Plumbing Tips for Summer

Get your plumbing ready for the action with these simple summer plumbing tips:

• Check your toilet base for signs of water damage, like rolled vinyl or stains.
• Straddle over your toilet and rock back and forth on each foot to see if the floor feels spongy. If so, it’s probably rotting or weakened.
• Check for leaky or loose tiles by pressing on the walls where they touch the bathtub. If walls are soft, there may be water damage behind the tiles.
• Turn on the bathtub and kitchen sink faucets. If you notice a reduction in water volume, your pipes may have mineral deposits and need to be replaced.
• Ensure your main line clean-out is accessible.
• Ensure your garbage disposal and dishwasher connections are tight and leak free.
• Check the inside of cabinets for signs of water damage, warping or stains. Ensure traps ad supply tubes are not leaking.
• Check washing machine hoses for bulges, leaks or cracks. Move your machine at least four inches from the wall to prevent hose kinks and never leave home when the washing machine is running. Replace your washing machine hose every three years.
• Be careful what you put in your garburator. Most garbage disposals can’t handle stringy, fibrous foods like banana peels or corn husks, and fats, oils, or ‘just-add-water’ instant mixes. Run cold water 15 seconds before and after you put anything in your garbage disposal to flush it through.
• Turn down your water heater to save money and energy while on vacation.
• Have a plumber inspect your sewer line pipes for backups caused by tree root growth.
• Set your water heater temperature no higher than 120ºF to prevent scalding and reduce energy use.
• Drain several gallons from the water heater tank to flush out sediment and improve efficiency and longevity.
• Replace water heaters over 10 years old. The first four digits of the serial number represent the month and year it was made. Newer water heaters are more energy efficient.
• Inspect for slow leaks in your home plumbing system by checking your water meter reading before bed. Take another reading in the morning and if the number has changed without any water use overnight, you have a leak that needs repair.