We did have a few days of sunny skies. Looks like this week it’s back to rainy days in Vancouver again !

I really should be writing part 2 of my blog about hot water tanks, but instead I thought I would write a post about the events that happened this week in Vancouver.

It all started on Monday. Monday, I was doing paper work like usual in the evening.. and I read a tweet from our favorite CTV reporter Keri Adams on her twitter account

saying that Chef Dale MacKay WON Top Chef Canada ! She had the tweet right but Chef Dale’s twitter name is actually @ChefDaleMackay ! Thats okay Keri, one day you will follow Papa Plumbing but we understand.. we will await your follow !

Keri Adams (@Keri_Adams) 11-07-04 8:14 PM A #Vancouver Chef has won Top Chef Canada! His reaction when he won, and how his big night will help kids. @ctvbc at 11:30. @dalemackay

Well Papa loves Chef Dale (& his plumbing fixtures)

so I immediately messaged all the technicians and we were glued to the TV and google. Actually I was glued to Twitter. It was so cool watching Chef Dale’sTwitter followers sky rocket! Then the hash tag #topchefcanada started trending ! It was so amazing seeing Chef Dale go viral ! I love Social Media !

So a heartfelt CONGRATULATIONS TO CHEF DALE !

His winning dish:

Quebec Brie cheese as the amuse, salmon prepared two ways, a main dish of black cod with BBQ pork consomme accompanied by a plate of roast lamb, and a lemon custard topped with a strawberry sorbet for dessert.

Here is Chef Dale MacKay’s winning tweet:

The Papa crew will be visiting Ensemble on Wednesday for dinner.. looking forward to it,  as I am sure everyone in Canada is !

Looks like we are in for some real fine dining !

Papa Dale took this during his last visit to Ensemble:

In the next day or so I will cover the rest of the exciting PAPA week.

Last Wednesday at the HOBN meeting in New Westminster which is hosted by Margaret Reynolds  at the Waffle House, which may I say has some delicious blueberry waffles

Oh, back to the story, so I had breakfast that morning with Margaret, Scott Ko - everyone should check out his website because right now he is offering a free iPad 2 ! I also met a lawyer, Stephen Graf who was talking about how he is writing a series of blog posts on his blog . By the way, Margaret, Scott & Stephen have tremendous knowledge and dedication to their professions.. I have been learning a lot from them.. and I think I am very fortunate to belong to HOBN.

So of course when Stephen mentioned this, I thought.. thats a great idea, I should also create a series of blog posts related to one topic. Since the majority of calls that come through our switchboard are related to hot water tanks, I thought lets start there !

Hot Water Tanks: seldom do we think of these vessels.. yet they provide our hot water for our showers, dishes and relaxing baths when we have had long days at work. 

This Canada Day weekend alone, we had quite a few emergencies in Vancouver and they were related to the Hot Water Tank ! So lets start with the basics, there are 2 types of hot water tanks: Gas & electric. Now your probably thinking, who doesn’t know the difference? Well believe me, a lot of people do not know if they have a gas or electric tank. Being a regular at answering the phones, I have often come across this question.

So your hot water tank is electric if:

• uses electricity to heat the water
• does not have a pilot light
• there is no venting on the top of the tank.

Here is an example of an electric hot water tank with the parts labelled:

Your hot water tank is gas if:

• uses gas to heat the water
• there is a vent on top of the hot water tank
• does it have a pilot light?

Here is an example of a gas hot water tank with the parts labelled:

Stay tuned for part 2.. when we talk about that pesky t and p valve !! If you have any questions or your having problems with your hot water tank, please feel free to call your trusted plumber, Papa Plumbing at anytime 604-437-PAPA (7272). 

Hope everyone had a very Happy Canada Day ! I visited some family in Surrey and we got to see the Cloverdale fireworks ! I tried to get a “Happy Canada Day” cake from Safeway:

But they were all sold out and had no more red icing either, so we got this instead:

we also had yummy corn on the cob for our Canada Day BBQ.

Hope everyone had a chance to enjoy the festivities and see the fireworks. We are proudly Canadian and all our vans have the Canadian flag on them as well !

