Alberta Best Home Plumbing and Heating Ltd.

09/14/2026

People complain all the time that high efficiency equipment is not built very well. Todays boiler is 13 plus years old , never serviced. over an inch of buildup in the heat exchanger, what led me to open the boiler was the flame sensor distortion seen here. 3rd photo is the heat exchanger post cleaning, scale was fused to the tubes and not moving anytime soon.
A new boiler will be required here soon enough.

09/06/2026

Part 2
Blocked sewer.
1. Insurance.
Call your broker find out your coverage for sewer and or water. Are you covered for replacement sewer line. Are you covered for water damage and or overland flooding a common occurrence in a city. Do you have a backwater valve if the city main blocks up. Does you backwater valve work? New or old sewer line damage happens make sure your covered.
2. Why call the city.
If damage is on city property example curb or street or close they need to know. You can't dig on their property. They will send a crew to check your drain and possibly they will find tree roots or possibly a hard blockage from a street backup.
Definitely worth the call. It can save you a lot of money.
3. There a multiple ways sewer lines can be repaired. Total replacement or replacement of a section, this involves excavation. Pipe burst method a plug is pulled from the house through your sewage line to the street. Allowing for a new rigid line to be installed. The last method is a pipe liner. A soft line I'd pulled through you sewer line to the house. It is ballooned out and a resin hardens the line into a solid. Great fix for older neighborhoods. All 3 methods involve opening the ground in 1 way or another.
Water service to your house in valves similar process. Limited excavation happens and a new line can be pulled in following thee old area pipe very cool to watch.
Hope this helps everyone.

09/06/2026

Part 1.

On Wednesday this week my brother calls and tells me my mother has s sewage backup.
Plumber arrived and auger her Drain. After 1.5hrs he reported a blockage and possible collapsed pipe at 40ft which for her was on city property.
What to do next.
Before spending a whole lot of money or approving an excavation.
Item 1 Check your insurance policy for coverage.
A sewer linestarts at 25k plus it may take a week or 2 to get someone.
She has it and the agent advised her if needed to get a hotel as she could not stay in her home without facilities.
Item 2 Call the city and tell them you have a blockage on their property, they will send a team.
My mother performed both of these tasks.
City showed up and ran a much larger auger and cleared tree roots from her Drain. Charged her $600.00 for a drain clean.
She is good to go and needs to remove her tree as it will cost her $600 a year going forward.

09/03/2026

This week in Plumbing.
Repaired a perforated in floor heating line made from kitec, which has not been made for over 10 years fortunate to find some fittings and make a repair and patch with cement
Older cast iron drain blocked , ran auger to clear, recommended replacement.

08/30/2026

08/28/2026

Yes it August and yes heating season will soon be on us.
Cool nights are here and furnaces are working. Call us now to have your system checked.

07/07/2026

Cooling season has finally arrived in Calgary.
Most of our AC call are maintenance related. Dirty filters or blocked up condenser.
Give us a call before it gets to a breakdown point.

05/31/2026

Some of the tools a proffesional requires to fix an AC leak. Guage, Leak detectors, Hand tools. Torch. Silphos Vacuum pump. Refrigerant. Did not require recovery unit and cylinder for this job.
Several thousand $$$ to do a job properly.

05/31/2026

This may possibly be the worst instalation I have seen in 40years.I repaird a leak on the suction line at the outdoor unit.
Piping unsecured wiring unsecured, disconnect on one screw. Cleaned up what I could.

05/31/2026