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About Baby Safety Month

Each September, the Juvenile Product Manufacturers Association (JPMA) sponsors National Baby Safety Month. The focus of this year’s National Baby Safety Month will be educating parents on the importance of registering their baby products and paying attention to recall notices.

This is an important topic because most people pay little attention to the product registration cards they get with the things they purchase.

The majority of people simply throw these registration cards away with a shrug of the shoulders. That is a dangerous attitude when it comes to baby products.

If parents do not register the products they buy for their babies, they may not hear about future recall notices until it is too late. Some of these recall notices are issued because products are found to be dangerous or even deadly. To protect their children, parents need to take a few minutes to fill out and send in the product registration cards for all the baby items that come with them.

Three Hidden Dangers for Babies

As well as registering their baby products, parents also have a responsibility to baby-proof their homes. While most parents do this, they are not always aware of the hidden dangers that may lurk in their homes. Keep an eye out for these three hidden dangers for babies in the home.

1. The Crib

Parents tend to think of cribs as the safest place their babies can be, but they can in fact be deadly. This is because of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). To reduce the risk of SIDS, never put any pillows, blankets or soft toys in the crib with your baby. Also, parents need to make sure to put their babies to sleep on their backs.

2. The Diaper-Changing Table

Babies can very easily roll off the table if you get distracted while changing their diapers. This can literally happen in seconds. Don’t ever leave your baby unattended on the diaper-changing table for even a moment.

3. Tripping

If you trip while carrying your baby in your arms, the results could be tragic. Make sure that you remove rugs, stray cords and other tripping hazards from your home to prevent this disastrous situation from occurring.

Child Passenger Safety Week

Car crashes are one of the leading causes of death for children. In order to prevent these tragic deaths be informed about child passenger safety laws. September is also the time of year when Child Passenger Safety Week occurs. This year, Child Passenger Safety Week will be from September 18-24.

On September 24, law enforcement officers nationwide will be checking that parents are using the correct safety devices to transport their children on National Seat Check Saturday.

Make sure that you always use car seats correctly for your kids to keep them safe. Also be sure to keep them away from plumbing issues, call Daniel Cordova Plumbing, Drain & Sewer servicing the Whittier, CA area at (626) 962-0885.

 

When a toilet is running, it continues to drain water even after the actual flush cycle has ended. Three main culprits can cause this: the flapper, the refill tube, and the water level.

No matter what the issue, the solution is quite simple, and unless there’s a larger underlying problem, there’s a good chance you can stop your toilet from running in very little time and with very few tools. Here are the top three reasons a toilet will run and what you can do about them.

1. When the Water Needs to Be Lowered

Too much water in the tank means water can drain down through the overflow tube, and this will cause the toilet to run when it shouldn’t.

If you’re not sure if the water is too high, take off the tank lid and have a look. The water should be about an inch lower than the top of the overflow tube.

The fix: To lower the water in the tank, all you need to do is lower the float. This could be a float ball attached to a long arm that’s fixed to the fill valve, or it could be a float column that’s affixed right onto the fill valve.

Either way, you need to loosen the screw or clip holding it to the fill valve. If you have a float arm, it will lower automatically when you adjust the screw. If you have a float column, manually push down the float and then tighten everything up.

2. When the Refill Tube is too Long

Most of the time when a toilet is running, it’s a very small part that’s not functioning properly or not positioned the way it should be. This is the case with the refill tube, a small, thin tube that runs water from the fill valve to the overflow tube.

When this skinny little tube isn’t installed properly, it causes the toilet to run. The refill tube should sit just above the overflow tube, and should not be pushed down inside it.

The fix: To shorten the refill tube, cut it to where it’s supposed to be, which is just above the opening to the overflow tube. Make sure you angle it downward into the tube and then clip it to the side of the overflow tube.

3. When the Flapper is Worn

Despite how small it is and even though it’s just a piece of rubber, the flapper in your toilet tank is an integral part of the system. Without it, water from the tank would drain down into the toilet bowl constantly.

In fact, when your running toilet is caused by a worn flapper, that’s exactly what’s happening. Because the flapper isn’t forming a proper seal anymore, it allows water to drip down into the bowl even when the toilet isn’t in a flush cycle.

The fix: To change a flapper, remove the old chain, remove the old flapper from the pins on the overflow tube, and replace it with a brand new one. To make your job easier, empty the toilet tank first by turning off the water and flushing.

If plumbing isn’t your forte and you aren’t comfortable attempting to fix your running toilet on your own, Daniel Cordova Plumbing, Drain & Sewer is here to help.

