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Prepare Your Home Before an Extended Winter Vacation

Plumbing Tips

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If you’re traveling for a long winter vacation, here are a few things you can do to prepare your home’s plumbing system so it stays safe.

Winterize outdoor plumbing.

Make sure that you winterize all outdoor plumbing, especially if you have a home down by the lake around our area. Any outdoor showers or kitchens need to be winterized by removing all the water, not just by shutting off the water. (A lot of times the water is removed by blowing air through the pipes.)

Check the insulation.

There are certain situations where a house has a well/well pit or crawlspace surrounded with insulation. If the cover has leaked or the insulation has gotten wet, it’s not going to do a very good job of insulating the pipe. Check the insulation to make sure it’s in good order and not torn apart.

Check the heat.

Some houses have areas that aren’t heated or cooled by automatic means, with a heat lamp or heater with thermostat. Turn them up to make sure they are functioning properly and the lamps are working. Nobody wants to find out the bulb has burned out during a cold night.

Keep the cold air out.

For crawlspaces and cellars located underneath the house, make sure any vents or doors are closed securely. You don’t want cold air blowing into those spaces.

Shut off outdoor faucets.

Outdoor faucets sometimes have shutoff valves. We always recommend shutting off the valves to outdoor faucets to prevent anything from freezing and/or bursting.

If you want a professional to come winterize your home and make sure it’s prepared for winter vacation, reach out to the team at Wisler Plumbing & Air by contacting us online or giving us a call at 540-483-9382.

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If you’re planning to go on a long vacation, you’ll probably want to make sure your home is protected from any kind of damage. The worst-case scenario would be a major incident that happened while you were gone and completely unaware. There could even be a storm that blows debris onto your home. Here’s what you can do to keep your home safe so you aren’t preoccupied while you’re away.

Find a house sitter.

It might be wise to ask someone who has access to your home to drop by at least once a week. (Every day would probably be even better.) This person would be able to check on the electricity, plumbing, HVAC, or just the house in general to make sure nothing has gone wrong. Any potential incidents can be caught early if you have someone to take a look for you.

Prep your water heater.

You might want to turn the water heater down to 80 or 90 degrees, which is pretty easy to do with a gas system and a little bit harder on an electric one. If your system doesn’t have a vacation setting, you might just want to turn it off by flipping the breaker.

Consider turning off the main water valve.

If you’re gone for a week or more, it might be a good idea to turn off the main water valve going to the house. That way if a pipe bursts or something comes loose, there won’t be water running into the house and causing a lot of damage. (The only water released would be what’s in the lines.) There are a few reasons why you wouldn’t want to turn the water valve off, however. If you have automatic appliances like an ice machine or a pet water dispenser, it’s probably a better idea just to have someone check your house daily.

Turn on vacation mode.

Equipment like water treatment systems have a vacation mode that prevent them from backwashing or activating any of their functions. As soon as you get back and run a gallon of water, the system should automatically exit vacation mode.

Change your thermostat’s setting.

If you have a programmable thermostat, do a permanent hold on the heating or cooling, depending on the season. During winter you’d probably want to bring it down to 60 or 65 degrees, and during summer you’d probably go up to 75.

Check for air drafts.

During the winter you’ll want to make sure everything is sealed up properly so there’s no way for cold air to enter into crawlspaces, basements, or doors. Otherwise it could significantly affect the heating and cooling system and even freeze the pipes in the plumbing system.

If you’re traveling for the holidays this winter, make sure to go through everything in this list so your home will be safe when you return. If you have any questions, reach out to the team at Wisler Plumbing & Air by contacting us online or giving us a call at 540-483-9382.

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Tankless water heaters are often considered as a potential option for homeowners. First, I want to talk about some of the disadvantages:

Con #1: Upfront Cost

A tankless water heater will simply cost more than a tank water heater. That upfront cost can be a significant challenge to overcome.

Con #2: Installation in All-Electric Homes

If you don’t have LP gas or natural gas in your home, it’s really not a good option to go tankless with electric. There are some electrical tankless water heaters that we put in, but a home’s environment will very rarely allow it to happen, usually due to the size of the home or limitations in the electrical supply’s power output.

Con #3: High Complexity

A tankless water heater is definitely much more of a complex system than a tank water heater. Therefore, it takes a trained, competent individual to work on it. If it breaks down, you can’t just go to the nearest Lowe’s and swap out a replacement part.

