Kitchen Plumbing
Kitchens work hard. Grease, food waste and heavy use put more into a kitchen drain than any other line in the house, which is why they are the ones that clog.
Kitchen Plumbing
When to call
What usually brings people to this
Decades of hard water leaves scale in every fixture, valve and heater it passes through, and it does not undo itself.
These are the symptoms that usually prompt the call. Any one of them is worth a conversation, and most of them get cheaper to deal with the earlier they are looked at.
A sink draining slowly
A garbage disposal that has stopped
Leaks under the sink
Adding a filtered water line or ice maker
A kitchen remodel
Every system gives warning before it fails outright. Acting on the warning is the cheapest version of this.
How we work it
We would rather spend an extra half hour locating the fault than an extra day undoing unnecessary work.
Sort the drain from the fixture
A slow kitchen sink can be the trap, the branch or the main, and each is different work.
Deal with grease properly
Grease coats a pipe rather than blocking it. Cabling through it leaves the coating behind; jetting removes it.
Fixture and appliance connections
Disposals, dishwashers, ice makers and filtered water done properly.
Check what is under there
Under-sink leaks often sit unnoticed until the cabinet base is ruined.
Worth knowingWhat kitchen plumbing actually involves
You get the number before any work begins, and it is based on what we actually found rather than a worst-case figure padded for safety.
Grease is the reason kitchen lines fail more than any other drain in a house. It goes down warm and liquid, meets cooler pipe a few feet along, and coats the wall. Running hot water after it does not solve this; it moves the problem further down the line where it is harder to reach. Over years the coating narrows the pipe until ordinary food waste starts catching on it, and by then the line needs scouring rather than clearing.
Diagnostic gear earns its keep by ruling things out. Most of the value is in the repairs you do not end up paying for.
Four decades of work in this region built a service area that covers most of the Inland Empire. If you are outside the usual radius, call and ask. We cover more ground than most shops our size.
We would rather spend an extra half hour locating the fault than an extra day undoing unnecessary work.
Keeping it from happening again
Every system gives warning before it fails outright. Acting on the warning is the cheapest version of this.
If you are on septic, know your pumping interval and keep to it. It is the single highest-return maintenance item in plumbing, because the alternative is a drain field, and drain fields cost many times what pumping does.
The cheapest plumbing is the kind that gets looked at before it fails. An annual walk of the visible plumbing, checking under sinks, around the water heater and at any exposed pipe, catches most problems while they are still small and dry.
If you have had a line cleared more than once, ask for a camera inspection rather than a third clearing. Repeated blockages nearly always have a physical cause worth finding.
Check the pressure at a hose bib occasionally. Above about eighty psi you are shortening the life of every fixture, valve and appliance in the building, and a regulator is a cheap fix.
Who you are calling
Same-day service is normal here rather than a premium add-on, and after-hours calls get answered by someone who can dispatch a truck.
This is a second-generation family shop. The founder was a veteran who built the business on showing up when he said he would, and he handed it to his children rather than selling it, specifically because he wanted that to continue.
We hold plumbing, sanitation and general engineering contractor licensing, which is what allows one shop to take a job from the fixture in the bathroom all the way out to the leach field.
We answer the phone at two in the morning because the problems that need us most do not happen at noon.
Big Mike's · Yucaipa, California
Questions we get about kitchen plumbing
If yours is not here, call and ask. We would rather talk it through than have you guess.
Why do kitchen drains clog most?
Grease. It goes down warm and liquid, cools, and coats the pipe until the opening narrows enough to catch food.
Is a disposal worth repairing?
Sometimes it is just a jam or a reset. A failed motor usually means replacement, and we will tell you which you have.
Can grease be poured down if I run hot water?
No. Hot water moves it a few feet further along before it cools and sticks.
Can I add a filtered water tap?
Yes, and it is straightforward alongside other kitchen work.
Does a real person answer when I call?
Yes. The line is answered live around the clock, so you are talking to somebody who can send a truck, not leaving a message for the morning.
Do you work nights and weekends?
Yes. Nights, weekends and holidays are ordinary working hours in this trade, and emergency calls are answered around the clock.
Can you handle septic as well as plumbing?
Yes, and it is a big part of what we do. We are licensed for sanitation systems, so tanks, leach lines and the plumbing that feeds them are all one contractor.
What should I do before you arrive?
Know where your main water shutoff is and whether it turns. Clear access to the work area. If you smell gas, leave the building and call from outside.
How this fits the rest of the system
Most residential plumbing failures give warning before they become emergencies. Drains slow before they stop. Water heaters make noise before they leak. Pressure drifts before a pipe fails. The customers who spend the least on plumbing over the years are the ones who call when they notice something odd rather than when something has clearly broken.
Before we come out
For commercial properties, tell us about access requirements and operating hours when you call so we can schedule around them properly.
We serve a wide territory deliberately. A plumbing emergency does not care about service-area boundaries, and neither do we when somebody needs help.
Related work and where we do it
Other work we do in homes
- Gas Line Repair
Leaking and failed gas piping.
- Sewer Line Repair
Cracked, offset and root-invaded laterals.
- Water Softener Installation
Hard-water treatment for Inland Empire supply.
- Water Heater Repair
No hot water, leaking tanks, failed elements.
- Tankless Water Heater Installation
Converting to or replacing tankless.
- Bathroom Plumbing
Fixtures, valves and rough-in for bathrooms.
Where we go
We run kitchen plumbing out of Yucaipa across Eastvale, Rancho Cucamonga, Perris, Desert Hot Springs, Apple Valley, Norco and Colton, and the rest of San Bernardino, Riverside and the eastern edge of Los Angeles County.
Call the shop. A person picks up.
Tell us what it is doing and we will tell you what it takes to fix it. Plain language, no sales pitch, and the number before we start.
Yucaipa, California · Serving San Bernardino, Riverside and eastern Los Angeles counties · Open 24 hours