Similarly, if you go through these solutions and aren’t able to find the problem, give us a call at 626-962-0885 and we’ll have a look. Or, if you need help with an unrelated plumbing issue, get in touch today and in no time we’ll get your pipes and systems running the way they should be.

 

Preparing to take the kids back to school in the fall is one of the most tiring and troublesome experiences a parent can go through. There are so many little things to accomplish, such as buying new outfits, textbooks, backpacks, general school supplies, and reorganizing schedules around work and everyday life.

Most kids will not be ready and will simply not want to offer a helping hand with all of the tasks that need to be completed by the first day of school.

Savings/Budget

You should begin saving a bit of extra money ahead of time for the purchase of various school supplies. Most schools don’t send home a list of what is needed, such as the books, notebooks, and pencils, until it is nearly time to return.

This can be troublesome and downright headache-inducing for most parents. The best option is to put aside a bit of money each month during the summer so when the time comes you already have the funds required to take the kids shopping.

Buying Supplies

Most local big-name stores will offer the school supplies required for most children in the area. Large shopping chains set aside entire sections of their floor, including multiple aisles, for parents shopping for their children.

You can find brand new notebooks, three-ring binders, packs of markers, pencils, pens, and loose-leaf paper so kids can draw or write notes on. The items can be costly, so saving some money beforehand, as mentioned above, will be vital to heading back to school.

Organizing Your Schedules

This is especially important for those parents who have more than one child in their home heading back to school. Some schools, especially middle and high schools, tend to have different starting times.

You must balance your time between dropping off your child before the bell rings and making it to work on-time each day. This can be a bit of a hassle at first, but once you really get into the swing of things, it should be much easier.

When possible, speak with your kids and find out who would be willing to ride the bus in the morning. If you have a school bus stop near your home, you can drop your child off on the way to work. Alternatively, you can have a family friend, or perhaps a neighbor, who also has a child heading to school, drop your kids off when they are passing by the area.

Heading back to school does not need to give you the headache that most people associate it with. Take a step back, take a quick breath, and write down exactly what needs to be done. If you are also in need of plumbing tips, call Daniel Cordova Plumbing, Drain & Sewer in the Whittier, CA area at (626) 962-0885.

 

Is your water heater making loud, rumbling noises? Do your showers run out of hot water, or take forever for water to heat up?

These are all tell-tale signs that your water heater needs some TLC. To keep your water heater running smoothly, check out these simple maintenance tips.

Tip #1: Remove Sediment by Draining the Tank

Sediment known as calcium carbonate collects at the bottom of a water tank over time. If you’re going to select only one tip to implement at home for your water heater, this is the one.

Most water heaters should be emptied at least once a year. If you live in an area with harder water, you may need to do this more frequently.

That rumbling noise you hear every time your tank tries to heat water is a result of hardened water sediment. This is not only damaging to your system, it also is less efficient making for cold showers and higher utility bills.

Depending on how much sediment you have in your tank, you may need to drain all the sitting hot water first, and then turn on the cold water supply a few times to rinse out any remaining sediment. Your job is done when the water from the tank is clear and free of debris.

Tip #2: Adjust the Temperature

When adjusting water heater temperature, you don’t want it too hot, or too cold, but rather just right. So what’s just right? Well, most safety and energy experts say the ideal water heater temperature is 120° F. Of course, this is just a guideline, and you may want to adjust it a few degrees to your liking.

If the water temperature is too hot:

• You risk scalding young children, or the elderly, whose skin is more sensitive.
• You waste energy and have higher utility bills.

If the water temperature is too cold:

• Your water heater is not able to properly kill harmful bacteria. Any stagnant water is prone to bacteria growth, most of it harmless. However, in some cases, people have developed Legionnaires’ disease (a type of bacterial pneumonia) from water heaters set too low.

Tip #3: Use Insulation

To prevent unnecessary heat loss, use an insulation blanket of at least R-11. The higher the R-rating, the thicker the blanket and the more insulation it provides.

Many older water heaters are less efficient by design and age, so it’s especially important to use insulation blankets in systems like these. If you have a gas-powered heater, make sure you don’t cover the top of the heater as this could be a fire hazard.

Since 1986, Daniel Cordova Plumbing, Drain & Sewer has been the trusted service provider in Baldwin Park and surrounding area.

Call us today at (626) 962-0885 and find out for yourself why we’re winners of the HomeAdvisor plumbing award.