If you deal with plumbing clogs on a regular basis, you might find yourself struggling with bent wire hangers, chemical drain cleaner, and unfamiliar pipes. Unfortunately, unless you are a trained professional, all of your efforts might be in vain. Most people don't realize it, but it is possible to damage your plumbing by making a few missteps. If you use the wrong chemicals or you push a little too hard, you might end up dealing with damaged pipes or your clogging problem could get worse. Fortunately, you might be able to use this blog to help you to keep your plumbing flowing smoothly.
When your water bills go from a comfortable level to exorbitantly high seemingly overnight, it's important to get to the bottom of the issue. After all, nobody wants to pay more for water than they have to. Follow these steps to identify the problem and hopefully fix it.
Step 1: Check for running toilets.
If your toilet is located in an isolated area in your home, it might be running continually without having been detected. The next time you flush the toilet, stand around for a while to make sure it stops running within a minute or so of you flushing it. Do the same with all toilets in your home. Check in on them periodically to see if they are refilling themselves randomly. If a toilet is running continually or refilling on its own, you probably need to replace the float or the flapper. Replacing either of these parts is easy -- you basically unhook the current part, and snap a new one on. Of course, you can hire a plumber from a company like Ideal Plumbing & Heating or handyman to do this for you if it seems beyond your abilities.
Step 2: Evaluate whether neighbors may be using your water.
Do you have an outside spigot? If so, it is possible that neighbors have been using your water. There's really no way to know for sure unless you catch them in the act. See if you can set up a video camera or your laptop camera to record the spigot while you're away during the day. Review the footage each night to see if anyone was using your water. Of course, if you can just turn the water flow to the spigot off from inside your home; this is an easy way to thwart the problem, too. Just make sure your water bills do go down after you do this. It the bills are still high, then there's probably some other issue, such as an underground leak, causing your bills to spike.
Step 3: Have your home checked for underground leaks.
In order to drive up your water bills, a leak would have to be pretty substantial. You'd have noticed such a leak behind your wall or in a ceiling by now. However, you may not have noticed the leak if it is in one of the large pipes below ground, leading into your home. Turn off all of the sinks and water-using appliances in your home, and take a look at your water meter. There should be a little dial that spins when water is in use. If it is spinning with everything shut off, then water is leaking somewhere -- probably below ground. You'll need to contact a plumber to dig up and probably replace the pipes.
Share8 February 2016
