It’s one of those things we all tend to take for granted. Turning a handle gives us water and it’s that simple. You finally decide to wash the dishes knowing hot water will fill the sink. You turn on the dishwasher and expect to go about your business just like yesterday. Every day we use water in a wide variety of ways without giving it much thought. It just seems automatic.

Behind the scenes of what appears to be an easy procedure, there is an intricate arrangement taking place to deliver the convenience we rely on. Usually, you picture the typical plumbing problem as something simple to fix, like a faulty screw being loose or a washer that has worn out. But these networks reveal more complex operations than are immediately apparent when just observing the surface appearance. You can be sure that the potential problems are much more difficult when they actually happen, and then they suddenly don’t seem so easy.

Can you picture what it would be like if water would no longer come from your shower head and started coming out the wall instead? Imagine the valve controlling your water heater temperature failed, and as it began to rise, you were unable to determine how to stop it. Assume you go downstairs to put in a load of laundry and instead of filling your machine the water floods onto your floor instead. Now the realization of the true complexity of your plumbing system really takes hold of you and you know how uncertain it all is.

Unpleasant things can happen with plumbing. The inescapable fact is that from time to time there will be anomalies that emerge that cause a plumbing failure, reducing our certainty that it will always be there. Fortunately, these are the times we discover that the value of a plumbing professional is something we can rely on to restore order to our lives again.