Expert Guide to Spring Plumbing Maintenance

You may already know that your heating and AC equipment needs annual HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning) maintenance, but were you aware that you also should have an expert perform your annual plumbing maintenance? Service Experts Heating, Air Conditioning & Plumbing offers the Plumbing PLUS™ Maintenance Agreement for Canada homeowners to help them discover issues before they result in big problems. While you should always call for plumbing problems and schedule your plumbing maintenance annually, here are a couple ways to get your home in ideal plumbing shape for spring.

• • Verify any plumbing leaks

Look at your home’s faucets and toilets for any leaks. Make sure there isn’t any water dripping out of or around the connections when you turn off your faucets. If there is, swapping out the fixtures or repairing the leak could help boost the faucet’s performance and may even lower your water bill.

After the faucets, examine all exposed pipes for signs of leaks. You can usually see visible pipes in the basement and under sinks. In extreme weather pipes can freeze and crack, so springtime is great to make sure the winter weather didn’t damage anything that could cause plumbing problems.

• •       Give your drains some seriously overdue TLC

Check your toilet for any leaks or cracks in both the tank and the bowl. If it looks like it’s in good working order, go ahead and add about six drops of food dye into the water in the tank. Wait 30 minutes and then peak at the bowl. If the water in the bowl is not colored with the dye, you’re good to go. If the dye appears in the bowl, you might have a leak and will want to call a plumbing expert.

• •       Don’t forget your water heater maintenance

If an unpleasant odor seems to be coming from any of the drains in your home, it could be a sign that plumbing maintenance is necessary. A properly functioning drain shouldn’t release smells into the air. Check to make sure there are strains installed 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 eight pints of water into drains that are not used regularly. This will fill the trap and help to prevent odors from coming in and filling up your home.

Your water heater takes excellent care of you so be sure you’re returning the love. Keep in mind that newer water heaters are going to be more energy efficient, so if yours is older than 15 years, it may be about time to start looking into a new one in order to ensure you don’t have that unexpected burst of cold water for several days. Regardless if you plan on investing in a new water heater, there are some things you can do to help keep it running properly.

Verify that the temperature is set no higher than 120°F. This will help lower your energy use (and help reduce your bills) while also avoiding scalding. For the purpose of safety, you will want to relocate anything from around the water heater. Your annual Plumbing PLUS Maintenance plan includes a water heater maintenance; and it may actually help your water heater operate more efficiently and avoid plumbing problems in the future.

These are just a few ways of how you can help get your plumbing springtime-ready, but if you are not comfortable performing any of these tasks, please call Service Experts Heating, Air Conditioning & Plumbing and we can come out and complete your annual plumbing maintenance and repair (or help avoid) any plumbing problems.