Just a Few Plumbing Tips
March 13th, 2012Just a few plumbing tips today. The main takeaway is that a little bit of prevention and some basic information can be your best weapon against high plumbing bills.
Run your faucet with cold water when you run your garbage disposal. When you use hot water, any grease in the drain will melt and be more prone to stopping up your drain.
If something is wrong with the disposal, do not stick your hand in it to fix it. Garbage disposals can be dangerous even when turned off. Locate a diagram of the garbage disposal and only use a broom handle to move anything down there.
Do not pour grease or oil in your sink or down your drain. This is a certain way to either slow your drainage or clog it up. This can make your garbage disposal run slower too. Just don’t put any oils down the sink.
Clogged drains are a problem that can require professional help. Practically anything can get stuck in those drains and cause them to clog up, including hair, non-biodegradable objects and organic sediment. You can prevent hair from getting into your drains by installing a device on top of your drain such as a net or screen which will trap some of the hair from getting into your pipes.
Often, toilet problems can be fixed by just replacing the flapper. These flappers deteriorate over time and cause your toilet to leak. Make sure your chain pressure is right first, but then check into replacing the flapper, since it may be worn.
If your home has copper pipes, they could expand some when hot water runs through them. When they do, they can rub against their pipe hangers, and cause some eventual pipe damage. You can simply tape the pipe where it meets the hanger.
When dealing with a clogged drain and you don’t have a snake, try using an old-fashioned metal coat hanger to clear the clog. Straighten the hanger and bend a small hook at one end. Slide the hangar down as far as you can and gently move it in and out till the clog is hopefully cleared.
The summer months are the perfect time to schedule a tune-up for the hot water heater (and your furnace). A regularly maintained water heater heats more efficiently and costs you less money than an old, inefficient model.
All family members should be aware of the location of the main water shut off in your house. Toilets, sinks and other fixtures should also have shut-off valves too. Each family member should know how to shut the water off in case of an emergency.
And outdoors, check on the condition of your gutters. Remove all debris, such as leaves and branches, so that you have a smooth flow of water down and away from your house.
Plus in the fall (for people who live where it gets cold), disconnect all your water hoses from your outside faucets. Hoses with water left in them will freeze in the cold weather and expand, causing leaks in the hose when you next use it. Plus, freezing hoses can cause the faucets and the connecting pipe inside your house to freeze also. Don’t chance it, just disconnect them and dry them out.
If you are remodeling your house, whenever you can, take some pictures of the inside of your walls, floors and ceilings. You will have a clearer idea as to where your pipes and heating are located in case you need to do maintenance later.
Try to know all of your plumbing problems before you call your plumber. Having all of them fixed in one visit is much cheaper than having a plumber make multiple calls to your house.
Thanks to a couple of Wisconsin plumbing sites — GreenBayPlumber.org and WausauPlumber.com — for today’s info.