Plummer or plumber: the spelling, and who to call in Anaheim

Plumber, with the b. Nobody pronounces it, so "plummer" shows up on handwritten signs, in text messages and in search boxes, and search engines mostly cope. Whichever way you typed it, you want someone who works on water lines, drains, fixtures and gas connections in a house. If that is you, the Citrus Belt Plumbing site is set up for it: a local plumber drives out to houses in Anaheim, Fullerton, Orange, Brea and the cities beside them.

Where does the silent b in plumber come from?

From plumbum, the Latin word for lead. Pipes and roofing in ancient Rome were lead, so a worker in lead became a plumber, and the b stayed in print after speech dropped it. Lead is also why the element's chemical symbol is Pb, and why a plumb bob hangs from a string to show true vertical.

That is the whole mystery. Plummer exists as a family name, which explains the odd stray result, but as a trade the word is plumber.

What can a plumber do in a North Orange County house?

A plumber works on the water that comes in and the waste that goes out, plus gas piping to appliances. That means supply lines, shutoff valves, faucets, toilets, water heaters, drain lines and the permits attached to bigger jobs. What the work looks like depends heavily on when your house was built.

• Pre-1950 homes in Orange, Fullerton and parts of Anaheim. In houses nobody has renovated, expect rusting steel supply pipe with cast iron or clay sewer-side pipe. Both decay from the inside. See repiping a house.
• 1950s to 1970s tract homes in Buena Park, La Habra and Placentia. Expect copper supply by now, sometimes patched with newer materials, and galvanized in spots.
• Hillside lots in Anaheim Hills and Yorba Linda. Slopes and long pipe runs, plus extra pressure on the low side of a hill, make a regulator worth checking.
• Gas. Anything involving gas piping is regulated work here, so read the gas line plumber page before touching any.

Not sure whether a wet spot is a plumbing job? Is my pipe burst? lays out the checks.

Are pipes in attics and crawlspaces normal here?

Yes. Raised-foundation houses, such as many near Old Towne Orange, have a crawlspace where supply and drain pipe hang beneath the floor. Slab-on-grade houses bury their drains under the concrete, and in some of them the hot and cold lines travel through the attic or the walls rather than the floor.

Why you should care: a pinhole in an attic line often announces itself as a brown ceiling stain a room away from the source, and a crawlspace leak can go unseen for months. Tell the plumber which kind of house you have, and ask whether access is in the price. The ceiling water leak guide explains how to read a stain.

How do I check a plumber before hiring in California?

Take the contractor's license number to cslb.ca.gov and search it. The board sets $1,000 as the dividing line, counting labor and parts together, where a contractor license becomes mandatory, and permit work needs one regardless, so a permitted water heater swap always does. Then ask for scope and price on paper.

Beyond the license, ask who applies for the permit. Anaheim, Fullerton, Orange and their neighbors each run their own building division. Ask also about cleanup and whether the plumber warns you before opening a wall. For how a first visit with us unfolds, see what happens next, and for typical rates see the hourly cost of a plumber.

Bar clamp or pipe clamp: which is which?

Both words belong mostly to woodworking. A bar clamp has a fixed steel bar and a sliding jaw. A pipe clamp is two clamp heads fitted onto a length of threaded pipe you supply, which makes it cheaper over long spans. Neither is meant for a water line. In plumbing the term to know is repair clamp.

A pipe repair clamp is a metal sleeve with a rubber pad, bolted over a leak on a pipe that is otherwise sound. Size matters, because it has to match the pipe's outside diameter. It slows a leak but does not restore a rotted pipe. If one is holding back a leak at your house, it is time bought. For the permanent fix that should follow, see burst pipe plumber.