When summer comes around, you want to head on your vacation with the kids, have fun outdoors, and enjoy the longer daylight hours with more activities. You don’t want to think about plumbing except when you’re grabbing a sip of refreshing water or taking a shower after a hot and lively day. Make sure your plumbing is ready for the warm season by fixing it up with these tips.

Outdoors

Start with a checkup of plumbing lines around trees. As your foliage grows, their roots can spread and destroy sewer and water lines with their invasiveness. While you don’t want to wait until water starts seeping from broken plumbing to form pools in your yard, many leaks may remain undetected when they first form because they’re so small. Unfortunately, such tiny problems may get bigger if they are not caught and fixed immediately.

While you’re outdoors, have any external plumbing, such as in garden hoses and sprinkler systems, also checked for leaks, damage, or decreased water pressure.

Indoors

Inside your home, check the sump pump to make sure that it is functioning properly before the heavy summer rains arrive. You don’t want to discover that your pump doesn't work after your basement gets flooded. Check your washer for leaks. Because this appliance is most used in the summer, it can be defeated by piles of sweat-covered and mud-stained clothes.

Be careful of what you shove into the garbage disposal. You may be cooking with more of summer’s bounty, such as fresh fruits and vegetables. Their bulk and starch, as well as fatty waste from meats, can easily clog your drains.

During the warmer days of summer, consider lowering the temperature of your water heater to 120 degrees Fahrenheit or less to save money. You can lower the temperature even more when you go on vacation. However, do not turn the appliance off or the water in your tank may grow unpleasant organisms.

If you’re concerned that a leak may flood your home in the summer, consider shutting off the main line into the home, so no leaks are possible. Then drain toilets completely of water by turning off their inlets and then flushing them. Make sure your bathrooms have enough wastebaskets. If you don't, your visiting summer guests will have no place to dispose of their paper and other waste except to flush them down the toilet, which risks a clog.

While on vacation, make sure to ask friends or family to occasionally stop by your home to do a cursory inspection of your sprinkler system, plumbing fixtures, and laundry area. Then give them instructions on who to contact if there are any problems, such as a trusted plumbing professional, and how to pay for the ensuing bill.

Your Plumbing Experts

Contact us at Amanda Plumbing Sewer & Drain for your summer plumbing needs. Our highly skilled plumbers can unclog pipes, replace any damaged water lines that are leaking, and repair sewer and water lines that have been damaged by tree roots.