Preparing Your Household Plumbing for the Holidays

Cover All Tub Drains With Drain Strainers

Before your guests arrive, it is a great idea to cover all your drains with drain strainers. These can catch most items that cause clogged drains in the tub such as small toys, clumps of soap, and hair.

Get Your Water Heater Serviced

Manufacturers recommend you have your water heater serviced once a year for optimal performance and reliability. This tune-up can flush the sediment that settles at the bottom of your water heater tank, check your anode rod and perform other tests on your water heater to ensure that your water heater will service you and your guests all season long. Having it serviced before periods of heavy usage, you can avoid major costs, total shutdowns and other water heater related plumbing problems during the holidays. 

Additionally, To achieve extended hot water results, turn up your water heater’s temperature. To avoid scalding, never exceed 120°F and remember to turn the temperature back down after the holidays to save on energy costs.

Never Flush Non-Flushable Items

This may seem like a no-brainer, but you would be surprised to learn that some of the most common reasons for clogged toilets comes from people flushing non-flushable items such as tissues, feminine hygiene products, cotton balls, facial scrub pads, diapers, ear cleaning swabs, hair clumps, paper towels, or wet wipes. Place your bathroom trash can in a highly visible location and remind your guests to please use the trash can for anything that is not toilet paper.

Keep Bathroom Doors Shut

When adults are chatting, it is common for the little ones to stray out of sight. As a rule of thumb (and as an added safety measure), it is a good idea to keep your bathroom doors shut, keep the toilet lid down, and remind your guests to do the same. Kids are drawn to water. They can easily flush toys and other items down the toilet, causing major plumbing issues and, in more tragic cases, cause themselves serious injury or even death.

Select Proper Wash Load Size

By selecting the appropriate load size for laundry, you can reduce the amount of water waste running through the drains. Try to run only full loads in the washer to save water and so you don't have to run the washer as frequently. Make sure your guests ask you for assistance if they don't feel comfortable operating your washing machine using the proper settings.

Use Washing Machine and Dishwasher During Low Water Usage Hours

Wait until your guests and family members have showered and water usage is at its lowest point of the day to ensure your water pressure is strong.