Preventing Emergency Plumbing Repair | Denton, TX
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Many home and business owners don’t think much about their plumbing system until something leaks, breaks, or bursts. In fact, emergency plumbing repair can be one of the biggest headaches that homeowners experience. bluefrog Plumbing + Drain of North Dallas can help you with preventative maintenance packages,routine repair, and 24-7 on-call emergency services.
There are a few things that you can do in your home to prevent the need for emergencies, however, and make your plumbing fixtures, pipes, and drains last longer.
Keeping Your Bathroom Functioning Smoothly
When people think of plumbing problems, the toilet is one of the first things that comes to mind. Clogged commodes can be smelly and messy, and embarrassing if you have guests in your home. To protect your toilet from backing up and overflowing, be careful about what you flush. Baby wipes, paper towels, condoms, and feminine hygiene products aren’t meant to go into your sewer pipes. Over time, these items, which aren’t dissolved by the enzymes in bathroom pipes, build up into barriers.
bluefrog Plumbing + Drain techs use small cameras mounted on wires to look for clogs in your sewer lines and remove them, allowing your toilets to flush smoothly.
Your tub and shower are also subject to slow draining of water and clogged drains. In these cases, hair and soap residue are among the chief causes of clogs. In your sinks, excess hair and shaving cream and toothpaste clumps contribute to clogged drains.
Fixing these is similar to how we fix a clogged toilet. We will examine the drains and pipes in your bathroom sinks, showers, and tubs, and physically remove the clogs.
To prevent clogs in the shower, purchase a “hair screen” to place over your bathroom drains. These catch excess hair, preventing most of it from getting into your drain pipes. Just make sure to remove these and clean them regularly.
Protecting Your Kitchen Sinks and Appliances
The kitchen is another room in the house that often needs plumbing repair, and the kitchen sink is usually the thing that most people call us for. Even if you have a garbage disposal in your sink, you still shouldn’t put large chunks of food or cooking grease down the drain. The teeth of the garbage disposal aren’t large or powerful enough to cut up food chunks into pieces that are small enough to pass through the pipes.
Cooking grease, while it goes into your kitchen drain in a liquid form, will solidify as it cools. Our repair specialists often find chunks of soft, sticky cooking grease in the P-Trap area under your sink. Cooking grease chunks tend to “catch” other debris that goes into your kitchen sink, eventually clogging the drain and causing it to drain more slowly.
Occasionally, the pressure from clogs can burst your pipes, either by breaking through worn or loose joining seams or by putting pressure on weak spots in the pipes, especially those in older homes. Avoid putting harsh drain cleaners in your sinks, as these can wear down the material in the pipes. Instead, call for professional plumbing repair to physically remove the clog, thereby protecting your pipes.
Your Laundry Room Drains and Water Heater
Denton, TX homes either have traditional water heaters or “tankless” water heaters. Tankless water heaters typically have less need for plumbing repair than the traditional tanked heaters, often just needing to have the electrical mechanisms in the heating element fixed or replaced.
Traditional water heaters, however, need more preventative maintenance and regular inspection to prevent big leaks that can damage your garage, laundry room, or basement. Booking regular service from bluefrog Plumbing + Drain can help you avoid an emergency repair or an expensive fix.
Over time, the material of the water heater’s tank wears down and is subject to “pitting,” or the formation of small holes. Tiny leaks seep out of these holes, but homeowners often don’t notice these leaks, because the high temperature of the water heater’s tank evaporates them. In fact, you probably won’t notice that your water heater is leaking until you need an emergency or expensive plumbing repair.
Traditional water heaters have a lifespan of about 15-20 years, depending on how well you take care of it. If your water heater is approaching the end of its life, give bluefrog a call – we don’t just do plumbing repair, but we can also replace your old water heater with a newer, more energy-efficient one.
Keeping Your Water and Sewer Lines Clear
Although the water and sewer lines are located outside of your house, leaks from these can cost you money, damage your landscape, or even become a true plumbing repair emergency. Part of your preventative maintenance form bluefrog involves regular inspection of the water lines coming in from the Denton water main and the sewer lines that take the wastewater out of your home.
You may notice that you have a pipe leak in your yard if there are soft spots or sinkholes in the grass, or an unusually bright, green, and lush patch – this indicates that you have a sewer line leak, as this part of your yard is getting extra “fertilizer.”
Your bluefrog tech will examine your water and sewer lines with the small camera and physically remove any clogs. If we notice leaks or a burst pipe, we’ll make recommendations to fix it, with an eye for the least invasive kind of plumbing repair.
Call bluefrog Plumbing + Drain of North Dallas Today!
There’s a reason that Denton, TX, homeowners trust bluefrog for all their plumbing repair needs. Our technicians are certified, licensed, and bonded, and we understand some of the challenges North Texas plumbing has. We treat your house like we would treat our own home, and we’re here around the clock for burst pipes, clogged drains, and stopped up commodes. Give us a call or visit us online to book service, and save our after-hours number in your phone for emergencies!
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