Back-to-school time is hectic enough as it is. The last thing you want is to have things become even more stressful because you suddenly have to deal with a major plumbing problem. The best way to avoid this is by being proactive and taking a few basic steps to protect your plumbing and check it for any potential issues.
Look for Signs of Leaky Pipes
Plumbing leaks can be a fairly common problem, especially if your house has copper pipes that are more than 30-40 years old. Although water doesn’t cause copper to rust, the minerals in water do lead to copper corroding over time. The result is that the walls of the pipes get thinner and thinner, creating a risk of pinhole leaks forming. Acidic water and high water pressure also cause pipes to thin and potentially start leaking at some point. While most leaks start out as a small drip, they almost always worsen over time and can lead to significant water damage as well as mold issues in the home.
The best way to avoid water damage and costly repairs is to regularly go around your house and look for any signs that may indicate a leak. This includes things like yellow stains or black spots on drywall, warped flooring, bubbles in the paint on ceilings and wallpaper that has started to peel. One sure sign that your plumbing is leaking is if you can hear water running when none of your plumbing fixtures are leaking. Moldy odors are also often an indication that there’s a hidden leak inside the wall in that area.
If you notice any of these things, you should call an experienced plumbing company immediately. Professional plumbers have specialized equipment like acoustic listening devices and infrared cameras that allow them to quickly and accurately detect and locate hidden leaks inside a wall, ceiling or underneath the floor. By pinpointing the leak, they can then minimize the amount of demolition that’s needed to access and replace the pipe.
Check the Functioning of Your Drains
Clogged drains are one of the most common plumbing issues homeowners can encounter. While a clog will obviously prevent you from using your sink or shower properly, the bigger concern is that it creates the potential for the drain pipe to start leaking. When water backs up inside a pipe, it can exert enough pressure that it weakens the joint or connection in that area and leads to it leaking. That’s why it’s essential that you call a plumber if you ever experience a leak that you can’t clear with a plunger. What you should never do is try to unclog a drain with chemical drain cleaner, as these products are corrosive enough that they can do significant damage to your pipes and potentially lead to a serious leak.
If you have a drain that’s slower than normal or you hear the water making a gurgling sound as it goes down the drain, it’s a sure sign that the drain pipe is starting to clog. If you notice these types of issues throughout your home, it means that your sewer line is partially obstructed and at risk of clogging and backing up. Having your sewer line back up is a serious problem, as it will always lead to sewage coming up out of some of your shower and floor drains and creating a nasty mess. That’s why you should make sure to get your sewer line cleaned as soon as possible if you suspect it’s obstructed so that you can avoid it backing up.
Make Sure Toilets Aren’t Leaking
The rubber flapper that seals the bottom of a toilet tank always slowly deteriorates and eventually gets to a point where it no longer creates a fully watertight seal. This then leads to a small amount of water continually seeping around the flapper and draining into the bowl. In most cases, the amount of water is small enough that you won’t notice it. Nonetheless, it still leads to the tank slowly draining and the toilet eventually running to refill the tank. It also leads to “phantom flushing,” which is when the bowl eventually gets full enough that the toilet basically flushes itself to prevent the bowl from overflowing.
While having your toilet leak and run occasionally may not seem like a big problem, it still wastes quite a bit of water and leads to your water bills being higher than necessary. As such, it’s a good idea to occasionally check that your toilets aren’t leaking. All you need to do is put a bit of food coloring in the tank and then check the toilet after 30 minutes or so to see if the water in the bowl is colored. If it is, the first step is to replace the flapper to see if this fixes the problem. Replacing the flapper is usually a simple task, but it can be more difficult on some toilet models. If you’re not sure what to do or just don’t want to attempt it, a plumber can do it for you quickly and fairly cheaply.
Flush Your Water Heater
Most plumbers recommend flushing your water heater once a year or twice a year if your house has hard water. Mineral sediment always forms inside a hot water tank and continually builds up at the bottom of the tank, which is why you need to occasionally flush the tank to remove all of the sediment. If you don’t, the sediment layer will eventually lead to the water heater heating more slowly, not working as efficiently and thus using more energy.
Before you can safely flush the tank, you need to turn the water heater off and wait at least a few hours for the water to cool down enough that you won’t potentially get scalded. While you can flush the tank yourself by attaching a garden hose to the drain valve near the bottom of the tank, the better option is usually to hire a plumber. The main reason is that they can service your water heater at the same time to make sure it doesn’t have any issues and works effectively.
Shut Off and Winterize Your Outdoor Plumbing
The fact that back-to-school season is already here means it won’t be all that long before the weather rapidly starts changing and we begin to experience near-freezing temperatures at night. Before that happens, be sure to disconnect any hoses and then winterize all of your outdoor plumbing. Winterizing your outdoor plumbing just means shutting off the water to each fixture from inside the house and then opening the fixtures to let the remaining water drain out. If you have an underground sprinkler system, you also need to shut off the water to it and then hire someone to blow out all of the lines with an industrial air compressor.
Childers Air Plumbing & Electric is a locally-owned company with more than 60 years of experience serving homeowners in Beckley and the surrounding areas. We offer a comprehensive range of professional plumbing services—from leak detection and repairs to drain cleaning, sewer services and more.
Our prompt response times mean that you won’t have to wait around for hours to get the help you need to overcome whatever plumbing problem you’re dealing with. For plumbing services you can always depend on, contact Childers Air Plumbing & Electric.
