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Tagalog plumbing words, and what they are in English

Gripo is a faucet. Tubo is a pipe. Lababo is a sink. A tubero is a plumber. Here is the whole household list with the English beside each word, one line on what the part does, and the guide to read when it is giving trouble.

The four biggest words get a full section each: what the part is called in English, what goes wrong with it, what you can check yourself, and the job we do when it needs more than that. The rest of the words, the fittings, the rooms and the faults follow in lists, each linking straight to the guide for that problem.

Gripo in English: faucet

Gripo is the Filipino word for a faucet, the fitting you open to let water out of a pipe. In British English it is a tap, and both words are understood here. The word comes from the Spanish grifo.

What the parts of a gripo are called in English, what tends to go wrong with one in a Filipino house, what you can check before you send for anyone, and the point where it becomes our faucet and shower work.

The parts of a gripo, in English

  • Handle (hawakan): What you turn or lift. On a mixer, one lever does hot and cold together.
  • Spout: Where the water comes out. On a kitchen gripo it may swivel, which is where a mixer leaks at the base.
  • Aerator (salaan): The small screen screwed into the tip of the spout. It catches sand and rust, and it is the first thing to clean when one gripo runs weak.
  • Washer, or cartridge: The seal inside that stops the water when the gripo is closed. A rubber washer on the kind you turn several times, a ceramic cartridge on the quarter-turn kind.
  • O-ring and packing: The seals around the spindle under the handle. These are what leak when water seeps out at the handle while the gripo is running.
  • Body and thread: The brass or plastic body, with a threaded end that screws into the pipe in the wall. Teflon tape goes on this thread.
  • Angle valve and flexible hose: The small shut-off valve and braided hose under a sink. Common in new builds, absent in many older houses, where the shut-off is at the meter instead.

Kinds you will meet: the compression gripo you turn several times, the quarter-turn gripo with a ceramic disc, the mixer with hot and cold in one body, the outdoor gripo on the garden wall (a hose bibb in a hardware store), and the T-valve that feeds a bidet spray beside the toilet.

What goes wrong with a gripo

It drips from the spout when closed (tumutulo kahit sarado)

The washer or the cartridge has worn. On a gripo you turn several times to close, the washer is the cheapest part in the house and a ten-minute change. How to fix a leaking faucet

It seeps at the handle while running

The O-ring or the gland packing on the spindle. Changing the washer does nothing for this, which is why people change the washer and conclude the gripo is beyond help. Where taps leak

One gripo runs weak (mahina ang tubig sa isang gripo)

Sand or rust in the aerator, nine times out of ten. Unscrew the tip, rinse the screen, screw it back. If every outlet in the house is weak, the cause is the tank, the pump or the line. Low water pressure at home

The first water in the morning is brown

The gripo is fine. The G.I. pipe behind it is rusting from the inside, and the standing water picks it up overnight. Why your water runs rusty

The handle turns and nothing changes

The spindle or the cartridge has stripped. The gripo needs its insides replaced, or the whole thing changed. Faucet replacement

It bangs when closed quickly

That is the pipe, not the gripo: water hammer, which a quarter-turn gripo makes worse because it stops the flow instantly. Why your pipes bang

It leaks underneath, at the pipe

A compression fitting, the flexible hose or the thread in the wall. Water appears in the same cabinet and gets blamed on the gripo. This one is ours. Leak detection and pipe repair

What you can check yourself

  1. Where the water appears. Spout when closed, handle when running, base of the spout, or the pipe below. Each points at a different part, and it is the first thing we will ask.
  2. The aerator. Unscrew the tip of the spout by hand or with pliers wrapped in cloth, rinse the screen, screw it back. Weak flow from one gripo is usually fixed right here.
  3. Whether other outlets are weak too. One weak gripo is the gripo. Every outlet weak is the tank, the pump or the line.
  4. Where your shut-off is. Under the sink if there is an angle valve, otherwise the main valve at the meter. Find it before anything is opened, and before an emergency makes you look for it in the dark.
  5. How fast it drips. Count the drips in a minute. It tells us how worn the seal is, and it tells you what the leak is doing to your bill.

When it becomes our job

A leak at the pipe rather than the gripo. A gripo whose thread is rusted into the wall and will not come out. A mixer cartridge that needs the exact part. The hot tap on a water heater line. A new gripo where there was none, which means a new line. Any of these, send us the problem and say which gripo it is and where the water appears. Replacing and fitting taps and showers is part of our faucet and shower service.

