Having good plumbing is an important to having a safe and healthy home. This article lays out some effective tips for maintaining and maintaining your own plumbing.
It is a advisable to have a septic tank pumped every five years to keep it in peak condition. This will keep sediment from building and causing backup into the house, and possibly causing the septic system to fail. It will cost some to have the septic tank pumped, but it would cost much more to have it cleaned, repaired or replaced due to sewage back up.
To prevent pipes from freezing, insulate all exterior pipes and be sure to keep your interior house temperature above freezing, and insulate external pipes. Your pipes can freeze if temperatures around it is below 32 degrees.It may take time in order for the pipes to thaw so that you can have running water. However, your pipes can explode, which will cause an enormous mess and repair bill.
Don’t use harsh chemicals such as toilet tablets that claim to be cleaners in your toilet.These may deodorize, but they have the side effect of damaging the rubber in your toilet, which can prevent your toilet from functioning correctly.
If the water in your toilet is low along with the toilet being clogged, pour some extra water in the bowl to make the plunger effective again. Do this every time the water level gets too low.
Garbage Disposal
Never use your hands in your garbage disposal. Even an un-powered garbage disposal is turned off they can be dangerous. You can search online to get schematics or troubleshooting advice for the disposal that you have.
Keep your garbage disposal clean and it will last longer. By regularly using a mixture of dish soap, cherry pits and citrus rinds, you can ensure that your disposal runs smoothly and smells as fresh as one that is brand new.
Check the floors in your bathroom for soft areas around the floors. You could save money by noticing and treating this problem as early as possible.
By regularly “cleaning” the disposal with lemon rinds, cherry pits and citrus rinds, you can make sure that your garbage disposal is running well and smelling so clean it could be new.
If you operate the disposal on your sink, run plenty of cool water. Cold water will allow for the food particles to be properly disposed of while keeping the blades sharp. If you use hot water, any grease that is in the disposal will turn to liquid, and sit inside of the drain, which can clog your pipes.
Pour baking soda followed by vinegar down your bathtub drain every month. Plug up the opening or cover it with a cloth while the chemical reaction to occur.Wait for a little while, and then use boiling water to flush. This method should open up the pipes of hair build-up and soap scum.
Don’t flush anything that is unlikely to dissolve and wind up clogging pipes, sanitary napkins, tissues, paper towels and cotton balls.
Don’t treat your toilet like a garbage can if you want to avoid a lot of potential plumbing problems. Keep away from flushing improper items down the toilet, like cotton balls, diapers, paper towels, or feminine hygiene products. These types of items can clog your toilet as they do not dissolve. You will also want to use the least amount of toilet paper as required.
Some people think it’s alright to get the cheapest version at the store. The disadvantage to doing so is that they are not highly durable and easily break.
Clean the aerator to adjust water pressure issues due to sediment build up. Take out the aerator, disassemble it, and clean inside with a brush soaked in vinegar.
If you have frozen pipes that can be a very costly repair. However, this can typically be prevented. Make sure that any outdoor pipes are well insulated. And when the temperatures start dropping, you will want to drain your hoses and disconnect them, and then turn off all of the outside faucets. This will keep you from paying too much to your plumber.
Do not expect to clean grout from your plumbing. You can try to break it up the flow get better. This will work better with plastic instead of metal.
Don’t run the water when you use your garbage disposal. The truth is that it might encourage food to adhere to the disposal itself, harming things further.
Check your toilet regularly for leaks. An easy way to determine this is to add a couple drops of food coloring into the toilet tank. If you then see colored water in the toilet bowl shortly after, you know a problem exists that needs tended to.
Valves that get rarely used tend to fuse together. You have to turn them often to avoid sticking, and make sure to turn them once in a while so that they do not start sticking.
Many people have no clue what plumbing entails, and choose to pay whatever the plumber is asking for. If you own your home, it’s important you know enough to understand what a plumber is doing in your house. This also helps prevent them from ripping you to not get ripped off.
Before you have a plumber come out to your house, research their history with your local government consumer affairs department or agency. By doing this you can see if they have any problems with their license and heck on reviews about the quality of their work. Unless a contractor’s license is in favorable standing and up-to-date, you wouldn’t want to work with them.
Choose which drain cleaners wisely. Some of these cleaners have strong chemicals that corrode your pipes.
A pipe snake could be all it takes to clean out a clogged drain stack on your washing machine.
Read the labels and choose a chemical drain cleaner with care. A number of them have strong chemical ingredients that damage pipes. Always be sure to pick a brand that has been announced that it is gentle on pipes. Some of these products contain chemicals which kill certain beneficial bacteria that your plumbing system needs to work correctly. These chemical can also harm people, if ingested.
There are many amateur plumbers, so if you have the time and resources, consider adding an apprentice to your roster. This is a beneficial way get inexpensive help, and it may also help to develop a future business partner.
The heat from the sun can be easy to ignore when you are focused on what you’re doing, but that does not mean that it becomes any less dangerous.
Copper pipes will expand when hot water runs through them. When they expand and contract over a period of time, they will not fit properly in their hangers and can grind and wear against them causing damage. You can wrap your pipes with tape so it stays in the hanger.
Copper pipes are the best to expand and allow hot water travels through them.
What the article above does is illustrate just how easy it is to make repairs to your home’s plumbing. Learning to apply these tips on your own can actually save you a lot of money, and help you in an emergency.
Look for water damage around loose tiles. As the tile gets wet from a water leak, the tiles may start to come loose, and you need to check and see if that’s the case. The situation can be addressed early on if the tiles have indicated the leak to you soon enough.