Got a half an hour? Then you have plenty of time to take on these easy plumbing projects and improve your home in 30 minutes or less.
Caulk a tub. Bathtubs are the closest thing in a home to a boat and that proximity to water wears on the caulk, which must be replaced. For this 30-minute home improvement, remove the old caulk, clean with a bleach solution and remember to fill the tub with water when you re-caulk.
Drain water heater. Water heaters can build up sediment on the boot that makes them less efficient. To keep yours running at peak efficiency, use the tank’s drain value to carefully let a few gallons of water out of the tank every 6 months. This easy plumbing project can make your water heater more efficient.
Bleed excess air from hot water radiators. Another 30-minute home improvement starts by turning your heat up and checking each radiator in your home. If you find one that is cold at the top, bleed the excess air from it using a bleeding key. Open the bleed valve about a half of a turn until you hear air hissing out. When the air stops hissing and water dribbles out, the air has been drained and the radiator should fully heat up.
Replace Toilet Valves. While toilets themselves never wear out, that’s not true of their moving parts. In fact, one leaky toilet can waste 78,000 gallons of water in one year – enough to fill a backyard swimming pool. To check your toilet for a leak, open the tank and pour a little food coloring inside. Check the bowl 20 minutes later. If the dye shows up, you probably need a new flush valve, a part that costs just a couple of dollars and is an easy do-it-yourself repair. If your toilet seems to run all the time or never fill up, the fill valve may need replacement, another easy do-it-yourself repair. If these fixes seem daunting, visit www.fluidmaster.com. The site offers a wealth of information to help you understand how your toilet works, diagnosing problems, identifying the parts you need, diagrams and troubleshooting questions and answers.
Replace Washer Supply Lines: The weak link in any washing machine isn’t the machine itself. It’s the hoses that supply water to the machine. To avoid the potential of a huge leak that can deposit thousands of gallons of water on your floor, and the floor beyond that, remove and replace old rubber hoses with braided steel hoses. These are much more durable and replacing them is an easy plumbing project.
Hot water circulators are great at saving water and improving hot water readiness, but each brand has unique operational designs and operate differently. If you’ll be installing one that uses the cold water line as the return line be cautious in your selection. There are countless stories of homeowners who thought they all operated the same, including myself, who didn’t find out until after they’d installed their system and then discovered they’d sacrificed their cold water comfort to have hot water quicker. Redytemp hot water circulators are the only systems I know of that minimizes demand on the water heater by preventing hot water siphoning into the cold water line among other things. If after installing a hot water circulator you find yourself now waiting to get cold water then your wasting energy and hot water siphoning is likely the cause. Redytemp website is full of information on efficient hot water circulation, I recommend taking a moment to read their pages before making a mistake that can result in high monthly energy bills. Minimizing demand on your water heater is essential to a greener efficient hot water circulation system.
Watts Premier Inc. 800-752-5582 makes a recirculating hot water pump which give you instant hot water. It is wonderful not to let the water run five minutes to get hoe water.