Category Archives: plumbing tips

Dec '24

Professional Tips for Long-Lasting Pipes: Maintenance and Prevention

The plumbing systems in buildings are similar to the city streets and highways that cars travel on. Newly-built highways are immaculate and great fun to drive on. But if they are not cleaned and maintained properly, dirt will accumulate, and potholes will form, warns Shannon Management team.

If those potholes are not fixed, they become craters, making the road impassable. The same thing happens to the plumbing pipes in homes and offices. When the plumbing is new, its performance is top-level. Plumbing pipes must be cleaned and maintained regularly to retain their function.

If this is not done, debris will build up inside the pipes until the pipe channel is blocked. At the same time, the plumbing system will start to slowly fall apart as aging, corrosion, and other issues tear the structure apart. With time, water will be unable to flow through the pipes.

The above scenario is why most plumbing systems don’t last as long as they should. The manufacturer of the pipes and components estimates that the plumbing will last a certain number of years. But your plumbing can only last long if it is properly maintained.

How should you maintain the pipes in your plumbing to ensure their function and longevity? In this post, we explain the top plumbing maintenance tips from experts. These tips will keep your pipes flowing and help your plumbing system last longer than its projected lifespan.

Professional tips for prolonging the life of plumbing pipes

Do not use chemical drain cleaners

Chemical drain cleaners are cheap, fast, and convenient. But what you save in the short term by using these products is not worth the trouble of fixing the damage they will cause to your pipes. Chemical drain cleaners contain corrosives that will destroy your pipes. They are best avoided.

Annually inspect pipes

Problems in your plumbing will not warn you before they happen, but often, those problems start as small issues. By inspecting the plumbing, you can catch the warning signs of the problem before it becomes something major. Plan to have your plumbing professionally inspected at least once a year.

Use enzymatic drain-cleaners

Enzyme drain cleaners are safe because they only eat the edible debris inside your pipes. They love to eat grease but will not attack the material in your plumbing. However, enzyme drain cleaners will not work against hair and non-edible debris, so combine them with other safe methods.

Schedule annual drain-cleaning

Professional drain cleaning, using methods like hydro jetting and sewer rodding, is the best way to get rid of the debris that has built up inside your pipes. Hydro jetting and sewer rodding will remove grease and dislodge tree roots. Hydro jetting will go one extra step to wash the debris out of your pipes.

Use pipe insulation

Insulating exposed water pipes in your home will protect them from freezing weather and help prevent frozen and burst pipes. The cost of insulating your water pipes pales in significance to the cost and inconvenience of dealing with water damage in your home. You also ensure an uninterrupted water supply during winter.

Install drain screens or strainers

The best way to keep your drains flowing all the time is to keep debris out of the pipes. Drain screens and strainers help keep debris out of your drains. Installing a drain strainer in the bathroom will help to keep hair and soap scum out of your drainage system. When installing these devices, ensure they are the right size and clean.

Watch what you flush

To prevent clogs and blockages, you should only flush human waste, toilet paper, and water into your toilet. Do not be tempted to dump other items into the toilet, even if they are labeled as flushable. Things like flushable cat litter and wipes will only clog your drainpipes.

Check and maintain water pressure

Excessively high water pressure is a major cause of plumbing pipe damage. High water pressure will expose your pipes and appliances to too much stress, resulting in cracks, leaks, and other problems. If you have had water pressure issues, install a pressure-regulating valve to protect your plumbing.

Use corrosion inhibitors

These are chemicals that help slow or stop the corrosion process in plumbing pipes. They work by forming a protective coating on the surface of the pipe, preventing access to corrosive substances or disputing the processes that lead to corrosion. A professional plumber can advise on the right corrosion inhibitor for your plumbing.

Create a maintenance schedule

You should not wait until there are problems in your plumbing before maintaining the system. Instead, you want to have the system on a schedule, even without signs of trouble. This preventive maintenance will let you detect problems early and solve them cheaply.

Lastly, the above steps work best if you have an experienced plumber working with you. A professional plumber will see problems you don’t see, and they can show you ways to future-proof your plumbing by making strategic upgrades to the system.

