen County plumbers to get your home or business back on track.

What is Pipe Lining?

sewer line repair in bergen county

Our process for pipe lining in New Jersey is also known as cured-in-place pipe (CIPP). This trenchless technology involves rehabilitating existing pipelines without the need for tedious, messy excavation that can destroy your yard and derail your day. Trenchless sewer repair is usually cost-effective and far more seamless and stress-free than old-school methods.

How Pipe Lining Works

After an assessment and sewer inspection in NJ, we’ll figure out what’s going on with your camera and pipes. We used advanced technologies, such as cameras, to identify small cracks and leaks due to corrosion, roots in your pipes, or blockages. After cleaning out the pipeline with high-pressure water, such as hydrojetting, we’ll make sure any debris, sediment, or lingering corrosion is blasted away for clean pipes that are ready to repair your plumbing.

With everything ready to go, the team at BZ Dependable Plumbing & Heating will use a flexible liner, typically made of resin-saturated felt or fiberglass, and insert it directly into the pipeline. This specially designed liner fits the specific dimensions of the pipe and relies on a resin solution that cures and hardens to create a new, durable inner layer inside your old pipe.

The curing process may include heat or UV to ensure the resin-saturated liner hardens and creates a highly durable, corrosion-resistant lining inside the existing pipeline. Once the curing process is complete, the team at BZ Dependable will ensure that the pipeline lining is uniform, free of defects, and meets our high standards for industry perfection.

Advantages of Pipe Lining

Unlike traditional pipe replacement methods that require extensive excavation, trenchless sewer repair in Bergen County minimizes disruptions and gets you back to your day as quickly as possible. With a more affordable price tag, pipe relining reduces overall labor, materials, and equipment costs to fix your plumbing. You’ll also end up with an environmentally-friendly pipe with an increased lifespan that’s resistant to corrosion and ongoing wear and tear.

Pipe relining is also straightforward and intuitive. It makes more sense to create a new pipe lining within your existing system that dig everything up for days and start from scratch. The process is fast, efficient, and a satisfying service that gets your home back on track.

Get Pipe Lining Service in Bergen County

Do you need a sewer inspection in NJ or trenchess sewer repair from our plumbers in Bergen County? We can help. The team at BZ Dependable Plumbing & Heating are experts at all types of plumbing services, including innovative trenchless sewer repair services. Call us today! From basic plumbing needs to complicated problems, we can help. Book your appointment today. Make your appointment now!

Most homeowners don’t think a lot about their sump pump until it stops working or until they experience basement flooding and wish they had one that worked. At BZ Dependable Plumbing & Heating, we offer comprehensive sump pump services. We can send a plumber in Teaneck to come out and handle your sump pump repair in Teaneck or install a new one, whether it’s to replace an old one or to get you one for the first time. We’ll make sure that your home is safe from high water table flooding and that your sump pump is functioning properly, no matter what it takes.

Sump Pump Repair in Teaneck

When you need sump pump repair, call us for an expert plumber in Teaneck to arrive at your door right away. After all, you don’t know when the next storm will be and you may need your sump pump sooner than you think! We’ll get to you quickly, evaluate your sump pump, then get it fixed fast. We’ll always test it before we leave just to make sure that it’s working the way it is supposed to.

Did you know that you can test your own sump pump? Just fill the bucket up to the “FILL” line and see if it starts pumping. It should get rid of that water quickly and easily, without any hassles or delays. If it doesn’t pump, is pumping slowly, or doesn’t start pumping on its own, call us to send out a plumber in Teaneck. We’ll figure out why it isn’t working and make sure it gets back to full working order before we leave. Test it regularly if you want to avoid flooding and water damage to your home.

Sump Pump Replacement in Teaneck

sump pump repair teaneck

If your sump pump is older, broken down, or not working reliably, we’ll handle your sump pump replacement in Teaneck We’ll make sure that you have the right type of sump pump for you and your family, then install it properly and test it before we leave. We only work with reliable sump pump manufacturers and we’ll never install something that we wouldn’t be happy putting in our own homes. We’ll test your new pump before we leave to make sure it’s working the way you need it to so you don’t have to call for an emergency plumber in Bergen County.

