Plumbing problems can be stressful to deal with; they can also end up costing you a great deal of money. If, for example, a pipe bursts in your home in the middle of the night, you'll have to pay not only for the services of an emergency plumber but also for new piping and water damage repairs. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to keep your property's plumbing system running smoothly and avoid incurring these types of expenses.
Understand how to prevent and cope with blockages
Clogged drains are a common issue which almost every homeowner will experience at one point or another. It's important to realise that a blockage isn't just a minor nuisance that prevents you from using your house's sink or bathtub; if ignored for more than a few days, it could turn into far more serious issues. In some cases, the build-up of pressure created by a clog could result in a burst pipe, which will, of course, be far trickier and more expensive to deal with than a simple blockage.
There are a number of things you can do to prevent a blockage. Be cautious about the type of food waste you allow into your kitchen drain. The fat runoff from cooking sausages and bacon, for example, might be liquid when you first pour it into the sink but will harden when it cools down. If this solidification occurs whilst the fat is still inside your property's plumbing system, it could create a major blockage.
As such, when cooking with these types of foods, allow them to cool and solidify in the frying pan and then simply scrape off the congealed fat and throw it into your rubbish bin, rather than putting it down the kitchen sink. Additionally, if you regularly consume greasy foods, get into the habit of pouring a kettle full of freshly-boiled water down the drain after you wash your dinner plates, so as to keep any fat that's been rinsed off in a liquid state from building up whilst it's still in your home's pipes.
If a blockage does develop in your kitchen or bathroom drains, always try to remove it using manual methods (i.e. with a plunger or a drain snake) where possible. Chemical drain cleaners are extremely abrasive and could cause structural damage to your plumbing system.
Prepare for the chillier seasons
If you want to avoid the hassle and costs associated with frozen and burst pipes during the colder seasons, it's important to take preventative action now. Begin by searching for any sections of piping in your property which are not insulated; these are the areas of your plumbing system which will be most prone to freezing and bursting open when the temperatures start to drop. You'll usually find unprotected pipes in places such as the garage, attic, cellar and sometimes the areas underneath the bathroom and kitchen sinks. If you do find exposed pipes, carefully wrap them in foam or tape insulation.
If there are areas of your home with no wall insulation and you're concerned about the pipes in these spaces freezing, it may also be worth fitting additional foam or cellulose filler into these walls, to help to maintain higher room temperatures. Whilst the cost of purchasing and having this insulation installed may seem somewhat high, this expense should be viewed as an investment, as it could save you from incurring the enormous costs associated with water flooding caused by a frozen pipe that has burst open.
