Your home’s plumbing and heating systems keep your house running, maintain warmth and ensure you are clean and refreshed each day. As a homeowner, you can save time and money by knowing when it’s time to ring a professional for your plumbing problems and heating concerns. It’s also helpful to have a few tips on hand to keep everything in running order.
Here we will look at some of Canberra Plumbing and Drains’ best tips for preventing and fixing common domestic plumbing and heating problems.
Essential Home Plumbing Tips
The longer you live in a home, the more you learn about its nuances. This knowledge and the following tips can help you manage plumbing problems and installations without interruption to your day-to-day routine.
Tip 1: Know what can and can’t go down your drains
One of the most common issues we encounter at Canberra Plumbing and Drains is blocked drains after people wash things down the drain that they shouldn’t. You need to be selective about what can and can’t go down your kitchen and bathroom sinks and toilets, avoiding items such as:
- Medication: Will leak into the environment and our waterways
- Coffee grounds: One of the most common clogging causes, these are better disposed of in the rubbish bin or your home compost or garden
- Oils & grease: Solidifies to the pipes and cause clogging
- Eggshells: The sharp edges of eggshells collect other things on their way down the drain, stopping water from effectively flowing. Another perfect material for your home garden or compost
- Expandable food like rice & pasta: Pasta and rice expand more when wet and can contribute to blocked drains
- Products that claim to be flushable: Items, such as baby and wet wipes and “flushable” cat litter, don’t break down and cause toilets to block
Tip 2: Get your plumber to fix leaks straight away
You should always pay attention to leaking taps, toilets, showers or baths. The amount of water wasted through leaking taps is staggering, up to 150 litres a day, which becomes a nasty surprise when you receive your gas, electricity and water bill.
Aside from costs, ignoring leaks can lead to structural damage and mould growing in your home because of water seepage on your floors, walls, and ceiling.
Tip 3: Locate your water shut-off valve before an issue occurs
Many homeowners don’t know the location of their water shut-off or isolation valve. Our team of plumbers recommend that our clients know where it is so the water main can be turned off in the event of a plumbing emergency.
Knowing the valve’s location means you can turn it off quickly and save your home from further damage. It’s an easy way to stop water from flowing into your home, and in turn, saving you money on water damage and costly repairs.
Tip 4: Clean your shower drain regularly
When cleaning your bathroom, overlooking the drain is common, and customers end up with clogged drains from hair and soap scum. Remove the hair and debris from your drains as part of your cleaning routine, and you will never experience the inconvenience of a blocked drain in your shower.
Tip 5: Have a plunger on hand
We highly recommend that every household have a plunger for handling a simple clog to your sinks, toilets, or other drains. There are some circumstances where you don’t need the services of a professional plumber and can use your own equipment, such as a plunger, to remove the blockage.
If a DIY approach doesn’t work, you need the expertise of specialists in plumbing services to get your drains working again.
Plumbing Tips for Heating & Hot water Systems
Well-functioning heating and hot water services can work well all year long when following our tips for anything from repairs to installation.
Tip 6: Inspect your hot water units regularly
For proper care of your hot water units and to help ensure it works well, we recommend you do the following at least once a year or more:
- Check the pipes are insulated properly
- Ensure the relief valve is working
- Monitor for inconsistent water temperatures
If you’re still running an old water heater, having it replaced is highly recommended, and it should be installed by a qualified plumber for greater energy efficiency.
Tip 7: Get regular maintenance on heating and cooling systems
For your heating and cooling systems to remain efficient, especially during the summer and winter seasons, you rely on their functionality; they need regular care and maintenance. Whether you have ducted gas heating, reverse-cycle heating and cooling or other heater sources, organising a service once or twice a year can mean the difference between feeling toasty warm during winter, and comfortable and cool during Australia’s hot summer.
Regular inspection is also a smart choice for all your other plumbing systems to ensure they remain functional and avoid any significant issues that impact your household.
Tip 8: Ask certified technicians to install your heating system
When adding new appliances to your home or office, the safest way to do the job is to engage the services of a professional plumbing team. To ensure the safe and efficient completion of the tasks, a plumber has the right experience to meet your needs.
Our tip is not to do the job yourself because heating system installations require plumbers whose qualifications enable them to legally, effectively and efficiently do the task.
Tip 9: Don’t wait for winter to check if your heating is working efficiently
As mentioned previously, we recommend getting your heating serviced at least once a year. The problem with maintenance is that many customers wait until winter to check their heating. It’s better to engage our services before winter so you can keep warm the whole season without interruption if your heating source requires significant repair.
Tip 10: Have your emergency plumbing services number on hand
The last thing you want to do in an emergency is to try and remember your preferred plumbing services’ contact details. If your hot water is out, you’ve got a significant water leak, or you have a broken pipe, time is everything, and you want repairs as quickly as possible.
Keep Canberra Plumbing and Drains contact details on your mobile device or by your phone at all times. By doing so, you can call us to your home or office, whether in an emergency or for a plumbing check.
Call Us For All Your Canberra Plumbing & Heating Needs
You must be aware of your plumbing and heating problems and, more importantly, act quickly to rectify the concerns. Some leaks and plumbing issues are easily noticeable, while others leak subtle hints, such as greener patches in the yard or discolouration on walls.
While our list of tips is a reliable option to address some plumbing issues, there are times when you will require the expertise of our prompt, professional and dependable technicians, who will provide your home with plumbing and heating repairs and installation when necessary.
Contact our crew to learn more about our services. We help create happy customers through the careful and professional delivery of plumbing repair, maintenance and installation.
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