Sump Pump Issues

Don’t let your sump pump problems wait. Whether you need sump pump replacement in Teaneck or to install a sump pump for the first time, the time to call is right now! After all, waiting to replace or repair your sump pump could cause flooding in your basement or other water damage to your home. A ruptured sump pump can cost thousands in renovation and water damage restoration costs before you can even dial for an emergency plumber in Bergen County. Instead, invest in a new sump pump or sump pump repair in Teaneck now!

Call for Sump Pump Repair in Teaneck ASAP

Call us at BZ Dependable Plumbing & Heating, Inc. for the very best in sump pump service. We would love to help you live better and sleep better at night, knowing your home is safe during the next storm. Make your appointment with our plumbers in Teaneck today!

We are the team to turn to when you need a trusted plumber in Fort Lee, NJ or the surrounding areas of Bergen County for your unexpected plumbing problem (let’s face it, are plumbing problems ever expected?) But just because we have years of experience and extensive training dealing with pretty much any plumbing issue that comes our way, doesn’t mean we want you to experience those problems.

That being said, we’re happy to share with you below some of the most common plumbing problems we get called out for, as well as some tips on how to prevent them so you can reduce your risk of a plumbing emergency. Read on or call now for service.

Overflowing Toilet

This one strikes panic in many a homeowners heart. It not only means the toilet can’t be used—a huge inconvenience for 1-bathroom homes—but that your bathroom plumbing and other areas of your home can experience significant water damage.

You can stop the overflow by turning the valve on the feedline to stop the flow. If you have an older toilet that does not have this valve, you can open the tank and rig up the chain to the flapper to stop the water flow. If this is the case, our next recommendation is going to be upgrading your toilet. Have you ever considered a water saving, low-flow, toilet?

So let’s talk about preventing this problem to begin with. It’s important to note that anything outside of toilet tissue should never be flushed. This includes makeup remover wipes and other wipes that are marketed as “flushable.” While they may seemingly go down easy, they can get caught up in the pipes, and build up until they create a clog that prevents water from escaping the next time you flush.

Clogged Sink

A minor sink clog that is near the surface may be easily cleared out with a plunger and a little bit of “elbow grease,” and perhaps even a hand-cranked drain snake if you have one. If these basic tools don’t resolve the problem though, please don’t reach for the chemical drain cleaner you got at the store.

These liquid drain cleaners may relieve a clog, temporarily, but they are corrosive and caustic, not only causing problems for your plumbing system down the line, but also exposing you and your family to the toxic fumes that emit from them. We urge you to give us a call so we can use more tried and true methods, such as hydro jetting, to not only relieve the clog but reduce the risk of it occurring again.

Another way you can prevent clogs from occurring is by watching what you allow to go down the drain. In the bathroom, this can mean using a drain cover in your shower so that your hair doesn’t go down and clog it up. In the kitchen, it means avoiding putting FOG down the sink drain. FOG stands for fats, oils, and grease—which all congeal as they cool, building up until you have a major blockage on your hands. When clogs strike, call our team for fast and reliable drain cleaning.

Other Common Plumbing Problems

The two above mentioned problems are what we typically get called for most often, but blocked sewer lines, pipe leaks, and lack of hot water also have our phones ringing pretty regularly, too. The best thing you can do to prevent plumbing problems is to schedule plumbing maintenance. This allows our pros to fully inspect your system and attack minor issues that can turn into much bigger problems later on.

Call BZ Dependable Plumbing & Heating today for reliable plumbing repair, exceptional customer service, and guaranteed satisfaction!

BZ Dependable using a plumbing snake

Imagine this scenario: You to go to use your kitchen sink and, it’s clogged. You try running the garbage disposal, thinking maybe something is stuck at the surface. The garbage disposal works, but the water isn’t draining out. This means you have a clog. You try using a plunger to relieve it, but to no avail.

