Vacation Prep: 5 Tips to Prevent Plumbing Issues While You’re Away

  Filed under: Pipe Maintenance, Plumbing

After a relaxing vacation, filled with quality downtime and having the chance to recharge your batteries, the worst thing to come home to is a plumbing issue. A plumbing issue can cause serious damage if it has been unattended to for even just a few days, so to prevent this from happening, we have compiled a few tips and tricks you can do to avoid unwanted plumbing mishaps from occurring while you’re away on vacation.

Clean all grease traps, garbage disposals, and drains before you leave.

Since there will be no water running in your home for at least a few days, this may cause leftover residue or moisture to produce unpleasant odors. Clearing the garbage disposal, grease traps and drains before you leave will help minimize this problem.

Ensure your dishwasher, washing machine, and dryer are empty.

Again, if wet dishes or clothes are sitting idle for a few days, this can cause bad odors to fill your home beyond the area. In order to prevent this, make sure that all of these appliances are empty and leave them open to air out if possible.

Drain the pipes in your home.

Turn off your water main and then turn on your faucets to drain the excess water that is still in the pipes. Doing this will help prevent water leakages or, if you live in a colder climate, frozen pipes. Just by doing this, you can save yourself thousands of dollars in damage by simply taking this precaution before you leave for your trip.

Drain the water heater.

Kill two birds with one stone! Have a professional plumber get your water heater tuned-up and ask them to drain your water heater while they’re there. This is not only practical to prevent leaks and damage, but also economical. There is no point in heating the same batch of idle water if no one is going to be using it.

Ask a neighbor to check on your home while you’re away.

If you’re away for an extended period of time, having a neighbor periodically check on your home is a good idea to make sure all is well at home while you are on vacation, as long as you trust them. If something were to go wrong, your neighbor can let you know you so that you can take corrective action to remedy the situation as soon as possible.

At Fosh Plumbing & Heating, we can help with any questions or issues that you may have regarding plumbing or heating. Vacations are meant to be a positive time to recharge and spend time with those you’re closest to, so there is no room for stressing over plumbing issues while you are away. We are available 24/7! Give us a call at (610) 496-5700 or contact us here. We look forward to hearing from you!