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San Diego Plumbing Tips: Avoid Costly Repairs with Maintenance

May 08, 2013

There are few things more exasperating than waking up early in the morning, to the sound of running water…when it shouldn’t be. Leaks left unchecked can cause thousands of dollars of damage to your home, that insurance may not fully cover. Anderson Plumbing, Heating and Air wants to help you keep your San Diego plumbing in good condition so that you won’t have to call us. The following are tips for containing the most common leaks in homes:

Dripping & Leaky Faucets

Faucets generally leak because of a failure of the O-rings, seat washers or seals, depending on the type of faucet you have. Check out this tutorial for taking care of minor leaks in the most common type of faucets.

  • Compression faucet — uses two handles, one for hot water and one for the cold.
  • Ball faucet — has one handle; will require the purchase of a kit for the replacement of several parts.
  • Cartridge faucet — also has one handle; replacing the O-rings should fix the leak.
  • Ceramic-disk faucet — also has one handle; cleaning cylinders and replacing worn, pitted seals should stop leaks.

If the above does not work, call a San Diego plumber. Also, if your pipes are the source of the leak, don’t try to fix this yourself. Leaking pipes can indicate a larger problem with the system that a temporary fix would only mask. Contact us for a video sewer inspection which will allow us to advise you on the best solution.

Running Toilets

This should be fixed immediately because toilets that overflow in the middle of the night can cause an enormous amount of damage in the home. If the toilet is running but not stopped up, it may be fixed by one of several simple steps, including adjusting the water level in the tank, adjusting the float or tightening the valve screw. If none of these work or parts are broken, complete toilet tank repair kits are widely available for very little cost. If the problem is bigger than that, the most cost-effective solution may be a new toilet.

Leaking Water Heaters

Unfortunately, this is not usually a job for the homeowner. As with leaking pipes, a leaking water heater is a warning of imminent failure. The best solution is usually to have a new water heater installed. Not only will that save you the expense of a massive leak, but buying an energy-efficient model will save you in energy costs and possibly insurance.

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