Rosenberg Plumbing & Air Blog

Is Your Ductwork in Need of Professional Replacement?

January 17, 2025

When you think about your HVAC system, you likely picture your furnace or air conditioning units. However, one of the most important parts of your system is your ductwork. It’s necessary to provide adequate pathways to deliver hot and cold air throughout the various areas of your home. It’s Over 15 Years Old Ductwork is constructed to last for about 15 to 20 years with proper care. Over time, however, it will start to loosen at its joints and develop pinhole leaks. This will reduce indoor comfort and raise energy bills. If you live in a coastal environment, you may need to upgrade your ducting more often due to the excessive corrosion that salt can cause. High Energy Bills One particularly irritating sign that your ducting is likely needing replacement is that your energy bills are through the roof. As your ducting nears the end of its usable lifespan, it will develop leaks. These leaks will allow the treated air from your furnace or air conditioning system to escape into the wall and floor cavities where the ducting runs. If adequate hot or cold air is not delivered to the rooms in your home, your HVAC system will have to...

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Which Type of Water Heater Is Best for Your Home?

January 10, 2025

Water heating accounts for nearly 20% of the average American household’s annual energy consumption. There are many water heating configurations to choose from, and the choice you make today will affect your comfort and budget for years to come. Let’s explore everything you need to know before selecting your next water heater in San Antonio, TX. Water Heater Options There are two core water heater types: tank and tankless. The former store hot water in a tank, while the latter heat it on demand. There are many choices to make within those two broad categories. Tank Water Heaters Also known as a storage water heater, a tank water heater stores and heats water in a tank. This has been the most common way to provide hot water to U.S. homes for decades. The average tank size in the United States is 40 to 50 gallons. There are much smaller capacities for households with only one or two people. Manufacturers also make 100-gallon and larger tanks for larger households. There are also different form factors, such as tall models for garage installations and squat models for low-clearance installs. Sized well, a tank water heater will have all the hot water you...

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Troubleshooting a Garbage Disposal That Won’t Turn

January 3, 2025

A garbage disposal is a crucial kitchen workhorse that helps prevent clogged drains. When it malfunctions, the kitchen immediately becomes a mess. Issues such as unpleasant odors, wastewater backing up into the sink, and an inability to efficiently dispose of food waste can quickly arise. Fortunately, troubleshooting a garbage disposal is easy. Here’s what you need to know. Understanding a Garbage Disposal A garbage disposal is a simple kitchen appliance that consists of a motor that powers spinning blades (commonly referred to as impellers). The impellers shred food waste into small pieces that can pass through plumbing with water. As a result, it helps to keep the sink clean and reduces the amount of trash headed to the landfill. Reasons Why Your Garbage Disposal Isn’t Turning Even if you know how to diagnose problems with your garbage disposal by yourself, it’s best practice to consult a qualified plumber. Some issues go beyond face-value observations and may require professional expertise. Common reasons for garbage disposal not turning include the following. Jammed Impellers Your garbage disposal may be refusing to turn because something is stuck between the impellers and the grinding ring. Food particles such as bones, fibrous vegetables, coffee grounds, and...

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Warning Signs Your Plumbing System Is Headed Toward Failure

December 27, 2024

Plumbing problems can be sneaky, often developing slowly over time before they become significant issues. Catching these problems early can save you from costly repairs and inconvenient disruptions. But how can you tell if your plumbing is in bad shape? It’s not always obvious, and many signs may seem minor at first. However, certain red flags can indicate underlying issues that need attention. At in San Antonio, TX, we’re here to help homeowners with everything from leaky faucets to full-scale plumbing overhauls. Whether you’re dealing with a slow drain or you suspect a hidden pipe issue, we’ll cover the problem in this blog. Unusual Sounds Coming From Pipes One of the first signs homeowners notice when their plumbing is struggling is strange sounds coming from their pipes. These noises can range from a faint rattle to loud banging, and while they might seem harmless, they often signal underlying problems that need attention. One sign could be a loud banging sound when you turn off a tap. This is called a water hammer. It happens when the flow of water stops all of a sudden. The pressure builds up, sending a shockwave through your home that moves pipes and hits the...

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Should You Replace a 25-Year-Old Furnace?

December 20, 2024

Despite the San Antonio winters usually not being that cold, you should never wait too long to replace an aging furnace. One reason is due to the risk of the furnace giving out all of a sudden, leaving you with no way to heat your house. Another reason is that older furnaces are often quite inefficient, resulting in higher than necessary heating costs. As to whether you should replace a furnace that’s 25 years old, the answer is almost certainly a yes. This is especially true if you have a 25-year-old gas furnace since gas furnaces rarely last this long, meaning your furnace could fail any day now. If you have an electric furnace that’s 25 years old, you could potentially get a few more years out of it since electric units sometimes last for up to 30 years or so. Nonetheless, replacing either a gas or an electric furnace that’s this old can provide some major benefits. In this article, we’ll look at what these benefits are and discuss how to know when it’s time to replace a furnace and what to look for in a new furnace. Benefits of Replacing Your Old Furnace One major benefit of replacing...

