Kitchen Remodel: Zen Meditation Center

Another Kitchen Remodel that was done along with Sawdust Memories for the Zen Meditation Center in Minneapolis, MN

Via Sawdust Memories

Kitchen Remodel, MN Zen Meditation Center, Minneapolis, MN

Working with volunteers in the demo stage. The Zen Center kitchen is getting a facelift. New cabinets, ceiling, floor, counter tops and a custom-made large sink.

via Interiors.

Kitchen Remodel: Zen Meditation Center Minneapolis

Kitchen Remodel: Custom sink at the Zen Meditation Center Minneapolis

Kitchen Remodel

Here’s a kitchen remodel that we did along with Sawdust Memories

via Sawdust Memories website:

Kitchen Remodel, Highland Park, St. Paul, MN

Repeat customer. This is the third house I have helped this client with. Let me say straight off that she hasn’t left the other two because of the remodeling we have done.

We’re working with old favorites and masters, Crystal Cabinets and Levahn Bros Plumbing

via Interiors.

Other posts you may want to check out: https://levahnbros.wordpress.com/2012/02/15/bathroom-remodel/

For more information call 763-551-8990

Stop in and see us at 12700 Bass Lake Road Maple Grove, MN 55369

Visit us on the web at levahnbros.com and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/levahnbrothers

Bathroom Remodel

LeVahn Brothers Plumbing recently helped on a bathroom remodel for a customer in Minneapolis for general contractor Sawdust Memories. Here are a few images of the job and what Sawdust Memories had to say about the project.

via Sawdust Memories website:

Bath Remodel, Minneapolis:

“How very lucky to find new customers that not only open their arms and house to your dog but share books and music as well. We pushed out the back wall of the tub in order to accommodate a new wider whirlpool style tub. Adom Kruger custom built a perfect cabinet. Dave Ivers did his usual magic with tile and Stafford Electric and Levahn Bros plumbing came through in their usual professional ways. ”

via Interiors.

Here’s a few shots of a bathroom remodel job in Minneapolis that we did in partnership with general contractor Sawdust memories.

Other posts you may want to check out https://levahnbros.wordpress.com/2012/02/15/kitchen-remodel/

For more Information call 763-551-8990

Stop in and see us at 12700 Bass Lake Road Maple Grove, MN 55369

Visit us on the web at levahnbros.com and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/levahnbrothers

What causes a pinhole leak in a copper water pipe?

 

A pinhole leak is a small hole that develops in a pipe causing a mist or stream of water to shoot out. In most cases these leaks develop due to the pipe being eroded from the inside out. There are a number of factors as to why a leak happens. Some of the main factors that lead to a leak include: age, your municipalities water pressure, the amount of minerals found in your municipalities water, how the pipes are configured(i.e. elbows, bends, turns etc.), what season it is, and how the plumbing was installed.

Pin hole leak in copper pipe

In most cases the leaks occur near the water main inside the house. They occur near the water main because this is where the water pressure is the greatest in the home. Just like how water over time can cut deep into rock creating things like the Grand Canyon it also can erode the inside of your pipe. It slowly erodes the inside of the pipe until it eventually breaks through. This meter horn developed a leak at the bend on the left side. When a meter horn leaks you should check with your municipality to see if they are responsible for replacement, or if it’s up to you. In this case the resident was responsible for replacement so they came in and purchased one from us and installed it themselves.

Meter Horn with a pin hole leak

Most of the factors that cause pinhole leaks can’t be avoided. We can’t change the mineral content or temperature of the water coming into the home. Most leaks occur at or near a joint. In other words where a connection is. This could be an elbow or even a coupling. When water passes by a joint there is turbulence. The water swirls and spins as it passes through the joint. Preventing this is somewhat unavoidable. The turbulence causes the water to erode the pipe from the inside out.

copper fitting erosion

When a leak occurs at a joint it may be due to the installer failing to ream out the copper after cutting it.  When a copper pipe is cut with a pipe cutter it gets pinched as it’s being cut. This creates a lip on the inside of the pipe. This lip can exaggerate the amount of turbulence that occurs at the joint. The pipe in the picture below has multiple holes that probably occurred due to  the installer not reaming out the pipe after cutting it.

