Plumbing Questions Meridian Homeowners Ask

It can wait when the water is contained and shut off, other drains still work and nothing is spreading. It cannot wait when water keeps flowing after the shutoff is closed, sewage is backing into a tub or floor drain, or a ceiling is soaked. A gas odor is different from all of these: leave the building and call 911 first. A dead water heater with no leak is usually a morning call.

Close the nearest shutoff, then the main valve if water is still moving. Turn off power to a leaking electric water heater at the panel, and keep out of any room where water has reached outlets. Stop running water into drains that are backing up. Move rugs and valuables out of the wet area, and photograph the damage before you clean up. Arrange access so the plumber can get in.

The street address and ZIP code come first, then a plain description of what you see, hear or smell. Add where the main shutoff is and whether it is closed, how old the water heater or fixture is if you know, and whether anyone can let the plumber in. A phone photo of the problem and of any label on the equipment saves questions on the call.

Yes, any of the three can call the same number. Say which one you are, give the unit or street address and name who can provide access. Who pays for a visit is a matter for the lease and the people who signed it. The dispatcher arranges the visit and does not decide that question.

Meridian's own ZIP codes, 83642, 83646 and 83680, are covered, along with Caldwell, Kuna, Garden City, Eagle, Nampa and Boise. Each city's ZIP codes are listed on the service areas page. If your address sits on a boundary or outside those lists, call and read it out, since the dispatcher checks it on the spot.

No. The work is plumbing: water, drain and sewer lines, water heaters, gas piping, fixtures and the repairs that follow from them. Furnaces, air conditioning, wiring and well pumps belong to other trades. If a plumbing repair touches one of them, such as a water heater on its own circuit, the plumber can say which part belongs to an electrician.

Homes are the main work, and business requests are taken as well. Restaurants and other food service kitchens face city rules on grease, which Meridian handles through its pretreatment program, and the commercial plumbing page explains how those calls are handled. Say on the phone that the address is a business so the call is routed the right way.

A leak leaves water where it should not be, and a meter that keeps moving with every tap closed points to one. A clog slows or stops drainage at one fixture or several together. A pressure problem shows as weak flow from the taps while the drains run normally. Watching the meter for ten minutes with everything off separates the first from the other two.

Repair when one part has failed and the rest is in sound shape. Replace when the same fixture or unit keeps failing, when the cost of the fix is close to the cost of new, or when the age of the equipment makes another failure likely. Ask the plumber for both numbers, and for what each choice leaves you with a year from now.

A visit normally means checking shutoff valves, supply hoses, the traps under sinks, the water heater and its relief valve, and how quickly the drains run. What a particular visit covers varies, so ask when you book. This site publishes no maintenance plan terms or pricing, and a plumber serving your area can describe the options by phone.

The city draws its water from 25 deep groundwater wells in the Snake River Plain Aquifer System, and it lists average hardness at about 7 grains per gallon. Its 2021 water quality report shows roughly 7.3 to 9.5 depending on zone. At that level, scale builds on heating elements, aerators and shower heads over time. The city also states pressure runs between 50 and 80 PSI depending on location.

Yes, expect one. The city's plumbing permit list names tank and tankless water heaters under permit type C-WH, and the Community Development building division issues it. Idaho requires cities that enforce plumbing code to use the Idaho State Plumbing Code, and the state plumbing board adds that a state permit may also be required. Ask the plumber who is pulling each permit before the old tank comes out.

Keep the heat on, even in rooms you do not use, and open cabinet doors on outside walls so warm air reaches the pipes. Let a faucet drip on the coldest nights, disconnect garden hoses and know where your main shutoff is. Boise, the nearest long-record station, averages low temperatures at or below freezing on about 16 days in November, 25 in December and 26 in January.