You may already understand that your heating and AC equipment needs annual HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning) maintenance, but did you realize that you also require annual plumbing maintenance by an expert? Rolf Griffin Service Experts offers the Plumbing PLUS™ Maintenance Agreement for Fort Wayne homeowners to help them uncover issues before they become big problems. While we recommend calling immediately for plumbing problems and plan your plumbing maintenance yearly, here are a couple ways you can get your home in tip-top plumbing shape for spring.
Inspect your home’s faucets and toilets for any leaks. When you turn off your faucets check around the connections for water dripping out; if there is, swapping out the fixtures or repairing the leak could help improve the faucet’s performance and may even lower your water bill.
After the faucets, inspect all exposed pipes for evidence of leaks. You can often see visible pipes below sinks and down in the basement. Sometimes pipes can freeze and then crack so spring is the perfect time to make sure the winter weather didn’t cause any damage or plumbing problems.
- Give your drains some long overdue TLC
Inspect your toilet for any leaks or cracks in the bowl and the tank. If everything looks like it’s in good shape, go ahead and pour about six drops of food dye into the water in the tank. Wait 30 minutes and then check the bowl. If the water in the bowl is uncolored, you’re good to go. If the dye appears in the bowl, you could have a leak and need to call a plumbing expert.
- Don’t neglect your water heater maintenance
If a stench seems to be coming from any of the drains in your home, it might be an indication that plumbing maintenance is needed. A properly functioning drain shouldn’t release smells into the air. Verify there are strains placed in all your drains to prevent hair and other debris from spoiling in the pipes and clogging them up. Following treatment with a common drain cleaner, pour a gallon of water through drains that are not used frequently. This will fill the trap and help to avoid odors from coming in and filling up your home.
Your water heater takes good care of you so make sure you’re returning the favor. Remember that newer water heaters have more energy efficiency, 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 a week. Whether or not you plan on purchasing an upgraded water heater, there are some things you can do to help keep it working properly.
Check the temperature setting on the water heater and make sure it’s not higher than 120°F. This will help reduce your energy usage (and help reduce your bills) while also preventing scalding. For the purpose of safety, you will want to relocate anything from around the water heater. Your annual Plumbing PLUS Maintenance program includes a water heater maintenance; and it could actually help your water heater run more efficiently and avoid plumbing problems in the future.
These are just a couple ways of how you can help get your plumbing springtime-ready, but if you are not comfortable performing any of these tasks, you are welcome to call Rolf Griffin Service Experts and we can come out and complete your annual plumbing maintenance and rectify (or help stop) any plumbing problems.