Burford Plumbing & Heating

Description of Work: I had become aware that one of the toilets in my home was leaking water from the tank into the toilet bowl, and my city water bill had doubled. I called Wendell Burford, who was listed as a local Mason plumber, and he came to my home on January 5, 2012. Mr. Burford removed the flapper which was worn and warped on the edges allowing water to leak from the toilet tank, and said he would look in his truck to see if he had a replacement flapper. Mr. Burford also said that even though the ball float in my toilet was working fine, they usually only last about ten years, and recommended installation of a Fluidmaster Flush Valve. Not knowing anything about plumbing, I agreed. Mr. Burford installed the Fluidmaster Flush Valve and a Korky flapper. As I watched Mr. Burford finishing up his work, he flushed the toilet several times. He smiled at me and said "You now have a double flush". Each time he pressed the flush lever, the water would flush down and out of the toilet - incoming water would fill and swirl around the bowl - and once again flush down and out of the bowl - a "double flush". Because I had no knowledge of plumbing and proper toilet function, I simply accepted his smiling acknowledgement of the "double flush" as something positive. I paid Mr. Burford for his services - a total of $149.76 (Fluidmaster Flush Valve - $27.14; Korky flapper - $12.672: plus service call of $120.00, minus a $10.00 senior discount) and thought my malfunctioning toilet problem was solved. Two months later, my quarterly water bill was reduced but still higher than normal - which I attributed to the leaking toilet during part of that three months. So I waited until I received the next quarterly water bill, and it was 2,000 - 3,000 gallons higher useage than normal. I contacted the City of Mason for a printout of my 10 years of quarterly water useage bills, and confirmed that my water useage was indeed above normal. The "double flush" toilet was using the entire tank of water per useage, rather than one-half tank of water for a normall flush.