You have many responsibilities as a new homeowner. When you rent, major repairs are for the landlord to worry about. When you own your home, you realize how important preventative maintenance is for preventing breakdowns and costly repairs.

For instance, your plumbing system can cause water damage that’s expensive to restore, and the damage is often preventable with routine maintenance. This guide lists four maintenance tips that prevent plumbing disasters.

1. Test for Water Leaks

A dripping faucet is an obvious water leak, but sometimes a leak isn’t easy to detect. A pipe might drip under a slab or behind a wall. One way to discover a leak is to monitor your water meter. Turn off the faucets, dishwasher, and washing machine in your home.

Then, read your water meter to find out if water is still running somewhere. Depending on the meter you have, you might see a dial with an arrow turning that detects even slight water movement. Be certain of a water leak by writing down the numbers on the dial.

Check the reading again in an hour. If the numbers are the same, you don’t have a leak. When the numbers are different, you’ll know you have a leak and how bad it is based on the number of gallons leaked during the hour.

If you can’t find the leak by searching for damp areas in your home, then call a plumber to locate it and make repairs before your home sustains water damage.

1. Inspect Hose Attachments

The hoses behind the dishwasher and washing machine are out of sight and easy to forget about. However, if one breaks or comes loose, then it can cause a flood in the laundry room or kitchen. Check the hoses for signs of cracking and wear.

If your machines are old, then they may have rubber hoses that degrade over time. Consider changing the rubber hoses to braided steel hoses so they are more durable and less likely to leak. Also, tighten the connections if they seem loose.

1. Check Drains for Leaks and Clogs

Run water in all the drains to make sure they empty quickly. A drain or toilet that’s slow to empty is a sign of a clog in the line somewhere. Tackle the clog while it’s small and easy to dislodge using a plunger or snake. If you can’t get the line to open, then call a plumber before the drain backs up.

Clean hair out of tub and shower drains regularly with a tool you can buy to snag hair and pull it out. This keeps your tub drains flowing and prevents the clog from growing. Also, check drains in spare bathrooms that are rarely used.

Water evaporates from these drain traps and when it does, sewer odors can enter your home. Pouring water down the drain regularly prevents this. Check under the sinks for signs of dampness and musty odors.

Repair leaky drains as soon as possible to keep pests away and prevent water damage.

1. Test the Toilet for Leaks

Toilet parts wear down with use and age. Water leaks from the tank to the bowl when that happens. The flapper in the tank should make a tight seal that doesn’t allow water to leak through. Test the seal by dropping food coloring into the tank.

If the colored water shows up in the toilet bowl, then that’s a sign your toilet needs repairs. The flapper might need to be cleaned or replaced. Making repairs when the problem is minor keeps a major leak from developing that could drive up your water bill.

If you need help with plumbing maintenance, then call Custom Comfort Plumbing, Heating & Cooling LLC. We’ll help you pinpoint problems and make repairs so you don’t waste water and risk damage to your home.

At this time of year, allergies can be a problem for many people. Many allergy sufferers assume that they can do little or nothing to stop their allergies from impacting their lives. What they don’t realize is that their HVAC system can be used to control indoor air quality and reduce their symptoms.

By running the HVAC system regularly and by maintaining the various parts of the system, homeowners can reduce their allergy symptoms. 

1. Switch to a HEPA or Pleated Air Filter

All HVAC systems use an air filter to clean the air that circulates through the home. The air filter prevents the ducts, AC, and furnace from filling with dust, which in turn can keep the system running efficiently. When the air filter is dirty, more dust can circulate around the home. 

A HEPA filter can filter out finer particles from the air. HEPA filters will remove up to 99.97 percent of the particles from the air. However, HEPA filters don’t fit in all HVAC systems. Homeowners who want to use a HEPA filter but can’t fit one in their HVAC system can call an HVAC professional to retrofit the filter slot. 

Those who don’t want to make major changes to their HVAC system for the sake of using a HEPA filter can use a pleated media air filter with a rating between 7 and 13. These filters have a wide surface area for catching many particles and are nearly as effective as HEPA filters.

According to the US ENERGY STAR program, the air filter needs to be changed every three months. Homeowners can choose to replace the air filter more often, especially if they suffer from allergies. Check the filter on a regular basis and replace it when it is dirty.

