Everyone loves a good vacation — and for families that are busy all throughout the fall, winter, and spring, the summer season is an ideal time to get away from the house, enjoy a change of scenery, and enjoy a week or two somewhere else!
But one of the worst ways to conclude a great vacation is to come home to find that there’s been some kind of plumbing emergency. Uh-oh!
Nobody wants to think it’s the kind of thing that could happen to them. But imagine pulling up to your house after two weeks way, unloading the suitcases and sleepy kids out of the car, and opening up the front door to discover that your hot water tank burst. Or maybe a series of heavy thunderstorms rolled through the area, but your sump pump never actually kicked on. And now your house is completely flooded!
“Welcome home,” you think to yourself in your exasperation.
While this reality is just that — a reality, and one that could happen to any of us — there are simple ways to reduce your risk so that you can enjoy peace of mind while you’re off on your vacation. And when you come home, you’ll just be able to unpack, unwind, and go to sleep early (you have to be up to return to work the next day, after all).
So, what should you include on your pre-trip plumbing checklist to avoid any kind of emergency? Here are five items you should definitely include on your pre-trip plumbing checklist:
Reduce the heat on your water heater:
This one isn’t so much about avoiding an emergency as it is about saving some energy while you’re not at home. After all, nobody is going to be taking a shower or running the washing machine while you’re out of town — so why store all those gallons of water at the maximum heat for two weeks? Instead, save on your electric bill by lowering the temperature on your water heater down to 70 or 80 degrees F. Don’t take it too low or you’ll expend a lot of energy heating all that water up when you return.
Check your sump pump:
Summer tends to be a humid time of year, and it’s a time when you don’t want your sump pump to be breaking on you, especially at a time when you aren’t home. If your sump pump breaks down during a weekend when you’re just hanging out around the house, you can usually take care of the problem as it develops. But if you’re out of town and your sump basin gets full without the pump ever kicking on? Well, you’re looking at a potential flood. One that sits in your basement or lower level until you get home. Before you leave, take a 5-gallon bucket and pour water into your sump basin to ensure the pump kicks on and is removing water from the basin efficiently.
Check for leaks.
That leaky faucet or pipe is easy to catch when you’re at home and you hear the drip, drip, drip sound or even see the small pool of water as soon as it starts to collect. But what is a minor problem when you address it within a few hours of noticing it could get out of control when left unattended for a week or two. This is what could happen if you leave town without realizing you have a leak. The day before you leave, go around your house and check all your faucets — including sinks, showerheads, and bathtubs — as well as any major appliances, such as your dishwasher or washing machine. Look at any exposed pipes in your basement, under your kitchen counter, or under your bathroom vanity, and run your hand under them to make sure you don’t feel any wetness.
Make sure nothing is left standing for the duration of your trip.
When you’re in town, it’s pretty safe to say that all your plumbing will stay in use, so you don’t have to worry about anything sitting stagnant for days on end. But if you leave town with urine in an unflushed toilet or food scraps at the bottom of an unrun garbage disposal, you’re going to come home to a smelly house. A few minutes before you leave the house (after everyone has used the bathroom), make a loop through the house to flush all the toilets, then run the garbage disposal. As an added precaution, check the sinks and tubs to make sure there’s no standing water.
If nothing else, turn off the main water supply.
If you want to enjoy the most peace of mind, you can turn off the main water supply to your house so that you know there won’t be any major plumbing problems.