5 Plumbing Tips For A Successful Summer

The weather is perfect, your kids are out of school, and you’re enjoying long warm evenings cooking out in the yard and hosting pool parties with your neighbors and friends. 

But while earning your title as “grill master” might be the only thing on your mind on any given summer afternoon, if you’re not mindful of how to care for your home’s plumbing, you may be in for an unpleasant surprise. 

It’s not uncommon for plumbing issues to crop up during the summer season. 

Friends are heavily using your garbage disposal, your preschooler keeps trying to flush his toys down the toilet, and with all of the family beach trips your washing machine seems to be running constantly. 

But by taking the time to properly care for and check your plumbing during this high volume season, you’ll save yourself a lot of grief and prevent any serious issues from arising before the weather turns cold.  

1) Get Your Sewer Lines Checked

Hidden tree roots and excess grease down the drain are two of the biggest sewer line offenders. 

But discovering that your sewer lines have a real problem is often something that happens too late for most homeowners. 

If your sewer lines are damaged and leaking, eventually that leak will lead to a pipe that is connected to a fixture in your home. This is just one reason that paying close attention to home leaks is so critical. 

If you have any questions about the cause of a drippy pipe in your residence, it’s always safest to call in a professional to evaluate so you can head off any significant damage. 

Scheduling regular inspections of your sewer lines has the potential to save you enormous grief. 

An inspection every 12-18 months is a good way to make sure no tree roots are in danger of perforating your system, and that there are no major clogs or breakages present. 

2) Inspect Appliance Hoses And Connections

To avoid expensive water damage in your home, it’s important to routinely inspect the hoses and connections on all of your appliances, and summer is a great time for a check up!

Places you should inspect:

• Icemaker

 

Make sure the line on your icemaker is properly installed, no kinks are present, and that the hose is securely connected to the valve – but avoid over tightening! 

Test the shut-off valve, and replace it as needed. Always leave a few inches between the refrigerator and wall to avoid damaging your hose. 

• Washing Machine

 

Turn your washing machine valves off when not in use! 

If a washing machine hose bursts, it will pour hundreds of gallons of water into your home and cause extremely costly damage – especially if you’re not home and it isn’t caught quickly. 

To avoid the chance of this catastrophe, only run your machine when you are home and keep the valve off between uses. 

As with your ice maker, leave a gap between the wall and the machine to avoid kinking, and keep a close eye on the water lines and connections. 

Even if your hoses look to be in fair condition, it’s recommended that you replace them with high-quality lines every 5 years. 

• Air Conditioner

 

Make sure the drain pans for your A/C unit are draining freely and that you have no standing water present. 

It’s also necessary to check the drain lines to make sure they are free from any blockages. 

To clean your drains and help prevent overflow issues, you can pour a mixture of water and bleach through your drain line until it flows freely. 

3) Maintain Your Garbage Disposal

The garbage disposal gets lots of use in the summertime, and it’s common to start experiencing problems if your family is rinsing greasy burger plates and pieces of stringy corn on the cob down your drains. 

To prevent issues, always remember to use plenty of cold water while the disposal is in use and chopping. 

Once the motor stops grinding turn it off, but continue to run cold water down the drain for a good ten seconds to help flush out any remaining food particles. 

Even though your disposal is intended to grind food, it’s still best to avoid extremely fibrous foods like corn husks, egg shells, or onion skins. 

Extremely hard foods like seeds, fruit pits, and bones are also best avoided as they can get stuck and damage your disposal blades. 

And of course, never ever dump or rinse highly greasy foods down your drain. The grease will build and cause clogs. 

Over time, your disposal will experience build up even when it’s well cared for. 

Baking soda and a little water down the drain works well to reduce sludge. Or if you want to get the blades extra clean, you can even grind up vinegar ice cubes. 

4) Fix Any Leaks And Slow Drains

Fixing any leaking faucets or showerheads in your home is always best when the weather is pleasant. 

Dripping faucets are not only wasteful and bad for your monthly utility bills, but they can get worse over time and end up causing water damage. 

Make it a practice to regularly check your faucets, and underneath your sinks for any drips and leaks. Keep a close eye out for water stains in those hidden places, and make minor repairs as needed. 

If water is slow to drain in a tub or sink, that usually means you have a problem. 

If you’re just noticing a minor issue, try dumping a mixture of hot water and vinegar down your drains to try to flush out any small clogs. If this doesn’t fix the problem, try a chemical drain cleaner, or get a professional evaluation. 

Check around your toilet base for soft spots in the floor, and make sure there are no leaks around the toilet base when it’s flushed. 

It’s not uncommon for seals in your toilet’s tank to stop working properly, causing your toilet to run even when it’s not flushed. 

Cleaning these valves or replacing them is usually a minor repair that you can likely tackle yourself, or get a professional to handle inexpensively. 

5) Get Professional Help

If you run into any problems as you do your plumbing home maintenance this summer, never hesitate to contact a professional for their help or even their experienced opinion. 

Small plumbing issues and leaks have a way of turning into much larger and more costly issues down the road. That’s why maintenance is always key! 

If you don’t want to have to worry about leaks, clogs, and drainage problems this winter, take the time to go through this checklist this summer and save your future self a headache.

 

And as always, if you need help with any issues that arise, call Marquez Plumbing for a free estimate.