How to Prep Your Plumbing for Summer Vacation
Believe it or not, summer is right around the corner. Before you know it, that summer vacation you have been planning will be a day or two away! In order to prepare your home for your absence, you will have some tasks to conquer. While you are reprogramming the thermostat or temporarily halting your mail, don’t forget to take care of your household plumbing, as well. Keep reading below to for a checklist of what things you should do.
- An easy and safe way to ensure there is no damage is to turn off your main water supply. In addition to shutting off your main water supply, you should also shut off individual water valves to your washing machine and dishwasher.
- If you have a drip from an outside faucet or hose, your water bill can end up being huge. Be sure to drain your sprinkler system prior to your vacation.
- Remove any debris or excess leaves from your gutter to ensure they can handle the rain while you are gone. Gutters need to be able to drain any summer rainwater that may occur during your vacation.
- Be sure to set your water heater at the lowest setting it has available in order to help keep your energy bill low. If you would like to, you can always choose to shut it off completely.
- If you have a neighbor you are close with or a friend who lives nearby, ask them to come check on your home periodically while you are on vacation. This will help you to have some peace of mind while you are away from home.
Take these easy steps into consideration in order to prepare your plumbing for your summer vacation. It will help to ensure your family has a great time on their trip and the only money you will have to worry about spending is what you choose to during your vacation. By putting these tips into effect, you will be able to enjoy your summer to the fullest, rather than worrying about your house!
Why summer travel is hard on home plumbing
The Mississippi Gulf Coast doesn’t slow down in summer. Heat, humidity and afternoon storms keep working on your home whether you’re there or not. A small leak you would have caught in a day if you were home can run for a week or two while you’re at the beach, and the cleanup is rarely simple. Add hurricane season starting in June, and the case for a real pre-vacation checklist gets stronger.
The good news is that ten or fifteen minutes of prep is usually enough to head off the worst of it. The list above covers the basics. The sections below add a few more steps that pay off when you’re gone for a week or longer.
Run a quick fixture inspection before you leave
Walk through every room with a flashlight and look at the connections under each sink, behind the toilet and around the water heater. Feel the supply lines for moisture. Check the cabinet floors for any soft spots or staining. The goal is to spot a slow weeper before it becomes a fast leak.
Don’t skip the laundry room. Washing machine hoses are one of the most common failure points in any home, and the pressure on those hoses doesn’t drop just because you’re gone. If yours are rubber and more than five years old, swap them for braided stainless before you travel. The hoses cost less than dinner and they prevent one of the worst kinds of water damage.
Fill drain traps so sewer gas can’t seep in
Every drain in your home has a P-trap that holds a small amount of water. That water is what blocks sewer gas from rising back up into the house. If you’re gone for two weeks, the water in rarely-used drains can evaporate, and you’ll come home to a faint but unmistakable smell.
Before you leave, run water down every drain for a few seconds: kitchen sink, bathroom sinks, tub, shower, laundry sink, basement floor drain if you have one. For drains you almost never use, pour a cup of water down them. The trick takes a couple of minutes and saves you from airing out the house when you get back.
Think about hurricane season before you book the trip
Atlantic hurricane season runs June through November. If you’re traveling in late August or September, the storm risk is part of the planning. A few specifics worth thinking through:
- Make sure someone has a key to your home and knows how to find your main water shutoff
- If a named storm forms while you’re away, that person can shut off the water and check for leaks after the storm passes
- Take photos of the inside and outside of your home before you leave so you have a baseline if you need to file an insurance claim
- Confirm that your sump pump, if you have one, is working before you go
- Move anything stored on the floor in the laundry room or near the water heater up off the floor
When you get back home
The first thing to do when you walk back in is to check the spots you flagged before you left. Look under sinks, around the water heater, behind the toilets and in the laundry room. Run cold water at every fixture for about thirty seconds, then run hot water for the same amount of time. Listen for any unusual noises and watch for any discolored water that might indicate the system has been sitting and is starting to flush out.
If you turned the water heater all the way off, give it time to come back to temperature before you start a load of laundry or run the dishwasher. And if anything feels off, your meter is moving without anything running, or you spot a stain that wasn’t there before, get a plumber out before you unpack. Catching a problem in the first 24 hours back is much cheaper than discovering it next month.
If you are having issues with your dishwasher, contact ASAP Plumbing today at 228-865-2727 or visit www.plumbinggulfportms.com and request a free estimate! We can handle all your plumbing needs including installation, repair, and full water heater replacement.