Apr '23

Best Tips To Avoid Spring Plumbing Issues

Springtime is that time of year when everything in nature comes alive. After months of lying dormant because of winter, plants, animals, and humans are bustling with energy and raring to go. Everywhere you look, there are lovely colors and birdsongs. People everywhere are unfolding their tools, equipment and bodies to get back to the work and play they love.

But the start of spring is also when you are most likely to find leaks in your water pipes. That is mostly the aftermath of winter when pipes burst due to exposure to cold. With the onset of spring rains, your home’s plumbing is also likely to be overwhelmed by surface runoff and flash floods, resulting in even more plumbing issues for your home.

We know sometimes it’s hard to manage your investments and keep track of this kind of issues, especially for property managers who manage multiple rental properties, but these spring plumbing issues can be avoided with a little insight into the causes of the problems and preemptive steps to stop them. Spring is here; which can mean bad news for many homeowners. However, with the spring plumbing tips listed below, you can make spring fun by avoiding potential issues with your property’s plumbing.

8 tips to avoid spring plumbing issues

Check your toilets

Hidden leaks in your toilet will waste water and interfere with the toilet’s function. Check for hidden leaks by adding six drops of food coloring to the toilet tank. Wait 30 minutes to see if the color shows up in the bowl. If it does, there is a leak. Does the toilet flush properly, and does the water stop running after each flush? If the answer is no, there are worn-out parts in the tank that need to be replaced.

Inspect the bathtub and shower

Cracks often appear in grout as a result of changes in temperature and humidity that happen during winter. Inspect your shower and bathtub trim molding. If there are cracks in the seams, they can cause leaks or mold. Seal them before the small issues become problems that cost thousands of dollars to fix.

Inspect floor drains and outdoor drains

Check floor drains for signs of slow draining. If more than one-floor drain is acting-up at the same time, that can be a sign of impending problems with your main sewer line. Also, check outside drains; they are likely to be clogged after the winter weather. If your home has French drains installed, this is the time to inspect and have it professional hydro jetting services.

Clean gutters and downspouts

Remove all winter debris from gutters and downspouts. Check for signs of damage, loose or missing fittings, and rust. Ensure the downspout is not discharging in the wrong place on your property. Check your vent pipes; they are a favorite location for birds to make their nest. Blocked vent pipes will cause the home’s plumbing to drain slowly.

Test the sump pump

The sump pump is your home’s last line of defense against flash floods; test it to ensure it is working. Testing a sump pump is as simple as pouring enough water into the basin to trigger the pump and then watching it to ensure the water is completely removed and the pump turns itself off afterwards. Also, clean the sump pump to prevent malfunctions due to clogging.

Flush your water heater

To prevent scalding, the temperature setting on your water heater should not be above 120°F. A lower temperature setting will also help reduce your energy bills. Limescale and debris inside the potable water supply are left inside the water heater as the water is heated. This deposit can impair the efficiency of your water heater. Drain the water heater to get rid of sediment that has built up in the last year.

Check for leaks and drips

Faucets and supply hoses for the dishwasher, washing machine and ice maker may have minor leaks that are hard to detect. Inspect and test them carefully. To ensure there are no leaks in your home’s water pipes, take a meter reading when leaving for work and do it again when you return. If the number has changed, you have a leak in your plumbing.

Test your main water valve

Shutting off your home’s water supply is the first step when you have a burst plumbing pipe emergency or major leak at home. But for this to work, the main water valve must be functional. If the valve is stuck because of disuse, you won’t be able to turn off the water. Test the water main valve by turning it on and off several times.

Finally, a wholesale inspection of your home’s plumbing systems is the best way to detect and eliminate any potential plumbing issues. It is suggested that you do this at least twice a year, preferably at the start of the season. To ensure this is done correctly, you will need to call a nearby plumber.

A plumber will not only have an overview of how the home’s plumbing works, they know the likely issues that can happen and have a tested routine for inspecting the plumbing. This ensures that no aspect of the system is overlooked and no budding issues are missed.

Feb '23

Savvy Plumbing Tips to Save You Money

Plumbing problems are probably the most frequent issue homeowners face in their homes, says EPM Iowa Property Management. That is because of the massive plumbing network in a modern house and because we use water for several things in the home.

