Although it might not seem like it, the holiday season can actually be one of the most difficult times of year for your home’s plumbing system due to a number of different factors. Between the colder temperatures, harsh weather conditions, and the additional use from gathered family and visiting guests, your plumbing system has it’s work cut out for it over the next couple months, and the last thing you want is to have your holiday festivities interrupted by having to call in for emergency plumbing repairs.
Fortunately, with just a little bit of forethought and some effort, most of the common issues that tend to spring up during the holiday season can be fairly easily avoided and prevented. To aid you in this effort, our team of professionals have taken the time to put together this short list that helps to highlight a few helpful insights and tips to ensure that your plumbing system has everything it needs to ride out the coming season with zero difficulty.
The day after Thanksgiving is actually one of the busiest days of the year for plumbers all over the country, and this is thanks in large part to homeowners and other family members not being careful about how they dispose of their leftover cooking materials and table scraps.
If you are like most homeowners, the holiday season is when you are going to be preparing some of the biggest meals of the entire year, and it is important to make sure that you and anyone who is going to be helping you in the kitchen are on the same page as to what can and what can’t be put down the disposal.
Any fats or oils that are leftover from preparing your meals should never be put down the drain, as they tend to congeal over time and can easily lead to stubborn clogs. The best thing to do is to let the grease congeal in a dish and then scrape it into the trash. In addition, when disposing of food scraps down the disposal, it is best to turn on the water first, and then add the debris, and after grinding, you are going to want to keep the water running to ensure all remaining bits are cleared away.
As the temperature starts to plummet in the coming months, your water pipes are going to be at risk of freezing, and if these pipes rupture, you could very quickly find yourself with a disaster on your hands. Right now is the time to make sure that you shut off all outside water valves, as your outdoor faucets and pipes are going to be the most vulnerable to damage, and ensure that any pipes that run through uninsulated areas of your home are properly insulated.
This includes any pipes that run through your crawlspaces, garage, or outside of your home as these are going to be the ones most likely to freeze and burst. In cases where the temperature is expected to drop extremely low, it is a good idea to leave the water on a slow drip as moving water is generally harder to freeze than when it is sitting still.
Making sure that your water heater is functioning properly is going to be more important at this point of the year than at any other. No one wants to be stuck having to take cold showers when it is already freezing outside, so now is the time to have a professional come out and take a look at your system to ensure everything is working like it should be. Call our professional team at Jet Plumber Arvada CO today!