Tubo in English: pipe (the plumbing kind)

In this glossary, tubo is the plumbing pipe: the tube that carries water into a house and waste out of it. The Filipino word for sugarcane is spelled the same way, and this section is about the pipe only.

The kinds of tubo a Filipino house is plumbed with, what fails on each, what you can check before you send for anyone, and the point where it becomes our water line work or our leak repair.

Which tubo you have

  • G.I. (galvanised iron, tubong bakal): Threaded steel pipe, the standard in older houses. Strong, and it rusts from the inside over the years, which narrows it and colours the water.
  • Blue PVC: Plastic pipe for cold water supply, joined with solvent cement. Cheap, easy, and fine as long as it never carries hot water.
  • Orange PVC: The larger pipe for drains and waste, from the lababo, the floor drain and the inidoro out to the septic tank or the kanal.
  • PPR (green): Plastic pipe for hot and cold supply, joined by melting the ends together with a heated tool. The pipe to use from a water heater.
  • Flexible hose: The short braided connector from the wall to a gripo, a toilet tank or a heater. Not a pipe exactly, and the thing that fails most often under a sink.

Look at an exposed length under the sink, behind the toilet or on the outside wall: the colour tells you most of it. Supply pipe in a house is usually half-inch or three-quarter-inch. Drain pipe is two, three or four inches, the four-inch one being the toilet line. Which pipe belongs on which line, and why a house ends up with both PPR and PVC, is in our guide to PPR or PVC pipe.

What goes wrong with pipes

A joint leaks (tumatagas sa dugtungan)

On G.I., the thread has rusted or the tape has failed. On PVC, the glue joint was dry-fitted or the pipe moved before it set. Either way the joint is remade, which means the water off and the line opened. Leak detection and pipe repair

A pinhole or a wet patch on the pipe itself

Rust has come through a G.I. pipe from the inside. A clamp holds it for a while. The next pinhole is already forming, so the honest fix is to replace that run. Why your water runs rusty

Brown water, or water that tastes of metal

The pipe is corroding. If it clears after a minute of running, it is the standing water in a G.I. line. If it never clears, more of the line has gone. The rust story

The pipes bang when a tap shuts (kumakalampag)

Water hammer. The moving water stops dead and the pipe jumps against the wall. Loose pipe, high pressure or a quarter-turn tap, and all three are fixable. Why your pipes bang

Weak flow all through the house

A G.I. line narrowed by rust will do this, and so will a tank that is too low or a pump that is tired. Which outlets are weak tells the two apart. Low water pressure at home

A drain pipe that is blocked or smells

The orange pipe side. A blockage past the trap, a trap that has dried out, or a line with no trap at all. Different causes and different fixes. Clogged drains and toilets

A stain on the ceiling or a damp wall

A pipe is leaking where you cannot see it. Whether it is a supply pipe, a drain, the roof or the aircon is the first question, and there is a quick way to answer it. Water leaking from ceiling

What you can check yourself

  1. The meter test. Every tap closed, read the meter, wait an hour, read it again. Movement means a leak somewhere in the supply pipes, even one you cannot see. Our leak check does the arithmetic.
  2. A dry tissue along the exposed pipe. Run it along every joint under the sink and behind the toilet. A damp tissue finds a weep that eyes miss.
  3. The first water of the morning. Run a gripo into a white basin. Brown that clears is a G.I. pipe rusting. Brown that stays is further gone.
  4. The ground and the walls. A patch of yard that stays wet in dry weather, a wall that is damp at the bottom, paint that bubbles: a pipe is leaking behind it.
  5. Where the main valve is. At the meter by the gate. Know it before a pipe bursts, because that is when you will need it.

When it becomes our job

Any leak inside a wall or under a floor. Replacing a rusted G.I. run with PPR, which needs the fusion tool. A new line to a heater, a new gripo or a new lababo. A drain line blocked beyond what a household snake reaches. Send us the problem and say which pipe, what colour it is, and where the water appears. Re-piping and new lines are our water line service; finding and fixing the leak is our leak detection and pipe repair.

Lababo in English: sink

Lababo is the Filipino word for a sink: the basin you wash in, with a drain and a trap underneath. In most homes it means the kitchen sink. The small one in the bathroom is a lavatory or washbasin in English. The word comes from the Spanish lavabo.

