18/01/2023
Plumbing Maintenance Checklist:
What You Should Be Doing Daily, Weekly, and Seasonally
Did you know your home plumbing system makes up about 15 % of your total home value?
A smoothly operating, efficient plumbing system enables you to have clean,
fresh water as close as your tap.
Proper functioning plumbing systems have other benefits as well:
Why Worry About Plumbing Maintenance?
Taking care of your home’s plumbing is essential to keeping the clean water flowing in and flushing your home’s waste out.
Most people don’t think about their plumbing until a problem arises.
By then, however, they are left with a huge mess and, ultimately, a large bill.
This can be avoided:
Plumbing maintenance is something you should do regularly to catch small problems that can turn into large, expensive problems later.
Maintenance also helps you conserve water and save on energy bills.
Not only could faulty-working plumbing parts cause more expensive issues later, but they can also waste money in the meantime.
One small leak can waste a lot of water.
As the water comes out drip by drip, it adds up.
It only takes 4,000 drips to waste one liter of water.
One drip per minute from just one faucet in your home adds up to about 1, 440 drips per day and 128.70liter per year!
Daily Maintenance Tips
What you do daily can affect your plumbing. Daily maintenance includes preventing clogs, which are one of the most common plumbing issues homeowners faces.
Why worry about clogged drains?
Clogs are not only nuisances, but they also shorten the lifespan of your waste pipes by adding extra pressure and added stress.
Even a slow drain can cause problems, so it’s best to get a clog cleared before it becomes a complete blockage.
Better yet, prevent blockages in the first place.
You use your home plumbing daily, so you need to care for it daily.
But how? You can do so by following a few simple plumbing maintenance tips to keep your water moving through your pipes and waste exiting your home.
The bathroom and kitchen are the two rooms in your home that supply the most water and are at the highest risk of developing plumbing issues.
In the Kitchen
Kitchen drains often clog due to debris or wastes going down the sink that shouldn’t. To prevent clogged drains in this room, never put grease or oils down the sink. This includes cooking oils and fats, such as butter, that can congeal in the pipes, blocking water flow.
Improper use of the garbage disposal is another common reason for clogged kitchen drains. Follow this kitchen plumbing maintenance checklist to help you avoid this problem:
Always turn your water and disposal on before adding food.
Never put fibrous or stringy food wastes down the disposal.
These include banana peels, celery, potato peels, and other foods that are difficult to grind up.
Always allow the cold water to run for at least 15 seconds after using the disposal. This ensures food wastes are flushed down the main line.
Run your dishwasher at night to conserve hot water and maintain good water pressure throughout the day.
In the Bathroom
The bathroom is another room where drains often become clogged.
You can reduce clogs and even prevent them by following this plumbing maintenance checklist:
Keep shower and sink drains flowing freely by reducing your use of bath oils and installing screens over drains to prevent hair from going down the drain.
Avoid toilet clogs by not using it as a trash can.
Ideally, only human waste and toilet paper should be flushed.
While tampons and some wipes are labelled as flushable, it is better not to do so.
Wait about 10 minutes between showers to help maintain proper water pressure and hot water throughout the day.
Maintaining proper water pressure helps prevent unwanted stress on your home plumbing system.
Avoid using chemical clog removal products that can cause more harm than good. These products can corrode your pipes!
Think of all the products you use to wash, moisturize and condition. They are often oily or greasy in order to provide moisture for your skin and hair.
Once they make their way down your drain, however, they can cling to pipes, attract other debris and cause blockages.
Weekly Maintenance
Checking on your pipes once a week is a great idea for all homeowners. This is a good way to prevent small problems from becoming huge, costly ones. Some weekly plumbing maintenance includes the following:
Check for leaks. Look under the sinks for signs of moisture, such as puddles of water, watermarks, a musty smell and mould growth.
Test all sink and shower drain for speed or drainage. If bubbles appear while water drains, it is usually a sign of a slow drain.
All drains should have a full swirl while the water goes down.
Test each water tap in your home — water shouldn’t be coming out of the handles or valves.
Clean your lint traps on your washing machine.
Small leaks can waste up to 1 trillion litters of water a year nationwide.
Leak detection isn’t too difficult if you know some of the most common places where leaks occur in your home’s plumbing system.
These include:
Pipe Valves
Faucets
Worn toilet flappers
Drippy shower heads
Loose pipe fittings
All these are easily fixed by replacing fixtures.
Usually, they don’t cost much, but they do prevent costly water bills over time.