That being said, I have a tankless water heater in my home and I love it. There’s a tremendous amount of benefits in making the decision to go tankless:

Pro #1: Space Savings

Tankless water heaters can potentially free up a large amount of space. For instance, because I have a tankless water heater on the wall in the mechanical area of my home, I can do other things with the floorspace in this area.

Pro #2: Endless Supply

Probably the biggest benefit from my perspective is the fact that no matter how much hot water we use, and no matter how many times we want to use the shower, we’ll never run out of hot water. It’s an endless supply as long as you have power and fuel going to the heater. When guests are staying or the kids have friends over, we really love how handy this is.

Pro #3: Life Expectancy

The life expectancy of a tankless water heater is going to be much longer than a tank water heater. After all, there’s no storage tank that could rupture due to expansion and contraction.

Pro #4: Total Cost of Ownership

Even though a tankless water heater has a higher upfront cost than a tank water heater, it has a much lower total cost of ownership. Let’s compare a 50 gallon electric water heater, which will cost about $600 per year to operate (in terms of electricity). The tankless water heater will cost about $190 per year, which comes out to $410 yearly savings. In terms of energy efficiency, that’s a really big deal. The savings aren’t as great going from a gas tank to a gas tankless system, though—you might see a yearly savings of about $150 to $200. The bottom line is, electric is the most inefficient way to heat water. LP or natural gas is much more efficient than electric, whether it be tank or tankless.

With high BTU appliances, we have to make sure the gas line is sized properly and externally vented. But aside from those two requirements, we can pretty much put them anywhere if a home is equipped with LP or natural gas. The Navien brand tankless water heaters we install do a really good job of making it easy to retrofit in homes, so it’s possible to install in a lot more situations than it was ten years ago. If you want to learn more about choosing a water heater for your home, reach out to the team at Wisler Plumbing & Air by contacting us online or giving us a call at 540-483-9382.

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People don’t tend to look at their water heaters very often. Sometimes a water heater might be stuck in a storage room with boxes all around them, in a closet that never gets opened, or maybe in a rarely-visited attic. I would advise people to look over their water heater to make sure there aren’t any signs of rust or rupture. Be on the lookout for any brown marks or water marks running down the side. Rust is definitely not normal, and action should be taken as soon as it’s noticed.

Be aware that the leak may not even originate from the water heater itself. There could be a leak somewhere up high, or even on the water heater’s pipes. Water flows down the path of least resistance. The water you’re seeing could be falling on the top of the water heater and running down the side. Most new water heaters have foam insulation on them. However, if the water heater has any age on it at all, there’s a good chance that it uses fiberglass insulation. Once fiberglass insulation gets wet, it can no longer do its job very well. It can actually lead to mold growth and other issues.

Electric water heaters have two doors on the front of them. (These are access panels which are secured with screws.) Sometimes you’ll see rust marks coming from these doors, which generally means the element that screws into the water heater is leaking around the heating element itself. It’s definitely not normal to see these signs, and you should get a professional to check it out before it causes further problems.

Keep in mind that a leak may come and go as the water heater expands or contracts. Imagine placing a piece of metal or plastic out in full sun exposure. It will expand as it heats up and shrink as it cools back down. The same thing happens with your water heater. It’s important to understand that water heaters are constantly expanding and contracting as they heat and cool. You might not be able to see an active leak, but you should be able to spot the telltale signs of a leak. If the water heater has aged and it begins to leak, it can rupture and cause a huge mess. That’s why you definitely don’t want to procrastinate with these kinds of issues.

Aside from rust, there aren’t really any visual warning signs that a water heater is at risk of rupturing. However, other important external variables like excessive water pressure or poor water quality could lead to a rupture, too. (The water heater, pipes, and plumbing fixtures are only rated for so much pressure.) It’s the homeowner’s responsibility to lower the water pressure if it’s being provided at excessively high pressure from the municipality. Our technicians can check for these issues when they’re in the home.

Getting a trained, competent eye on your water heater is the best strategy to prevent unexpected issues. If you’d like to get scheduled maintenance performed on your water heater, reach out to the team at Wisler Plumbing & Air today. Contact us online or give us a call at 540-483-9382.

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A plumbing emergency is a situation in someone’s home that creates an unsafe environment. It could be something like a water leak coming through the ceiling that causes flooding and leads to the risk of a ceiling cave-in. A sewage backup in someone’s home is an emergency because the water is extremely unsanitary. The smell of gas around the water heater or HVAC unit is definitely an emergency because it could pose an immediate risk. Extended HVAC breakdowns during times of hot weather can be unsafe as well.

