Vacations are meant to be fun. It doesn’t matter where you’re heading, there’s some things that you should do to your plumbing before you leave.
Conduct a Visual Inspection
Visually inspect all of your appliances that might have a plumbing issue such as your refrigerator if it has an ice maker in it; your washing machine and your hot water heater. Make sure that there’s no evidence of leaks or corrosion. You’ll also want to do the same thing for the outside of your home. Make sure that your faucets don’t have any leaks or cracks and that there’s no soggy spots in your grass, which could be an indication of a water line leak if it hasn’t rained for a while. It’s also a good idea to have a friend or neighbor do a visual inspection of your home while you’re gone just to keep an eye on things for you.
Check Your Water Heater
You should always turn off your water heater before leaving. Another option is to use the water heater vacation mode. Every water heater has a valve that will turn off the tank, saving you a flood if the tank should happen to fail. If you don’t want to turn your water heater completely off, simply turn it down so that it’s not heating water when you’re not home to use it.
Some Other Important Tips
Some of the other things that you should do if you’re leaving for vacation include:
- Turn off your plumbing system’s main shut-off valve so that if something fails while you’re gone there’s only a minimal amount of water that will be released.
- Add some water or drain maintenance product to your drains prior to leaving so that the water is held in the trap and also so that sewer vapors don’t escape.
- Take a look at your sump pump to make sure that it’s working properly. It’s always great to have a backup installed in case of a power outage.
Don’t forget to use your vacation settings and call us for all your air conditioning and heating system needs.
