You may already understand that your heating and cooling equipment needs seasonal HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning) maintenance, but did you know that you also require annual plumbing maintenance by an expert? Golden Seal Service Experts offers the Plumbing PLUS™ Maintenance Agreement for Saint Charles homeowners to help them locate issues before they result in big problems. While we recommend calling immediately for plumbing problems and schedule your plumbing maintenance yearly, here are a few ways to get your home in tip-top plumbing shape for spring.
- Verify any plumbing leaks
Check all your faucets and toilets for any leaks. Confirm there is no water dripping out of or around the connections when you shut off your faucets. If there is, installing new fixtures or repairing the leak could help better the faucet’s operation and may even reduce your water bill.
In addition to faucets, examine all accessible pipes for evidence of leaks. You can often access visible pipes in basements and below sinks. Extreme weather can cause pipes to freeze and sometimes crack so spring is the ideal time to make sure the winter weather didn’t cause any damage that would result in plumbing problems.
- Give your drains some seriously overdue care
Check your toilet for any leaks or cracks in both the bowl and tank. If your toilet looks like it’s in good working order, go ahead and pour about six drops of food color into the water in the tank. Wait half an hour and then peak at the bowl. If the bowl is not colored with the dye, you’re fine. If the food coloring appears in the bowl, you possibly have a leak and will want to call a plumbing expert.
- Remember your water heater maintenance
If something foul seems to be coming from any of the drains in your home, it might be an indication that plumbing maintenance is necessary. A properly running drain shouldn’t release odors into the air. Confirm there are strains placed in all your drains to prevent hair and other remains from spoiling in the pipes and causing them to clog. Once you’ve treated them with a common drain cleaner, pour four quarts of water down drains that are not used frequently. This will fill the trap and help to prevent odors from getting in and smelling up your home.
Your water heater takes excellent care of you so be sure you’re returning the love. Remember that newer water heaters are going to be more energy efficient, so if yours is more than 15 years old, it may be about time to purchase a new one to help make sure you don’t have that unexpected burst of cold water for a week. Regardless if you plan on purchasing an upgraded water heater, there are a couple things you can do to help keep it working properly.
Make sure the temperature setting on the equipment is not set higher than 120°F. This will help reduce your energy consumption (and help reduce your bills) while also avoiding scalding. As a safety precaution, you will want to relocate anything from around the water heater. Your annual Plumbing PLUS Maintenance program includes a water heater maintenance; and it could even help your water heater run more efficiently and avoid plumbing problems in the future.
These are just a couple ways of how you can help get your plumbing ready for the season, but if you are not comfortable performing any of these tasks, please call Golden Seal Service Experts and we can come out and conduct your seasonal plumbing maintenance and rectify (or help stop) any plumbing problems.