6 Ways To Extend The Life Of Your Home’s Plumbing System

It’s no secret that the plumbing system tends to be one of the most complex components of building any modern home. Not only does the configuration of pipes need to be considered well before even laying the foundation for a new house, but the pipes themselves must naturally be designed with maximum longevity in mind.

After all, plumbing repairs can be quite a costly expense.

The cold, hard truth is that protecting your home’s plumbing system can help your household save upwards of thousands of dollars over the foreseeable future.

So what’s exactly involved in maintaining the miracle that is indoor plumbing?

Here are just a few quick and easy measures you can take to help extend the life of your home’s plumbing system.

1. Stay on top of your system maintenance

Scheduling routine maintenance appointments with a licensed plumber is paramount to ensuring that your home’s plumbing system stays in peak operating condition. Maintaining standing appointments with your household plumber will also play a vital role in identifying any potential plumbing faults early and thus, resolving them as promptly as possible and with minimal repair costs.

As the majority of common plumbing faults are those that build up over time, homeowners can naturally save themselves and their households a lot of grief by simply keeping a maintenance checklist with a dedicated residential plumber. Some examples of maintenance procedures that should ideally be conducted on your home’s plumbing system on an annual basis include:

• Visual inspection of pipes (to search for leaks or signs of corrosion)
• Inspection of gas plumbing systems
• Examination of dishwasher and washing machine hose connections
• An inspection of your hot water system
• Inspection and maintenance of stormwater drainage systems

2. Don’t use corrosive pipe cleaners 

Although you may feel reassured by the potent odours of ultra heavy-duty pipe cleaning agents, there’s also more and more evidence emerging every year that these corrosive pipe cleaners actually do more harm than good. Working with highly acidic or highly alkaline chemical cleaners always runs the risk of experiencing extreme results, including damage to your pipes, contamination of stormwater or waterways around your home, and perhaps even severe chemical burns if the cleaning agents are mishandled.

A good rule of thumb is to look at the pH levels of any chemical drain cleaners before using them at home. Any cleaners with a pH level of 11 or over is likely to contain bleach and other alkaline chemicals, which may damage your pipes if applied improperly. Cleaners with a pH level on the opposite end of the spectrum, recording a level of 1 or 2, are likely to be highly acidic, potentially containing hydrochloric or sulphuric acids and thus, just as high-intensity as caustic cleaners that are highly alkaline. It’s always best to go with organic cleaners that record a middling range pH level, so as close to 7 as possible.

3. Avoid clogging pipes wherever possible

Despite the fact that some household products like ground coffee beans or clumping cat litters claim to be drain-friendly, there is always the risk that dumping these products down your home’s drains can be a one-way ticket to experiencing clogged pipes. In truth, even eco-friendly cat litters that claim to be flushable can still cause build-ups either superficially in your toilet trap, or further down in the branches of your toilet’s drain line.

And even if your flushable cat litter does happen to make its way down to your neighbourhood’s sewer line with minimal disturbances, your used cat litter could still run the risk of releasing harmful bacteria or diseases into your local water supply. This could then lead to buildups of hazardous waste materials in waste disposal centres that can exacerbate health concerns amongst sanitation workers alongside complicating water treatment processes.

Similar issues have been observed in the recent past with plastic stickers that can be found on fruits and vegetables. As these fruit stickers aren’t biodegradable, they inevitably end up at water treatment plants. Due to their size, these stickers are just as notorious for blocking up grates in treatment facilities as they are for contributing to clogging in household pipes across Australia.

You can reduce the risks of clogging your pipes by ensuring that no bulky foods, produce stickers, clumping cat litters, or other ‘drain-friendly’ household materials are disposed of through your home’s basins, sinks, or toilets.

4. Keep your shower drain hair-free

Yes, part of avoiding clogged drains at home naturally involves making sure that your shower drain is kept as clear as your home’s sinks, basins, and toilets. But despite the fact that hair is a natural fibre and thus, infinitely more biodegradable than fruit stickers, excess buildup of hair in your shower drains can lead to some nasty clogged pipes as well.

If your shower is prone to getting waterlogged, resulting in you standing in a puddle of water, foaming with used soap and shampoo, then chances are high that your shower drain is already clogged. As is the case with all plumbing faults, this issue can grow increasingly damaging if left untreated for a prolonged period of time.

Thankfully, keeping your shower drain firmly hair-free can be as simple as snaking your drain on a regular basis using a manual auger. Homeowners should also be advised to clear any hair from the floor of their shower on a daily basis if possible, just to reduce the risks of hair being carried into your drain by flowing water.

5. Prevent grease build-ups in your drains

Grease buildups are actually one of the most infamous causes behind clogged household drains. Sadly, it’s all too easy for fats and oils used in kitchens to end up solidifying in drains, causing fluctuations in water pressure across affected pipes which can subsequently increase risks of your home experiencing a burst pipe. Simply put, disposing responsibly of your household’s used cooking oils and other kinds of grease is no laughing matter.

Minimising opportunities for grease buildup in your home’s pipes is actually easier than you may think possible, thanks to a few lifestyle changes you can make or perhaps even amendments to your household’s kitchen habits. For families that use cooking oils on a regular basis, consider investing in a grease trap for your kitchen sink. Allowing cooking oils to solidify in pots and saucepans to ensure that oils can be removed prior to washing dishes can also help reduce the risks of oils accumulating in your kitchen pipes. 

If you’re concerned that there is already a grease buildup in your kitchen sink, this issue can easily be rectified with some simple at-home recipes for minor cases. Natural cleansers like cleaning vinegar can help gently clear grease buildups in your kitchen drains. Pouring boiling hot water down your kitchen drain can also help unsettle any grease that’s solidified in your pipes. For more advanced cases of grease buildup that could be leading to dangerous fluctuations in water pressure, we highly recommend consulting with a professional plumber.

6. Learn how to spot potential problems early

Finally, as fluctuations in water pressure can be indicative of clogged pipes, there are an abundance of warning signs to look out for that could signal some of the most common plumbing faults impacting households today. For this reason, it’s in the best interests of all homeowners to get acquainted with the most common warning signs to look out for that could be caused by a plumbing failure that’s still bubbling under the surface, so to speak.

Being able to maintain a level of vigilance and recognise the telltale signs of potential plumbing faults nice and early, can naturally give your household the strongest possible chance of combating these issues as swiftly, thoroughly, and as cost-efficiently as possible. 

With these six methods at your disposal, chances are high that you and your wider household can enjoy happier, healthier pipes without having to bear any of the hefty costs that always accompany emergency plumbing repairs.