You may already know that your heating and cooling equipment needs annual HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning) maintenance, but did you realize that you also require annual plumbing maintenance by an expert? Komfort Air Service Experts offers the Plumbing PLUS™ Maintenance Agreement for Charlotte homeowners to help them uncover issues before they become big problems. While you should definitely call immediately for plumbing problems and schedule your plumbing maintenance yearly, here are three ways for you to get your home in ideal plumbing shape for spring.
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, swapping out the fixtures or repairing the leak could help better the faucet’s function and may even reduce your water bill.
In addition to faucets, scan all accessible pipes for indications of leaks. You can often access 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 much needed attention
Inspect your toilet for any cracks or leaks in both the bowl and tank. If it seems to be in good condition, go ahead and pour about six drops of food coloring into the water in the tank. Wait 30 minutes and then look at the bowl. If the bowl water is not colored with the dye, you’re good to go. If the color appears in the bowl, you may have a leak and will want to call a plumbing expert.
- Don’t neglect your water heater maintenance
If a stench seems to be drifting up through any of the drains in your home, it could be an indication that plumbing maintenance is needed. A properly functioning drain shouldn’t release smells into the air. Confirm there are strains placed in all your drains to stop hair and other waste from spoiling in the pipes and resulting in a clog. Following treatment with a common drain cleaner, pour four quarts of water down drains that are not used often. This will fill the trap and help to stop odors from seeping in and stinking up your home.
Your water heater takes good care of you so be sure you’re returning the love. Keep in mind that newer water heaters have a higher efficiency, so if yours is over 15 years old, it may be about time to start looking into a new one in order to ensure you don’t have that sudden burst of cold water for multiple days. Regardless if you plan on purchasing an upgraded water heater, there are some things you can do to help keep it operating properly.
Verify that the temperature is set no higher than 120°F. This will help reduce your energy consumption (and help decrease your bills) while also avoiding scalding. As a safety precaution, you will want to move away anything from around the water heater. Your yearly Plumbing PLUS Maintenance program includes a water heater maintenance; and it may even help your water heater be more efficient and avoid plumbing problems from happening.
These are just a couple ways of how you can help get your plumbing springtime-ready, but if you are not confident performing any of these tasks, always feel free to call Komfort Air Service Experts and we can come out and complete your yearly plumbing maintenance and repair (or help stop) any plumbing problems.