Standard on pre-war stock and a backflow risk into your drinking water. A screw-on breaker costs a few dollars at any hardware shop and fits in a minute.

This is most common in homes built before about 1940. Pre-war construction — galvanized supply, cast iron drains, cloth-wrapped wiring, ungrounded circuits.

You can handle this one yourself. No call needed.

Related

• Pressure drops at every fixture at once
• Every drain in the house is slow, not just one
• Rusty water only on the first draw
• The main shutoff will not turn
• Sewer backs up in the lowest fixture after heavy rain
• Sewer smell from a room nobody uses
• Stain on the ceiling directly under a bath
• Laundry standpipe overflows on the spin cycle

Back to Plumbing.

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Written by Jaylan Jones. I Like To Fix earns a referral fee when a call connects to a contractor. See our business-model disclosure.