Do you have an External Water Leak? Now the weather has warmed up, and we’re spending more time outdoors, you need to make sure that your outside plumbing is in good working order, to cut down the chances of you needing to call an emergency plumber. So how do you go about checking your external plumbing and how do you know if you’ve got a leak?
Check Outside Taps While we may not have to worry about frozen pipes in this part of the world, it’s a good idea to give your outside taps the once over, especially if you tend to leave your garden hose attached to the tap all year round. You may find that once you remove the hose, the tap just won’t stop dripping. This is usually a sign that the washer needs changing, so it’s just a simple case of exchanging the old washer with a new one. However, if the tap has been leaking for more than a couple of weeks, it may indicate that a new tap is required. While this isn’t really a job for emergency plumber Nelson Bay homeowners can contact their local plumbing company for a quote if you’re not able to do the job yourself.
Check Your Shut Off Valve Many homes have a shut-off valve in a ‘water box’ positioned close to the property so that you can turn off the main water supply coming into your house. You’ll probably find yours hidden out of the way in a flowerbed or under bushes or shrubbery. In any event, it’s important to know where it is just in case you need to shut the water off quickly to prevent interior water damage. Once you’ve found your water box, open it up and look inside. If there’s water in the box and you know you haven’t had any rain lately it may be that you have a leak. You’ll also want to test out the valve and make sure that it’s working correctly. Old valves have a tendency to go rusty and may even seize shut. Always open and shut valves carefully as you don’t want to turn the water off and then find you can’t turn it back on again – then you really would need the services of your local emergency plumber! Just in case this happens, you may want to note down the telephone number of an emergency plumber in Port Stephens to make sure that you’re not left without water.
What to Do if You Have a Yard Leak Soggy or wet areas of ground may indicate that you have a leak in your backyard or it may just be a simple case of a leak in your irrigation system. If you do find a leak in external pipework, you should call a plumber. In the meantime, you can shut off the water if you don’t need it in order to conserve as much water as possible. You may also need to contact your water company to let them know that you have found a leak and that you have taken steps to resolve it as they may be more lenient when they assess what you owe them.