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Your home’s plumbing system is one of the most crucial components of your home. When it fails, it can start damaging your construction materials and start giving everyone in the house a dilemma.
When your home’s plumbing system is running well, you don’t even have to think about it. But once a problem arises, you are usually at the mercy of your local plumber and his expertise.
And let’s be honest. We don’t schedule a plumbing appointment ahead of time. Plumbers are the ones we frantically call at 2 or 3 in the morning, with water pooling up around our ankles and towels scattered over the floor. We call plumbers mid-meltdown, and somehow they have to explain the inner workings of our pumps and valves and jump to action before further damage is produced.
Your plumber is aware that you’re most likely calling them out of need. Perhaps, immediate need. And accidents like bursting pipes, clogged toilets, and sewer system backup are typically never planned.
Being a plumber can be a tough job. Aside from bending beneath the sinks and drains all day, a lot of the work they can do can be stopped just by giving homeowners the right information about how to guard and maintain their home plumbing system.
Not everyone possesses the knowledge of a professional plumber, but having a basic understanding of these five things can help prevent expensive problems down the road and frequency for panicked calls to your professional plumbers.
Stop Pouring Grease down the Sink
Never pour any cooking oil, bacon grease, or anything similar down your drain. Oils and greases being poured down drains are one of the dominant cause of clogs.
Cooking oil and grease should never be poured down into your drain because they can coagulate and causes clogs once they freeze. The best solution is to flush the used cooking oil or grease from fried foods into an empty can and freeze, and then put it out on your kitchen trash.
Not everything is “flushable”.
Toilets are intended to flush human waste and toilet paper. But, throwing various objects on it stresses your toilet. Bathroom wipes can harm your plumbing system and causes major clogs – Even the type that says they are “flushable” shouldn’t be flushed.
Baby wipes are really convenient, but they don’t belong down to your toilet because the material used on it doesn’t break down quickly to go down the toilet. Don’t be a part of the problem and damage your own pipes in the process.
Flush your water heater once per year.
Water heaters are something a lot of homeowners tend to disregard. They’re placed somewhere maybe on your basement, and you don’t notice them a much, but that doesn’t make them unimportant. Tap water that infiltrates your water heater carries a minimum amount of minerals, such as calcium and magnesium.
Throughout several months, these minerals start to accumulate in your tank in the form of sediment. This takes up valuable storage space and can lead to increased power consumption. Flushing your tank once every year limits these problems and can even extend your water heater’s lifespan.
Leave Faucets Dripping to Prevent Frozen Pipes
Dripping faucets can really help to prevent frozen pipes by keeping the water from flowing. To fight against freezing, particularly when the temperatures fall overnight, open the tap lightly to establish a steady drip. If you are leaving on vacation or suspecting a deep freeze overnight, open your faucet enough that it drips every few seconds.
Know your DIY limits
Yes, you can unclog your toilet, and perhaps also fix a broken faucet. However, some jobs require the tools and knowledge that only a professional plumber possesses. Attempting to solve these problems on your own will only lead to more significant issues and frustration.
Caccia Plumbers are service professionals who will assist you with some extreme and sometimes gross problems as a homeowner. Examine the issues before they become emergencies with regular maintenance, fix what you can, and call us for what you can’t. We will help you get your home back to normal, swiftly and efficiently.