Avoid These Common Plumbing Headaches to Enjoy Your Holiday Season

As the holiday season approaches, there is a flurry of preparation to get ready to embrace the season. While you are completing your to-do list, don’t forget about some key home maintenance activities, especially when it comes to your plumbing.

It would really put a damper on your holiday plans to have to deal with a plumbing emergency, say from a frozen pipe. Here is how to keep that and other plumbing problems from happening.

Make Sure Your Home is Heated to 55°F or Higher

It’s a common practice for people to turn the heat down if they are going to be traveling. However, if you turn it down too low, you run the risk of your pipes freezing if cold weather arrives in your absence. Even though it will cost slightly more to run the heat a little higher, you are saving yourself from costly damage that would occur from a plumbing emergency.

Check the Shut-Off Valves

Remove any hoses from outdoor faucets and drain them completely. From the inside, ensure that they safety shut-off valve is turned on. Believe it or not, pooled water within your outdoor faucets can pose a flooding threat to your home’s interior if it freezes.

Check the Indoor Faucets

If you notice leaking around a faucet or if a faucet doesn’t turn on, your pipes may be damaged as a result of freezing that may have occurred when you were on the road. When you get back from your travels, check each faucet to make sure that water flows freely.

Don’t Forget the Sump Pump

Of all the equipment that you have in your home, your sump pump could potentially save the day, should you experience flooding or a plumbing emergency, like a burst pipe. It’s recommended that you get it inspected by a professional on an annual basis.

At least once a season, clean the area within the sump pit from debris, which might prevent it from working when the moment comes. To test that it is in working order, dump a couple of buckets of water in the sump pit. The pump should switch on automatically. If it doesn’t switch on properly, get it fixed immediately.

Keep Exposed Pipes from Freezing

Every little bit of insulation can help prevent your pipes from freezing. Give extra warmth to pipes that are more vulnerable, like pipes installed in exterior walls, or in less well-heated areas of your home (like basements and crawl spaces). It’s as quick and easy as wrapping them in a little foam insulation.

It’s a good idea to wrap the pipes coming directly from your hot water tank too. It effectively raises your water temperature by at least a couple of degrees, which will save you money.

Water Heater Jacket

Speaking of hot water and saving money, wrapping a little extra insulation around your water heater in the form of a jacket is an effective extra measure to take. Having properly heated water flowing through your pipes is another way to prevent freezing.

For more help with your holiday plumbing preparations, call Laney's Inc., today. Call (701) 237-0543 today for trustworthy service in Fago, ND and the surrounding area.