Pinhole leaks at solder joint

To help avoid this from occurring you should always use a pipe reaming tool to get rid of the edge that’s created when a pipe is cut. Some pipe cutting tools have a reamer attached right to them. If your pipe cutter doesn’t have a reamer, or if you don’t like that style, you can use a different style such as the one below. It is a very simple tool to use. All you need to do is run it along the inside edge of the pipe you cut and it takes off the lip created when the pipe was cut.

Copper tubing reaming tool

In Maple Grove and Plymouth Minnesota (the cities near where our store is located) there is high water pressure with lots of minerals in the water. These factors coupled with the average age of the homes (around 20-30 years old) means that we’ve had a large volume of pinhole leak calls in recent years. High mineral content in the water can cause multiple plumbing issues. Everything from water heaters to faucets and pipes are affected by the minerals. Softening your water doesn’t help much either. Softening water doesn’t remove many of the minerals that are present in the water.

If you get a pinhole leak what should you do? First you need to cut back the copper piping to a point where the copper is still sound. Remember that the pipe has been corroding from the inside out. The spot where the pin hole occurred is just the first place that it broke through. If you were to replace just the small section of piping where the pinhole is located you would probably be repairing another spot six months down the road.

Paper thin copper removed from a home in Maple Grove

Next you need to replace all the pipe and fittings that you’ve removed. I would recommend replacing the piping with a thicker commercial grade copper. Type “M”copper is the standard grade copper used for residential plumbing. Use a type “L” commercial grade copper instead. It costs a little more per foot but  it’s worth the investment. Make sure you ream out your cuts like mentioned above and solder everything back together.  If you don’t feel comfortable soldering a pipe and you’re going to have someone else do it make sure they cut enough of the bad pipe out and that they use type “L” copper when they replace it (you can also tell if it’s type “L” copper if the writing on it is blue, type “M” is red).

Type “M” (red) and type “L” (blue) copper

For more info on pipe leaks check out this blog: copper pipe leak

If you have any questions call us at 763-551-8990

Stop in and see us at 12700 Bass Lake Rd. Maple Grove, MN 55369

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Plumbers you wouldn’t want to hire

Even though some of them are experts when it comes to crap here’s a list of some plumbers you wouldn’t want to hire to unclog that toilet of yours.

The “White House Plumbers”also known as “the plumbers” or “Nixon’s plumbers”. This was a convert white house special investigations unit formed during president Nixon’s presidency. It ‘s job was to stop the leak of classified information to the news media (i.e. the pentagon papers). Sounds legit. The members however branched into illegal activities including a little thing called Watergate.

Any plumber from ancient Rome. Plumbing in this time period was used only by the wealthy. The thing is, plumbers used lead for the piping. Lead causes all sorts of problems in the body. Dementia is one of those effects along with learning and behavior disorders. No wonder the roman empire collapsed, the lead plumbing was making them all nuts.

John Gotti. Gotti, was described as being nothing more than an “honest plumbing supply salesman” by his close friends and associates at his 1992 racketeering trial. He was discovered to be the head of the Gambino crime family. Gotti was charged with multiple accounts of murder, racketeering, extortion, and tax evasion and was sentenced to five consecutive life sentences.

Joe “the Plumber”. Talk about a load of crap. This guy gave the hard working, honest, blue collar plumber a bad name. In the 2008 presidential campaign he accused Barrack Obama of wanting to tax his small plumbing business into bankruptcy. As it turned out Joe “the plumber” didn’t pay his taxes, wasn’t licensed, and never voted. Side note for John McCain. Hitching your bid for presidency on a plumber isn’t a bad idea but like we tell our customers, check your facts before you hire a plumber.

