Written by-Hackett Brogaard
Are you doing your own plumbing for the first time? You probably don't even know where to start. It's no secret that doing your own plumbing for the first time can be a bit overwhelming. Below are some tips that can help to make maintaining your own plumbing a bit smoother.
Do not put cooking oils, fat, or grease, down your drain. These fats cause clogs by solidifying in pipes. To properly dispose of fats, put them in a bowl with a lid that you can dispose of. Once it gets hard, throw it in the trash or compost bin.
To avoid clogs, pay attention to what you flush. Sanitary napkins, thick toilet paper and baby wipes should never be flushed. These items can expand and cause a clog, or get caught on a pipe. Instead, dispose of them in a sanitary way that does not involve flushing them down the toilet.
At least once a year remove the faucet aerator and clean the screens. This helps it properly function. The function of a faucet aerator is to allow for an even flow of water and to conserve water. Be sure to clean out the aerator and you'll notice a these things working.
You need to winter-proof your house. You have to make sure you switch of the master circuit breaker or the shut-off valve before you leave your house. Since one small hole or congested water can quickly freeze and cause pipes to break and expand, you need to drain and open all outdoor and household water lines.
Try to limit the amount of hair that goes down your drains. Hair can become tangled up in the pipe and end up blocking up the them, preventing water from flowing smoothly. Buy a cheap screened drain cover to put over your drain to stop any hair from going down and clean it off regularly.
Be careful with putting household cleaners in your toilet. They can cause the toilet to malfunction. The debris that these cleaners leave can sit in your toilet's pipes and harden, making them almost impossible to get rid of. If it does harden, it usually requires the help of a professional.
Teach your children how to notice plumbing problems. Many parents handle plumbing issues without sharing that information with their children, who grow up not knowing anything about plumbing. Any time you make a small repair or notice a problem, call your kids in and explain what the problem is and what you are going to do. Educate them so they can make good decisions in the future.
To make sure there is no accident or sudden rush of water when you tackle a plumbing project, make sure you are ready for a cleanup. If you go into the work with a huge stack of towels and blankets ready to absorb water, the prospect of needing to actually do it will keep you alert enough to avoid triggering the accident in the first place.
Keep an eye on your monthly water bill to catch plumbing problems. Has your water bill gone up recently, even though nothing's changed? This could indicate a water leak or appliance problem somewhere inside or outside of your home. Check under sinks for rusted pipes, look for water puddles under outside faucets, and consider having a plumber come out to listen to your pipes to detect running water.
If
Emergency tub drain need to remove a clean out plug, and you are not having much luck, there are two methods used to help you do this. A hammer and chisel can be used to slacken the fitting. If the plug itself is expendable, chiseling it into pieces and extracting them can work, too.
To be able to get a good plumber you can be comfortable with, remember which of your friends are actual home owners and not renting. At some point, every home owner has had to call in a plumber. They can give you a good personal reference they had a positive experience with.
Frozen pipes can lead to many problems, most of them expensive to fix. So you want to avoid that at all costs. To avoid frozen pipes, make sure the temperature in your home never drops below 55 degrees. Look for any air leaks around your pipes and make sure they're sealed up.
If your sewer and main lines keep clogging up, then it is very possible that you have a tree root blockage problem. There are over the counter products you can buy to attempt to get rid of this problem. This is very effective, yet the problem is usually very extensive. Therefore, it may require a professional to come out and solve the problem completely.
Do not shock yourself! Water and electricity do not mix well! If you are working with both electrical and plumbing issues at the same time, then you must avoid crossing them. Beware! The two together can be deadly! When water and electricity are mixed, the risk of getting a shock can be incredibly high, as well as deadly.
If you have an automatic sprinkler system, you want to consider getting a spring-loaded timer which can be attached directly to your hose. This prevents your lawn from getting too much water in case you forget to turn your system off. Getting too much water could kill your grass and plants.
Make sure that you avoid throwing fats down the drain after you clean up your meal. Fats can solidify over time which can cause a drainage problem and corrupt your water flow. Throw out fats and different types of cooking oils in the garbage after you finish with your meal.
If you have hard water, check intake hoses for washing machines and ice makers often to prevent them from splitting open from buildup. Lime scale remover can be used to remove buildup, but replacing hoses is an economical method as well to take care of the issue. Change out hoses when you change the batteries in your smoke alarms to stop unexpected floods.
If you hear loud, vibrating noises coming from your pipes, you may want to consider adding air chambers to the end of the pipes and tightening them. Usually,
Emergency fix plumbing problems are caused from opening and closing faucets too quickly and tightening the pipes and adding air chambers can fix this problem.
In conclusion, there is a lot that you can easily do in your own home when it comes to dealing with plumbing issues. Hopefully you learned a few things and will be able to act on them. Use this advice today and be confident in all of the plumbing work that you do.