Plumbing maintenance is one of the biggest responsibilities of home ownership. When something goes wrong with the plumbing in your home, you may want to bring in a plumber, but it just may not be in the budget. Read on to learn some amazingly useful tips to help you keep your home plumbing in great shape all by yourself!
Knowing all your different tools and how they are used will be a great help when you work on a plumbing job. You should read the manual with any new tool you purchase. If you don’t have the manual, look online or at your local library for more information. You should do the same amount of research on the steps required for your project. Be sure to have a plan ahead of time before trying any type of repair, it could very expensive to fix the mistake.
Garbage Disposal
If your garbage disposal stops working, never try to fix it by reaching down with your hands. Garbage disposals pose a serious risk, even when flipped off. Locate a diagram of the garbage disposal, or some sort of troubleshooter, online.
Don’t put things like fat, oil or grease down your drains. Grease hardens when it cools and will clog your pipes. This is most true if you use a garbage disposal, as the fat causes the blades to function slower and they will become less efficient. Keep a container in your kitchen that is used specifically for discarded grease.
Use lots of cold water when you run your garbage disposal. The helps sharpen the blades and clears out the drain mechanism. If you use hot water, any grease in the disposal will liquefy, causing it to accumulate further down the drain, which could cause clogs.
In order to keep your plumbing bills as low as possible, keep in mind prevention is key. One of the most common repairs involves fixing drain clogs. Clogs in drains can be caused by hair, among other things. Avoid this by using a drain cover or screen that keeps hair and other particles from clogging your pipes. Getting the hair off the screen is much simpler than removing it from the pipe.
Frozen pipes are on of the most expensive plumbing problems. Fortunately, you can generally prevent your pipes from freezing. Make sure that any outdoor pipes are well insulated. When it gets cooler, drain and disconnect the hoses and shut off your outside faucet. This will help to save you money on plumbing bills.
Don’t bother running your water when you use the garbage disposal. Water does nothing to make the garbage disposal work more efficiently, even though many people seem to think that it makes the process smoother. Running water can help clear debris and keep the disposal’s temperature down, but it can also cause sticky materials to clog the disposal.
Check to see if you have toilet leaks. A great way to do to this is to drop a couple of food coloring drops into your toilet tank. Look at the bowl carefully. If you notice colored water in several seconds, then you know your toilet is leaking badly, and you need to fix this as soon as possible.
If waste material comes up the wrong way into your toilet, you have something clogging the works below the street. When your personal efforts can’t deal with such a clog, your only option is to have the line snaked out by a professional plumber.
Rarely used valves can sometimes fuse together. Taking the time to clean these valves may save you time and money in the future.
Before hiring a plumber, check their credentials against the local licensing agency or municipal authority. This will allow you to be sure that they are properly licensed and that they have not received a ton of complaints from previous clients. If a contractor’s license has expired or isn’t in good standing, you don’t want to hire that contractor.
Plumbing is not limited to water. Many skills are needed to be a plumber with expertise. Plumbers fix water lines, install water heaters and help customers choose fixtures.
Carefully choose drain cleaners. A number of them have strong chemical ingredients that damage pipes. Choose a product advertised as being gentle on pipes. Harsh chemicals can destroy the helpful bacteria in your system which will lead to other problems and many chemicals are very harmful to humans.
You need to learn the size of the hot water tank needed for your home if you want to use your water heater in the most efficient manner possible. Knowing how many appliances and people use the hot water in the house can help you become aware of the size that is best for your house.
By now, you have learned a number of great ways to maintain your plumbing. Apply what you have learned here, and build on that knowledge. You will find new confidence in being able to fix plumbing problems without having the expense of a professional plumber.