Find Out How to Plan for a Healthy New Year
A healthy life starts in a healthy home. We depend on our homes to provide us with reliable shelter, warmth, and water during the cold winter months, and beyond.
To ensure that your home stays healthy and active all year long, plan to assess and care for your home’s plumbing system early on in the New Year.
Here are some tips on how to maintain a healthy plumbing system to enjoy a healthy New Year:
Check for Efficient Water Filtration
Water flows in and out of our homes through faucets and drains every day. Maintaining a healthy and adequate flow of water can help us preserve this precious resource while keeping menacing bacteria at bay. There are a couple of easy steps you can take to ensure that water is flowing sufficiently throughout your home, including:
Clear Hair Clogs: Once a week, provide your shower drain with some preventative maintenance. Remove your shower drain covering and use a flashlight to assess if your drain needs clearing. If so, use a pair of tweezers to pull out any knots or clogs that may have formed throughout the week.
Clean Your Faucets: Calcium, lime, and other sediment can accumulate on faucet heads over time. This grime prevents a normal flow of water and can contaminate your tap water with unnecessary bacteria. To clean your faucets, remove the aerator from the tip of the faucet, and soak the screen in hot white vinegar to remove mineral deposits.
Practice Water Safety Precautions: Depending on the age of your home and the type of pipes that are laid throughout its foundation, harmful contaminants may be entering your water system unknowingly. Test your water regularly, and if you sense an issue with your water quality, think about installing a water filtration system in your home.
Flush Out Your Water Heater
By taking the time to clean and flush out your water heater, you can improve the efficiency and extend the lifespan of your existing heater. Water heaters have a dip tube that directs water flow to the bottom of the tank, sending sediment to the bottom, as well.
This build-up of sediment reduces energy efficiency, as the heater is also working to warm up the sediment. You can flush and assess the condition of your water heater by yourself, but for added safety and effectiveness, seek professional assistance.
Plan to Have Your Drains Professionally Cleaned
Completing preventative maintenance for your home’s drainage system can save you heaps of time and money by ensuring that your pipes are in excellent working order. You may want to consider getting your drains professionally cleaned if they are showing the following symptoms of a clog:
Water backs up the drain when the faucet is turned on.- There is slow (or no) drainage in your sink.
- Your kitchen or bathroom sinks are emitting foul odors.
- Your toilet is beginning to overflow.
Clogged drains are bacterial cities, and can harbor illness-inducing bacteria such as E. Coli and salmonella. To diminish the risk of creating comfortable environments for bacteria to grow in your drains, be mindful of what goes down your sink.
Ensure that as little food waste as possible goes down your drains, and purchase a drain strainer to eliminate large amounts of food waste from entering your pipes.
Professional drain cleaning should be performed annually to effectively prevent any clogs from forming throughout the year.
If you want to put your healthy home plan into action in the Annapolis, MD area this year, call 410-268-7191 to speak with the plumbing experts at Heidler Inc.
