When a Heating System Is Worth Repairing and When It Is Worth Replacing
What actually ends a heating system, and what only looks like it. Casper Plumbing & Heating in Quincy, MA on how the repair or replace decision gets made.
Plumbing and Heating Advice
Notes from the work: what goes wrong in older houses around Quincy and the South Shore, what you can check yourself before you call anyone, and what actually happens when we turn up.
Why Your Hot Water Runs Out Faster in Winter
The same water heater gives you less hot water in January than in July, and the tank is usually fine.
Top Floor Cold, First Floor Warm: Why One Level Never Catches Up
When a whole floor of a two or three family stays cold and the one below is warm, the answer is distribution rather than the boiler.
How to Test a Sump Pump Before the Thaw
A sump pump sits idle all winter and is asked to work on the first warm day.
Why a Boiler Keeps Losing Pressure, and What the Gauge Should Read
A hot water boiler that keeps needing water is losing it somewhere, and the gauge tells you where to look.
Why a Toilet Keeps Running, and Which Part Is Usually at Fault
A toilet that runs between flushes is the most expensive quiet leak in a house, and it is usually one of two parts.
How to Tell What Your Water Pipes Are Made Of
A coin and a magnet tell you whether your water pipes are copper, galvanized steel or lead.
Water Under the Water Heater: Is It a Fitting or the Tank?
Water on the floor by the tank is a fitting about as often as it is the tank, and the two look identical.
Why a Furnace Runs and Never Reaches Temperature
A furnace running all day without satisfying the thermostat is usually airflow rather than heat.
Who Pays for a Condo Plumbing Leak in Massachusetts?
Whether a condo leak is the unit owner's or the association's is settled by the master deed, not by a general rule.
What to Check in the Cellar Before You Buy an Old House
Ten minutes in the cellar tells you more about a house's plumbing than the listing ever will.
Massachusetts Heat Law: The Dates, the Temperatures and Who Has to Meet Them
The Massachusetts heating season runs September 15 to May 31, at 68 degrees by day and 64 at night.
Steam or Hot Water Heat: How to Tell Which One You Have
Count the pipes at the radiator, then read the boiler.
One Radiator Not Heating: Why It Is Cold While the Rest of the House Is Warm
One cold radiator while the rest of the house is warm is usually the valve, the vent or trapped air.
Steam Radiator Banging: What the Noise Is and What Causes It
A banging steam radiator is steam meeting water that should have drained away.
How Old Is My Water Heater? Read the Plate, Then the Serial
The plate on the side usually answers it, and the serial number answers it when the plate does not.
What Changes If Your Town Runs Its Own Electric Company
Five towns Casper works run their own electric company, which puts those homes outside Mass Save.
Where the Main Water Shut Off Is in a Quincy Three Decker
In a Quincy three decker it is almost always on the front basement wall near the meter.
Why the Upstairs Sink Backs Up When the Problem Is in the Basement
In a two or three family the upstairs sink and the downstairs sink are the same pipe.
Why a Garbage Disposal Hums and Will Not Turn
A hum means power is reaching the motor and something is stopping it turning.
How to Find a Hidden Leak With Your Own Water Meter
Your own meter will tell you whether water is moving when nothing is running.
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What Do You Need?
Casper works out of Quincy, and the trucks run Quincy, Dorchester, Weymouth, Braintree and Milton.