These Plumbing Tips Can Keep An Inconvenience From Becoming An Emergency

These Plumbing Tips Can Keep An Inconvenience From Becoming An Emergency

31 March 2021
 Categories: , Blog


Nobody wants to face a plumbing emergency. Usually, it means bailing out water, making panicked calls to your emergency plumber, and then spending days drying out the space and making repairs. While the occasional emergency is always going to happen, you can cut down on emergencies significantly by following the plumbing tips below. These tips really focus on ensuring that a minor plumbing inconvenience does not become a major plumbing emergency.

Lubricate your toilet shut-off valve.

Everyone has a toilet clog now and then. If you notice the water starting to rise, and then you shut off the fill valve immediately, you won't end up with sewage water all over your floor. The thing is, toilet valves can get stuck and corroded; you can't shut them off in time to prevent the overflow. 

Take some penetrating oil, and apply it liberally to the toilet valve. Wait a few minutes, and then turn the valve on and off again and again. When the valve turns freely, you're done. Just remember to re-check, and if needed, re-lubricate, the valve every few months. Make sure others in your household know where the toilet valve is, too.

Locate the main water valve.

There should be one big valve on the pipe that brings water into your home. This big valve is called the main water valve. If you have a pipe leak anywhere in your home, then you can turn this valve off to stop the flow of water. This approach is a lot easier than trying to figure out where the leak is coming from and which individual valve will stop it. You can just turn off the main water valve and leave all that investigation to the plumber. 

The problem is that many homeowners do not even know where their main water valve is. By the time they locate it, water will have flowed all over the place from the leak. So, find your main water valve and put a great, big label on it. If it seems stuck, lubricate it just like the toilet valve. Then, make sure everyone in your home knows that if a pipe springs a leak, they are to turn that big valve and close it, ASAP!

Clogged toilets and leaks are still things that you'll need to have a plumber out to deal with. But if you've followed these tips in advance of any issues appearing, at least your plumber will be dealing with a minor issue and not a flooded, sewage-laden home. Reach out to a plumber from a company like WILD WEST PLUMBING for more information.

About Me
Turn Your Bathroom Into a Spa-Like Retreat

Could your bathroom benefit from a little updating? A few years ago, I grew tired of my outdated bathroom. I decided to tackle my own remodel, which consisted of re-painting my vanity cabinets, updating the lighting fixtures and hardware, and giving my bathroom a fresh coat of paint in a modern grey color. I spent very little, but my bathroom now looks modernized, and is a space I can actually enjoy spending time in! I put together this blog to help like-minded homeowners update their own bathroom spaces in a budget-friendly way. I hope you find some great ideas here to try out for yourself!

Search
Categories