Can Your Plumbing Cope With Christmas?

Christmas plumbing Christmas is a time for family get togethers and visitors, which is what the festive season is all about. It can also be a time of stress, especially for your home and its functions behind the walls. Extra inhabitants mean extra pressure on utilities, and in the summer months it is inevitably the plumbing and water supply that is hardest hit. Whether it’s 2 or 12 guests coming to stay for a week or just the day, your toilets, showers and sinks take a hit as people use these for everyday living as well as when entertaining. Extra kitchen waste, extra toilet waste and major water usage are just some of the factors to consider when Christmas is happening at your place.

Some easy ways to prep your plumbing for the festive season include:

Potential Blockages
Prepare Ahead In The Kitchen
Check Your Gas Bottles
Hot Water System Ready
Free Up All the Bathrooms

Potential Blockages

Blocked drainage Give your pipes a sniff now to avoid plumbing disasters when you least need them. If your pipes are a bit on the smelly side, or draining particularly slowly already, it’s best to call in a plumber now to clear the pipes before your guests bring increased usage with them.

Prepare Ahead In The Kitchen

Busy kitchens and extra bodies bring extra waste and some people’s disposal habits can result in your pipes being clogged with food waster. Oils, grease, gravies and small food items such as pips and skins can end up in your sink and eventually in the plumbing. Have paper towels handy and strainers over your sink holes to catch any extra debris.

Check Your Gas Bottles

Mainline Plumbing and Cheap Hot Water and Gas can assist you with connecting your BBQ to your home’s gas system to avoid running out of gas when entertaining or at the most inopportune times. It saves you money and product wastage, as well as the stress of remembering just another job on the list at Christmas time.

Hot Water System Ready

Hot water installed How’s the flow in your bathrooms? Can your hot water system keep up with several extra bodies using hot water not only for showers but for washing dishes and running the washing machine as well? Set up a roster system with your guests to stagger out the showers either morning or night and run your dishwasher when everyone is in bed to relieve the pressure on your hot water system. If you think your system might be a bit on the older side and will struggle with increased workload, call Mainline to have it looked at today.

Free Up All The Bathrooms

Do you have 2 or more bathrooms and toilets that are hardly used? Or even don’t currently work? Turn on these toilets for extra guests and make sure all your bathrooms are available to be utilised by your guests. Plumbing doesn’t love being overloaded in one area. Also, make sure a bin is available for toilet rolls and other non-flushable items such as sanitary pads, baby wipes and paper towels to avoid them being flushed down the loo and blocking the pipes.

Can Your Plumbing Cope With Christmas?

Have your plumbing pipes and gas lines checked now before the rush by Mainline Plumbing and Cheap Hot Water and Gas to get your home ready for the festive season. For friendly, reliable service by local, licensed tradesmen, call 9791 1608 (Bunbury) or 9759 1317 (Dunsborough) 24 hrs, 7 days a week.

4 Ways to Know If Your Pipes Are Worn Out

Depending on the age of the home and how maintenance has been done in the past will be relative to any future problems you may come across when it comes to the pipe works overall condition.

It is good practice to check certain areas in the home and fix and replace items before they become bigger problems when they are at the end of their life.

Typical areas to check would be kitchens, bathrooms, laundry, basements, crawl spaces and generally anywhere pipework may be. If this is not in your expertise contacting a professional plumber to do these maintenance checks is definitely worth it.

What Are the Signs to Look Out For?

Leaks
Corroded pipes
Discoloured water
Stains

Leaks

Leaks can present themselves in different ways in housing, e.g. from visible pipework to behind walls where pipework may be hidden, this is where you might see mould or mildew forming on walls or on floors, if mould is smelt in a room but not seen these are all potential problems of leaking pipes.

Corroded Pipes

Flaking metal on pipes or substantial look of damage to pipes could be a sign of corrosion. This can be the cause of high acid water content, that eats away at the pipes. When copper pipes are not used for a certain amount of time this too can lead to corrosion.

Discoloured Water

If rust coloured water starts coming out of your taps it is exactly that from rust. It is important for a plumber to be contacted at this point as rust causes hard water and this is not good for washing clothes, bathing or drinking.

Stains

Stains can show up as a discolouration to walls and ceilings, walls can even show evidence of a bubbling effect in the paintwork this is a sign to contact a plumber sooner rather than later to prevent the cavity of walls and ceilings getting further damage.

When You Need A Professional Plumber to Look at Your Pipes

Mainline Plumbing Cheap Hot water and Gas are available to you 24/7 for emergency and general plumbing maintenance. Located in two convenient places at Bunbury 9791 1608 or Busselton / Dunsborough 9759 1317.