Spring is the perfect time to tackle essential plumbing maintenance, especially after a brutal winter. Some tasks are easy to do yourself, while others require the skills and knowledge of a professional plumber. Running through your checklist to get them done early in the season saves you a lot of stress and helps you avoid expensive repairs.
Can Doing Plumbing Maintenance Myself Help Me Avoid Expensive Plumbing Repairs?
Doing much of the plumbing maintenance yourself is one way to increase your chances of expensive plumbing repairs rather than decreasing them. It may seem like a cost-effective solution, but it’s easy to make mistakes when you don’t have professional training and experience.
Additionally, certain repairs can be like putting a Band-Aid on a severe wound. Some DIY fixes unintentionally provide a short-term solution that conceals a more serious problem than the initial issue seemed to be. This can cause the situation to worsen over time and result in even more expensive repairs. Our plumbers at Service All-Stars are specially trained to notice every little aspect of a plumbing system and know what type of repair is best to fix a problem for the long run rather than only the short term.
When Is the Best Time to Do Spring Plumbing Maintenance?
When the weather starts warming up is the best time to do spring plumbing maintenance at your home. This will give you a good chance to evaluate what kind of impact, if any, the cold, frigid temperatures had on your plumbing system.
What Are the Most Important Tasks to Do?
You can do several plumbing tasks yourself, but most should be left to one of our professional plumbers from Service All-Stars. Making a checklist of what you want to get done is the best way to ensure you tackle all the spring maintenance chores on your agenda without forgetting anything.
Do a Full Inspection
Performing a complete inspection of your plumbing system in the spring is a great way to get an idea of its condition. It’s ideal to do this room by room and take notes along the way.
One of the most important things you should look for in any room or area is pipe damage. Look for any signs of leaks, such as moisture droplets on the pipes themselves, visible cracks or holes in the pipes, and large or small accumulations of water below them. You should also look for signs of corrosion on the pipes. These may include rusty brown patches and flaking or uneven coloring on the metal. Discolored water can also be an indication.
You should turn on the water in all the showers and sinks to ensure everything is working properly. The temperatures should be as expected for both the hot and cold settings, and the water pressure should be steady. The water should be clear and not discolored, and it should drain without any problems.
There are various aspects to inspect in your primary bathroom and guest bathrooms. Check if any leaks are coming from the handles of your faucets or showers, keep an eye out for mold, look for any leaks at the base of the toilet, and take a close look at the caulking and grout in the shower or bathtub.
Homeowners with a garbage disposal should check that it’s working correctly, including that it’s not making any unusual sounds that indicate something may be wrong with the motor. If you have a dishwasher, inspect the hoses and make sure there are no cracks or leaks. After running a dishwasher load, check that there’s no water pooling at the bottom or leaking out from underneath the appliance.
It’s also a good opportunity to examine your water heater. Look for any leaks, listen for any strange noises, and make sure there are no foul odors emanating from the appliance. See that the thermostat is set correctly to no higher than 120 degrees Fahrenheit.
If you have a washing machine in your home, check the hoses for signs of damage, such as cracks. Run a load in the washing machine and make sure nothing leaks from the hoses, the valves, or the appliance itself.
Schedule a Professional Appointment
Service All-Stars recommends having a professional plumbing inspection annually, and spring is an excellent chance to do it. Let us know if you discovered any potential problems during your personal inspection that we should know about. We’ll do our own full inspection of your plumbing system to ensure everything is working correctly and there are no serious issues that could lead to an unexpected and costly emergency appointment.
Get Your Water Heater Flushed
We advise flushing your water heater at least once a year. When you make an appointment with us for a professional inspection, request that we also provide this service. It will prevent sediment buildup that can keep your appliance from working efficiently. This will help lower your utility costs and extend the life span of your water heater.
Schedule Necessary Plumbing Repairs
If we let you know that certain aspects of your plumbing system need repairs, scheduling them as soon as possible is in your best interests. Doing so can help prevent the plumbing issues from worsening. Allowing that to happen can result in higher repair costs or a complete replacement.
Upgrade Your Drain Strainers
Drain strainers in your kitchen sink, bathroom sinks, laundry room sink, and showers are inexpensive, but they could save you from paying for costly plumbing repairs. They help catch hair, food particles, globs of products like conditioner, and other debris that shouldn’t be going down your drains and causing problematic clogs. Make sure your drain strainers are working efficiently and catching most of this debris. If they’re not, replace them so they catch more of it before it has a chance to go down your drains.
Install Smart Water Leak Detectors
Installing smart water leak detectors is a great investment in helping to prevent expensive water damage. As their name indicates, they detect leaks early, including those coming from under your appliances and sinks. The detectors could send you real-time alerts to your phone or email and let you know that a problem is in progress and needs attention. They help you learn of a leak as soon as it’s detected, and they prevent worsening issues, such as burst pipes, that can cause extensive damage.
The key to guaranteeing they work for you as they’re supposed to is to place them correctly within your home. Put one underneath each sink, right below the pipes. Place them flat with nothing on top of them and nothing blocking the sensor. Putting them near water-using appliances, such as your water heater and washing machine, is also a good idea. They’re typically battery operated, so have the correct batteries on hand to ensure they’re always operational.
Get your plumbing system in excellent condition. At Service All-Stars in Bellflower, CA, we offer a variety of plumbing services, including inspections and emergency services. Contact us today to make an appointment or book services online through our website.