If you experience a water leak pouring through the ceiling, it could either be a leaky drain line or  a leaky water line. The leak will not be constant if the drain line is leaking. (When you stop using the toilet, using the sink, taking a shower, or using any other plumbing fixtures, the leak will go away.) If the leak is constant, it’s generally the water line.

It’s really important that you know where the main water valve is located and how it’s operated. The first thing you’ll want to do in case of a leak is cut off the water going to your home. If you don’t know where your main water line is, locate it now, while you don’t have an emergency. (It isn’t a good idea to stack large storage boxes that obstruct the main valve because it won’t be possible to quickly shut off the water in an emergency.) Emergency stops are located under each sink and toilet. Turning off those valves will allow you to isolate a single problematic fixture instead of having to cut off the water to the whole home.

If you smell gas, the best thing to do is call the gas company so they can cut off the gas to your home. Otherwise, if you’re a little handy, you might be able to shut off the valve yourself. (It’s located at the gas meter.) If you’re experiencing a sewage backup, the best thing to do is stop using any water in the home. Do not flush any toilets, run any sinks, or take a shower until the situation is resolved.

Everyone should call a professional, whether it’s heating & air or plumbing, to assess the situation. If you encounter water damage in your home, you’ll want to call a reputable remediation company. The sooner you can stop the water and get the area dry, the less damage you will have. A warm, moist environment can potentially start growing mold within 48 hours. That’s why it’s really important to get a professional remediation company in there as soon as possible.

The next thing that we sometimes don’t do is learn from our mistakes. After an emergency situation, it’s always good to ask yourself or a professional what could have been done to minimize the damage and/or prevent the issue from occurring again in the future. Most people won’t have to deal with frequent emergencies. However, if you have a leak in one area of the house, it could very well happen in another area. Addressing the situation proactively and without procrastination could prevent another emergency situation later.

Take a step back and ask yourself what you can learn, and maybe what you can do differently. Plumbing emergencies tend to happen during the most inconvenient time. It’s a nightmare to go through these things, especially if you end up with excessive water damage. You definitely don’t want to experience an emergency while guests are visiting for the holidays and the system is most heavily used. Just pay attention, be proactive, and learn from emergencies.

Sometimes staying safe can be as simple as hiring a professional for plumbing, electrical, and HVAC. If you have any questions, contact us online or give us a call at 540-483-9382.

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You need to be very careful if you have a small leak—do not let it go because it will cause extensive damage to your home unless it’s fixed. For instance, a toilet with a little leak around the base might not seem like a big deal because it only leaks whenever you flush it. But think of it this way: if you flush the toilet three or four times a day, multiplied by a week or a month it comes out to hundreds of flushes. A tiny bit of water each flush becomes enough to do serious damage, especially on a wood floor. Eventually it will begin to rot and become soft, and the challenge of replacing a floor is much more complicated than just fixing the slow toilet leak.

Structural decay happens because water and wood don’t get along together. So if you notice a small stain on the ceiling, get it taken care of right away. Stains are a telltale sign that there’s a leak somewhere that needs to be addressed. Don’t gauge the seriousness of the problem by the size of the stain, either, because a little spot could be an indicator of a very large problem. Even worse, the combination of water and warm temperatures from something like a hot water leak can lead to mold issues.

Sometimes you might be able to check the attic for the source of the problem. If there’s a tub right over the stain and there’s an access panel, you could pop it off and take a look. For a sink located right over the stain, maybe open the cabinet doors and check for water. If you have a stained drop ceiling, you might want to pop off the drop ceiling to try and spot the cause. It’s probably time to get a professional involved if you look around and still aren’t able to find the leak that caused the stain.

A home’s crawlspace might remain sight unseen so that you never even find out about a little pinhole leak. It can lead to an excessive amount of water loss and high water bills (utility overpayment). You’d definitely save money by fixing the problem, but first you have to pay attention to crawlspaces or any other areas where you don’t look very often. There are many different components in a home can lead to stains, including HVAC, plumbing system, or roof. If you can narrow down the culprit, it will help you determine which professional to call.

If you suspect that there’s a leak in your home, reach out to the team at Wisler Plumbing & Air today. Contact us online or give us a call at 540-483-9382.

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