What the parts of a lababo are called in English, what goes wrong with one, what you can check before you send for anyone, what to look at if you are choosing a new one, and the point where it becomes our declogging service.

The parts of a lababo, in English

  • Bowl, or basin: The hollow you wash in. Single or double. Depth matters more than width for a kaldero.
  • Drainboard: The ridged flat beside the bowl where washed things drain back into it. Common on sinks sold here, rare abroad.
  • Strainer, or drain basket (salaan): The perforated cup in the drain hole. It catches the rice and the vegetable ends, and it is the first thing to empty when the water slows.
  • Tailpiece: The short straight pipe from the drain hole down to the trap.
  • Trap (tubong hugis U): The U-shaped bend under the sink. A P-trap turns into the wall, a bottle trap is a round can. The water it holds keeps the smell out, and the mantika collects in it.
  • Waste pipe: The orange PVC from the trap to the wall or floor, and on to the kanal or the septic tank.
  • Faucet (gripo): The tap over the bowl. On a kitchen lababo, often a tall gooseneck that swivels.
  • Cabinet: The cupboard underneath. Where the leaks show first, as a damp base board.

Choosing one (the "lababo design" searches are mostly people fitting a kitchen): one deep bowl beats two shallow ones in a small kitchen, because a kaldero has to fit under the gripo and inside the bowl. A drainboard on the side nearer the stove gives washed pots somewhere to go. Top-mount sits in a hole cut in the counter and seals with silicone; undermount needs a stone or solid counter and a fitter who has done it before. Thicker stainless drums less under the tap and dents less, so tap it in the shop. Where the drain hole sits decides where the trap sits, and the trap has to meet the pipe in the wall, so settle it before the pipes go in, which is the subject of our guide to rough-in plumbing. Fitting the new lababo, its trap and the line to the wall is part of our kitchen and bathroom renovation plumbing.

What goes wrong with a lababo

It drains slowly or not at all (baradong lababo)

Cooking oil poured in hot and set cold, and the starch from hugas bigas, packed into the trap. A pail, a flat plunger and ten minutes with the trap off clears most of them. Keep the sosa out of it. Clogged kitchen sink, the full job

It leaks underneath

The nut at the trap, the tailpiece joint, or the seal around the strainer. Run a dry tissue over each joint with water running to find which. Most tighten by hand. A cracked trap is replaced. Leak detection and pipe repair

It smells even when clean (mabaho)

The trap has dried out, or there is no trap and the pipe runs straight down. Pour water in. If the smell comes back within a day, the lababo needs a trap fitted. How a trap works

It gurgles when it empties

Air is being pulled through the trap because the line beyond it is partly blocked, or the drain has no vent. If the floor drain nearby also gurgles, the blockage is further along and shared. Clogged drains and toilets

Both bowls of a double lababo back up together

The blockage is past the point where the two join, out of reach from the cabinet. This is the one that does need us. Declogging service

The gripo over it drips

A tap fault rather than a sink fault, and often a ten-minute washer change. How to fix a leaking faucet

Rust spots on a stainless bowl

Usually not the sink rusting. Steel wool, a wet kaldero left overnight or bleach left to dry leaves iron on the surface, and it comes off with a paste of baking soda. If the water itself is brown

What you can check yourself

  1. The pail test. Pour a pail of water in at once and watch. Gone in seconds, the drain is clear. Standing, or draining and then gurgling, the trap or the line past it is holding something.
  2. The strainer. Lift it out and empty it. A packed salaan looks exactly like a blocked lababo from above.
  3. Under the cabinet, with a torch. Is there a U-bend? Is anything damp? Run the tap and wipe each joint with dry tissue.
  4. What went down it. Hot mantika sets as it cools in the trap. Pour it into a tin instead, and let hugas bigas settle in the pail before the water goes in.
  5. Whether the floor drain reacts. If the floor drain or the toilet burbles when the lababo empties, the problem is shared and further along, and that is ours.

When it becomes our job

The trap comes off clean and the water still will not go. Both bowls back up together. The floor drain rises when the lababo empties. A lababo with no trap that needs one fitted. A new lababo in a new kitchen. Send us the problem and say which of these it is. Clearing the line is our declogging service.

Tubero in English: plumber

A tubero is a plumber: the tradesperson who installs and repairs the pipes, drains and fixtures that bring water into a house and carry waste out of it. The word comes from tubo, pipe, and from the Spanish tubero, a pipe fitter. Our name is the word itself.

