Big Bug!

After being called to a home to install a new sink faucet, I stumbled upon this little monster. Its amazing how often I run across these guys in my daily adventures. Here in Las Vegas and Pahrump I run into them in pump houses, water meter boxes, shut off boxes or as in this case, just waiting under some pipes! A constant reminder why its always a good idea to keep up on the bug spraying schedule!

Black Widow waiting to pounce on the next plumber that comes along

Don’t pay any attention to the fact that CPVC was previously glued together using blue glue. This is what you run into sometimes working in Pahrump!

AllAces Plumbing Comments!

We have now updated our comments section to better be able to handle any customer reviews and comments. We should be able to post these comments immediately and they are quite a bit easier to read!

AllAces Plumbing Comments!

Southwest Gas Water Heater Rebate

Southwest gas has now approved their water heater rebate program for the 2012 year. They are giving $100 in rebates for any new water with an energy efficiency greater than .62. They are also giving a rebate of $200 for any tankless water heater installation. These rebates will be effective for 2012 or until the funds in this program run out.

You can read more about the rebates at Southwest Gas here…
SouthWest Gas

AllAces Plumbing Las Vegas and Pahrump

AllAces Plumbing Gallery now UP!

We just uploaded a few images of some of the work we have completed in Las Vegas. Take a look!
AllAces Las Vegas Plumbing Gallery

Mansfield toilets VS Sterling toilets!

We had a call where a apartment manager was having problems with a toilet in one of his units. He lived in the unit himself for a period of time and stated he had problems with the toilet while he stayed there. He wanted me to change out the flapper to see if that would fix it. I mentioned that replacing a flapper wont necessarily make the toilet flush any better, depending on the condition of the flapper and the adjustment on the chain and handle. It was a Mansfield Elongated bowl with a cylinder style flapper assembly, so there really wasn’t any adjusting to do. The toilet flushed great the first time, then I put some toilet paper in it and tried it again, it didn’t flush at all. I manually flushed it by pulling the flapper and closing it by hand and checked the flush by closing the flapper at different time intervals. Nothing was working. I seen there was snake scars on the bottom of the toilet and the maintenance man said he tried snaking it with a closet auger, didn’t change anything. I changed out the flapper with a FluidMaster pro57 flapper (best in the biz!), just to see what it would do and as I expected, it didn’t change anything. I told the manager, it could be an offset flange causing a problem as I didn’t detect any blockage after I snaked the line also with my closet auger. I recommended changing the toilet.

After going and picking up a Sterling White Elongated toilet, a brand I have not personally used very much, and pulling the existing Mansfield toilet, I noticed there was an offset flange installed. The offest flange was to move the center of the toilet drain away from the tub (minimum of 15″) and closer to the wall (Standard of 12″). I told the manager we will try the new tiolet and see how well it flushes, if it doesn’t work, we will have to hammer up the floor, offset the drain in the ground by using fittings and put a regular flange on. But we will try the new toilet first.

After cleaning up the flange and installing the new toilet, I flushed it over 20 times with and without toilet paper. The toilet flushed exactly right and the manager was very pleased! I chocked this one up to Sterling Toilets pounding the Mansfield Toilet in the ground!

As I said, I haven’t used Sterling, a Kohler company brand, due to not being the biggest Kohler fan out there, but after this situation, I will definitely look at Sterling with a keener eye!

AllAces Plumbing Las Vegas and Pahrump

American Standard Faucet Pop up Lever!

I just seen this not too long ago and was quite amazed. In the 20+ years of plumbing, one thing that has never changed is the pop up lever design on bathroom sink faucets. Its clunky, sticks and most often times a cause of quite a leak. American Standard has come out with a new design that once I saw it, just made me say wow! Its a cable lever design that snaps in compared to a few rods held together with a dinky clip. The assembly works great and is a breeze to install and of course, more importantly, quite a bit less chance of any failures or leaks.

Here is a picture of the old style pop up drain assembly…

Here is a picture of the new pop up drain assembly with the American Standard quick connect…

AllAces Plumbing Las Vegas and Pahrump

Aqua Rex install

We just installed an Aqua Rex WK1 water conditioning system on a mist system. They previously had a GE Merlin Reverse Osmosis system which was a tankless RO System that had horrible reviews. GE discontinued the product not too long ago due to issues such as constant draining which is what we were experiencing here. I installed a Water filter and the Aqua Rex WK1 to alleviate the mist system of sediment, VOC’s and scaling. The Aqua Rex system has great reviews and after talking to a few people that have both installed them and purchased them, they are quite a good product. Its an easy and affordable solution to limit the scaling and buildup of minerals in a water system.

AllAces Plumbing Las Vegas and Pahrump

Innovative shower heads!

There are constantly a barrage of new items, materials and fixtures when it comes to plumbing. Recently Moen and Delta have come out with a new style of hand held shower head. Previously, in order to have a hand held shower head, you would have to have a slide bar mounted to the shower wall with the hand held shower bracket mounted to it…

Moen Slide Shower

Before all you could purchase was a hand held shower bracket that screws onto the existing shower arm. These are pretty popular and very easy to install…

Moen 21029 slide shower

Nowadays, there are a few more options available as in the Delta In2ition, Moen Refresh models of the hand held shower. We have had a few customers request this style of hand held shower. They are a bit more stylish and can definitely lead to a sleeker looking shower!

Moen 21005 Hand Held Shower

AllAces Plumbing Las Vegas and Pahrump

Aqua Rex water Conditioner!

After spending a lot of time and looking into quite a lot of information AllAces Plumbing is now proud to announce that we will be offering the Aqua Rex water conditioners. The Aqua Rex water conditioning system uses an electrical field from a standard electrical outlet to counter act the effects of scaling and build up in a typical water distribution system. They are quick to install and about half the installation costs of a new salt based water softener. The Aqua Rex water conditioning system does not require any maintenance so you will also save on the costs for salt or potassium not to mention any salt based service costs. Aqua Rex has documented a lot of testimonials and scientific data that substantiates their system. They are currently being installed on 6″ main water lines in 5 star hotels in Las Vegas. They also offer a 100% guaranteed equipment refund if the user is not happy with the system.

To find out more information about the Aqua Rex water conditioning system, click the link…
Aqua Rex Water Conditioning

AllAces Plumbing Las Vegas and Pahrump

IAPMO Southern Nevada

We have recently joined the IAPMO Southern Nevada organization. Its a great organization here in Las Vegas that is comprised of Building Department officials and other plumbing contractors. They meet once a month to go over Code issues and questions along with other trade events and news. It has been a great place to get caught up with any code issues and help understanding any adopted changes or situations that may have occurred in the field. IAPMO SN has been conducting meetings for quite a few years now. I remember when the meetings first started with guys like Paul Wilkins and Joe Hurst and were conducted in a some small little storage room at the City Building Department. It has grown quite a bit since then and is now hosted at the Desert Pines Golf Center off of Mojave. It’ll be interesting to meet up with some of the old timers and see what the industry news is!

Here is a link to the IAPMO Southern Nevada home page…
IAPMO Southern Nevada

AllAces Plumbing Las Vegas and Pahrump