When it comes to plumbing troubles that can affect your house during the winter, you most often hear about frozen pipes. That’s rarely an issue in the Clovis area. Our winters can get cold, but not cold enough where there’s a high danger of pipe freeze.
But any winter brings with it several specific problems. Below is our list of some of the more common plumbing issues you may run into during the season. We can help you deal with all of these thanks to our services for plumbing repair in Clovis, NM and the surrounding areas.
Failed Water Heater
The water heater in your home is under the most stress during cold weather. It’s not just because you’ll use more hot water (although you will). It’s because the water entering the water heater tank of the heat exchanger of a tankless water heater will be colder and require more energy to get it to the desired temperature. If your water heater is more than 10 years old, we recommend having it checked before getting any deeper into winter to see if it’s in danger of a failure—which is the last thing you want during the coldest days of the season.
Clogged or Slow Drains
‘Tis the season to host parties and celebrate! And ‘tis also the season for your drains to become clogged because of all the cooking and guests and so forth. Your drains just passed through Thanksgiving and all the grease and oils and other food particles that flow down them. They’re now at risk of major clogs during the rest of the season. You can always call us for emergency drain cleaning, but we recommend getting ahead of the problem with preventive drain cleaning.
Please keep in mind what can and cannot go down kitchen drains and garbage disposals. Never pour fats, oils, or grease down the drains, and never put any actual garbage or unchewable food waste into the garbage disposal.
Clogged Vent Pipes
Vent pipes are the pipes that allow sewer gas inside the drainpipe and sewer line to escape through the top of the house. This prevents sewer gas from creating too much pressure inside the pipes and possibly rising back up through the drains. But during the winter, storms and light snowfall can lead to the vent pipes on the roof becoming blocked. If you hear gurgling from the drains, have clogs all around the house, or detect foul odors from the drains, call a plumber. (Don’t try to go to the roof of your house to unblock the vents, it’s dangerous.)
Leaking Pipes
Leaking pipes are never good, but they can become much worse in the winter due to the cold temperatures, even mild cold. If you have reason to suspect leaks somewhere in the house, but you haven’t yet done anything about them, now is the time to take action with a call to our plumbers for leak detection.
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