What a tubero does in a Filipino house, which jobs belong to a different trade, what you can check before you send for one, and what to ask when you do. Everything we take on is on the services page.

What a tubero does

  • Water supply lines: New lines, re-piping old G.I. to PPR, the line to a heater, a booster pump, a tank.
  • Drains and waste lines: Blocked lababo, floor drain or inidoro, the line to the septic tank, a backwater valve for the floor drain that fills in the rain.
  • Leaks: Finding the one you cannot see, with the meter and a listening ear, and repairing the pipe once found.
  • Fixtures: Fitting and replacing a gripo, a shower, a lababo, an inidoro, a bidet spray.
  • Water heaters: The plumbing side: the lines in and out, the fitting, the flow fault that makes a good heater look dead.
  • Renovations: Rough-in: the pipes in the walls and floor before the tiles go on, and the fixtures after.
  • Outdoors and septic: Downspout drainage, catch basins, the line to the canal, and the connections to the poso negro.

What to ask a tubero before the work starts. When do I hear the figure? It should be on site, with the problem in front of you, before anything is opened; how we handle it is on what it costs. Are the parts named before they go in? Is the person quoting the person doing the work? Will you tell me if it is not a plumbing job? What happens if I say no? Nothing should be owed for looking.

What is somebody else’s job

The gutter on the roof (alulod)

A roofer or a tinsmith. The downspout at the ground and where its water goes is the tubero half. Alulod and downspout

A water heater that trips the breaker or will not switch on

An electrician, or the heater maker. The tubero does the pipes to and from it. If water is leaking from the body of the heater, switch it off at the breaker first. Which heater faults are electrical

Water dripping from an aircon

An aircon technician. The drain line of a split unit blocks with dust and drips through the ceiling, and it looks exactly like a pipe leak. Pipe, roof or aircon

Emptying the septic tank (siphoning)

A siphoning service with a tanker. The tubero fixes the lines to and from the tank, and tells you whether the tank is full or the line is blocked, which is a different fault. Septic tank trouble

No water from the street

The water district, if the meter is not turning and the neighbours have none either. A tubero can only work on your side of the meter. Low water pressure at home

What you can check yourself

  1. Where the water is. Dripping from a gripo, pooling under a lababo, rising in a floor drain, staining a ceiling. Each is a different job and the first thing we ask.
  2. The main valve. At the meter by the gate. If water is running where it should not, close it. Our guide to the first five minutes goes through the rest in order.
  3. The meter. Every tap closed, read it, wait an hour, read it again. If it moved, there is a leak, and that is a different visit from a blocked drain. The leak check does the sums.
  4. One outlet or all of them. One weak gripo is that gripo. Every outlet weak is the tank, the pump or the line.
  5. A photo. Of the fixture, the pipe under it and the water. It saves a visit more often than you would think, because some things we can talk you through from the picture.

When it becomes our job

Send us the problem through the form on this page or the chat button in the corner. We cover Bulacan and Pampanga and travel to Bataan, Tarlac and Olongapo; say your town or barangay so we can send whoever is nearest, and describe what is happening in Tagalog or English. Where we go is on the location page.

The parts of the house

  • gripo

    faucet, tap

    The fitting you open to let water out of a pipe. Faucet is the usual word here, tap the British one. Gripo, in full

  • tubo

    pipe

    The tube that carries water into the house and waste out of it. G.I., PVC or PPR. Tubo, in full

  • lababo

    sink

    The basin you wash in, with a drain and a trap underneath. Usually the kitchen one. Lababo, in full

  • alulod

    roof gutter

    The channel along the roof edge that catches rain. The pipe down from it is the downspout. Alulod and downspout

  • inidoro, kubeta

    toilet, toilet bowl

    Inidoro is the bowl itself. Kubeta is used for the toilet and sometimes for the whole CR. Toilet not flushing

  • tangke ng inidoro

    toilet tank, cistern

    The tank on the back of the toilet that holds the flush. Where a running toilet is wasting water. Toilet keeps running

  • flush, hawakan ng flush

    flush handle, flush button

    The lever or button that opens the flapper in the tank. When it has to be held down, the chain or the flapper is the fault. Inside the tank

  • tangke ng tubig

    water tank

    The overhead or ground tank that stores the supply. Its height sets the pressure at your taps. Low water pressure

