How Does The Summer Heat Impact Your Plumbing?

The heat has arrived and it’s blazing hot outside.  Welcome to another sweltering summer in Sacramento.  While you may be concerned about your air-conditioning, don’t take your eye of the ball when it comes to your plumbing. Clogged drains, leaky pipes, as well as structural damage can occur in the summer just as easily as the winter.

Clogged Drains

Summertime means hosting barbeques and cookouts with family, friends, and neighbors. Who doesn’t love a good backyard barbecue or neighborhood pool party? They’re a blast! Uncle Bill doing cannonballs off the diving board, Corn-hole with the kids, and those fruity drinks with the little umbrellas in them.

What’s not a blast? Summertime plumbing problems.  You don’t want one of your guests asking, “Do you have a plunger?”  AWKWARD.

One of the most common reasons people need to call a plumber in the summertime is a clogged toilet or sink after a dinner party or backyard barbeque.  There’s a whole lot of flushing going on! It also means that your older pipes are getting a good work-out.

Clogged Garbage Disposal

If you’re serving chicken wings at your backyard summer party, don’t dump the bones down the garbage disposal. The bones will just keep spinning round and round with the blades. They’ll never make it down and may clog your drain. Make “no bones” about it.

Vegetables are good for you and your party guests.  Unfortunately, celery, lettuce, asparagus, artichokes, and onion skins aren’t very good for your garbage disposal. They have long stringy fibers that can become entangled around your garbage disposals blades, causing it to stop working. Don’t strangle your disposal!

Also, keep your garbage disposal on a no-carb diet. Rice, pasta, and  baked beans should never be dumped down the garbage disposal. They swell once they come in contact with water and they’re sticky, making it hard to go down the drain.

Leaky Pipes

Leaks aren’t only a problem in the winter months when your pipes may become frozen. Leaks can also occur in the hot summer months due to a variety of reasons including high water pressure, foundation shifts, and invasive tree roots. Swimming pools, garden hoses, and automatic sprinklers can put a lot of stress on your plumbing. Water zipping through your pipes at high speeds increases the risk of your pipes leaking or even bursting.

The ground under your home drying out can also cause your water main to crack or leak when it’s hot outside. Small shifts in your home’s foundation can create big adjustments in your water lines, causing them to disconnect or rupture.

Tree roots are always spreading underground. During hot weather they’re reaching out in search of water and nutrients. Leaks can be caused by tree roots invading your main sewer line through tiny cracks in pipes that release water vapor into the surrounding soil and cracking them.

Sun Damage to Exposed Pipes

The sun’s ultraviolet rays beating down on your exposed pipes summer after summer in Sacramento can result in weakening pipes or even serious damage like broken or cracked pipes. While it could take a few years to happen to you, the first signs of structural damage should be dealt with as soon as possible.

Any exposed plumbing should be covered with insulation or you can paint it with a light water based acrylic or latex paint to help block damage from the sun’s rays. Insulation not only protects your pipes from the cold in the winter but it also shields your pipes from UV rays in the summer. It’s not the heat that causes the damage, it’s the sun’s damaging ultraviolet light.

If the extreme summer heat is having an impact on your plumbing system, don’t worry, we’re on it! Call the Bonney certified premier plumbers at 800-444-0551 for 5-star service so you’re plumbing system doesn’t suffer from the summertime blues.