Fall is the favorite season of many San Jose, CA residents. It’s the time of year with the perfect mix of mild temperatures and bright, sunny days. That makes it the ideal time to perform routine maintenance on your home’s plumbing system. To help you do that, here are seven tips for fall plumbing maintenance in San Jose.
1. Clean Out Your Gutters
Fall signals the beginning of the final dry stretch before California’s rainiest part of the year starts. That means you’ll need your home’s gutters ready to carry water safely away. They are, after all, an essential part of your home’s plumbing system. To ensure they can, you should take the time to clean out any accumulated debris in them. You can do the work from the ground using a telescoping garden hose attachment. You should start near each downspout and work away from it for the best results. That prevents you from washing debris into the downspouts and clogging them up.
2. Put Your Garden Hoses Away
Although our area doesn’t experience many sub-freezing days each year, they happen occasionally. If a cold day catches your home unprepared, it can wreak havoc on your plumbing system. Your home’s garden hoses and hose bibs are among its most vulnerable plumbing components. So, when fall arrives, drain, disconnect, and store your hoses indoors.
You should also turn off the water supplying your home’s hose bibs. This can typically be done by switching a valve inside your home near the bib’s location. You can also install foam insulator caps over each hose bib for extra protection. However, skipping that step is unlikely to lead to trouble in our area.
3. Check Your Drains and Sewers
Fall is also an excellent time to inspect the operation of your home’s drains and sewers. You can do this by running your home’s sinks and checking that they drain quickly. You can do the same thing with showers and tubs. If you find any draining slowly, schedule a visit for a plumber to clear them. You could have a partially blocked sewer line if multiple drains seem slow. That calls for a camera inspection of your sewer pipe and rooter services to clear it, if necessary.
4. Test Your Water Heater’s Pressure Relief Valve
If you, like most San Jose homeowners, have a storage tank water heater, it needs yearly maintenance. One of the most important maintenance tasks is testing its pressure relief valve. It’s an important safety feature that prevents your tank from bursting if there is any malfunction. If it fails, a burst tank could seriously damage your home.
To test your pressure relief valve, you must find it first. It should be on the top or side of your water heater. It should look like a faucet with a small metal handle. If your relief valve has a pipe running from it, find the end and place a large bucket underneath it. If not, put the bucket beneath the valve’s outlet. Then, put on some thick, waterproof, heat-resistant gloves. The water coming from the valve will be at least 120 degrees. To test the valve, grasp its handle and pull its end upward. You should hold the valve open for about five seconds. You should see a steady stream of hot water flowing out.
If the valve won’t open, don’t try to force it. Doing so could damage the valve and cause a flood. If water doesn’t flow freely with the valve open, it could be partially blocked. In either case, you’ll need a professional plumber to help. And if you don’t feel comfortable working with hot water, don’t. Let a plumber come and test your pressure relief valve for you instead. We have the tools and expertise needed to make plumbing maintenance a snap.
5. Drain Your Water Heater
In San Jose, most homes get water from a local municipal system. Those authorities get most of the water from nearby reservoirs and aquifers. Unfortunately, our water sources consist of hard to very hard water. If you notice water spots on your glasses and dishware, that’s the reason. Hard water can also cause problems for your plumbing system. One of the problems is that it can leave sediment deposits and scale buildup in your storage tank water heater. That reduces its efficiency and capacity.
Periodic draining can help manage the effects of hard water on your water heater. It flushes the sediment and scale out. You should make this a part of your fall plumbing maintenance routine. To do it, you must first turn off the water heater. Then, open a few hot water taps in your home until the water runs cold. Next, turn off your water heater’s cold water supply. Then, attach a garden hose to your water heater’s drain valve near its base. Run the hose to a nearby drain, open the drain valve, and turn the cold water supply back on. Watch the water coming from the drain hose, and close the valve when the water runs clear. Then, you can close your hot water taps and turn your water heater back on.
6. Test Your Sump Pump
With wetter months on the way, fall is also the right time to test your home’s sump pump. You need it ready to deal with water entering your basement from below. Before testing your sump pump, visually inspect it for rust and corrosion. If you see any, you should consider a replacement. Otherwise, you can move on to testing your pump’s operation.
The easiest way is to fill your sump with water until the pump activates. If it never turns on or struggles to drain the water, you need a plumber to repair the problem. The average sump pump only lasts for seven to 10 years. If yours is nearing that age, it may need replacing.
7. Inspect Exposed Pipes
To complete your fall plumbing maintenance, inspect all the exposed pipes in your home. Look under every sink, in your basement, or anywhere else you find visible pipes. You’re looking for corrosion or any signs of water damage. Feel your walls wherever pipes run through them. If you feel any unusual moisture there, you may have a leak inside the wall. Catching small leaks before they worsen can save you significant sums on repairs, not to mention some headaches.
Your Local Plumbing Maintenance Team
Unless you are a plumber yourself, you can’t handle all of your home’s plumbing maintenance needs alone. Plumbtree Plumbing & Rooter offers affordable plumbing services in San Jose to help. We’re the plumbing partner you need, from leak repairs to hydro-jetting, gas line services, water heaters, and more. We’re a Diamond-certified business with a sterling reputation. We’re also Top-Rated on HomeAdvisor and a Neighborhood Fave on Nextdoor. We even offer emergency plumbing services 24/7, so we’ll always be there when you need us. If you need a qualified plumber for your San Jose home, call our team at Plumbtree Plumbing & Rooter immediately.
