Enjoy this Year’s Holiday Season by Avoiding These Irritating Plumbing Complications

As you prepare your home for guests this holiday season, take a few minutes to check out your plumbing. It’s best to identify any potential problems before they develop into something else altogether. Whether it is taking care of a leaky faucet or clogged toilet, you’ll not want to wrestle with that when you should be settling in to enjoy a holiday meal with your guests.

Specifically, when it comes to your pipes, there are a few things that you can do to avoid any plumbing emergencies this holiday season.

Take Care of Your Sump Pump

Take care of your sump pump, and it will take care of you if your home should be flooded. And as anyone who has experienced a burst pipe can tell you, it doesn’t take long for your home to fill up with water.

Sump pumps have a fairly short lifespan, so consider getting it inspected on a regular basis, just to be safe. Once a season, clean debris from the valve.

Protect the Water Heater from the Cold

If your water heater is in an area of your home that isn’t well insulated, it might be working harder than it should be to keep water warm to flow through your pipes. Newer water tanks are often already insulated. If you have an older tank or want a little extra protection, consider getting a water heater jacket, which is very effective at insulating the tank. It’s an energy efficient move as well.

Protect Exposed Pipes from the Cold

If you’ve got exterior pipes that are vulnerable or pipes that run through under insulated walls (think basement, crawl space and garage) wrap them in foam insulation. It’s easy to do, and it can make the difference between your pipes freezing and causing costly damage, or continuing to run smoothly.

Turn Off the Shut-Off Valves to Outdoor Hoses

Ideally, you should have removed hoses from faucets as part of your fall home maintenance, but if it got overlooked, take care of it today. Drain the faucets and then turn off the shut-off valves (located just inside the faucet). This will help protect the rest of your piping.

Make Sure Water Flows Freely from All of Your Faucets

Do a quick diagnostic tour of your faucets to make sure that they are flowing well. If you come across one that isn’t working, you may have a frozen pipe to blame. Call in help from your plumber before it escalates.

Keep the Thermostat Warm

It’s common practice to turn the heat down if you are going to be away, but make sure that you don’t turn it down too much. You need the interior of your home to be warm (no lower than 55 degrees) in order to prevent pipes from getting too cold.

Don’t let the stress of a plumbing problem ruin your holiday. If you should encounter problems in Independence, MO, don’t hesitate to call us. We’d love to have the chance to help. Call All-N-One Plumbing at (816) 886-7600.