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Your plumbing system is one of the most integral parts of your Mississauga home. It provides clean drinking water and safe waste removal—two essential needs for living comfortably and safely. Those pipes and fixtures also have an essential need: Mississauga plumbing maintenance.
As it's such an important system, it should be every Mississauga homeowner's priority to take the best care of their pipes and drains as possible. While you may need a professional service from time to time, the more proactive you are with Mississauga plumbing maintenance, the less you'll spend on repairs.
That's why our team at Mr. Rooter Plumbing of Mississauga put together this list of basic Mississauga plumbing maintenance tips. Whether you’re hiring a plumber or taking care of your own Mississauga plumbing maintenance, these tips are essential. We’re here to help you discover the best ways to take care of your system—so it can continue to take care of you.
1. Mind What You Flush
Mississauga plumbing maintenance starts with safe flushing habits. When it comes to your toilet, the only items you should be flushing are toilet paper and human waste. Even then, be sure not to over-do the toilet paper, or you may wind up with a clogged toilet. Blockages in your toilet are frustrating to deal with and can often make a bit of a mess.
Frequently, we hear from Mississauga homeowners frustrated with their regularly clogged toilets. More often than not, it's because something that shouldn't have gone down the toilet was flushed. Remember, your toilet is not a garbage. It's not made to dispose of most items. Safe flushing will not only reduce your chances of suffering from blockages, but also your other associated Mississauga plumbing maintenance needs.
Items that Shouldn't Go Down the Toilet
Baby wipes, makeup wipes and “flushable” wipes
Q-tips and cotton pads
Feminine hygiene products
Diapers
Dental floss
Paper towels and tissues
Medication
Cigarette butts
Cat litter
Hair
Chewing gum
Cooking grease or oil
Food
Bleach
2. Learn How to Stop an Overflowing Toilet
In addition to clogged toilets, a common issue we get calls about are overflowing toilets. This can be quite a nerve-wracking experience—you're watching the water level rise, nervously hoping it will stop before spilling all over your floor. It seems like there's nothing you can do, and flushing seems to make it worse!
In situations like these, there is one Mississauga plumbing maintenance tip all savvy homeowners should know about. Simply open the toilet tank and push the flush valve down. While this isn't a permanent solution, it should give you enough time to address the issue or call your local Mississauga plumbing maintenance pros to take care of it for you. You can also turn off the water supply to your toilet. It is located on the left side of the toilet, approximately 4” off of the floor.
3. Clean Your Shower Heads Regularly
When was the last time you cleaned your shower heads? This Mississauga plumbing maintenance tip will help prevent issues with low water pressure due to mineral build-up along the shower head. To clean the mineral deposits, unscrew the shower heads and soak them in vinegar for 24 hours.
Try to avoid using harsh chemicals, as they could get into your system, causing corrosion or even washing out when you shower. No one wants to shower with chemical residue! If the shower head isn't cleaned after 24 hours, then basic plumbing maintenance might not be enough. In that case, you might want to consider buying a new shower head.
4. Use this Mississauga Plumbing Maintenance Tip to Check for Tank Leaks
Worried your toilet tank is leaking into the bowl? You can find water leaks by doing a quick test. Pour a few drops of food colouring into the tank (we find red or blue works well) and wait a couple of hours—ensuring no one uses the toilet. If you go back to find the toilet bowl is now red or blue, you need to replace the tank ball. Doing so is an essential part of Mississauga plumbing maintenance that will keep fresh water from seeping out of the tank—and possibly increasing your energy bill.
5. Flush Your Water Heater
Did you know that you need to flush your water heater at least once a year? It’s essential for annual maintenance. Since mineral sediments can accumulate at the bottom of your hot water tank, it can cause the tank to start to rust. This can lead to other problems, like puddles of water forming on the floor due to a leak.
Regularly flushing your tank will help it last longer. You can tell your tank needs to be flushed when it starts to make banging noises—although it's best to be proactive with maintenance and flush your hot water tank before this happens.
Bonus Mississauga Plumbing Maintenance Tip:
Along with regularly flushing your hot water heater tank, you should also change the anode rod every five years to get the maximum life span out of the tank. If you're not comfortable doing this type of maintenance yourself, one of our experts at Mr. Rooter Plumbing will be more than happy to help you!
6. Install Mesh Drain Covers—and Clean Them
Putting screens over drains is a great way to help reduce the amount of debris that gets stuck in your plumbing system over time. Instead of debris falling down your sink, shower, or bath drain, it will collect in the cover and can be disposed of in your garbage or compost. This can prevent clogs from forming and save you from quite a headache down the line. Just don’t forget to clean them as part of your routine maintenance.
What Causes Clogged Drains in Mississauga?