  • poso negro

    septic tank

    The underground tank that takes the toilet waste. Pumped out by a siphoning service when full. Septic tank trouble

  • metro ng tubig

    water meter

    The dial by the gate that the water district reads. It also tells you whether a pipe is leaking. How to read a water meter

  • balbula, gate valve

    valve, shut-off valve

    The handle that closes the supply. The main one is at the meter, and many sinks have none of their own. The first five minutes

  • dutsa, shower

    shower

    Dutsa is the older word, from the Spanish ducha. Most people now say shower. Faucet and shower work

  • bidet, bidet spray

    bidet spray, hand-held bidet

    The spray beside the toilet. The same word in both languages, and twenty minutes to fit. How to install a bidet spray

  • heater, pampainit ng tubig

    water heater

    The unit at the shower or under the sink. Single-point serves one outlet, multipoint serves several. Water heater not heating

  • bomba, water pump

    water pump, booster pump

    The pump that pushes water up to the tank or boosts a weak line. Booster pump on your water line

  • poso, bombang de-kamay

    hand pump, shallow well

    The hand pump over a driven well, still the supply in many provincial houses. A deep well with a motor is a jetmatic or a submersible pump. Pumps on a house line

  • trap, tubong hugis U

    trap, P-trap

    The U-shaped bend under a sink or floor drain. The water it holds keeps the drain smell out. Floor drain with a trap

  • drain sa sahig

    floor drain

    The grated hole in the CR or laundry floor. Without a trap under it, the smell of the line comes straight up. Why a clean CR still smells

  • kanal

    canal, open drain, storm drain

    The open channel outside that takes rain water. Where a downspout should end up. Where roof water goes

  • imburnal

    sewer, drain, manhole

    The covered drain or sewer line in the street. From the Spanish albañal. What backs up in a flood. Backwater valve

  • catch basin

    catch basin, drainage box

    The concrete box in the yard where the downspout and the floor drains meet before the line runs to the kanal. Where leaves and silt collect. Outdoor plumbing

Fittings and tools

Inside a compression tap A cut-away of a compression tap from the side. From the top down: the handle, the headgear nut that the spanner undoes, the spindle running down inside the body, the rubber washer held on the spindle's end, and beneath it the brass seat the washer presses against, drawn with a worn ridge on it. Below the seat, the water sits under pressure, held back only by the washer pressing on the seat. headgear nut spindle the washer the seat it presses on water under pressure undo this, and the whole inside lifts out

Drag the drawing sideways to see all of it.

The gripo from the inside: a compression tap with its headgear nut, spindle and washer. A gripo that drips when it is closed is the washer, or the seat it presses on.

The words on the hardware store counter. Most are the same in both languages, said with a Filipino accent.

  • siko

    elbow

    The fitting that turns a pipe 90 or 45 degrees. Every corner in the line is one. PPR or PVC pipe

  • tee, T

    tee

    The fitting that splits one line into two, for a second gripo or a bidet spray off the toilet line. The T-valve at the toilet

  • dugtong, coupling

    coupling, union

    Joins two lengths of pipe end to end. A union is the kind that can be undone again without cutting. Where joints leak

  • nipple, reducer, bushing

    nipple, reducer, bushing

    Short threaded stubs and step-down fittings that get a half-inch gripo onto a three-quarter line. Said the same in both languages. Water line work

  • teflon, teflon tape

    thread seal tape, PTFE tape

    The thin white tape wound onto a thread before a gripo or fitting is screwed in. Most seeping threads are missing it. Fitting a tap

  • pandikit ng PVC, solvent cement

    solvent cement, PVC glue

    What joins PVC. It melts the two surfaces together, so a joint pulled apart after gluing does not reseal. How each pipe is joined

  • goma, washer

    washer, rubber gasket

    The rubber ring that makes a seal. Inside a gripo, under a strainer, at a flexible hose. The cheapest part and the usual culprit. Changing a washer

  • bola ng tangke, float

    float, float valve, ballcock

    The ball or cup in the toilet tank that shuts the water off when the tank is full. Set too high and the tank runs over into the overflow. Toilet keeps running

  • flapper

    flapper

    The rubber flap at the bottom of the toilet tank that lifts for the flush. When it warps, the toilet runs between flushes. The flapper test

  • angle valve

    angle valve, stop valve

    The small quarter-turn valve under a sink or beside a toilet that isolates one fixture. Many older houses have none. Where to shut the water

