Things You Should Check Before Calling Your Plumber For Maintenance Or Repair

As a homeowner, it’s always important to maintain a functional plumbing system for your everyday use. Whether you’re cooking, washing, or taking a bath, you need a great plumbing system to help you accomplish these jobs. However, just like other parts of your home, your plumbing fixtures can be damaged due to wear and tear and other reasons. As such, you should find time to conduct a thorough inspection to address some common plumbing issues as quickly as possible.

Below are the things you should check before calling your plumber for maintenance or repair:

Water Pressure

One of the important things you should check is the water pressure in your water pipes. Typically, a home’s water pressure shouldn’t be higher than 80psi and not lower than 40psi. When you have too much water pressure in your pipes, it can cause blowouts in all your plumbing lines and fixtures, which, in turn, can result in flood throughout your home. If you don’t want this to happen, you should inspect the water pressure on a regular basis so you’ll know when to call a plumber for their plumbing services. To check the water pressure, the following are some tips to keep in mind:

• Turn on the faucets in your bathroom and kitchen sinks, and turn the water off if the tank is empty.
• Pull a long hose down through the sink and into your basement or crawl space. When you reach the bottom of the hose, you should check if how much water flows from the tap.
• Hold the hose up against the water valve in your home. If there’s a noticeable difference in the level of water that comes out of your tap, then, it’s likely that there’s something wrong with your tank with the water pressure of your tank. Once you verify the situation, it’s now time to call a plumber for maintenance or repair.

Drainage System

Another thing to check before calling a plumber for maintenance and repair is the drainage system. When you get your drains checked and cleaned up, you can help eliminate harmful bacteria and reduce the risk of illnesses for you and your family members. Also, the unpleasant odor coming from your drains can spread through your home, making it unlivable for a specific period of time. Because of this, it’s important to inspect your drainage system regularly to avoid further damage to your plumbing system. To get started with the inspection, you should use an ice cube. This method works well if you have a large-sized pipe in your home because a smaller pipe will be difficult to break through. The next thing that you need to do is remove the drain plug that goes from the pipe that’s clogged. This is the perfect way to check for clogged drains in your home.

Water Heater

Aside from the water leaks, checking your home’s water heater is also important to ensure a functional plumbing system for your daily needs. The basic job of the heater is to turn the cold water inside the house into hot water so you can use it for bathing and other activities. However, the water inside the heater may get contaminated by dirt, debris, algae, or other forms of pollutants. For this reason, you should inspect your water heater by doing the following:

• Wait until it’s cooler to check the heater. From there, check the machine’s age. If it’s too cold, it’ll be difficult for the heater to maintain a high temperature in your home. However, if the heater is still new, it may have some parts that need fixing as soon as possible.
• When you turn the machine on, make sure that the tap water is cool to the touch before you start the heating process. Once it has heated up, you’ll notice that the water temperature rises and decreases. The reason for this is that the heater needs to maintain a proper level of heat.

Leaks

You should also check any signs of leaks in your home before you hire a professional plumbing company for maintenance and repair. That way, you can avoid major water damage that can impact your drains and other pipes throughout your home. Remember, unknown and unrepaired water leaks can cause a lot of damage not just to your plumbing system, but to your home due to the presence of water spots, mold, and mildew. To check for water leaks, you can usually do it by hand with some basic equipment. The main tool that you’ll need is a flashlight and a few pieces of tape to put around the area to be checked. Start at the bottom of the faucet and make sure that there’s no dampness under it. Then, take the flashlight to the water level in the room. From there, you should check whether the area is filled with water.

Conclusion

These are just a few basic things that you should check before calling a plumber for maintenance or repair. By inspecting these things first, you’ll know the extent of the problem and determine whether or not your home already needs professional plumbing services. If repairs or replacements are necessary, make sure to hire the right contractor to avoid plumbing issues from worsening.