Learn Where Your Albuquerque Home’s Water Shut-Off Valves are Located

When you purchase a new home, be sure to find out where the water shut-off valve and drain is for the home. Most of the time the water shut-off valve is located outside for Albuquerque homes. It is also important to learn where your home’s sewer line access is located. If you live in an apartment or condo it most likely will only have a main shut-off valve for the entire building, not just your unit.

Be Careful to Never Cut or Puncture Water Pipes, Electrical Wires or Drainage Pipes

When you have a home improvement project that requires drilling holes, nailing or cutting into walls, ceilings or flooring, it is critical that you check to see beforehand if you might cut into electrical wires, a water line, or a drainage pipe. Finding out what important functioning components are inside your walls, ceilings or flooring can be done by using stud finder or with a construction endoscopic video camera.

Learn What Can and Cannot Be Flushed Down Your Albuquerque Toilet

Flushing items down your Albuquerque toilet that are not meant to be flushed can lead to serious drain and sewer line repair problems and big bills. Do not flush baby wipes, feminine napkins, or paper towels down your toilet. Stick to flushing toilet paper down your toilet and you should not have any issues with your drain or your sewer line.

Specific Garbage that Must Not Be Put Inside Your Albuquerque Home Garbage Disposal

There are several foods that should never be put down your drain. Those items include vegetables, grease from bacon, grease from chicken, grease from hamburger, grounds from coffee, leftover food. Be sure to read the manual for your garbage disposal to learn exactly what can be put down your kitchen drain. If you stick to what the manual describes can be put down the drain, you should not have any problems and hopefully you never do get a clogged kitchen drain.

Toilet Plunger

Buy a fantastic high-end toilet plunger for your Albuquerque drain clogs. It will come in super handy when you need to clear clogs your Albuquerque sinks, drains and toilets. A cheap toilet plunger edges will fold in and not maintain a solid seal when being used. With a cheap toilet plunger, the rubber is thinner and more pliable and does not work nearly as well.   

The Wet-Dry Vacuum Drain Clog Solution

Removing a small item from a drain is close to impossible. One way to remove an item is with a wet-dry vacuum. Removing the item by sucking it back up the drain is a better way to problem. If you try to move the item out of your drain by plunging it down will only worsen the problem because it will move further away and quite possibly become permanently lodged further down the drain.

Act on Fixing Water Leaks Immediately

A water leak or running toilet that drips silently away can turn into a huge money drain for your household budget. It has been shown that a small dripping faucet leak can waste 10 gallons of water per day. A running toilet typically wastes from 180 to 220 gallons of water per day. It is your duty to fix water leaks big or small right away. If you do not fix a water leak the costs can run into the 100’s of dollars in increased water bills.

Always Hand Tighten Plumbing Fittings

Albuquerque homeowners often over-tighten plumbing fittings, screws, flanges, and nuts. When a plumbing fitting is over-tightened it often turns out that a bolt ends up broken or a screw gets stripped. Be judicious and tighten it with your hand to just tight, not overly tight.  

Plumbers Tape Comes in Handy So Keep it on Hand

Plumber’s tape is one of the most useful plumbing products to have on hand at your Albuquerque home. It is employed to seal pipe threads at plumbing fittings and joints. Wrap plumber’s tape around a pipe thread of a fitting or joint you are completing a repair on three times prior to completing the seal. For regular plumbing components, the plumber’s tape is white and gas line connections plumber’s tape is yellow.  

Complete a Leak Check After Completion of Every Plumbing Job

Check for leaks after completion of every plumbing job, big or small, by running water through the system. Be sure to open and close the drains and valves throughout the plumbing project as well. Keep in mind, plumbing professional miss leaks too, so when you are checking for leaks and you happen to find one, act immediately and reseal the connection.

Plumbing Basics and Action Plan

Becoming knowledgeable about your Albuquerque home plumbing and knowing how to fix a few things will create a body of skill sets that will help you play smart defense when it comes to your Albuquerque home plumbing problems.