Learning how to prevent plumbing problems such as leaks, bursting pipes, and clogged drains is easy with the right tools. Old and new homes alike require year-round attention to plumbing details, so watching for the signs of plumbing problems is a must.
If you pack a little know-how and a few tricks of the plumbing trade into your home care toolbox, you’ll be able to avoid the kind of plumbing problems that can literally soak you.
Here are eight tips for identifying, and avoiding plumbing problems before they cause serious damage.
Stop a Leaking Toilet
Toilet repairs are one of the most common plumbing problems. While the toilets themselves don’t wear out, the working parts inside them can. Leaks are a common result, and one leaky toilet can waste around 78,000 gallons of water a year, enough to fill a backyard swimming pool!
Alt=plumbing repairsIf you suspect a leak, test out your theory by pouring a bit of food coloring into the toilet’s tank and waiting overnight. If the dye shows up in the bowl the next morning, you’ve got a leak and it’s time to replace the flush valve, an easy job that requires only a few dollars’ investment and a little of your time.
Fix a Clogging Shower, Tub or Bathroom Sink Drain
Bathroom drains can quickly get clogged with hair and soap residue, which is not only a plumbing problem, but a messy one as well. Before you find yourself with a flooding backup, clear the way with a wet/dry vacuum, a handy trick of the trade that definitely beats time-consuming extraction with an auger.
Stop Kitchen Sink Backups
Cooking oil, grease and other fats can literally gunk up the pipes in your kitchen sink, causing serious plumbing problems. Instead, be smart about waste disposal and outfit sinks with strainers to catch errant items and keep them clean. Periodically flush the drain with a few gallons of boiling water to melt away accumulated grease and soap. Applications of products such as Roto-Rooter’s Pipe Shield can also prevent kitchen clogs.
Find the Main Shutoff Valve
Your home’s plumbing system can have hundreds of different valves, but knowing the location of just one can prevent thousands of dollars in damage to a home. The main water valve controls the flow of all water into your home and must work properly to prevent disaster.
To avoid severe flooding if a plumbing problem were to occur, find the main water valve, which is usually located at the lowest level of your home near the street, then test the valve to make sure it turns off properly. Hang a large tag labeled main valve from the valve handle to make sure all members of your household can find it before a flood sets in. If the home will be empty for a prolonged period of time, it’s smart to shut off this valve before leaving in order to avoid a plumbing problem when you return from the road.
Avoid Major Laundry Leaks
Another important plumbing point that can be a potential problem is the set of rubber connection hoses on your washing machine, which can be a dangerously weak link in the system. These hoses can dry out, burst and allow thousands of gallons of water to rush into your home. To avoid this plumbing problem, check the hoses regularly for cracks and blisters, and be sure to turn off the water supply valves to the washer before leaving home for an extended period of time. Better yet, replace the hoses with steel models, and think about installing an easy-to-reach, single-lever shutoff valve just for the washer.
Stop Freezing Outdoor Faucets
Keep an eye on outdoor faucets year-round to ensure they’re not watering the property without your knowledge, and make repairs and replacements as needed. Once the freezing season looms, turn off all faucets and drain them for winter by loosening the brass cap on the side of each faucet valve to prevent the pipes from freezing and breaking.
How to Spot Water Heater Leaks
Water heaters have fairly long life expectancies (usually 15 to 20 years), but when one leaks, ruptures or otherwise breaks down, you can be in for a waterlogged disaster. Regularly check your water heater for signs of rusting or leakage at tank fittings, and if you spot potential trouble, call in a licensed plumber for a more thorough inspection to determine whether repair or replacement is in order.
Old Plumbing Pipe Problems
Depending on the age of your home and the water lines running to it, pipes made from bygone materials can be major sources for clogs and leaks. Old terra cotta waste lines can become cracked and invaded by roots, and steel pipes are prone to internal rusting that can create quite a buildup, eventually bursting or reducing water pressure to unacceptable levels.
Broken-down waste piping can be treated with two methods: relining, where damaged pipes are left in place but lined with a fiberglass reinforced epoxy, and: pipe bursting, in which a specially designed machine pulls a replacement pipe through the old pipe, splitting the old pipe apart to make room for the new.
As for steel plumbing pipes, take every opportunity to replace them with contemporary materials. The main running from your home to the street, horizontal pipes running through the crawl space, and pipes leading to bathrooms should be at the top of your replacement list, and sectional upgrades can be done anytime you’re making a home repair that involves opening floors or walls.
With the right knowledge about plumbing problems and the appliances that they involve, plumbing problem prevention is easy.
Great info about outdoor faucet winterization. Another thing I do is
place faucet covers, that are made of styrofoam or hard plastic, over
the faucets. It takes less than a minute to install to the faucet and are
easily removed too. No tools or hardware needed. They snug up nicely next to the house siding, and gives
extra protection against all that winter throws at us. They can be found
at hardware/home and garden centers/some box stores. They are re-usable,
and can be used for many years. I can’t say enough about these extra “security blankets”
for your outdoor faucets.
Indeed, an ounce of prevention all year long can go a long way to keeping your plumbing healthy. Thank you for these very helpful tips!
A major plumbing mistake which people usually make is using chemical for cleaning the drain, these chemicals have a serious impact over the galvanized plumbing and with the passage of time it lead towards corrosion in pipes. Therefore, you must adopt alternate ways for cleaning clogged pipes such as using a plumbing auger.
Thank for the post. These are all really great tips to prevent big problems later. I had a water heater go out on my a few years back. My basement flooded, and I needed up having to spend more money on other repairs other than just the water heater. I agree that you need to check up on your equipment to prevent major problems. I should have called in a plumber to check it. Won’t make that mistake twice.
These are really good tips, especially the tip that involves using food coloring to determine whether or not there is a leak in your pipeline. Very simple, but appears to be very efficient. Making sure that your water pipelines are clear and flowing freely helps to conserve water and save money.
My shower gets clogged it seems like every other day. Hopefully using a wet/dry vacuum will help solve my problem for good. Like you say I’d rather do that then spend the time and money on getting my drains cleared with an auger.