You might imagine that the next best course of action is to grab that bottle of store-bought chemical drain cleaner you purchased the last time this happened. We really urge you not to though. Rather, give us at BZ Dependable a call for professional drain cleaning in Bergen County.

Chemical Drain Cleaners Cut Through Some Clogs

Alright, so chemical drain cleaners are “good” for some clogs. Most are good at dissolving hair, which is a common problem in bathtub and shower drains. This doesn’t mean they’re good for your pipes, though!

And if you have items like grease and grime, food particles, or any other blockages aside from hair clogging up your pipes, then chemical drain cleaners are going to be ineffective, anyway.

These chemicals are highly acidic and toxic. They will eat away at the insides of drainpipes, leave behind toxic fumes, and burn skin and eyes. Plus, toxic residue left in the bottles gets into landfills and can cause environmental damage. No professional plumber recommends using these products: they’ve seen the negative results too many times.

You Might Make The Problem Worse

This would be unintentional, of course. But some of the particles that chemical drain cleaners cannot dissolve often get pushed further down your drain pipe, leading to deeper clogs than you started out with and requiring professional tools and equipment to remove, anyway.

Professional plumbers have high-end equipment like hydro-jetters and motorized drain augers that are too expensive for commercial use and too complicated for anyone without proper training to handle. Hydro-jetting does a thorough job of blasting away grease, fat, and other deposits from the interior of drain pipes while not causing any damage to the pipes themselves. Plumbers also have access to cleaning agents like BioSmart that leave no toxic residue behind.

Additionally, plumbers must know what sort of cleaning needs to be done and where it needs to be done. Thanks to video inspection equipment (miniaturized cameras mounted on thin fiber-optic cables), plumbers can examine drains from the inside and identify the work they need to do without disruptive methods to reach the pipes.

You Can Suffer From The Side Effects

Yes, these store bought drain cleaners have side effects. For instance, they can be harmful to people and pets due to how toxic the chemicals are in them. Rubbing your eye after not fulling washing your hands, or having a pet accidentally getting into some that’s dripped on the floor can lead to a very dangerous situation.

Plus, these chemicals are caustic. That means that prolonged use of these drain cleaners (which, since they’re ineffective at removing the clog permanently, you’ll undoubtedly experience) eats away at the lining of your drain pipes, leading to premature replacement of your plumbing.

“So, I Can’t Clean My Drains On My Own?”

We aren’t exactly saying that. If your drain isn’t clogged but has a funky smell to it, there are certainly steps you can take.

DIY Drain Cleaning

  • Baking soda and vinegar: Start by getting rid of the standing water in your drain. If it will go down slowly, just wait until it’s gone. If it isn’t moving, use a cup or a spoon to get it out of there. Then, put 1 cup of baking soda and 1 cup of vinegar down the drain and let it sit there for 30 minutes. When the time is up, run warm water down the drain and see if the clog is gone.
  • Try a plunger: Make sure the plunger forms a tight seal over the opening of the drain, then start plunging. You may need to work for several minutes before you see much of a difference. Don’t give up unless you have plunged for 5 minutes or more without a discernible change.
  • Plumbing snakes: Make sure you get a snake that is the right size for your drain and that you never put it more than 3-4 feet into the drain. Otherwise, it can get stuck down there and cause even more plumbing problems! Thread the drain until you hit a blockage. Wind the snake back up to try to remove the clog or use the snake to break it up.

When Home Remedies Don’t Cut It

But if your drain is stubbornly clogged and nothing you try helps, then it’s time to call for professional drain cleaning. Our pros will use a method like drain snaking, or hydro-jetting for harder clogs. Either or both of these can be extremely effective at not only removing the clog, but making it less likely for blockages to develop in the future.

You may have seen us mention hydro-jetting on our blog before. It utilizes a high-pressured hose with an omnidirectional sprayer for optimal coverage within your drain pipe. Professional drain augers are especially helpful for blockages deep within the sewer line.

Call BZ Dependable Plumbing & Heating today for exceptional customer service!

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