Mac Plumbing wants to give you a few tips on how to improve the water quality in your home.
- Where does it come from?
The water you enjoy in your home for drinking, cooking, and bathing, travels from your local treatment plant through a piping system to your home. Along the way, it travels through a distribution system and a lot can happen to it while it travels. There are a few things you can do to keep this quality flowing.
- Flushing (not what you think)
If you haven’t used your faucets in a while, the water quality declines as it’s sitting in the pipes. Run cold water taps for two minutes before using the water for drinking or cooking. Other water usage activities are effective methods for flushing pipes, these include activities like laundry, showering, flushing toilets and dishwashing.
- Use cold water
Don’t use hot tap water for drinking or cooking. Hot water goes through your hot water heater where bacteria and other contaminants may be present.
- Replace household plumbing
If your home still has galvanized plumbing, you need to replace with copper pipes or Pex piping, and “lead-free” fixtures that contain 0.25 percent lead or less. Note: After installing new piping, flush the cold water taps for five minutes once a day for three days. Click here to read more about why you should replace galvanized pipes.
- Clean Aerators
Routinely clean faucet aerators or replace them if needed. Sediment and metals are being trapped by these screens located at the tip of each faucet.
- Water Heaters
Drain your water heater each year. As mentioned above, sediment, bacteria and metals can build up in the water heater tank which can impact household water quality and also your water pressure.
But the most important tip is to get your plumbing checked regularly. Regular inspections can catch small problems before they become big disasters.
Contact Mac Plumbing for an inspection of your plumbing system. Call us at (931) 552-5555.