Today’s blog is brought to you by the letter “M.”
Give us an “M,” give us an “A,” give us an “I”… ok this will take forever. M A I N T E N A N C E is today’s featured “M” word. Many of us MOAN about MAINTENANCE. It’s MIGHTY easy to put off.
It can also be a bit MYSTERIOUS: What do you do, when and how often? We’ll talk about that.
Mainly, we’ll point out why regular plumbing maintenance is all about MAD LOVE. Read on!
Think like a pipe
If you were a water pipe, you would be proud of your job. You would carry clean water to toilet tanks, provide showers, fill the spaghetti pot and keep the family pooch from getting parched.
As a pipe you might get frustrated if all that water was wasted, making the toilet run, the washing machine leak or the exterior hose drip.
Maintenance is all about making your pipes, fittings and connections happy. They’re unseen, but they work hard. How can you love your pipes?
- Regularly test for leaking and running toilets.
- Cozy up under your sink, tub or swamp cooler to observe the pipes there.
- Take a good look at your water heater.
- Examine outside connections and fittings.
Any drips or pooling water? You may need some help.
Stay alert for changes in water pressure too. Changing water pressure can be caused by leaks, malfunctioning valves and more.
Caring for your pipes means caring for your family. We recommend you run plumbing spot checks each year or every other year depending on the age of your house.
Garvin’s of Englewood can help you remember routine maintenance if you forget, or perform the maintenance for you. Cared for plumbing works well, serves you better and can protect your house from future damage.
Salute the swirl
Say you find yourself sleepily showering in the morning. Water collects around your ankles, but there isn’t a stopper holding the water there. You want to ignore the pool and simply go to work, letting the water slowly drain out over time. But, you really shouldn’t. Something is wrong.
Your tub or shower drain should have a good, strong swirl when you shower or let the water out. Water shouldn’t sit, drain slowly, or back up.
Likewise, if you brush your teeth in the bathroom sink and the toothpaste foam sits like an island on a sad sea that takes forever to drain, it’s not good.
Neither is a dishwasher that smells like something died in it, a ring around the kitchen sink because the water won’t disappear, or a toilet that burps or flushes itself (seriously, not good).
All of these things can be a sign of clogs, leaks, blocked vents and more. Problems with your pipes and drains can put enormous pressure on your plumbing as a whole. Stressed pipes can burst or fail, damaging flooring, ceilings and creating costly repairs from water or sewage.
You can maintain that healthy swirl by not putting items down your toilet or drain that create blockages. Place screens on your shower drains to prevent hair from blocking the drains. Don’t flush sanitary items or even “flushable wipes” down your toilets.
Though you might want to take care of unseen clogs quickly, think twice about using chemicals to clear your drains. Many solutions on the market can corrode your pipes and hurt the environment. Garvin’s of Englewood specializes in emergency drain cleaning and we can help.
Plan your prevention
In addition to loving up your pipes, fittings and drains, you’ll need to apply the “M” word to regularly clearing the main line to your sewer. Why? Ahem…
A toilet haiku
Bubbling and brown
Help: that stuff just won’t go down!
Steel blades create peace
With a bladed machine, Garvin’s clears away roots that can enter your main line, ball up and create obstructions. Regularly clearing away roots can prevent costly, messy backups into your toilet, shower and basement.
How often you need to clear your main line depends on many factors:
- How many trees grow into your line
- How fast the roots grow
- How many people are in your household
- Weather conditions like drought
A Garvin’s of Englewood technician can examine your lines and recommend a cleaning schedule that fits your property. Most commonly, our customers clean their line every 6-12 months.
Set up a schedule
If you pay a little attention to your pipes, drains and main line, they’ll serve you well for years to come. At Garvin’s, we may not be incredible poets, but we are experts in our field of plumbing. Call us. Together, we can set up plumbing and sewer line maintenance schedules that will keep your plumbing systems running smoothly.
