Plumbing Tips That Are Helpful To Anyone

If you're a home owner unfamiliar with plumbing, you're probably familiar with the experience of being charged an arm and a leg for what seems like a simple plumbing repair. If you'd like to avoid this experience again, read on for some advice and tips on how to fix your own plumbing.
Use the sounds you hear from your pipes to help you to determine what they problem is. Certain sounds mean the water pressure is too high. Other sounds can signify loose pipes or slight clogs from calcium or iron build up. Listening to your pipes can save you a lot of money hunting down the problem.

Act quickly if your pipes freeze! Shut off the water and open the faucet, enabling it to drain when it thaws. Starting with the faucet, and working your way to the iced-up area, aim a propane torch or hairdryer at the pipe - this will quickly defrost it. You could also wrap the pipe in a heating pad or aim a heat lamp at it, but this will take quite some time. A last resort is to wrap the pipe in rags and pour boiling water over it.

Be careful about using liquid clog cleaners. These liquids can contain chemicals that are extremely bad for your pipes. Instead, use a snake or a plunger to dislodge any clogs you might encounter. Be sure to try these things before giving up and calling a plumber, who will probably re-perform those same acts.

Check how well your toilets are flushing. If the handle needs to be played with in order to keep the water from running constantly, or if it needs to be held down several times in order to flush, you may need to switch out some of the parts in your tank. This is not expensive, and it could help reduce your monthly water bill. It could also mean that you avoid the embarrassment of the flushing system breaking when you have visitors!

Do not let your faucet leak. Did you know a leaky faucet can waste about 150 gallons of water every day? If you have a leak, never ignore it. It could be coming from the faucet or the pipes. Continually check pipes and faucets for extra moisture or small leaks.

Taking preventative measures means you will not have to spend as much on plumbing repairs. Drain clogs are a common plumbing issue and sometimes expensive to repair when they are not addressed promptly. Drains easily get clogged by hair. Stop hair from going down drains with a drain cover or screen designed for this purpose. It is easier to take hair off a screen than to clear it from a pipe.

Plumbing isn't as hard as it can seem, when you have access to good information and advice about how to go about solving your own plumbing problems. Next time you have plumbing problems in your house, try applying the tips from this article and see if you can save some money by solving it yourself!