You may already be aware that your heating and air conditioning equipment needs yearly HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning) maintenance, but did you know that you also need to call an expert for annual plumbing maintenance? Midway Services offers the Plumbing PLUS™ Maintenance Agreement for Clearwater homeowners to help them locate issues before they become big problems. While we recommend calling immediately for plumbing problems and schedule your plumbing maintenance yearly, here are three ways you can get your home in ideal plumbing shape for spring.
Inspect your home’s 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, swapping out the fixtures or repairing the leak could help boost the faucet’s operation and may even reduce your water bill.
After the faucets, scan all accessible pipes for indications of leaks. You can typically find visible pipes in basements and below 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 long overdue attention
Inspect your toilet for any fractures or leaks in the bowl and the tank. If your toilet seems to be in good working order, go ahead and pour about six drops of food color into the tank. Wait 30 minutes and then peak at the bowl. If the bowl water is uncolored, you’re fine. If the dye appears in the bowl, you might have a leak and will want to call a plumbing expert.
- Remember your water heater maintenance
If a stench seems to be drifting up through any of the drains in your home, it be a sign that plumbing maintenance is needed. A properly functioning drain shouldn’t release a stench into the air. Verify there are strains inserted in all your drains to stop hair and other waste from spoiling in the pipes and resulting in a clog. Following treatment with a common drain cleaner, pour eight pints of water down drains that are not used regularly. This will fill the trap and help to prevent odors from seeping in and filling up your home.
Your water heater takes excellent care of you so ensure you’re returning the love. Keep in mind that newer water heaters are going to be more energy efficient, so if yours is over 15 years old, it could be time to invest in a new one to be sure you don’t have that sudden burst of cold water for multiple days. Whether or not you plan on investing in a new water heater, there are a few things you can do to help keep it operating properly.
Make sure the temperature setting on the equipment is not set higher than 120°F. This will help reduce your energy usage (and help decrease your bills) while also preventing scalding. As a safety precaution, you will want to remove anything from around the water heater. Your 12 month Plumbing PLUS Maintenance plan includes a water heater maintenance; and it may even help your water heater perform more efficiently and avoid plumbing problems in the future.
These are just a couple ways of how you could help get your plumbing ready for the season, but if you are not confident performing any of these tasks, you are welcome to call Midway Services and we can come out and perform your annual plumbing maintenance and repair (or help avoid) any plumbing problems.