How to Avoid the Most Common Reasons for Water Leaks in the Home

It’s inconvenient and potentially expensive to deal with the aftermath of a water leak in your Vernon, CT home. If you do discover evidence of a water leak (i.e., pooling water, moisture on pipes, rust, a hike in your water bills that doesn’t make sense, low water pressure or mold growth), your first step is to call your plumber.

They will use their specialized water leak detection equipment to get to the source of the leak. In our experience, the chances are that the leak will be traced back to one of the following reasons.

Corroded Pipes

One of the most threatening things to your plumbing is rust. That’s because the buildup of rust will break down the plumbing until it is decayed and leaks.

Even worse is if you have copper pipes and a high concentration of minerals in your water. Both of these factors increase the likelihood that your pipes will corrode.

There are a number of things that you can do to avoid this problem. Don’t let your water run too hot; hot water will speed up the rust process. Also be sure to run water frequently to flush standing water out of the system. Consider replacing copper pipes with PVC, which are more resistant to rust.

Pipe Age

Do you have older plumbing? That may be the reason behind your water leak.

Like many other things in your home, as it ages, your plumbing becomes more susceptible to damage and will need water leak repair.

If your home is older, you may want to consult your plumber about the possibility of updating your plumbing to avoid more leaks in the future.

Wrong Water Pressure

There is nothing more relaxing than the steamy spray of a long, hot shower. However, if you knew what the force of the water was doing to your pipes, you may think differently.

When water pressure is too high, it batters the sides of the pipes, eventually causing damage and leaks.

To keep this from happening, check your water pressure regularly and make sure that it is in the “safe zone” (i.e., from about 45-60 psi).

Water Quality in Question

When is the last time that you had your water quality tested? Not only is this important for your family’s health, having good quality water is important for the health of your pipes too.

When your water is full of impurities, they bind to the inside of the pipe and cause decay and leaks.

You can likely avoid this trouble by installing a water softener or water filtration system, depending on what your local water is like. You can save yourself a lot of hassle simply by knowing what factors cause plumbing leaks.

Unexpected Water Leaks Are Done For When You Try These 4 Plumbing Maintenance Tips

Leaks in your home or place of business might seem like relatively minor structural issues.

Compared to some of the “big ticket items” you worry about with a building, you may even be tempted to simply ignore water leaks since it’s just a "little-lost water."

But ignoring leaks can cost you money. Leaks mean the water you lose you pay for in your monthly bills.

More importantly, leaks are symptoms of a small problem that can threaten to grow much larger and more expensive, like water damage, mold or a broken pipe.

If you want to prevent these major problems from happening to you, our four tips can help to avert these issues before they become serious.

Don’t Clear Drains with Strong Chemicals

There’s an obvious need to clear out a blocked drain or want to deal with a slow drain before it completely blocks.

However, the first solution shouldn’t necessarily be buying a powerful chemical agent from the store and pouring that down your drain.

Modern drainage plumbing is often made of synthetic materials like PVC, which are plastic, and those chemicals can erode, weaken, and even break these pipes if they are used too frequently.

Lessen Water Pressure

A lot of homeowners will make the case that high water pressure is essential because you can’t have a decent shower without it.

However, modern showerheads can pressurize the water, meaning you don’t need to have the entire plumbing system of your home at a high water pressure!

And honestly, it’s bad for your house! High water pressure adds constant, damaging force to every pipe in your home. Moreover, it can also cause you to pay more on your water bills, and may even damage water-using appliances like laundry machines and dishwashers, causing them and/or pipes to leak.

Prevent Corrosion

Corrosion is a natural process for most metals, which means the trick is to reduce the chance of this occurring as much as possible.

This is especially important in pipes, which are constantly exposed to fluids and can spring leaks should they deteriorate enough due to rust or other factors.

Depending on the type of pipes you want to protect, corrosion prevention can be as simple as applying paint sealer, for copper pipes.

On the other hand, if your home builders decided to use your metal pipes to also ground electricity, the electrical power may be causing galvanic corrosion! Take steps to eliminate this.

Verify Leaks

What if you suspect you may already have a leak? You should first confirm its presence and determine its severity.

If a visual inspection of faucets, appliances, and pipes you can easily access yields nothing, look for moisture, water stains or even water damage in areas like walls and ceiling that pipes may be behind.

You can also take a reading of your water meter when water is not being used to see if it’s still measuring water consumption. If it is, you have a leak. Fortunately, living in Vernon, CT means you have easy access to professionals that can address leaks if you find any. Always make sure to either prevent leaks from occurring or fixing them quickly before they escalate to bigger problems.

If You’re Not Doing These 4 Things, You Are Probably Overpaying Your Water Bill

It’s something we take for granted in modern life. In some ways, we almost resent it because we have to pay a bill for it every month.

But if we didn’t have clean, safe drinking water delivered right to our home with the turn of a tap, our American way of life simply wouldn’t be possible. But just because you pay for it every month, doesn’t mean you have to pay the amount you’re currently billed for. We’ve got four important tips you can put to use to start reducing your bill.

Try Grey Water for the Garden

People who love gardens and green lawns need to satisfy a lot of very thirsty plants, and that will always take a big chunk of water.

Most people pay for it from their garden hose, but there is an alternative. Take gently used water from cooking and cleaning and collect it for plants instead.

This “grey water” as it is called may not be great for humans to drink, but thirsty plants can still get plenty of use from it. For even more water efficiency, put a rain barrel in your yard, and have literally gallons of grey water that will never come out of your tap or your monthly water bill.

Try Self-Serve Car Washing

The traditional car wash costs you a bit more money, but you save on time and elbow grease.

Washing a car at home means you don’t pay from your pocket, but it does take effort, uses gallons of your own water that you’ll pay for, and drains water laced with cleaning chemicals into the sewer.

Next time, if you have the option, try a self-service car wash. This is much cheaper than a regular car wash, and you don’t drain any chemicals into a sewer. The car wash takes care of everything!

Stop Leaks

The worst type of expense on your bill is one you’re not even using. A leak in your plumbing may not ever make it to a tap, or your washing machine, but as far as your water meter is concerned, it is water that’s been used and you have to pay for it.

Use your water meter to confirm the presence of a leak. Check the leak indicator if your meter is new enough. For older meters, take a reading, don’t use water for 10 minutes to an hour, then see if your meter has still gone up. Once you confirm a leak, get it located and fixed.

Take Fewer Baths

If you take a bath regularly, that relaxing experience in the tub also requires about 20-50 gallons of water.

Doing that on a regular basis makes big demands on your water bill. If you have a modern shower head, you can this down to a fraction.

Modern shower heads only use about 2.5 gallons of water a minute, so a five minute shower is very thrifty with water. If your shower head was installed before 1992, think about an upgrade to get those savings.

Water is essential to both survival and comfort in Vernon, CT but that doesn’t mean you should be wasteful and extravagant with it. Learn to use water wisely, and you’ll not only pay less, but set a good example for the rest of your family.