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Plumbing Service: What Are the Common Causes of Leaky Pipes? | San Antonio, TX

Plumbing Service: What Are the Common Causes of Leaky Pipes? | San Antonio, TX

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Unfortunately even in the most well-kept homes pipes leak. You could be a celebrity and live in a mansion in Beverly Hills and eventually, you would notice a leaky pipe in your home. Leaks can be frustrating because they can seem to appear out of nowhere. One day everything is fine and the next day you need a plumbing service to come to fix your leaky sink. However, while a leak may seem to come out of thin air, most of the time it doesn’t.

There are several variables that usually lead to leaking pipes that occur behind the scenes. Sometimes adjusting your habits is enough to ward off leaks and make your only plumbing service a once a year preventative visit. Sometimes nothing you do can prevent a leak because pipes and general plumbing systems leak. However, any service will tell you that locating, properly fixing, and then taking future preventative measures is the best way to stop plumbing leaks from becoming a routine occurrence in your home.

Common Causes of Plumbing Leaks

As mentioned, plumbing leaks have various causes, but there are still some factors that can influence the speed at which leaks appear in your home outside of the normal wear and tear on your piping system. The following are a few of the most common causes of plumbing leaks that require a call from a local San Antonio, TX plumbing service.

Clogs

Outside of being a major pain to deal with, clogs hurt your pipes as well as lead to flooding in your home and late-night calls for plumbing service. This is because when a clog occurs water starts to back up since it has nowhere else to go. This can put an extreme amount of pressure on the piping system. Eventually, that pressure starts to wear down on the sides of pipe walls and on the seals around your piping joints

While a one-time clog that is quickly fixed is not going to damage your pipes too much if they continue to clog on a regular basis that is high levels of pressure exerted on the same pipes. Eventually, that pressure will cause the seals to leak to release some of the pressure. The end result is a leak that has you calling your plumbing service if you are lucky because without any release you also increase the chance of a pipe bursting. At this point, you and the plumbing service will have a much larger situation to deal with.

Broken Seals

Almost all appliances and piping joints have seals at the junctures where pipes connect. Just like any other fixture in your home- electrical or plumbing- eventually, the seals wear out. When the seal starts to break or loosen small drops of water will start to sneak out. The small leak will become a noticeable leak and you will start to see puddles on the floor. A puddle on the floor is almost always an indication that you need to call a plumbing service because you don’t want the situation to become worse. Simply replacing the seal is all that is required so long as the leak doesn’t spread or damage the appliance.

Rust and Corrosion

Rust and corrosion are normal aspects of wear and tear. Regardless of how much plumbing hygiene you practice in your home, eventually, the metals that make up your pipes will start to corrode. However, if you have extremely high water pressure in your house this can happen even faster. This is because as pipes corrode they are not able to handle the same amount of high force. If your pipes are older and you keep the water pressure in your home too high it will eventually cause a weaker more corroded area of the pipe to leak (or even burst) resulting in a call to your plumber.

Is There Anything I Can Do to Prevent Plumbing Leaks?

Avoid Drain Cleaners

While leaks are an inevitable part of owning a home there are a few steps you can take to help prevent leaks from becoming a routine thing. First of all, you should avoid the use of drain cleaners and simply call a plumbing service to take care of a leak the right way instead. Chemical drain cleaners are marketed to look like a great idea. Toss some down the drain and they fix a clog and save you some money on your plumbing bills.

However, the problem is chemical drain cleaners have no way of knowing what is a clog and what is the metal on your piping. Therefore, over time they slowly eat away at the insides of your pipes until eventually the corrosion is too much and a leak starts to appear. If you use chemical drain cleaners on a regular basis instead of changing the behavior that is causing the clogs in a pipe then you are inviting a leak that may eventually require a much larger solution.

Dispose of Food Properly

Your drains are not garbage cans, and failure to realize this can cause a leak to occur. Some of the reasons that pipes start to leak are because the fittings become loose or the pressure on the walls of the pipes is too high. If you are constantly tossing things down your drain that should go in the garbage can you not only create a clog but place more pressure on your piping system overall. Misuse of your drains places strain on the entire system, and eventually, this will cause your pipes to age quicker. The smartest way to prevent this by not tossing anything down your drain outside of water, toothpaste, and toilet paper.

Of course, if you already have a plumbing leak in your home it is too late to worry about prevention. These tips are great to help you avoid a future leak, but in the meantime, you will need a plumber to come out and fix the leak. bluefrog Plumbing + Drain of San Antonio is a plumbing service in San Antonio, TX that will be glad to come out, fix your plumbing leak and assess your plumbing system so you aren’t dealing with a summer of leaks.

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