Plumbing, HVAC and electrical guides for Middle Tennessee homes
Plain answers to common questions about your home's plumbing, heating and cooling, and electrical: what's likely going on, what you can safely check yourself, and when it's time to call.
- Licensed and insured plumbing, HVAC and electrical techs
- Tennessee Limited Licensed Plumber 5279
HVAC
Heat pump or gas furnace for a Middle Tennessee home?
Both work in Middle Tennessee, and what the house already has usually decides it. A heat pump heats and cools with one system and runs efficiently through most of the winter, with backup heat for the coldest nights. A gas furnace's output doesn't drop in the cold, but it needs gas service and a separate unit for cooling.
Plumbing
How do you prevent frozen pipes in a Middle Tennessee winter?
Keep the heat on and steady, take hoses off outdoor faucets and insulate exposed pipes in the crawl space, attic and garage. In a hard freeze, open sink cabinets and let faucets fed by those pipes drip. Close crawl space vents too, unless there's a gas furnace or water heater down there. Know where your main water shutoff is.
Electrical
Is my electrical panel outdated?
Your panel is likely outdated if it uses fuses, has no open spaces for new circuits, or is decades old and never updated. Many older homes have 100-amp service or less, which gets tight with an EV charger or heat pump. Heat or a burning smell at the panel is a fire risk: get everyone out and call 911.
Plumbing
Should I repair or replace my water heater?
Repair a water heater when one part has failed and the tank is sound: a heating element, thermostat, thermocouple, igniter, gas control valve or relief valve. Replace it when the tank itself leaks or it can't keep up with your household. Replace it too when a costly part fails on a tank 10 or more years old.
Plumbing
Tank or tankless: which water heater fits your home?
A tank water heater costs less to install but can run out of hot water. A tankless unit heats water as it flows, so it won't run out. It costs more, though, and can only heat so much at once. If your tank keeps up, another tank usually fits. If you keep running out, tankless is worth pricing.
HVAC
What does "emergency heat" mean on a heat pump thermostat?
Emergency heat is a thermostat setting that shuts off your heat pump's outdoor unit and heats the house with backup heat alone, usually electric heat strips or a gas furnace. It's mainly for when the heat pump itself isn't working. Heat strips cost more to run than a working heat pump, so switch back once it's repaired.
Electrical
What does it take to install an EV charger at home?
A home EV charger usually needs a dedicated 240-volt circuit run from your panel to where you park. That circuit feeds a Level 2 charger or a 240-volt outlet. Adding it typically takes a permit and an inspection. The job depends mostly on whether your panel has room and how far the charger sits from it.
Electrical
What size generator does a house need?
Size a generator to what has to run at the same time. Add up the running watts, then allow for the extra surge the biggest motor pulls to start. Covering the fridge, lights and a well or sump pump takes a much smaller generator than adding central air or electric heat.
Electrical
Why does my breaker keep tripping?
A breaker keeps tripping because something on its circuit isn't safe: too much load, a short, a ground fault or arcing. Sometimes the breaker itself is faulty. Unplug what's on the circuit and reset it once. If it trips again, even hours later, leave it off and have a licensed electrician find the cause.
Plumbing
Why does my house smell like sewer?
A sewer smell indoors usually means sewer gas is getting past a dry drain trap, a failed toilet seal, a blocked vent or a cracked pipe. A dirty sink drain can smell the same. If it could be gas, leave the house first. Otherwise, run water in unused drains. Call a plumber if it lasts more than a day.
HVAC
Why is my AC running but not cooling?
The usual causes are a clogged air filter, a thermostat set wrong, an outdoor unit that has stopped, a frozen indoor coil or low refrigerant. Check the thermostat, the filter and whether the outdoor unit is running, including its breaker. If they all look right and the house still won't cool, call an HVAC technician.
Plumbing
Why is my toilet running on its own?
A toilet that runs on its own is usually leaking from the tank into the bowl. Most often the leak is past a worn rubber seal (the flapper). If water spills nonstop into the overflow tube, the fill valve isn't shutting off, often because the float is set too high. A snagged chain can do it too.
Plumbing
Why is my water heater not heating?
On an electric tank, it's usually a tripped breaker or high-limit switch, a burned-out heating element or a failed thermostat. On a gas tank, it's often a pilot that went out, the gas supply or the part that senses the flame (a thermocouple or thermopile). Tankless units tend to stop for mineral scale, low flow or lost power.
Plumbing
Why is my water pressure low?
Low water pressure usually comes from a clogged faucet screen (the aerator) or showerhead, a valve that isn't fully open, a failing pressure-reducing valve, a hidden leak, or old pipes narrowed by rust. First check whether it's one faucet, only the hot water, or the whole house. Each points somewhere different.
Work that holds.
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