You may already understand that your heating and cooling equipment needs seasonal HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning) maintenance, but did you realize that you also need to call an expert for annual plumbing maintenance? Service Experts Heating & Air Conditioning offers the Plumbing PLUS™ Maintenance Agreement for Calgary homeowners to help them discover issues before they turn into big problems. While we recommend calling immediately for plumbing problems and schedule your plumbing maintenance every year, here are three ways you can get your home in ideal plumbing shape for spring.
- Verify any plumbing leaks
Look at your home’s faucets and toilets for any leaks. When you turn off your faucets check around the connections for water dripping out; if there is, installing new fixtures or repairing the leak could help improve the faucet’s performance and may even save you money on your water bill.
After the faucets, check any accessible pipes for indications of leaks. You can usually access 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 long overdue love
Check your toilet for any cracks or leaks in both the bowl and tank. If your toilet looks like it’s in good condition, go ahead and pour about six drops of food dye into the tank. Wait 30 minutes and then check the bowl. If the water in the bowl is clear, you’re good to go. If the food coloring appears in the bowl, you possibly have a leak and will want to call a plumbing expert.
- Don’t neglect your water heater maintenance
If something foul seems to be coming from any of the drains in your home, it be evidence that plumbing maintenance is needed. A properly working drain shouldn’t release odors into the air. Confirm there are strains installed in all your drains to prevent hair and other waste from spoiling in the pipes and resulting in a clog. Following treatment with a common drain cleaner, pour eight pints of water through drains that are not used regularly. This will fill the trap and help to stop odors from coming in and smelling up your home.
Your water heater takes good care of you so make sure you’re returning the love. Keep in mind that newer water heaters have more energy efficiency, so if yours is over 15 years old, it is probably about time to start looking into a new one to be sure you don’t have that sudden burst of cold water for multiple days. Regardless if you plan on purchasing an upgraded water heater, there are a few 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 use (and help decrease your bills) while also preventing scalding. For the purpose of safety, you will want to relocate any items from around the water heater. Your annual Plumbing PLUS Maintenance agreement includes a water heater maintenance; and it could even help your water heater perform more efficiently and avoid plumbing problems moving forward.
These are just some ways of how you could help get your plumbing ready for spring, but if you are not comfortable performing any of these tasks, please call Service Experts Heating & Air Conditioning and we can come out and complete your seasonal plumbing maintenance and fix (or help stop) any plumbing problems.