You may already understand that your heating and cooling equipment needs annual HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning) maintenance, but did you know that you also require annual plumbing maintenance by an expert? Peitz Service Experts offers the Plumbing PLUS™ Maintenance Agreement for Pierre homeowners to help them find issues before they become big problems. While you should definitely call immediately for plumbing problems and arrange for your plumbing maintenance annually, here are a couple ways for you to get your home in ideal plumbing shape for spring.
Inspect all your faucets and toilets for any leaks. Confirm there is no water dripping out of or around the connections when you shut off your faucets. If there is, installing new fixtures or repairing the leak could help improve the faucet’s function and may even lower your water bill.
After the faucets, examine any accessible pipes for evidence of leaks. You can usually find visible pipes in the basement and under sinks. Extreme weather can cause pipes to freeze and sometimes crack so spring is the ideal time to make sure the winter weather didn’t cause any damage that would result in plumbing problems.
- Give your drains some seriously overdue care
Inspect your toilet for any cracks or leaks in both the tank and the bowl. If it looks like it’s in good working order, go ahead and add about six drops of food coloring into the water in the tank. Wait for about 35 minutes and then look at the bowl. If the bowl is uncolored, you’re fine. If the color appears in the bowl, you might have a leak and need to call a plumbing expert.
- Don’t neglect your water heater maintenance
If something foul seems to be getting in from any of the drains in your home, it may be evidence that plumbing maintenance is needed. A properly functioning drain shouldn’t release a stench into the air. Confirm there are strains installed in all your drains to avoid hair and other debris from spoiling in the pipes and clogging them up. Once you’ve treated them with a common drain cleaner, pour four quarts of water into drains that are not used often. This will fill the trap and help to prevent odors from coming in and filling up your home.
Your water heater takes great care of you so be sure you’re returning the kindness. Remember that newer water heaters are going to be more energy efficient, so if yours is older than 15 years, it is probably about time to invest in a new one to help make sure you don’t have that unpredicted burst of cold water for multiple days. Whether or not you plan on replacing your water heater, there are a couple things you can do to help keep it working properly.
Verify that the temperature is set no higher than 120°F. This will help lower your energy consumption (and help lower your bills) while also evading scalding. For the purpose of safety, you will want to relocate anything from around the water heater. Your yearly Plumbing PLUS Maintenance program includes a water heater maintenance; and it could even help your water heater be more efficient and avoid plumbing problems moving forward.
These are just a couple ways of how you could help get your plumbing ready for the season, but if you are not comfortable completing any of these tasks, please call Peitz Service Experts and we can come out and perform your annual plumbing maintenance and repair (or help avoid) any plumbing problems.