  • check valve

    check valve, non-return valve

    A valve that lets water flow one way only. On a pump line it stops the water running back down; on a drain it is the backwater valve. Backwater valve

  • hos

    hose

    The garden hose, or the flexible hose under a sink. A hose left pressurised on an outdoor gripo is a common hidden leak. Finding a hidden leak

  • pambomba, plunger

    plunger

    The rubber cup on a stick. A flat cup for a sink, a flanged one for a toilet, and the first tool for a blockage. Clearing a sink

  • kable, drain snake

    drain snake, auger

    The flexible steel cable fed down a drain to break a blockage. A short hand one reaches the trap, a machine one reaches the line. Clogged drains and toilets

  • sosa

    caustic soda, lye

    The drain chemical sold in sari-sari stores. It burns skin, softens PVC and sets mantika into a harder plug. Keep it out of the drain. Why not sosa

  • silicone, sealant

    silicone sealant

    The bead around a lababo rim, a toilet base or a shower tray. It keeps surface water out of the cabinet; it does not fix a leaking pipe. Renovation plumbing

The people and the rooms

  • tubero

    plumber

    The person who installs and repairs pipes, drains and fixtures. From tubo, pipe. Tubero, in full

  • banyo, CR

    bathroom, comfort room

    CR is comfort room, a Philippine English term. The wet floor and its drain are where most CR trouble starts. Why a clean CR still smells

  • kusina

    kitchen

    From the Spanish cocina. The lababo, its trap and the line out are the plumbing in it, and mantika is what blocks them. Clogged kitchen sink

  • labahan, hugasan

    laundry area, washing area

    The outdoor or back-of-house wet area with a gripo, a floor drain and the washing machine. Where the washer hose drains is a question of its own. Where your washing machine drains

  • siphoning, Malabanan

    septic tank pumping, desludging

    Emptying the poso negro with a tanker. Malabanan is a company name that became the word for the job. When the tank needs pumping

  • water district, Maynilad, Manila Water

    water utility

    Whoever reads the meter and sends the bill. Everything on the street side of the meter is theirs; everything on the house side is a tubero’s. Reading the meter

What goes wrong, in both languages

Cut-away of a kitchen sink trap A side view under a kitchen sink. The bowl drains through a strainer into a vertical tail piece, then into a U-shaped trap that always holds standing water, and out along a waste arm into the wall. Cooking oil arrives warm, meets the cold standing water at the bottom of the U, and sets there; rice-washing starch binds to it. The two collars, also called slip nuts, that open the trap are marked. No garbage disposal is shown, because almost no kitchen here has one. sink bowl strainer tail piece the trap always holds water, and that water is cold mantika sets here hugas bigas binds to it warm oil in waste arm to the wall collar (slip nut) collar (slip nut) a bucket, before either nut moves

Drag the drawing sideways to see all of it.

Why the lababo blocks: mantika sets in the trap under the sink, and hugas bigas binds to it. The kitchen sink guide works through clearing it.

These are the words a problem arrives in. Each links to the guide for that fault.

  • tumutulo

    dripping

    A tap that drips when closed, or a ceiling that drips. Which one decides who you send for. How to fix a leaking faucet

  • tumatagas

    leaking

    Water escaping a pipe or a joint. The meter test finds a leak you cannot see. Water meter leak check

  • barado

    clogged, blocked

    A drain, sink or toilet that will not empty. Baradong lababo is the most searched of them. Clogged kitchen sink

  • hindi nag-fa-flush

    toilet not flushing

    The bowl fills and does not go, or the flush is weak. The tank and the bowl are two different faults. Toilet not flushing

  • mahina ang tubig

    low water pressure

    Weak flow at the taps. Which outlets are weak is most of the diagnosis. Low water pressure at home

  • walang tubig

    no water

    Nothing from any tap. Check the meter and ask a neighbour before anything else: a street cut is the utility’s, a dry tank or a dead pump is yours. When the house runs dry

  • kalawangin, may kalawang

    rusty, rust

    Brown water, usually from an old G.I. pipe corroding from the inside. Why your water runs rusty

  • umaapaw

    overflowing

    A gutter, a toilet or a floor drain with more water coming in than can get out. Floor drain filling in heavy rain

  • mabaho, amoy imburnal

    smelly, sewer smell

    Almost always a trap that has dried out or a drain with no trap at all. Floor drain with a trap

