Top 5 Plumbing Issues To Look Out For At Your Home

When it comes to plumbing, it can be easy to take a system in good working order for granted. Hot water, good shower pressure, a perfectly working toilet and sink are what you want and expect in your home and you need it to all function well.

However, sometimes things go wrong. It’s expected when systems are running for so many long hours in the home, every single day, every day of the year. But that doesn’t mean you have to put up with it.

By knowing the most common plumbing issues that your home or business property is likely to face, you can help to mitigate them or learn what the most effective and efficient course of action would be for each scenario. This can save time and money and minimise damage to your home if things go wrong.

Here at Carrick Plumbing & Roofing, we are your local plumbing experts. We’ve put together this quick guide to five of the most common plumbing issues that might come up in your home or business property so you know what to do should they occur.

1. Blocked Drain Or Toilet

You’ll be able to tell that your drain is clogged if water isn’t draining as quickly as it should do. In terms of a blocked toilet, water will back up and potentially even overflow.

To fix this, you can use a plunger. You can also use tweezers to remove obstructing items. Alternatively, chemical drain cleaners or even a homemade mixture of baking soda and vinegar can dissolve the clog.

To prevent this problem from happening in future, you should only flush dissolvable waste products down your toilet. For your shower or kitchen sink, use a drain guard to catch hair or food before they can get into the drain.

2. Leaky Or Dripping Taps

While these may not be a plumbing emergency, they can be a big drain on your bills. If you have a tap leaking just one drip every second, this can add up to nearly 14,000 litres of wasted water in one year. That’s the equivalent of 180 showers.

This problem usually happens when the washer inside your tap that forms a seal preventing water from escaping, becomes damaged or worn. Now that the washer cannot seal perfectly, it allows small amounts of water to escape and drip from your tap.

To fix this issue, you can attempt a DIY replacement of the washer but you may want to call a plumber to ensure that the washer has been fitted correctly to avoid further problems.

3. Faulty Water Heater

This is a problem that is easy to spot right away, usually when you step into your shower and are greeted with icy cold water. You can also identify this problem if you find dripping water, puddles of discoloured water, or strange noises coming from your water heater.

These issues are generally caused by leaks or mineral deposit build-up. Make sure that the pilot light is on and check the temperature setting. You can drain the water tank to flush away any mineral deposits but due to the complexity and danger of this issue, you may want to call in a professional plumber.

4. Reduced Water Pressure

Poor shower pressure is an issue faced by many and can make that morning routine even more aggravating. Often, it can be caused by a water main break (which you can check by asking your neighbours if they’ve experienced something similar), a pipe leak, a build-up of minerals or sediment either in your pipes or the showerhead, or a pressure stopper which is often fitted into rented homes.

To solve this, you should shut off all your taps and check your water meter to see if you have any leaks. Otherwise, you should unscrew the showerhead, soak it in vinegar, and scrub away any sediment. You can also check the showerhead for a pressure stopper and remove it.

5. Constantly Running Toilet

This plumbing problem has much of the same annoying effects as a dripping tap except it’s much louder and wastes much more water. It can be caused when an improperly fitted flapper valve, imbalanced float, loose-fill tube, or even a leak. You can check for a leak by adding food colouring into the water tank and checking the toilet bowl to see if the colour has travelled there.

You should check each component in the tank for a problem. Make sure the fill tube is attached and directed toward the overflow tube. You can adjust the float to check that the fill valve is shutting off correctly and you can check that the chain on the flapper valve isn’t tangled.

When it comes to minor plumbing issues, you should always fix these as soon as you can to avoid waste and inflating your water bills. If you are having issues at your property like we have discussed above, don’t hesitate to contact us at Carrick Plumbing & Roofing for more advice and to book a call out now.