Things worth knowing before you ring anyone

Written for houses in Central Luzon. A few of them will save you a visit, which is the point.

• 31 August 2025

  10 Signs Your House Has Hidden Plumbing Issues

  Why You Shouldn’t Ignore Them Leak detection and pipe repair
• 31 August 2025

  DIY vs. Professional Plumbing: When to Call Yotubero

  Avoid costly mistakes and know when it’s time to phone a pro. Emergency plumbing repairs
• 31 August 2025

  How to Unclog a Toilet (Without a Plumber)

  Clogged drains and toilets
• 31 August 2025

  Water Heater Maintenance Tips for Filipino Homes

  Keep Your Hot Showers Reliable All Year Round Water heater installation and repair
• 31 August 2025

  Plumbing Prep for the Rainy Season

  Protect Your Home Before the Storm Hits Sump pump installation and maintenance
• 23 September 2026

  How to Unclog a Shower or Floor Drain

  Written for the floor trap in a Filipino bathroom, not the basement drain the rest of the internet keeps describing. Clogged drains and toilets

Tools and fault guides

Written for one fault each, and one of them does the arithmetic for you.

• Why your water runs rusty

  Every guide says ring the water utility. That assumes a municipal main and no tank. Four questions that place it before you pay anybody.

• Why your pipes bang

  Every guide says clear the air chambers and turn down the regulator. Most houses here have neither, and the push is coming from somewhere else.

• Where your washing machine drains

  Every guide assumes a standpipe behind the machine. Plenty of houses here have none, and that is where the flooding and the smell come from.

• Septic tank trouble: plumber or siphoning truck?

  A full tank and a blocked line look identical from the bathroom and need different people. Which is which, and why nobody should climb in.

• Can you put a booster pump on your water line?

  Not on a district line, and the rule is national. What it says, why it exists, and the arrangement that is allowed.

• How to read a water meter

  Your bill is in cubic metres, not gallons. Which digits count, which to ignore, and what two readings tell you.

• Water meter leak check

  Two readings and the hours between them, and it works out whether water is leaving your pipes.

• Plumbing emergency: the first five minutes

  Six steps in order, including what to do when there is no valve to close.

• How to fix a leaking faucet

  Where the water appears tells you which part failed, and one of them you can change yourself.

• Low water pressure at home

  Which outlets are weak, and whether it changed recently, is most of the diagnosis.

• Water heater not heating

  Which faults are electrical and not ours, and the flow fault that makes a good heater look dead.

• Toilet keeps running

  The food colouring test settles it in half an hour, and here the symptom is often the pump.

• How to install a bidet spray

  A T-valve, a hose and a head. Twenty minutes, and most people will not need us.

• Clogged kitchen sink

  Mantika and hugas bigas, sitting in the trap, out in ten minutes with a pail.

• Water leaking from ceiling

  One question tells you whether to ring a plumber, a roofer or an aircon technician.

• Single point or multipoint water heater

  The makers compare the boxes. The bigger difference is the hot line a multipoint needs to every outlet.

• PPR or PVC pipe

  Not a contest. PPR for water in, above all hot water, and PVC for water out.

• Toilet not flushing properly

  One pail of water tells a weak flush from a blockage. Then four things in the tank.

• Rough-in plumbing for a renovation

  What to decide before the pipes go into the walls, and what to test before anything is tiled.

• Backwater valve

  For the floor drain that fills from below in heavy rain, in a house with no basement.

• Floor drain with a trap

  Why a clean CR still smells: the cup under the grate, the pail test, and when water does not fix it.

• Alulod and downspout

  Where roof water should go once it reaches the ground, and which half is a plumbing job.

• Types of gutter

  Eaves, valley, box, inside and PVC: where each sits on the roof, how each blocks, and which half of the trouble is a plumber.

• Flashing and gutter: which is which

  A gutter carries water away and flashing keeps it out. Where the water shows up tells you which one failed.

• Plumbing plan and layout

  The three sheets, what the lines and letters mean, who seals it, and what to check on yours before the slab is poured.

• Plumbing code of the Philippines

  Which edition is in force, the 1955 law behind it, and the handful of sections that touch a house. Dated and sourced.

• Tagalog plumbing words in English

  Gripo, tubo, lababo, tubero, alulod, inidoro, poso negro and the rest, each with its English and the guide for when it fails.