1. Inspect and Maintain the Ducts

Ducts can harbor mold, dust and dander. When the HVAC system runs, this mold and dust is pushed out into the home, exacerbating allergies. Clean ducts can prevent this problem from occurring. Many homeowners can tell when it’s time to clean their ducts because their furniture becomes dusty after the AC or furnace turns on. 

Another way to tell if the air ducts need to be cleaned is by removing a vent and looking into the duct. If the air duct is blanketed with a thick layer of dust, you should have the ducts cleaned. The best way to decide whether or not to clean the ducts is to have the ducts inspected by a professional. HVAC contractors use small cameras to inspect ductwork and make recommendations for cleaning or repair.

Homeowners or HVAC professionals should also inspect the ducts for leaks. Dust and grime can enter the ducts through holes or breaks in the joints, which can increase the rate at which the ducts become dirty. Have your ducts sealed to prevent this from happening. 

1. Use the Filter Mode Setting

A lot of dander and pollen enter the home through the windows. The best way to prevent this from happening is to leave the windows closed and run the HVAC system. At this time of year, the temperatures aren’t cold enough to justify furnace use and not hot enough to justify running the air conditioner.

Homeowners who want to run their HVAC system but who don’t want to change the temperature of their house can turn the air conditioner on to filter mode. This keeps the air in your home fresh and prevents the pollen from coming in. 

1. Work With Your HVAC Professional

Do you have questions about how your HVAC system can help control your allergies this year? Work with a professional HVAC contractor. At Custom Comfort Plumbing, Heating, & Cooling LLC, we’re happy to answer your questions and reduce your allergies symptoms this spring. Contact us today.

Your heating and cooling system is an imperative part of your home. While it is responsible for keeping your family comfortable during the various seasons, this system is also important for maintaining a healthy environment. Considering that allergies affect an estimated 50 million Americans, you or another member of your household may suffer from the discomfort of allergies.

Itchy and watery eyes, sneezing, coughing, difficulty breathing, and even irritated skin are all common symptoms of allergies related to dust, dander, mold, and mildew. While managing these symptoms is possible with medications, improving your air quality is a smarter and healthier alternative. This guide and your HVAC contractor can help you improve your home’s indoor air quality.

Filters

As conditioned air moves from the outdoor unit through your ductwork and into your home, dirt, dust, and other debris will also move through your home. Thankfully, filters are capable of trapping this debris, preventing it from flowing into your home.

Replacing these filters regularly is key to reducing allergy symptoms and improving your overall quality of air inside your home. Unfortunately, many homeowners are confused by when they should replace their filters.

Dirt and dust are usually easy to see, but mold growth is not always visible. Therefore, you should replace your filters once a month whether they appear dirty or not.

The type of filter you choose also matters. Focus on the filter’s MERV rating. The higher the MERV rating, the better the filter is for trapping allergens. For the best protection, choose a filter with a MERV rating of between 11 and 13.

Ducts

As stated earlier, conditioned air and debris move through the system’s ductwork before entering the home. Over time, debris and allergens will build up in the ductwork, clogging filters and decreasing your indoor air quality.

It is also important to note that damage can occur to your ductwork over time. Tears and holes are common as your ductwork ages. Seams can also become loose, causing air loss that decreases the efficiency of your system while allowing more dirt, dust, dander, moisture, and mold to seep into your ducts.

To improve air quality and system efficiency, consider having the ducts inspected for signs of distress. If necessary, repairs or a duct replacement can be made.

Units

Bigger is not always better. Units that are oversized for your home and climate can actually do more harm than good. While surprising to learn, an oversized unit can cause your system to short-cycle, which can increase the humidity to dangerous levels.

To understand short-cycling, you need to understand how the cooling process works.

Your air conditioning system cools the home by removing heat from the air. During this cooling process, humidity is also pulled from the air.

Oversized units will reach your desired temperature faster, stopping the cooling process before the system has the time to pull an adequate amount of humidity from the air. This is known as short-cycling.

High levels of humidity can lead to a variety of problems, including warped wood floors and furniture and peeling paint. High humidity can also increase the risk of mold growth, which can be dangerous for everyone, especially individuals who suffer from allergies or respiratory problems.

If you have allergy symptoms, consider having your humidity levels checked. Healthy humidity levels range between 30 and 50 percent.

Using your home’s square footage, the floor plan/layout, and information regarding your local climate, contractors will conduct a load calculation to determine what size unit is appropriate.

Heating and cooling is an essential part of your home’s indoor air quality. To learn tips and solutions to improve your air quality and reduce your allergy symptoms, contact Custom Comfort today.