While there are certain items that should not go down your drains as they're more likely to cause a clog, which we'll touch on later, usually the culprits of a clogged drain are:
Hair
Soap scum
Mineral deposits
Grease/oil
Food scraps
7. Use Enzyme-Based Drain Cleaners
If you think your drains are clogging up, you may be tempted to reach for the nearest harsh chemical to pour down your drains. Often, homeowners use bleach for Mississauga plumbing maintenance—which we really don't recommend. Bleach kills the beneficial bacteria that break down septic waste.
It's important to remember that all the drains in your home lead to your main drain line, also called your sewer line. Without the proper breakdown of solids in your sewer, the system may clog and back-up. Not to mention, harsh chemicals like bleach can corrode your pipes, possibly damaging your sewer pipes.
Instead, it's best to use enzyme-based pipe cleaners to get rid of buildup in Mississauga plumbing systems. This maintenance tip helps protect your pipes and reduces the likelihood of a clog by using natural bacteria to turn solid buildup into liquids. This type of maintenance helps keep the system running smoothly.
8. Do Not Put These Items Down Your Drains
The most common Mississauga plumbing maintenance tip you've likely heard before is to avoid putting certain items down your drains. This maintenance tip is also commonly ignored by Mississauga homeowners—so it's worth reiterating here. While some debris is likely to go down your sink or create clogged shower drains from time to time, it's best to limit this as much as possible. This is where the aforementioned mesh drain covers come in handy.
Likewise, there are certain items that should not go down your garbage disposal either. It's easy to assume the garbage disposal can handle all kinds of food scraps and debris, but this is not the case. In particular, fibrous foods should never go down the garburator, as they're more likely to cause a clog. Instead, put as many food scraps as you can in your compost.
These Items Should Never Go Down Your Drains:
Coffee grounds
Butter and margarine
Cooking oil
Grease and other fats
Eggshells
Celery
Medication
Pasta
Rice
Flour
Produce stickers
9. Use this Mississauga Plumbing Maintenance Trick to Get Rid of Minor Sink Clogs
Our next Mississauga plumbing maintenance tip is very useful for getting rid of small blockages in your sinks or bath/shower drain. Instead of reaching for a drain snake (or the DIY favourite, a straightened wire hanger), use baking soda and vinegar instead. Just like your child's science fair project, the combination of baking soda and vinegar creates a chemical reaction and releases gas. It's the force of this gas that helps push debris through your pipes, thus clearing any blockages.
How Can I Tell a Major Clog from a Minor One?
A good way to judge the severity of your clog is to pay attention to how the water empties. Slow drains indicate a clog is forming, whereas standing water means it's reached a severe level. If you have multiple clogs, or water backing up into appliances like your washing machine when the toilet is flushed, that usually indicates a serious problem—like a clogged sewer line. You’ll need more than maintenance for that.
10. Keep an Eye on Your Water Metre
Ever wonder how you can spot a burst pipe, even though the majority of your pipes are hidden by walls, floors and ceilings? Check your water metre! It's good practice to routinely check that metre during your routine Mississauga plumbing maintenance, just in case. Simply ensure no one in your household is using any appliances or running water. Then look at the metre. If the little spindle is turning ever so slightly, you have a leak somewhere in your plumbing system.
Bonus Mississauga Plumbing Maintenance Tip:
Another sign that your pipes are leaking is costly water bills overtime. If your water bill seems to have gone up recently, and you see your metre is behaving strangely, you should call the pros at Mr. Rooter Plumbing of Mississauga. Our leak detection technology will rapidly find the problem, so we can fix it promptly.
11. Clean Your Drains Regularly
By far the best way to deal with a clogged drain, and to prevent issues with sewer lines or a leak, is to include annual Mississauga drain cleaning service as part of your regular maintenance. At Mr. Rooter Plumbing of Mississauga, we use the most innovative drain cleaning technology available to give your system a deep clean: our HydroScrub® Jetting tool. This powerful tool emits a high-pressured stream of water through your entire system to blast away even the most stubborn debris.
What are the Benefits of Drain Cleaning?
Reduce the likelihood of pesky clogs forming in the system
Reduce the chance of having property damage.
Improve the longevity of your plumbing system
12. Hire Local Mississauga Plumbing Maintenance Professionals!
The last thing in our list of helpful Mississauga plumbing maintenance tips is to know when to hire a professional plumber. Depending on your level of comfort handling DIY situations, you'll likely be able to get rid of a clog or two. But when it comes to performing routine maintenance and drain cleaning, looking for broken pipes deep within your system or dealing with a sewer line issue, these jobs are best left to the professionals at Mr. Rooter Plumbing of Mississauga.
Our hardworking and skilful team has helped thousands of homeowners in the Mississauga area, including in Hurontario, Dixie, Erindale and Fairview—to name a few. As a family run business, we're honoured to serve our local community.
To book a drain cleaning appointment today, or to ask us questions about our other Mississauga plumbing maintenance tips, we invite you to give our friendly team a call at 905-817-0210 .