Chances are if your plumbing system develops a serious issue that requires professional attention, it’ll happen on the weekend, super early in the morning, or in the middle of the night. And unfortunately for you, 24/7 emergency plumbing service almost always costs quite a bit more than service during normal business hours.
But if you take good care of your home’s plumbing system, there’s a good chance you’ll never need to call on an emergency plumber for help. To help you avoid appliance breakdowns, plumbing clogs, leaky pipes, and flooding, our experts at Steve’s Plumbing & Heating are sharing a few useful tips they really want you to know.
1. Know Where Your Water Main Is Located
If you don’t know where the main shutoff valve for your household water supply is located, now is the time to find it. Whether you own your home or rent, it’s critical that you know where this valve is to properly handle a pipe leak or a more severe flooding emergency.
You should also know where any other emergency water shut-off valves are located throughout your house, as well as how to use them. If you’re unfamiliar with how to properly turn off a water shut-off valve, ask a plumber for advice. And while you’re at it, it’s never a bad idea to schedule an inspection to make sure your valves are in proper working order.
2. Never Flush Hygiene Products
The only things that belong in your toilet are toilet paper and human waste. Even if a hygiene product is labeled “flushable,” don’t flush it! These products include:
● Feminine hygiene products
● Personal hygiene wipes
● Makeup wipes
● Cotton pads
● Disposable toilet scrubbers
● Cat litter (yes, people flush this)
None of these products — regardless of what their labels might claim — disintegrate quickly enough to pass through your pipes safely. An accidental flush every now and then shouldn’t cause a major problem, but when you repeatedly flush hygiene items, they can accumulate in the pipes and ultimately cause clogged drains.
3. Avoid Using Toilet Fresheners
If you’re in the habit of using drop-in toilet fresheners, ditch them. While they might make your toilet water look and smell clean and fresh, they’re actually harmful to your commode.
Freshener tablets contain harsh chemicals that can deteriorate your toilet’s working components over time, which will eventually cause a breakdown. Plus, as the tablets break down, they can get stuck in the toilet’s valve and prevent it from flushing.
4. Don’t Reach For the Drano
When you’re dealing with slow drains, don’t reach for chemical drain cleaners! Though these products are widely marketed, they rarely clear drains completely and they’re not actually safe for your plumbing system.
Drano and other chemical-based drain cleaning products contain harsh chemicals that can corrode the interior of your pipes. And if they can corrode your plumbing, that means they’re not safe for you to handle, either. Anytime you’re dealing with slow drains, contact a plumber or drain cleaning specialist. Drain snaking and other pipe cleaning methods are far safer and more effective.
5. Replace Your Appliance Hoses Regularly
If you’re not already in the habit of replacing the hoses on your dishwasher and washing machine, now is the time to start. Water hoses deteriorate silently and usually burst without warning, so your best protection against flooding is to replace them at regular intervals. Most plumbers recommend changing them out every five years.
6. Avoid Pouring Greasy Substances Down the Sink
Are you guilty of pouring oils, bacon grease, or other fatty cooking substances down your kitchen sink? If so, your plumber wants you to know there’s no time like the present to stop doing that.
Drains aren’t designed to accommodate greasy substances. And even if you have a garbage disposal, you still shouldn’t pour grease into it.
When you pour hot fats and oil into your drains, they might stay liquidy for a while, but as they travel through the pipe, they’ll begin to solidify, creating a thick coating along the pipe’s interior. As other materials pass through the pipe, they get caught up in that coating, and as you continue pouring more grease down the drain, you’ll eventually end up with a serious drain clog.
7. Let Faucets Drip to Avoid Frozen Plumbing
Have you had issues with frozen pipes in the past? If so, you may be able to avoid those issues next winter — and prevent burst pipes, flooding, and expensive plumbing repairs — by allowing your faucets to drip just a bit when you’re not using them. That’s especially true if you let your faucets drip during the night, when outdoor temperatures drop and your pipes are most likely to freeze.
8. Your Garbage Disposal Is Not a Trash Can
You might love your garbage disposal, but ask any plumber what their least-favorite appliance is, and they’ll likely tell you it’s that food-scrap-eating machine. Why the distaste?
Because most people treat their garbage disposals like an in-sink trash can and end up creating massive clogs or breaking the apparatus. Disposals aren’t capable of handling large amounts of food at once, and they’re also not designed to handle fibrous or starchy foods. Coffee grounds, nuts, seeds, shells, and sticky or greasy substances also do not belong in your garbage disposal.
For tips on keeping your disposal clog free and in great condition, check out Maintaining Your Garbage Disposal: What You Need to Know.
Need Plumbing Repairs Near Wisconsin Rapids?
If you’re dealing with household plumbing problems, don’t hesitate to get in touch with our team at Steve’s Plumbing & Heating. We specialize in a wide variety of residential plumbing services and serve Wisconsin Rapids, Stevens Point, Marshfield, Wausau, and the surrounding areas. To learn more or request a service estimate, give us a call today at 715-421-1800 or send us a message.