Are You Clueless About Plumbing? Look At This Piece
Are you doing your plumbing for the first time? You probably don’t even know where to start. It’s no secret that doing your plumbing for the first time can be a bit overwhelming. Below are some tips that can help to make maintaining your plumbing a bit smoother.
Before starting any plumbing project on your own, be sure to do a great deal of research. There are many resources available to help you understand your plumbing system and help you avoid many common mistakes made by do-it-yourself novices. Reading about other people’s mistakes can make the difference in saving or losing money.
To avoid frozen pipes in your home, never allow your house’s temperature to drop below freezing and insulate any pipes exposed to the elements. Your pipes can freeze if temperatures around them fall below freezing. It can take hours for frozen pipes to thaw and water to run freely again in the best situation. The worst-case scenario is a busted pipe and a costly repair.
You need to winter-proof your house. You have to make sure you switch the master circuit breaker or the shut-off valve before leaving your home. Since one small hole or congested water can quickly freeze and cause pipes to break and expand, you need to drain and open all outdoor and household water lines.
Always keep your garbage disposal clean. You can do this in many ways. Pour some dish soap in and let the removal run for a few minutes with some cold water. Be sure to run it regularly. If not, it can cause rust. To eliminate foul odors, grind lemon or other citrus peels. You can clean the walls of the disposal by grinding small fruit pits or eggshells.
Set the temperature on your water heater to a temperature that does not exceed 120 degrees. This helps save energy and prevents the water from becoming too hot and potentially scalding someone in your household. Older models that do not have a temperature setting should be set on Medium.
Don’t shrug off that trickle coming from your toilet as a small problem, it could lead to a clogged toilet. Even the tiniest leak can be quite expensive in the long run as you end up wasting potentially hundreds of gallons of water. See if you can find the root of the leak, seek out professional advice, and keep your toilet running efficiently.
When you wash your hands, be sure that you have not left any soap on the faucet handles. What people do not know is that leaving soap on these fixtures can cause fixtures to corrode. Just take two seconds after you are done washing your hands to remove excess soap from the handles.
You can use two different methods to remove clean out plugs. You can loosen the fitting with a hammer and a chisel. Your other option to try is to chisel through the out plug.
If the water heater in your house is over ten years old, you should look at replacing it. Water heaters are very susceptible to corrosion on the bottom. This can lead to leaking and flooding whatever room it is in. Then not only will you have to replace it, but you’ll have to fix any damage caused by the leak.
As you have seen, doing your plumbing is not as scary as it may appear at first. Just think of all of the benefits it has and all of the expenses it can take care of, along with all of the money it can save you in the long run.