These two factors markedly increase the chances of issues with a home’s plumbing. Also, unlike the electrical system that is also vast, water reacts very strongly with anything it touches. So there is a high possibility of corrosion in the system.

That being said, there are lots of things you can do to cut down on the amount of money you spend on your plumbing. In this post, we talk about eight tips all savvy homeowners can use to make their plumbing more resilient while saving money.

8 ways to save money on your home’s plumbing

Know the location of your main shutoff valve

That is the most vital first step for solving any situation where a burst pipe or broken appliance is dumping water into your home. Knowing how to shut off the water can make the difference between a hundred dollars versus one thousand dollars in repair costs. Not only should you know how to turn the water off, everyone in your home, including the babysitter, should know how to do this.

Learn how to use a plunger and auger

Fixing a clogged sink or overflowing toilet may look daunting at first glance, but like most problems in life, it is not as tough as it first appears. Every home should have two types of plungers; one for the sink and the other for the toilet. Knowing the difference between the two and how to use each one will save you a lot of trouble and money.

Know how to stop a running toilet

A running toilet can inflate your water bill by hundreds of dollars if you don’t solve it fast. This problem can also interfere with the operation of your toilet and make it harder to flush. Solving this problem is not hard; it’s just about identifying the damaged components (usually the flapper, fill valve, or flush valve) inside the tank and replacing them.

Flush your water heater by yourself

This is another superficially intimidating task that you can easily do yourself. Flushing a water heater improves its performance and also prolongs its life. We recommend that you flush the water heater at least once in two years (once a year if you have hard water). You can save the money you would have paid to a plumber if you learn to do this yourself (it takes less than an hour).

Unclog and reset your garbage disposal yourself

You can easily reset a jammed garbage disposal unit by pushing the red button at the bottom. Inserting a 1/4” or 5/16” Allen wrench into the hole at the bottom of the unit and working it back and forth vigorously will dislodge food particles that keep the impeller from turning. Don’t replace the garbage disposal until you have tried these quick fixes.

Never go cheap with plumbing parts

“The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of a low price is forgotten.” The worst thing about using cheap parts or inappropriate components is that they fail and cause other problems that cost you more. When you use cheap components or mismatched parts, you don’t solve your plumbing problems, but you only give them time to get worse.

Replace your anode rod to save your water heater

The anode rod is called a “sacrificial anode rod” for a good reason. This metal rod stays inside the tank of your water heater. Its job is to keep the tank and its metal components from rusting. It does this by bonding to the iron electrons released by water to keep them from attacking the tank. In the first year of owning your water heater, you should replace the anode rod, and maybe every two years afterward. If not, you run the risk of needing a water heater replacement earlier than expected.

Always use a plumber for plumbing problems

With the right tools and patience, you can solve minor issues with your plumbing. However, once in a while, you will have significant plumbing problems beyond your abilities. For those kinds of issues, never use a handyman. Always make sure you hire a professional plumber to repair your plumbing issues. Using a non-professional will save you money at the moment but cost you more in the long term.

And that’s it for our eight tips to save money on your plumbing. But before we go, remember it is essential to know the difference between plumbing issues you can DIY and those that need an expert. Never try to fix a plumbing problem if that issue requires a professional.

Feb '22

7 Summer Plumbing Tips

The plumbing in your home will typically get more use during the summer. People are at home more, the kids aren’t in school, house guests are more frequent, and there is an increase in water use. To keep the water in your home running properly, we’ve put together a list of 7 summer plumbing tips. It’s pretty easy to prevent most of the significant issues, and all it takes is a routine checkup. You can perform some of these tasks yourself, but we recommend getting professional plumbers to help you if you run into any serious problems.

Summer Plumbing Tips

1. Inspect your home for leaks

Water leaks can cause a lot of damage to your home if they are left untreated, which is why you should constantly be on the lookout for any leaks. An excellent way to do this is to turn off all the water in your home and see if the water meter is still running. Once everything is off, there should be no activity on the meter. Unfortunately, hidden water leaks can be hard to deal with. If you suspect that there is a leak in your home’s plumbing that you can’t find, you should hire Chicago Plumbing Experts to perform a water leak detection service on your home.

