You may already be aware that your heating and AC equipment needs yearly HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning) maintenance, but were you aware that you also need to call an expert for annual plumbing maintenance? Bryant Heating & Cooling Service Experts offers the Plumbing PLUS™ Maintenance Agreement for Windsor homeowners to help them uncover issues before they become big problems. While we recommend calling immediately for plumbing problems and plan your plumbing maintenance every year, here are a few ways for you to get your home in tip-top plumbing shape for spring.
Inspect all your faucets and toilets for any leaks. Make sure there isn’t any water dripping out of or around the connections when you turn off your faucets. If there is, installing new fixtures or repairing the leak could help improve the faucet’s operation and may even save you money on your water bill.
After the faucets, inspect any exposed pipes for signs of leaks. You can typically see visible pipes below sinks and down in the basement. In extreme weather pipes can freeze and crack, so springtime is great to make sure the winter weather didn’t damage anything that could cause plumbing problems.
- Give your drains some much needed attention
Check your toilet for any leaks or cracks in the bowl and the tank. If everything looks like it’s in good shape, go ahead and add about six drops of food coloring into the actual tank. Wait half an hour and then peak at the bowl. If the bowl water is clear, you’re good to go. If the color appears in the bowl, you might have a leak and will want to call a plumbing expert.
- Don’t neglect your water heater maintenance
If a stench seems to be drifting up through any of the drains in your home, it be a sign that plumbing maintenance is needed. A properly functioning drain shouldn’t release a stench into the air. Verify there are strains placed in all your drains to prevent hair and other waste from spoiling in the pipes and clogging them up. Once you’ve treated them with a common drain cleaner, pour eight pints of water through drains that are not used often. This will fill the trap and help to avoid odors from seeping in and stinking up your home.
Your water heater takes good care of you so make sure you’re returning the favor. Remember that newer water heaters have a higher efficiency, so if yours is over 15 years old, it may be about time to start looking into a new one to help make sure you don’t have that sudden burst of cold water for several days. Regardless if you plan on investing in a new water heater, there are a couple things you can do to help keep it functioning properly.
Make sure the temperature setting on the equipment is not set higher than 120°F. This will help reduce your energy usage (and help reduce your bills) while also evading scalding. As a safety precaution, you will want to relocate any objects from around the water heater. Your yearly Plumbing PLUS Maintenance program includes a water heater maintenance; and it could even help your water heater run more efficiently and avoid plumbing problems in the future.
These are just some ways of how you can help get your plumbing springtime-ready, but if you are not comfortable performing any of these tasks, always feel free to call Bryant Heating & Cooling Service Experts and we can come out and conduct your yearly plumbing maintenance and fix (or help stop) any plumbing problems.