Installing a garburator, sometimes called a waster disposal or garbage disposal is fairly easy to install and should take between thirty minutes to one hour plus travel time, depending on the reconfiguring of the drain pipe once the garburator is installed.

The plumber that you hire will have to disconnect the unit from the sink and then unhook the electrical.  Then remove the sink assembly.
If there is no garburator then the plumber will disconnect the ptrap and remove one or two trap adapters depending on if you have a single or double compartment sink.

Take the new garburator out of the box and place putty around the sink assembly.  He/She will then place the sink drain adapter in place and tighten.  Then they will set hook up the electrical line and place the garburator into position.  At this point they will have to reconfigure the drain to fit and hook up the ptrap again, or install a new one if necessary.

We generally come in around $170 + parts – any specials that might be on.

When buying a garburator there is a few types to look at.  The SinkErator is the most common brand and has 2 models to choose from.  The Badger series and the Evolution series.  Both of these have 3 models within the series.  Take a look at your local hardware store to see which style fits you needs.  I always go with at least a 3/4 horsepower size, but with the Evolution series you can get a larger capacity, dual grinding, and much less noisy than the Badger series.

If you need a plumber or gas fitter in Edmonton, St. Albert,or  Sherwood Park, then give us a call at 780-264-0878

Thanks,

Kelly

Kramer Plumbing and Radiant Heat

249 Grand Meadow Cres.

Edmonton, AB

T6L 1W9

780-264-0878

Remember the older style bathtub faucet with the two handles?  Every time someone would flush the toilet or turn on the tap the water in the shower would run hot or cold.  The reason this would happen is because of the draw of water to another appliance would cause a pressure drop at the shower.

If you were running the bath this would not really matter as most people do not get into the tub until the water is almost finished running.

Today’s newer faucets are built differently so that this problem does not happen.  The newer style single lever faucets are now mandatory and have springs inside the valve that will adjust the flow according to the temperature or pressure.  If you are taking a shower and someone flushes the toilet you might notice a drop in pressure coming out of the shower head but you will no longer notice a temperature change.

These newer faucets are now mandatory in all new home construction in Edmonton.

If you live in an older house and need to change out the faucet then you will need to install a cover plate that will cover the old holes.  The only plate that I have seen is made by Delta and can be found at most of the hardware stores in Edmonton.

Choosing a Faucet

Regardless of your budget you will want to choose a good faucet for your tub/shower.  Unlike your kitchen faucets or basin faucets you cannot easily change the faucet later on.  Once the tub/shower is in place with either a tub surround or tiles you will only have access to the body to change out the stem.  To change out the whole faucet you will need to get access to the other side of the wall.

If you stick with a name brand faucet you should be good, such as a Hans Grohe, Delta, or Moen faucet.  I have installed some pretty cheap faucets for people that insist on going with the lowest price and a couple of these leaked within a few days of installation.  Luckily, I was able to change these out before the bathrooms were being drywalled.  Since these leaks were very small there could have been quite a bit of time pass before the leak would have been discovered if the drywall would have gone up.  This would have caused mold and rot and is not worth the $50 or so in savings.

If you decide to install a tub/shower faucet yourself you should use copped pipe for the piping to the spout and for the shower head.  It says this in the directions but a lot of people don’t read the directions and will run pex tube to the spout.  If you do this then when you turn on the faucet the flow will want to run up through the shower head as the pex tube is too small to handle the flow.

Always remember that you get what you pay for…

If you need any kind of plumbing or gas fitting work done in your home or commercial building please give me a call at 780-264-0878

Thanks,

Kelly

Kramer Plumbing and Radiant Heat

249 Grand Meadow Cres.

Edmonton, AB

T6L 1W9

780-264-0878

I received a call from a guy this morning to come do a service call for him.  He asked how much the job was going to be and I explained that I can’t see what he is talking about, but most likely less than an hour plus travel time.  He wondered why I would charge him travel time to get to his new house.  I started to explain to him that all services that work at multiple locations per day need to charge travel time.

Before I could fully explain to him the reason for this he started to freak out.  Yelling into the phone that he doesn’t charge travel time when he goes to work so he won’t pay travel time for someone to come to his house.

I told him that if he gave me 8 hours worth of work I will leave out the travel, which I never normally do.  He then started to yell that he wasn’t going to give me 8 hours of work.

At this point I had no more time for this conversation so I said that he should find someone else to do the work for him and I hung up.

Here is the situation.  If I go to 4 houses in a day and each job take 1 hour then I work for 4 hours.  When I include travel time and material pickup I do actually work 8 hours.  I do not get paid for coffee breaks, and I do not get any benefits.  Don’t get me wrong, I love being in business for myself.  I get to meet all sorts of interesting people each week, but I do need to make a living.

In my 8 hours of work I charge $680, but that is not what I make, I have a ton of overhead with insurances, gas, licensing, marketing, and other expenses.  And I go home every night and work for another 2 hours.  If I was only going to charge for the 4 hours like this individual wanted then I may as well go and work for another plumbing.  As I would make more money without the headaches and risks associated this running a plumbing business in Edmonton.

Then there are the slow times when you might only work 4 hours per day.  All those marketing costs still have to be paid, same goes for insurances, licensing, and other hard costs that stay whether you are making money or not.

Maybe travel time is not that guy’s problem like he said, but did you know that retail stores factor into their costs a percentage that is based on shoplifting?  I wonder if he goes into Walmart and says I want 10% off because shoplifting isn’t his problem? LOL

Always remember “You get what you pay for”

If you need any plumbing or gas fitting down in Edmonton, Sherwood Park, or St.Albert please give me a call at 780-264-0878

Thanks,

Kelly

Kramer Plumbing and Radiant Heat

249 Grand Meadow Cres.

Edmonton, AB

T6L 1W9

780-264-0878