Plumbing Vacation Checklist

Plumbing Vacation Checklist

Ah, vacation! With the children on summer break, it is a time to escape, unwind, let go of your everyday stress, and worry about the plumbing. Wait! If you are taking a vacation the last thing you want to worry about is the plumbing. Yet, it is amazing how often plumbing emergencies occur while people are on vacation.

To help you avoid plumbing disasters while you are away, we’ve put together a checklist.

Do a visual inspection of your home’s plumbing system. This includes walking along with the locations for underground lines in your yard, checking all outside faucets, checking all fixtures and appliances inside your home, and checking your toilet and drains. Make sure nothing is broken, leaking, dripping or worse. Note any problems in your plumbing system and make the repairs promptly. It is especially important to get repairs done before you head out if you will be having someone staying in your home while you are away. For your sake and theirs, you don’t want a call about your house being flooded. It does happen.

Test your sump pump. If you have a basement or crawl space, the sump pump is designed to help keep the basement or area under the home dry and to prevent it from flooding. The weatherman might not be accurate with his forecast for rain in so many days. And if it rains and your sump pump doesn’t work, you have a flood. To avoid this, you will want to make sure the sump pump is operating properly.

Leave behind instructions for reaching you and contacting your emergency plumber. Emergencies do happen. It’s always good to be prepared. Providing contact information for you and your plumber are details that will help reduce the stress of the person who is helping to look after your home. It’s also a good idea to authorize your plumber to make emergency repairs in your absence and give them your contact information in case you need to be reached.

If someone is staying at your home:

Clear your access to the main water shut-off valve. You may have everything in great working order, but there is never a guarantee that something won’t go wrong. If that something involves a major leak, you want others to be able to turn off the water supply as quickly as possible. They will need easy access to your shut-off valve.

Inform your guests where the water shut-off valve is located. It is one thing to clear the access, but it is all for naught if no one but you knows where to go to turn the water off.

If no one will be staying in the home:

Turn off the water. You are best turning the water for the property off at the water meter. But if you have a sprinkler system or have someone coming to water plants, you will need water turned on for the outside. In this case, turn off the water shut-off valve to the house instead of at the meter. Turning off the water will eliminate water going through your lines when no one is home. When there is no water, there are no leaks.

Inform anyone who will be checking on your home that the water is off. You don’t want them worried if they can’t access the water. And if they are helping to water plants, make sure to tell them to use the outside faucets since the inside water will be off.

Turn the water heater to a lower vacation setting. This will save energy and help keep your energy bill low. The longer you are away, the more you can save.

Now that you have your plumbing handled, there are a number of other tasks you probably will need to do in preparation for your vacation. We hope you have a great time with no worries! And rest assured, if there is a problem High Priority Plumbing handles all types of plumbing emergencies and can be reached 24/7 at 770.860.8110 in Atlanta.

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