You may already be aware that your heating and air conditioning equipment needs annual HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning) maintenance, but were you aware that you also require annual plumbing maintenance by an expert? Service Experts Heating & Air Conditioning offers the Plumbing PLUS™ Maintenance Agreement for Fort Lauderdale homeowners to help them discover issues before they turn into big problems. While you should definitely call immediately for plumbing problems and plan your plumbing maintenance every year, here are a few ways to get your home in tip-top plumbing shape for spring.
- Verify any plumbing leaks
Inspect both 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 enhance the faucet’s performance and may even save you money on your water bill.
Once you’ve checked the faucets, scan any exposed pipes for indications of leaks. You can often find 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 long overdue attention
Examine your toilet for any fractures or leaks in the bowl and the tank. If it looks like it’s in good condition, go ahead and put about six drops of food dye into the tank water. Wait for about 35 minutes and then look at the bowl. If the bowl water is clear, you’re in the clear. If the food coloring appears in the bowl, you might have a leak and should call a plumbing expert.
- Don’t forget your water heater maintenance
If a stench seems to be coming from any of the drains in your home, it be evidence that plumbing maintenance is necessary. A properly operating drain shouldn’t release odors into the air. Verify there are strains installed in all your drains to avoid hair and other waste from spoiling in the pipes and resulting in a clog. Once you’ve treated them with a common drain cleaner, pour a gallon of water through drains that are not used often. This will fill the trap and help to avoid 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 have more energy efficiency, so if yours is more than 15 years old, it is probably about time to invest in a new one to help make sure you don’t have that unpredicted burst of cold water for a week. Whether or not you plan on purchasing an upgraded water heater, there are some 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 decrease your energy use (and help decrease your bills) while also preventing scalding. As a safety precaution, you will want to relocate any items from around the water heater. Your annual Plumbing PLUS Maintenance program includes a water heater maintenance; and it could 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 comfortable performing any of these tasks, you are welcome to call Service Experts Heating & Air Conditioning and we can come out and complete your annual plumbing maintenance and rectify (or help stop) any plumbing problems.