Plumbing Maintenance

Welcome back my friends to another Friday! Today I would like to spend a little time discussing the plumbing in your home. You turn the faucet on and water comes out, you flush the toilet and the waste goes away and that is generally the most thought you give to the plumbing in your home, right? As always, the things in life that seem the simplest are often the most complex, which holds true with the plumbing in your home.

Let’s start at the street with the water meter. This is where the city connects the water to your home and meters the usage for billing purposes. You as the home owner are responsible for the piping delivering the water to your home from the meter forward. In most cases the piping runs underground to one central point entering the home, although in larger homes there can be two or three entry points for the water. Do you know where that shut off valve is? If not, you should take a few minutes and locate the valve to shut the water off to your home in the event of a leak.

From the central entry point for the water, the plumbing either continues underground and is branched out to the various bathrooms, kitchen, bar sinks, laundry room, water heater etc., or it goes up the walls into the attic and is branched out from there. So let’s look at a typical three-bedroom two bath house.

We have a kitchen, separate laundry room, water heater is in the garage, and the first bath has a bathtub, lavatory sink and water closet. The master bath has a roman tub, walk in shower with a double vanity and of course the water closet. So let me let this sink in (pun intended) for a minute, there are a total of 200 + connections (approx.) to get the water to each of the fixtures in our example home. That is quite a few places you could potentially have a problem. The connections are in even more danger if the home does not have a water treatment system to protect the plumbing from calcium and magnesium that occurs naturally in everyone’s water.

We have not yet touched on the waste removal system; I assure you that while not quite as complex as the water delivery system, there are at least 50-75 connections to remove waste from the home. The other issue with the waste removal system is build up in the lines which can prevent proper drainage.

Time for the famous question… what should we do? As with anything mechanical, proper maintenance is the key to the system performing at its best. Our clients here at Art Plumbing, Air Conditioning & Electrical rest well at night from the peace of mind they have with their Service Partner Plumbing plan. We annually come out and do an 80-point inspection of all the water entry points in your own personal castle. As someone who has had the displeasure of a flood in my home, if you can do anything to avoid it I strongly suggest you do so. Call us at 1-800-475-1504 or visit www.artplumbingandac.com to schedule your plumbing inspection today and save yourself headache, potential heartache, and of course money by avoiding costly leaks.

House Whisperer out!