Helpful Tips To Maintain Healthy Plumbing

It is a good idea to conduct periodic inspections of your plumbing system.  If you have an unfinished basement it makes this a lot easier.  For those with crawl-spaces it can be significantly more challenging. It’s important to do periodic inspections to avoid property damage caused from leaks. 

Leaving a garden hose attached to an outdoor spigot during cold winter weather can result in damage to the valve by the expansion of trapped water within it. 

Know where your main shut-off valve is located.  Many plumbing catastrophes could have been avoided if every homeowner had known where their main water shut-off valve was located.  

Additionally, if you have a “gate valve”  (handle looks like a wheel, and turns multiple times to turn water on or off), you may want to consider replacing it with a more modern “ball valve” (handle is a straight lever and turns 90 degrees).  The older style “gate valves” are highly prone to leaking after they have been sitting unused for several years. 

Those "flushable" wipes may or may not be flushable... it all depends on the condition of your sewer line.  So if you don't know, or have intermittent issues with blockages... it would definately be a good idea to avoid flushing anything other than toilet paper. 

Clogged kitchen drains are a relatively common occurrence, but most of the time this can be avoided with good food disposal practices.  

Garbage disposals are not designed to process and dispose of large quantities of food (particularly greasy and starchy foods).  Scraping the majority of leftover food off plates and into the trash before rinsing them in the sink will help ensure you avoid the headache of a clogged drain. 

Flushing the sediment out of your water heater on a yearly basis will help ensure it continues to run as efficiently as possible. Failing to flush a water heater regularly results in an accumulation of sediment, which over the course of several years can become quite substantial.  This results in a loss of efficiency as you are paying to heat mineral sediments instead of the displaced water. 

When shopping for a home… ALWAYS have the sewer inspected before purchasing.  A sewer replacement can be very expensive, and effectively add up to  $15,000 to your purchase price if it needs immediate replacement.