Palmer Plumbing LLC

Charleston, SC

843-631-6255

We're a small business led by Darren Palmer, a third-generation master plumber. We handle everyday plumbing — repairs, water heaters, fixtures, remodels — and we specialize in something most plumbers treat as an afterthought: the quality of the water running through your home.

Water changes street by street and season by season. We'd rather test yours and walk you through what we find than talk you into the biggest system on the truck. The way we think about it, there are two jobs happening at once: looking after the people in the house, and looking after the house itself. Good water does both — it's easier on your family and easier on your plumbing.

How is our water in Charleston?

Better than most, honestly. Charleston's water is soft to slightly hard with a decent pH. That's genuinely good news for your plumbing: water heaters, fixtures and gaskets last longer here than they do in much of the country. We say that as the people who'd be paid to replace them.

On the drinking, cooking and bathing side: Charleston Water System meets every federal drinking water standard. That's true and worth saying plainly. But federal limits and independent health-based guidelines are two different bars. Measured against the stricter guidelines published by the Environmental Working Group, a number of contaminants in the local supply come in above the recommended levels — mostly disinfection byproducts, which are the chemistry that comes from treating water with chlorine, along with PFOA and PFOS.

Chlorine itself climbs in summer as temperatures rise. You can usually taste it. Over time it's also corrosive, working away at gaskets and valves — which is how a water-quality issue turns into a plumbing bill.

Compliant and ideal are two different bars. Home treatment is how you decide which one your household lives at. That's the whole argument. Not that anything is wrong with Charleston's water, but that you have a choice about it, and most homeowners don't know they do.

For more information, see our Homeowner's Guide Water Quality in Charleston and the Lowcountry →

What we'd do about it

It depends on your water and what bothers you about it, which is why we start with a test rather than a quote.

Point of use — treatment at the kitchen sink, usually reverse osmosis. The most treated water where you drink and cook, without treating every gallon in the house.
Point of entry — whole-home filtration. Carbon media addresses chlorine, taste and odor, and disinfection byproducts throughout the house, including the shower.
Water testing — so the recommendation is based on your water.

Local water quality reports

The most current reports come straight from the utilities:

Did you know? Charleston Water System draws from the Edisto River and the Bushy Park Reservoir. Mount Pleasant's water comes from the Charleston Aquifer and the Charleston Water System.

Note: We don't work for Charleston Water System. Questions about your water quality report should go to them.

Charleston Water System - Quality Reports

The local owner

Darren Palmer, a third-generation master plumber, came south to get out of the winters and start a new chapter.

In 2018 he thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail — 2,200 miles along the eastern continental divide. Filtering water stopped being a professional interest somewhere on that trail and became a daily one; on a long walk, it's the difference between a good week and a bad one. He came back to the family trade with a clearer idea of what he wanted to do with it.

These days Darren is usually somewhere under a house in the Lowcountry, and on his days off, somewhere on the coast.