Buying an older home often means inheriting plumbing that has not been touched in decades, and that is exactly what J.J. M. found when he moved into a 40-year-old house in the Upstate with its original kitchen plumbing still in place. The problems arrived in the order they usually do in a house of that age: first an electrical symptom, then a leak, then the discovery that the fittings holding the whole assembly together had reached the end of their life. Here is how the repair went with Carolina Heating Service, and what a homeowner in a similar house can take from it.
The problem arrived in two parts
First, the garbage disposal began tripping the circuit breaker, which in an older home is often the first sign that a motor is failing or a connection has corroded. Soon after, a large leak appeared on both sides of the kitchen sink. The cause was age: the metal fittings connecting the disposal and the drain to the PVC pipe had rusted through after forty years, and what looked like a plumbing leak was really the end of an entire assembly rather than one bad joint. A quick fix was not going to hold.
The call, and the first look
Carolina Heating Service has served Greenville and the Upstate since 1981, and the company sent technician Michael N. to look at the problem. J.J. received a photo of his technician and an on-the-way message before arrival, and Michael began the way every visit begins, by finding the cause before quoting the repair. In a kitchen with original plumbing, that meant looking at the whole assembly rather than the leaking fitting, because a rusted fitting on one side of a sink usually has a twin on the other.
Rebuilding the assembly
Michael replaced the garbage disposal, rebuilt the PVC assembly beneath the sink, and replaced the drain, so that the kitchen’s plumbing was new from the sink to the wall rather than patched at the point that happened to fail first. He explained each step as he went, presented the price before the work began, and left the kitchen as he found it. J.J. described the work as thorough and the technician as knowledgeable and easy to talk to, and the kitchen has not leaked since. The job carried Carolina Heating Service’s one-year workmanship warranty.
What original plumbing means in an Upstate home
A 40-year-old house in Greenville was built around 1985, and its plumbing tells a specific story. The supply lines are likely copper or, in many Upstate subdivisions of that era, polybutylene, a gray plastic pipe that fails at its fittings and is worth identifying whether or not it has leaked. The drains are PVC, which lasts, joined to fixtures with metal fittings that do not. The water heater, if original, is decades past its range. None of that is a reason for alarm, and all of it is a reason for a plumbing inspection in the first year of ownership, which is what J.J.’s kitchen was announcing. Our post on aging pipes sorted by material covers what to look for, and our kitchen and bathroom plumbing page covers the repair.
What this means if you have bought an older home
Three things in J.J.’s story are worth borrowing. A symptom that seems electrical, like a tripping breaker on a disposal, is often the first sign of a plumbing assembly reaching its end, and the two trades meet under a kitchen sink more often than people expect. A leak on one side of a sink in an older home is a reason to look at the other side too, because the fittings aged together. And a repair that rebuilds the assembly rather than patching the joint costs more on the day and less over the years, which is the fix-it-right-the-first-time approach Carolina Heating Service takes.
If your kitchen is telling the same story
Carolina Heating Service has served Greenville and the Upstate since 1981 with plumbing and electrical under one roof, which for a tripping disposal means one call rather than two. Schedule online or through the 24/7 website chat, and same-day repair service is available by phone for an active leak. The technician will find the cause, explain it, and present the price before the work, and members of the Carolina Comfort Club receive member pricing on the repair.