There are five main reasons why plumbing fails. By being proactive, you can make sure your home’s plumbing will run smoothly and reliably.
1. Age
Put simply, most people think that their toilet is going to last forever. However, it’s just like your refrigerator, microwave, coffeemaker, or other appliances in your home. These fixtures have components that do wear out over time. If you’ve got a plumbing fixture in your home that is very old, you can be sure that it will fail at some point. Being proactive will definitely save you from having water getting into your home and damaging its structure.
2. Excessive Water Pressure
Another reason that we find plumbing systems fail is simply because the water pressure coming into the home is too high. Water pressure should not exceed 80 psi. If the pressure is any higher than 80 psi, it will cause excessive wear and tear damage to your faucets, eventually causing them to start dripping. It will also cause more damage to your water heater, due to the increased expansion and contraction. If you notice that your garden hose swells up with bubbles during the summer, this can be another indicator that you have very high pressure. Making sure that you don’t have water pressure that exceeds 80 psi is an often overlooked way to be proactive with your plumbing. It can end up preventing a major problem from occurring in the future. Next time you have a professional in your home, ask them to check your water pressure. It’s something that we do during our diagnosis, because it definitely affects the plumbing.
3. Poor Water Quality
Another issue that needs to be addressed is water quality. There is calcium, acidity, iron, and other particulates in water that can be very harmful to your components (such as faucets, toilets, the water heater, or anything in your home that comes in contact with water). The quality of a home’s water supply is extremely important. If we’re in your home, doing a water analysis is an important step during diagnosis. Again, this can prevent you from experiencing future breakdowns.
4. Lack of Proactive Maintenance
Proper plumbing maintenance is something that also needs to be addressed. If you proactively maintain the plumbing system, you will definitely extend the life of all the fixtures in your home. Maintenance is a lot less expensive than waiting until a major problem occurs and then having to replace or repair components. It can end up being very costly to neglect proper maintenance.
5. Not Fixing Breakdowns in a Timely Fashion
The entire home’s plumbing system is interconnected, and small issues can be a signal that something larger needs to be addressed. For instance, if you have a drippy faucet, it affects your sewage, among other areas. When something is going on with a toilet, it can be causing problems in another area of the plumbing system. If you have a water heater that fails and bursts, or if you have a water main that breaks, it will end up causing your water bill to go up. If you have a septic system, a toilet that is running constantly when not in use can cause major damage. Not fixing it in a timely manner can cause larger problems to arise. If you have a well
