Your home’s pipes are similar to your body’s circulatory system. You improve the health of your body’s circulatory system by maintaining a healthy diet, exercising regularly, and avoiding stress. Just like healthy practices help your body, there are some “healthy practices” that will help your home’s pipes, too.
These are a few best plumbing “healthy practices” will help you preserve your pipe’s health. By following these processes, you’ll avoid costly damage like burst pipes, cracks, and leaks. All you have to do to keep your plumbing healthy and functioning for years to come is…
Invest in regular maintenance.
Keeping your pipes healthy long term is as simple as paying attention to them. Regular maintenance means checking for leaks on a schedule so you can catch small issues before they become big ones.
You should get your drains cleaned at least once per year so you can remove any built-up gunk. Being proactive about maintaining pipe health helps you avoid any issues.
Know what can and can’t go down your pipe’s drains.
Drains aren’t garbage cans. They’re not catch-all containers for anything and everything you want to put down them. Fat, grease, coffee grounds, or hair could all create clogs if you try to flush them down a drain. Chemicals and some oils might even become hazardous if they’re mixed with your water supply in the drain.
Never flush oil, grease, wipes (even flushable wipes), coffee grounds, and other trash down the drain. You should be especially careful to never flush prescription medications, chemical waste, or paint down the drain, either.
Practice water heater maintenance.
Your water heater is the thing controlling the temperature of the water in your home. If it’s not working properly, it can be sending water that’s too hot or too cold through your pipes. That water could seriously damage your pipes and fixtures. Inspect your water heater regularly to make sure its temperature settings are ideal and the water pressure isn’t too high.
Stop using liquid drain cleaners.
Liquid drain cleaners might seem like an easy and accessible solution for clearing drains. Unfortunately, however, they pose more risk than many people realize. First, they can potentially contain caustic and toxic chemicals. These fumes aren’t healthy to breathe and can lead to eye, nose, and throat irritation.
Worse, liquid drain cleaners can actually inflict permanent damage on your pipes. The chemicals that eat away at clogs can’t tell the difference between a clog and the pipes themselves. The same chemical reactions that clear the clog eat away at the pipes over time. If you use liquid drain cleaners regularly, they could thin out your pipes until they begin to leak or burst.
If you’re interested in learning more about how to extend the life of your pipes, give the team at Ben Franklin plumbing a call. Our experts have years of experience fixing and maintaining home plumbing, pipes included. We can walk you through whatever process you need for your home plumbing health just like a doctor would for your body’s health.