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Common Furnace Problems That Can Be Prevented with Routine Maintenance

December 13, 2024

Regular tune-ups of your home’s heating system can prolong its lifespan and usefulness. Discover the common furnace problems you can prevent with routine furnace maintenance. Dirty Filters Dirty filters restrict airflow in your furnace, forcing it to work harder to heat your home. This exertion causes the furnace to use more electricity or gas, raising your monthly heating bills. It also increases the carbon footprint your home has on the environment. Ignition Problems A yearly tune-up can prevent ignition and pilot light problems. Delayed or failed ignition raises several risks, including gas buildup in the combustion chamber. This buildup increases the chances of small explosions that strain your furnace and also elevates the risk of a carbon monoxide leak. Blower Motor Failure You can also prevent blower motor failure with regular furnace tune-ups. When the blower motor fails, your furnace might blow out cold air. You may also feel weaker airflow coming from the vents and hear your furnace making unusual noises. Thermostat Malfunction When you turn on your heater, you expect it to provide you with reliable air temperature readings. You can keep the thermostat in your heater working normally by having an HVAC technician inspect and test it...

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How Do You Completely Clean a Drain?

November 19, 2024

At , we get a lot of questions from San Antonio, TX, homeowners about the correct process of cleaning their drains. Often, they have tried some DIY method that they heard about from a friend or online, only to have it not work completely or even exacerbate their problem. Sometimes, they have even caused damage to their pipes, taking the problem beyond a simple cleaning job to requiring a professional drain repair. We want to ensure you don’t make these same mistakes, so let’s explore everything you need to know to clean a drain thoroughly. Why You Might Need Drain Cleaning There are several reasons why San Antonio homeowners might opt to clean their drains. Slow Draining One of the most common reasons homeowners want to clean their drains is if they notice that their water drains slowly. In bathrooms, this can come from too much hair, soap scum, dead skin, or other debris working its way down your drain. In the kitchen, this can happen from things like food scraps or F.O.G. (fats, oil, and grease). Quite often, it might not simply be one of these things but an accumulated combination of many items over time. A slow drain...

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What Type of HVAC System Is Best For a Commercial Building?

November 12, 2024

Choosing the right type of HVAC system for your commercial building is essential for ensuring it stays comfortable all summer and all winter long. The type of system you choose can also make a big difference in how much you have to pay for heating and cooling. In terms of which commercial HVAC system is best, there’s not a single answer since every commercial building is different and the cooling and heating requirements can vary dramatically from one building to the next. In this article, we’ll explore some of the most common types of residential HVAC systems along with some of their pros and cons and what types of buildings each one is best suited for. Single-Split Systems A single-split HVAC system is similar to what most people have in their homes. It consists of an outdoor unit that’s connected to a single indoor unit. Most split systems have an AC condenser that provides cooling along with a furnace that provides heating. However, a split system can also have a heat pump that provides both cooling and heating. Another option is to just have a split AC system and then some other type of heating such as a radiant heating...

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Why Is Water Still Dripping From the Shower When the Shower’s Been Turned Off?

November 5, 2024

A sight no one wants to see is that of water dripping out of a showerhead or tub faucet when the water is not supposed to be running, especially in San Antonio. That drip means that repairs are in your future, along with a higher water bill as that water keeps coming. Luckily, many of the causes are very simple and take only a few minutes to fix. Even better, some are issues that don’t require repair, just adjustment. However, you do want to have a plumber check out the shower and diagnose the problem as that will save you time. Rather than try to fix one problem only to find out the cause is something else, get a plumber in there and take care of the problem quickly. The Cartridge Has Started to Wear Out One of the most common causes of dripping water in the shower (either from the showerhead or the tub faucet) once you’ve turned off the water is a bad valve or cartridge. The knobs or levers in your shower are connected to valves that allow or halt the flow of water. These valves contain cartridges that can break down over time. This is a...

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What Are The Two Most Common Problems With Toilets?

October 24, 2024

People don’t usually give much thought to the toilets in their homes until something goes wrong. When issues do emerge, they have the potential to inflict considerable distress and even present health concerns. The most common problems are toilets that overflow, clog, or run continuously. If you own a home, it is crucial to understand these problems and how to fix them. Clogs and Overflows For homeowners, few things are more annoying than dealing with clogged or overflowing toilets. Overflushing the toilet, flushing non-flushable things like wipes or feminine hygiene products, and issues caused by minerals in hard water are all common causes of clogged toilets. Clogs are more likely to happen in older or low-flow toilets due to a lack of pressure that forces waste down the drain. Overflowing toilets can ruin your bathroom’s flooring, walls, and possibly the ceiling below them if they are on an upper floor. Expensive repairs may be necessary if water seeps into building materials and warps wood or damages tiles. If the overflow includes raw sewage, it may bring dangerous bacteria and other diseases into your house, which can pose major health risks. Additionally, with larger toilet mishaps, mold growth becomes a concern...

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