Afterward, you can go from valve to valve and make sure they are all working and that you aren’t losing excess water due to dripping from faulty valves. Inspect the appliances in your home that use water and ensure they are all connected properly. An important summer plumbing tip is paying special attention to rubber hoses, like your washing machine. Rubber tends to deteriorate over time, and dry, warm weather can be incredibly taxing on hoses and rubber pipes.

If you are moving into a new home, you should be especially careful. First of all, you’ll have to deal with the stress of the move. Thankfully, local Chicago moving experts can assist you with moving in. After you have settled into your new home, you should do an inspection of the plumbing while it’s still summer. Your top priority should be finding any leaks. Remember that some condensation on the pipes is normal during the summer. This is due to the difference in the temperature of the cold water and the warm air.

2. Inspect your sprinkler system

After long periods without use, you should inspect the hoses and valves in your sprinkler system. We suggest doing this before the summer heat sets in, and you need to water your plants regularly. Chicago has a water conservation plan with the goal of limiting excessive outdoor water use. If you want to help your community adopt sustainable practices, you should ensure that your sprinkler system is functioning properly this summer.

Make sure your lawn sprinklers are in good shape for the summer.

3. Drain your water heater

Chicago often has pretty cold winters, and that’s the time when you need your home’s water heater the most. Unfortunately, that’s also the time when repairing it is the hardest. Summer is the perfect time to drain the water heater because if you turn off the heater during the winter, it can freeze while you are draining the water. Scale buildup will naturally happen over time, and you will occasionally need to drain and flush the water heater. It’s much easier to schedule a water heater repair during the summer since most people wait until the winter before realizing the water heater needs to be fixed.

4. Check the water pressure in your home

Summer is the time of year when people use more water for showering, washing the car, and watering the yard. Due to these factors, it’s vital to have good water pressure in your home. If the pressure is too high, it can cause a lot of stress to your faucets and appliances, which use water. Extremely high water pressure can also lead to pipes bursting.

On the other hand, low water pressure means that you will only have a slight trickle instead of getting a steady stream of water. Low water pressure can also indicate that you are facing other plumbing issues like scale buildup. This should be dealt with before your plumbing gets blocked.

5. Clean your garbage disposal unit

Don’t wait for the disposal to break down before you give it an inspection and clean it up. Even if your garbage disposal is still working, there may be small food buildups in the system. This kind of problem might be negligible during the winter, but once the temperatures rise, you will be in trouble.

Foul odors can come from your pipes and make living in your house unbearable. What’s worse is that small pieces of food which get stuck in your disposal unit can lead to your system getting completely backed up. Excess food also represents an attractive lure for insects and rodents. For these reasons, we suggest that you clean and repair your garbage disposal unit before it causes any significant issues. A persistent odor may indicate that the drains need to be cleaned professionally.

People sometimes put large pieces of food down the garbage disposal or toilet.

6. Check how the toilet is flushing

Most people know that you shouldn’t flush just anything down the toilet. Yet somehow, it seems like folks get especially creative during the summer. This is probably due to the larger number of barbecues and house parties that happen when the weather is better. Although it may seem obvious, a good summer plumbing tip is to put up a sign near your toilet reminding guests of which items shouldn’t be flushed. If it does get backed up, you can hire plumbers to unclog your toilet. Keep in mind that prevention is better than the cure, and have a talk with your guests and kids. Ask them to put any larger items in the bin instead of down the toilet.

7. Install a water saving showerhead

Installing any water-saving features in your home can help you cut down on the utility bill. Most of the water in your home is spent on showering. Therefore, having a water-saving showerhead will help you reduce the amount of water you use. The new showerhead will pay for itself within a matter of months, and after that, it will make you money through savings.

Install a showerhead that is efficient and saves water.

In summary

These 7 summer plumbing tips can help prepare your house for the warmer months. Once you know that your plumbing is working well, you will be able to enjoy many lazy summer afternoons without having to worry about what could go wrong with the water in your home.