Do Plumbing Problems Occur More During Summer?
As a homeowner, plumbing and drain problems can seem like your worst nightmare. Water can cause significant damage to your home, and no one likes dealing with drains that won’t drain. But why do these plumbing issues tend to happen more often during the hot summer months? Let’s dive into the most common reasons below.
More Frequent Use
One of the most obvious reasons that plumbing problems tend to occur more often during the summer months is that more people are at home. Most families will have kids at home throughout the months that they’re off of school. Additionally, summertime is a very common time of year for relatives to visit and stay at your home. This means more use of your toilets, sinks, tubs, and faucets. With more use comes an increased likelihood of issues developing.
Increased Summertime Get-Togethers
Summertime is the season for entertaining. Instead of being cooped up inside your home, you can enjoy some outdoor grilling where everyone can take in the sun. With more outside get-togethers comes more frequent use of your plumbing fixtures. One very notable one is your garbage disposal. As more items go down it, more frequent cleanings will be needed. Plus, let’s not forget that guests may accidentally put items down your garbage disposal that are likely to cause issues, such as oil and leftover fruit rinds.
Tree Growth
Summertime is the season for plants and trees to thrive. As these plants grow, they send off a large number of roots. These roots can invade your main sewer line, causing damage and even complete obstructions. These problems aren’t as likely in the winter months as most greenery is in a dormant state, meaning it isn’t actively growing roots.
More Debris During Showers
During the summer months, it’s likely that your family is spending more time doing outdoor activities. Whether it’s spending a day at a local beach or digging for an outdoor addition, it’s very easy to get dirty. As you and your children are covered with debris, like sand and dirt, it’s common to jump in your household shower to clean off. Unfortunately, all this excess debris will make its way down your shower drain and into your drain pipes. This extra debris can increase your risk of developing an unwanted clog in your drain line, which could lead to a backup in your tub or shower.
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Pipe Expansion
Expansion and contraction happen with drastic changes in the temperature. During the scorching hot summer months, metal pipes are susceptible to expanding. Without adequate insulation or being buried far enough below ground, these pipes can expand and burst. This includes water supply lines and even your sewer line.
UV Damage
If you have any exposed piping outdoors, you need to be wary of the sunlight. The ultraviolet rays from the sun can damage piping material that isn’t rated to handle the exterior weather conditions. Whenever you notice a change in color or brittleness developing in any of your exterior pipes, they should be addressed before they completely fail. It’s best to stick to exterior-rated piping for any lines exposed to natural sunlight.
Increased Thunderstorms
The summertime heat can produce some nasty thunderstorms that put down a lot of rain in a very short amount of time. When this happens, the ground can get flooded with excessive rainwater. As the ground gets heavier, it puts more pressure on pipes that are underneath it. Eventually, too much rain can cause extra high down-force pressure on your pipes and lead to a potential collapse.
Additionally, homes that regularly experience basement flooding will typically rely on a sump pump to remove that excess water quickly. As the stormy season sets in, your sump pump will be running more often. The more it runs, the more likely that it will experience a malfunction.
Using Many Plumbing Fixtures at Once
As the summertime heats up, it’s likely that you’ll be running your outdoor sprinklers and faucets. You’ll have more family members at home running more fixtures throughout the day. You’ll even be running your clothes washer and dishwasher more often due to the increased summertime demand. All of these items running at the same time can wreak havoc on your home’s water supply system. It isn’t uncommon to experience low water pressure from time to time, as more plumbing fixtures are running at the same time.
Ground Settling
If you live in a region of the country that experiences wintertime temperatures that regularly drop below freezing, then it’s likely that your home experiences the effect of shifting. As the frost freezes the water in the soil, it expands and heaves your home upward during the winter months. As the ground thaws out during the summertime, your home will settle further down into the soil. The same thing happens with your underground piping. It’s not uncommon for this settling process to distort the orientation of your pipes and lead to unwanted gaps and even breaks.
Irrigation Issues
It’s fairly obvious that you’re not going to be running your irrigation system during the colder winter months as your lawn is dormant and you risk freezing your water supply lines. However, as you run your irrigation system during the summer months to keep your lawn and shrubbery looking good, it’s likely that you may run into issues. Whether you accidentally break a sprinkler head while mowing the lawn or one of your water supply lines cracks, irrigation issues are bound to happen during the summertime.
Increased Appliance Usage
It’s more common for homeowners to experience problems with their water-based appliances, like their clothes washer and dishwasher, during the summer months over all other seasons of the year. This is simply due to increased usage. In the summertime, your family is likely to go through more clothes as they get dirty outside and have more daytime hours to spend doing activities. Additionally, with more people dining at your home, you’re likely going to be relying more on your dishwasher. With increased usage of these appliances, it’s more likely that you’ll experience an issue.
Increased Hot Water Demand
When you think of hot water, you may think of using it for a shower. However, hot water is typically used in many appliances, like your dishwasher and clothes washer. With all of your appliances seeing an increase in usage during the summertime months, coupled with your shower getting used more often, it’s likely that you may experience a lack of hot water. The frequent demand for hot water can lead to issues with your water heater.
Reliable Plumbing Service
Fly Plumbing & HVAC provides reliable plumbing service to the entire Wheeling, IL region. We’re more than happy to assist with all of your duct cleaning, heating, cooling, dryer vent cleaning, and indoor air quality needs. Simply call our office today to schedule your next service appointment with one of our highly experienced plumbing professionals
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When we look at our customers, we see our friends and family. Treating our customers like family is our method to providing continual top-of-the-industry service. As a family-owned and operated company, we strive every day to be better than we were the day before. It is this mindset that continues to give our customers confidence that their homes are in good hands. Everyone needs a plumber they can trust. The best decision you can make is to trust us.