Plumber, AC Repair & Electrician in Hutto, TX

Mostly good. PEX is flexible, handles freezing better than copper and has fewer joints hidden in walls, which is why nearly every new Hutto home has it. What fails is rarely the pipe itself. It is the fittings: crimp rings that were not fully seated during construction, and some older brass fittings that corrode in hard water. It also degrades in sunlight, so a run left exposed in a garage or attic near a vent will get brittle. Leaks show up at the manifold, behind the water heater or at a fixture stub-out. Our plumbers repair PEX with the right tools for the system in your house, and if a fitting type is known to be a problem, we will tell you which ones to watch. More on our water lines page.

It can, if the screen is too close. A condenser cools your house by pulling air through its coil and blowing the heat out the top, and it needs open space on every side to do that: a couple of feet around the sides and clear sky above are the general rule, and the manufacturer’s manual gives the exact numbers for your unit. A lattice fence set back properly is fine. Shrubs planted tight against the coil, a solid enclosure or anything hanging over the fan will make the system run hotter, longer and shorter-lived. Before you build, we will measure your unit’s clearances so you can meet the HOA’s rule without paying for it in July. We also check the coil for the grass clippings and cottonwood fluff that screens tend to trap.

We think so, and newer editions of the electrical code agree, which is why many new homes now include a surge protective device at the panel. Hutto gets a lot of lightning-heavy spring storms, and the long power lines across open ground pass flickers and surges into the house. A new home is full of things a surge can kill: the control board in the air conditioner, the electronics in a tankless water heater, the smart thermostat, the induction range, the garage door opener. A panel-mounted surge protector takes the hit first, and it is a modest job for a licensed electrician. If your house has one already, we will confirm it is still working, because they wear out after absorbing enough surges. Details on our electrical installations page.

The softener, if you do not have one. Hard water is the thing quietly shortening the life of everything else on your list, including the water heater you would otherwise be upgrading. A properly sized softener is the one purchase that protects the others. Second, a smart thermostat and a better filter, because they are inexpensive and they cut the runtime on a system that is going to work hard regardless. The water heater comes last: a builder-grade tank does not need replacing until it is near the end of its life, usually around year ten to twelve, and when it does, that is the time to consider a tankless or a larger tank. We will give you straight answers on all three without a sales pitch.