  • kumakalampag ang tubo

    banging pipes, water hammer

    A bang when a tap or the washing machine shuts off. The pipe is moving, and it can be stopped. Why your pipes bang

  • tumutulo ang kisame

    ceiling leaking

    One question tells you whether it is a pipe, the roof or the aircon. Water leaking from ceiling

  • hindi umiinit

    not heating

    A water heater that runs cold. Often a flow fault on the plumbing side before it is an electrical one. Water heater not heating

  • puno na ang poso negro

    septic tank full

    Slow toilets, a smell in the yard, a wet patch over the tank. Full tank or blocked line is the first thing to settle. Septic tank trouble

Why the word matters

Most of the English on a plumbing page was written for a house in another country, with a basement, a cold winter and a valve under every sink. The Filipino word carries the local fact with it: a lababo here blocks with mantika and hugas bigas, a gripo here often has no shut-off valve of its own, and a tubo here is as likely to be old G.I. as new PPR. Knowing both words gets you to the right fix faster.

The questions people type

What is gripo in English?

Faucet. In British English it is a tap, and both words are understood in the Philippines. Gripo comes from the Spanish grifo.

What is tubo in English?

Pipe, when you are talking about plumbing: the G.I., PVC or PPR tube that carries water. The same spelling is also the Filipino word for sugarcane and for interest on a loan, which are different words that happen to look alike.

What is lababo in English?

Sink. In most homes it means the kitchen sink. The one in the bathroom is called a lavatory or a washbasin in English.

What is tubero in English?

Plumber. The word comes from tubo, pipe, and from the Spanish tubero, a pipe fitter.

What is alulod in English?

Roof gutter: the channel along the edge of the roof that catches the rain. The pipe that brings its water down to the ground is the downspout.

What is gutter in Tagalog?

Alulod, for the gutter on a roof. The channel beside a road is the kanal. The kinds of roof gutter, valley, box, inside and PVC, are on our types of gutter page.

What is poso negro in English?

Septic tank. It is the underground tank that takes the toilet waste. Emptying it is called siphoning here, or desludging in English.

What is inidoro in English?

Toilet, or toilet bowl. From the Spanish inodoro. Kubeta, from the Spanish cubeta, is used for the toilet and often for the whole CR.

Bakit tumutulo ang gripo kahit sarado?

Kadalasan sira na ang washer, ang maliit na goma sa loob ng gripo. Kung ang gripo ay yung iniikot nang ilang beses para sarhan, washer ang palitan at mura ito. Kung quarter-turn na gripo, ceramic cartridge ang nasa loob at iyon ang papalitan. Kung sa may hawakan tumatagas habang bukas, O-ring o packing naman ang sira.

Anong tubo ang gamit sa tubig, PVC o PPR?

Pareho, pero magkaiba ang pwesto. Para sa malamig na tubig papasok sa bahay, pwede ang asul na PVC o berdeng PPR. Para sa mainit na tubig galing sa heater, PPR lang. Para sa tubig palabas, sa lababo, banyo at inidoro, orange na PVC. Ang lumang tubong bakal o G.I. ay kinakalawang sa loob, kaya ito ang pinapalitan kapag kulay kape na ang tubig.

Bakit mabaho ang lababo kahit malinis?

Kadalasan dahil walang trap sa ilalim, o natuyo ang tubig sa loob ng trap. Ang trap ay ang tubong hugis U sa ilalim ng lababo. Ang tubig na naiipon doon ang humaharang sa amoy galing sa kanal. Kung diretso ang tubo pababa at walang hugis U, walang harang, at amoy imburnal ang aakyat. Kung may trap pero matagal na walang gumagamit ng lababo, buhusan lang ng tubig.

Ano ang ginagawa ng tubero?

Inaayos at ikinakabit ng tubero ang mga tubo ng tubig papasok sa bahay, ang mga tubo ng kanal palabas, at ang mga kagamitang nakakabit dito: gripo, lababo, inidoro, shower, heater at pump. Hinahanap din niya ang tagas, binubuksan ang barado, at nagkakabit ng bagong linya sa renovation. Hindi sakop ng tubero ang bubong at alulod, ang kuryente, at ang pagsipsip ng poso negro.

Does a tubero fix the alulod?

The gutter on the roof edge is a roofer or tinsmith job. The downspout at ground level, the catch basin and the pipe out to the canal are drainage, which a tubero does. If the water is coming into the house, start with whoever can find where it enters.

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