Mario and Luigi. For those of you who are unfamiliar Mario and Luigi are from the highly popular Nintendo game Mario Brothers. There mission is to save the New York sewer system from a bevy of strange creatures including something resembling turtles, crabs and flies. Unless you are worried about sewer turtles attacking you I’d recommend staying away from these two. They’re going to keep any coins they find and really all they’re interested in is finding the princess.

*Make sure you check to see if the plumber you are about to hire actually knows what they’re doing. Hire a professional (by professional I mean licensed) to do the work right the first time so that you don’t end up paying to have something fixed twice. LeVahn Brothers Plumbing plumbers are licensed professional plumbers that will fix the problem the right way. Contact us to help you with all your plumbing issues.

LeVahn Brothers Plumbing and Hardware is located in Maple Grove at 12700 Bass Lake Road

You can call us at 763-551-8990

You can find us on the web at http://www.levahnbros.com/

How to repair a Garbage Disposal

Garbage disposer, garbage disposal, or garbage grinder. What is it? Technically they’re called garbage disposers, although I have yet to hear a person here in the great state of MN (that’s not a plumber) call them that. So, since that’s the norm around here that’s what I’m going to stick with.

Garbage disposals are a device that you attach directly to your kitchen sink that enables you to wash food waste down your drain without fear of clogging your drain pipes. There are different brands out there for you to purchase but the brand that we at LeVahn Brothers plumbing recommend is the Insinkerator brand (shown above and available for purchase at LeVahn Brothers).

A garbage disposal is meant to grind up food waste. However, depending on which model you have, a garbage disposal is not meant as an alternative for a trash can. If you have a lower end model there are certain items that you should avoid putting down your drain. The foods to avoid are: chicken bones, coffee grounds, fruit rinds, potato peals, celery, corn husks or other fibrous vegetables. These are all foods that your basic garbage grinder will have trouble with. Some other tips of garbage disposal operation are to run cool water instead of hot (hot water can cause the fats in food to melt and gum up the grinder and your pipes). Run water before and after you run your disposal. Finally DO NOT pour drain cleaners or other chemicals into your garbage disposal. In fact if you have a double sink we don’t recommend you put drain cleaner down the other side either. Drain cleaning chemicals are generally acid based and can cause major damage to the metal inner workings of your grinder. If you have a drain line back-up take off the p-trap (image below left) and use a drain snake (below right) to clean out the problem.

If you have an issue with a garbage disposal you don’t necessarily need to replace it. First, you need to diagnose your problem. Sometimes a garbage disposals will turn on but won’t grind. Usually this means that something is jammed in the grinder. What you need to do first is turn off the garbage disposal. Then look under your sink at the bottom of the garbage disposal unit. At the very bottom of the disposal is a spot for an allen wrench. Most garbage disposals come with what’s called a “jam buster wrench”. This comes in the box when you purchase the disposal so more than likely you’ll never find it. If this is the case and the wrench is missing you can purchase another at our store or you can use an allen wrench. Turn the wrench back and forth to free up the jam. Finally, make sure that you remove the object that was jamming the grinder.

The next possibility is that the grinder doesn’t turn on when you flip the switch. This will often happen in conjunction with the disposal getting jammed. When this happens it may be that the circuit breaker, which is built-in to the disposal, has been tripped. In this case you need to make sure there is nothing jammed in the unit. After you’ve assessed that there is nothing jamming it you then need to see if the circuit breaker is popped out. This is generally found on the bottom of the unit. It is a small red square-shaped button. You need to press the button and see if it will pop back down.

If you have a higher end model, such as something in the Insinkerator Evolution line of disposals, you won’t have as much of an issue with jamming or clogged pipes. This has to do with the fact that they have created a much more effective and quieter garbage disposal. For more info on insinkerator visit their site at http://www.insinkerator.com/.

If you are a person who is annually calling the plumber to clean out your kitchen drain line because you tried to stick your family’s left over Thanksgiving dinner down the sink this line of garbage disposals is for you.

For more information or to contact a plumber call us at 763-553-1222

You can also visit us at http://www.levahnbros.com/plumbing.html

Or stop in our store located at 12700 Bass Lake Road Maple Grove, MN