You may already be aware that your heating and cooling equipment needs seasonal HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning) maintenance, but did you realize that you also require annual plumbing maintenance by an expert? Finch Air Conditioning & Heating offers the Plumbing PLUS™ Maintenance Agreement for Kingwood homeowners to help them find issues before they become big problems. While you should always call for plumbing problems and schedule your plumbing maintenance annually, here are a few ways you can get your home in ideal plumbing shape for spring.
Check 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, installing new fixtures or repairing the leak could help better the faucet’s operation and may even reduce your water bill.
After the faucets, examine all exposed pipes for evidence of leaks. You can typically access visible pipes below sinks and down in the basement. Sometimes pipes can freeze and then crack so spring is the perfect time to make sure the winter weather didn’t cause any damage or plumbing problems.
- Give your drains some much needed care
Check your toilet for any leaks or cracks in the bowl and the tank. If it looks like it’s in good working order, go ahead and pour about six drops of food dye into the water in the tank. Wait half an hour and then peak at the bowl. If the water in the bowl is not colored with the dye, you’re in the clear. If the color appears in the bowl, you may have a leak and should call a plumbing expert.
- Remember your water heater maintenance
If a stench seems to be drifting up through any of the drains in your home, it be a sign that plumbing maintenance is needed. A properly functioning drain shouldn’t release odors into the air. Check to make sure there are strains placed in all your drains to stop hair and other debris from spoiling in the pipes and clogging them up. Once you’ve treated them with a common drain cleaner, pour a gallon of water through drains that are not used regularly. This will fill the trap and help to prevent odors from getting in and stinking up your home.
Your water heater takes good care of you so make sure you’re returning the love. Keep in mind that newer water heaters have a higher efficiency, so if yours is more than 15 years old, it may be about time to start looking into a new one to be sure you don’t have that sudden 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 lower your bills) while also preventing scalding. For the purpose of safety, you will want to remove any objects from around the water heater. Your annual Plumbing PLUS Maintenance plan includes a water heater maintenance; and it may actually help your water heater run more efficiently and avoid plumbing problems in the future.
These are just a couple ways of how you could help get your plumbing ready for the season, but if you are not comfortable completing any of these tasks, always feel free to call Finch Air Conditioning & Heating and we can come out and perform your seasonal plumbing maintenance and repair (or help prevent) any plumbing problems.