Happy Canada Day Everyone from your proudly Canadian plumbers : Papa Plumbing, Heating & Drainage Ltd !!

I was reading this article from the Calgary Sun today, here is an excerpt from it:

“After cheating death, a Toronto family on Friday met the Calgary man who helped them escape the silent killer. Peter and Voula Themos and their daughter Anna, 2, were asleep in their Toronto home when a faulty furnace led the level of carbon monoxide — a colorless odorless gas — to rise to 152 parts per million, well-above a lethal amount”

After reading this, I thought I would post something about carbon monoxide and how serious it can really be !

Symptoms of Carbon Monoxide Poisoning

• Red coloration of skin due to lack of oxygen
• Shortness of breath
• Nausea and vomiting
• Headaches
• Dizziness
• Fatigue
• Light-headedness
• Weakness
• Muscle fatigue and general fatigue
• Chest pain
• Loss of consciousness

These can also be confused with the flu or even food poisoning, and because of the confusion some people continue to breath in carbon monoxide which can cause serious long term effects.

Well its highly unlikely your going to have the flu for many weeks, it does generally pass. CO poisoning would not cause you to have a fever – which a flu would. The symptoms of CO poisoning may come and go, or become worse at certain times of the day.

Carbon monoxide poisoning usually gets worse in the winter time, that’s when people burn various types of fuel in order to keep warm. Heating equipment of old age or faulty units combined with poor ventilation cause a great risk of CO poisoning. This makes the colder season a far greater risk period than other times of the year.

During your annual furnace service, your technician will also do a carbon monoxide test to ensure there are no leaks. You should also have a carbon monoxide detector installed in your home which will help prevent this “silent killer”. 

So lets all enjoy our Vancouver summer .. and prepare for winter by making sure our heating systems are all good to go ! Call your local Vancouver plumber today  (we also travel from Hope to Horseshoe Bay, and cover the entire Lower Mainland )for a check on your heating equipment !

But its looking sunny for Sunday but then back to rain for next week ! So looks like Kits beach will have to be in July !

Welcome SUMMER !!

Your trusted Vancouver plumber is kicking off summer with a summer sale !! 

From now until July 31st, have your perimeter drainage cleaned with high pressure for ONLY $195.00 plus HST. 

Having guests over for summer? Well we don’t want any slow drains in the house and we definitely don’t need house guests swimming around the house if the drainage has backed up. 

Okay so thats highly unlikely !!

However you don’t want this to be the state of your drains:

So take advantage of the drainage summer sale and Give Papa a call, we serve the entire Lower Mainland, from Hope to Horseshoe Bay !

Last week we performed a leak investigation for one of our customer’s in Surrey. The City of Surrey insisted there is a water leak as the water bill had increased, so in came a Papa plumbing technician to investigate. This is what we did:

• Located the water meter.

• Located the water supply shut-off valve for the house. It can be outdoors or indoors and is commonly located where the main water pipe enters the building foundation. In a home, this is often near an outside faucet. (Note: If you do not have a main shut-off valve, you should have one installed.)
• Turned off all faucets, outlets and water-using fixtures.
• He then noted the dial on the meter. He waited about 30 minutes, and came back to the meter. Now in this case, the meter had not moved at all. In fact, even after a few hours there was no movement. We concluded there was no leak in the house. Perhaps the home owner’s children were taking longer then expected showers !

Now say the dial on the water meter did move. If the dial has moved and you are certain all the appliances are off then there is definitely a leak, this could be above ground or underground.

The next step is to close the main shut-off valve.

If the dial stops after you have shut off your main valve, your leak is inside.

Perform a full plumbing inspection, check your toilets, sinks, faucets and any other appliances that use water. You can do this yourself or hire a certified plumbing technician to do the inspections.

If the dial continues to move when the shut-off valve is closed, you have an underground leak between the water meter and the shut-off valve.

This should be repaired by a certified plumbing technician. You can also visit our past blog post about hiring a plumber which would help make your decision. Here is a blog post about top review sites which will also help to make a decision.

Good Luck .. and Oh Happy PAPA’s Day to all the special Papa’s out there !!