Skip to main content
Mike Epping

Mike Epping

President of Center Guard Plumbing, a Chicagoland plumbing company, and a recurring guest expert on WGN Radio's Home Sweet Home Chicago.

Oct 10, 2026

0:39
You want to give us more information on that opportunity, bud?
0:43
Yeah, absolutely.
0:44
We're doing a 40-gallon atmospheric vent, standard installation.
0:49
We'll haul away the old one for you for $1,295.
0:53
which is, well, we had one a couple days ago that they were quoted $3,600 for the same thing.
0:59
So that's a very good price.
1:02
A 50-gallon, same rules apply, for $1,395.
3:35
So I've never drained it again.
JohnAUDIENCE
49:34
But I was wondering if he could, do I have to shut anything down or anything to do that?
49:42
No, actually, John, what you're doing is kind of perfect.
49:46
And every time our guys walk into a home and they see a garden hose hooked up to the drain valve going into the floor drain, that makes us happy because normally those tanks last a lot longer for the homeowners.
49:58
So you're doing the right thing there.
50:00
You know, I don't want to make it more difficult for you to drain.
50:04
But, yeah, if you turned it to pilot, you know, if it's a gas appliance, and turn the water off to it and just open the laundry tub next to it or, you know, the pressure leaf valve on the side to let the air in there and drain that out.
50:19
And then once you turn that back on, you know, leave that water, once you empty it and you turn it back on, that water going into the empty tank is going to stir up all that sediment in the bottom and push it out of that hose.
JohnAUDIENCE
50:48
Yeah, Mike, you know, like I said, so I'm going to turn the, should I turn the valve off, you said, and then do it again or what? I didn't catch that.
2:20
And if they did that, what would you say?
2:22
Yeah, I would love to have somebody call and interview us as a plumbing company.
2:26
I can honestly say I don't know a customer that actually has reached out and done that.
2:30
I would be very open to that, to talk to people.
2:33
That's what I like to do.
2:34
That's the biggest thing I miss about not being in the field anymore.
2:38
I miss the customers, you know, and talking and meeting people and actually being able to help them.

7 MINS LATER

10:08
So when you talk about preventative, tell us about this special that you're doing with gas line inspections.
3:31
Tell us about your size.
3:32
Yeah, we've got right now, we've got 48 employees.
3:35
We're running 20 trucks.
3:37
So, you know, it has grown a lot.
3:39
And my business partner, John, and I actually at that point, we felt that that was what we wanted to kind of stop our growth at because we were finding the bigger we got, the more headaches, the more overhead, things were getting pricey.
3:54
So what we did is we hit that spot and said, OK, let's stay here.
3:58
And why is that an advantage to the customers? Well, with 20 trucks serving basically from the Wisconsin border to the Indiana border, all of Chicagoland, you know, as far west as Rockford, DeKalb, we go down to Joliet, you know, the south side, all the suburbs down there.

5 MINS LATER

9:24
So tell us about what you do as far as doing inspections on natural gas.

We value your privacy

We use cookies to understand how you use our platform and to improve your experience. Click “Accept All” to consent, or “Decline non-essential” to opt out of non-essential cookies. Read our Privacy Policy.