These kinds of disasters can actually be
avoided easily if you conduct plumbing maintenance on a regular basis. Here are
some of the tips that you can do to prevent floods, leaks and wasting water.
1. Know the location of the main shutoff valve in your house. The main
shutoff valve controls all clean and new water that enters the plumbing system
of your house. If ever you encounter an emergency leak or a bursting pipe in
your house, simply closing this valve will prevent the damage from escalating,
and will also give you time to locate the damage and isolate it. You can put a
label on it with instructions on how to close it, so that anybody from your
home can easily find it and turn it off in case you are unavailable or unable
to do it when the problem has started.
2. Clean your kitchen and bathroom drains regularly. Annoying clogged
drains are due to the blockage somewhere in your pipes. The culprits of blocked
drains in the kitchen are the buildup of solidified fat and leftover food,
while in the bathroom, the buildup of hair and grime are the causes. To clean
your kitchen drain, you can melt the solidified fat and soften leftover food by
pouring liters of hot water into it regularly. In the bathroom, you can remove
hair and grime by using a wet-dry vacuum cleaner or a liquid chemical drain
cleaner that is safe enough to use for your pipes.
3. Check for leaks in your toilet regularly, because a leak in your
toilet is a major but rarely noticed reason for wasted water. To check for
leaks, simply add a few drops of dye or food colouring in your toilet tank and
observe if some of the color shows up in your bowl on the following day. The
usual cause for toilet leaks is a faulty flush valve, which you may need to
replace. Replacing a flush valve by yourself is an easy and cheap but cost
effective remedy to save gallons of water.
4. Check your laundry. Flooding occurs
in the laundry area when the rubber hoses that connect to your washing machine
are damaged or dislodged. Over time, these rubber hoses can become brittle and
may crack. Regularly check them for signs of deterioration, or you may want to
consider replacing them with metal ones, to make sure that there will be no leaks.
Actually
, there are a lot of other ways to
save water and prevent flooding in your home. You can ask Plumbers in Essendon
for other essential tips that you can do to prevent such stressful and costly disaster.