Plumbers in Reno, NV

Nevada, but not that Nevada

The single most useful thing to understand about plumbing here is a mismatch between reputation and reality.

Reno sits at altitude on the eastern side of the Sierra. Winter nights drop well below freezing regularly, not occasionally, and cold spells last.

But the state’s reputation is desert, and a great deal of local pipework was installed by people thinking about summer. Runs in garages with no insulation. Pipework against exterior walls. Crawl space plumbing left bare. Outside taps that were never frost-proof.

That combination, a climate that genuinely freezes and building stock that was not prepared for it, is where most avoidable local plumbing damage comes from.

If you have moved here from southern Nevada or from California, the winter list is longer than the one you are used to.

The list

Disconnect hoses and cover outside taps. A hose left attached stops even a frost-proof tap from draining, so the barrel stays full, freezes and splits, usually inside the wall where you cannot see it until spring.

Insulate garage, crawl space and exterior wall runs. And pay as much attention to air gaps as to lagging. Insulation slows heat loss but adds no heat, so a pipe with cold air being delivered straight onto it through an unsealed penetration will freeze regardless.

Blow out the irrigation before the first hard freeze, with compressed air rather than by draining. More on that below.

Find the main shutoff and turn it. Not just locate it, operate it. A valve untouched for years frequently will not close, and a pipe that split while frozen does not leak until the thaw, which is exactly when you need it to work.

Irrigation, and why the damage is invisible

Long dry summers make irrigation near universal here, and that creates a city-wide seasonal job.

Draining a system is generally not sufficient. Water sits in low points in the pipework and inside the heads themselves, and gravity does not remove it. Compressed air is what actually clears a system.

The part that catches people out is the timing of the discovery. An irrigation system is not under pressure over winter, so a pipe that splits in January leaks nothing. There is no puddle, no sound, no clue.

You find out in spring, when the system is charged for the first time and water appears somewhere it should not. Which means the repair lands at the start of the watering season rather than at the end.

Book the blow-out early. Every property in the area needs the same job in the same few weeks, and waiting for the forecast to turn is how systems get missed.

Strap the water heater

Western Nevada is seismically active, and that puts one item on the list that a purely cold-climate city would not have.

A water heater that is not restrained can move during an earthquake. When it moves, it can break the gas connection at its base, which turns a plumbing problem into a fire.

Proper restraint is two straps at specified heights, anchored into framing rather than into plasterboard. It is a short job and inexpensive.

A great many older installations here do not meet the current standard, often because nobody has looked at the heater since it was fitted. It is worth checking now rather than at the point a property sale or an insurance question forces it.

While you are there, the same visit is a sensible moment to flush the tank. The water here is hard enough that sediment accumulates and shortens the life of a heater that never gets drained.