During the summer, it’s easy to focus on obvious conveniences such as your air conditioner and swimming pool. In the midst of your summer relaxation, though, it’s important to give some love to your Murrieta home’s plumbing as well.
Many people use more water in the summer due to watering lawns, filling pools, and washing cars, meaning your plumbing needs to be in great shape to get you through the season. So that you don’t overlook your home’s plumbing needs, here are some easy summer plumbing tips from We Care Plumbing, Heating, & Air.
Be Careful of Parties
The warm summer months make a great time to get together with family and friends. Before you send out the invitations, though, make sure that your home’s drains can handle the extra use. The last thing you want is to have a plumbing emergency during your party due to a clogged drain. Therefore, if you notice that you have one or more drains that are draining slowly, be sure to call We Care Plumbing, Heating, & Air to find out the cause of the backup.
Maintain Your Water Heater
Even in the summer, water heaters are crucial for daily tasks such as showering, washing dishes, and doing laundry. That’s why you want to maintain your water heater so that it gives you many years of reliable service. One of the most important maintenance items that you can do yourself is to drain your water heater to remove mineral deposits that collect in the tank.
Summer makes a great time to do this task since you’ll be working with large amounts of water. All you have to do is run a hose from the drain valve on your water heater to a water-safe location outside. The warm summer sun will allow this drained water to quickly evaporate, preventing any water problems on your property.
Monitor the Water
If you’re planning on going out of town, it’s important to properly prepare your house’s plumbing. After all, you never know when leaks are going to occur, meaning you need to take steps to limit the damage a leak can do while you’re away. One thing you can do is to turn off the water to your toilets and sinks or even turn off the main water supply.
If that’s too much work, though, you can install a smart leak detection system that will alert you if a leak occurs. A system installed by We Care Plumbing, Heating, & Air can even automatically turn off the water supply so that water doesn’t have a chance to cause major damage to your property.
Be Mindful of Growth
Thanks to the warm temperatures and abundant sunshine, most plants do a majority of their growing during the summer. While this growth provides a beautiful green landscape, the roots of these plants can wreak havoc on your home’s plumbing. Drain pipes are especially susceptible to root growth due to their underground locations.
A drain pipe that’s broken by a plant root can cause clogged drains, flooding in your yard, and potential pipe replacement. That’s why it’s a good idea to have your drain lines inspected by We Care Plumbing, Heating, & Air so that we can check for any possible intrusion by plant roots. If the problems are caught early, they’re easier and less expensive to correct.
Inspect Sprinkler Systems
A sprinkler system allows you to achieve a green lawn and a thriving garden without nearly as much work. Therefore, as the growing season kicks into high gear, it’s important to inspect your sprinkler system to make sure it’s ready for the task of providing water where it’s needed.
You’ll want to ensure that the control panel is free from rust and operating properly, that there are no cracks or holes in any of the supply lines, and that all of the sprinkler heads raise and lower as intended and are free from any type of debris. After you’ve inspected your system, you’ll want to run a low-pressure test so that you can double-check for any leaks. This prevents any major problems from happening once you use the full available water pressure.
Keep Your Gutters Clean
Summer downpours can spell trouble for your home’s foundation if your gutters aren’t properly cleaned. You can also run into issues if your gutters empty into a drain that’s clogged due to debris flowing through the gutters. Therefore, it’s important to take the time to clean your gutters as summer gets going.
Leaves, sticks, pine needles, and a host of other natural debris can find their way into your gutters, even in the winter when not much is falling from the trees. For another line of defense, it’s also key to make sure that any drains you have in your yard are unobstructed so that they can drain away any excess water if your gutters should unexpectedly become clogged.
Take Care of Your Garbage Disposal
Summer cookouts can mean extra food waste that needs to be disposed of. If you’re in a hurry, it can be easy to simply send this food waste down the garbage disposal so that you can wash it down your drain. It’s important, however, that you’re careful with what you send down the drain so as not to damage your garbage disposal or clog your drains.
Especially damaging to drains are any type of animal fat, which can congeal when it comes into contact with the cool drain pipes. Over time, this fat can catch other debris that can clog your drains. You also want to avoid stringy foods, as these can become trapped in the blades of the garbage disposal, causing the motor to burn up.
We Care About Your Comfort
At We Care Plumbing, Heating, & Air, we’ll aim to do all we can to keep you comfortable this summer in your Murrieta home. We can take care of any and all plumbing issues from clogged drains to leaking faucets to malfunctioning water heaters. We offer water filtration systems and hydro jetting, too. We can even take care of water leaks in your house’s slab foundation.
In addition to our full array of plumbing services, we take pride in offering air conditioner and furnace repair, installation, and maintenance services. Whether your air conditioner isn’t cooling your house as quickly as you’d like or you simply need a basic system tune-up, we can handle the situation quickly and effectively.
To help keep you healthy, we also offer air quality testing services. This allows us to provide you with a full air quality report so that we can provide suggestions about how to improve your home’s indoor air quality. As our name suggests, solar arrays are another service that we offer, allowing you to save major money on your utility bill.
Each member of our team is committed to your satisfaction. At We Care Plumbing, Heating, & Air, we truly do care about our customers and our community. That’s why we partner with Big Brothers Big Sisters to provide mentoring and other support. For service and expertise to keep your plumbing working properly this summer, give us a call at We Care Plumbing, Heating, & Air today.
