How Your Residential Plumbing Works … And Why You Should Care

Being a homeowner comes with a lot of responsibility. If you’re new to homeownership, you might not be prepared for all the new things you have to learn about. Here’s what you need to know about residential plumbing and why it’s important.

Parts of Residential Plumbing

Waste Drains – Drains can be made of ABS, PVC, or cast iron. These pipes connect to all the fixtures in your home such as toilets, sinks, bathtubs, and showers. When any of these fixtures are used, the water is pushed through the pipes, down the main drain, and into the municipal drain under the street.

Waste Vents – To keep all your fixtures working properly, the main drain needs to be vented. These vents equalize the change in pressure from using a residential plumbing fixture. This helps avoid gurgling and P traps being siphoned out. These are essential functions to prevent sewer gases from entering your home.

Potable Water – For municipal water, you will see a shutoff valve outside your home in case the city ever needs to turn off water flow. This valve is connected to a pipe that goes through your home’s foundation to another shutoff valve in your basement that only you have access to. From here, it fills up your hot water tank, then gets pushed through your pipes to where it’s needed.

Rainwater Management – Most homes are equipped with a gutter system to catch rainfall and either push it away from the home to be absorbed into the soil, or collected in a barrel and used to water plants and flowers. Once captured into the municipal drain, the water flows to a lifting station where it is separated from waste and then pumped into a nearby body of water.

Why It’s Important

Unless you plan on becoming a residential plumbing expert, you may be wondering why you should care about how your home’s plumbing works. Here are three good reasons.

Identify Problems Quickly – When you understand how the residential plumbing system works, it makes it much easier to identify when there’s a problem. Not every issue is apparent because of an overflowing pipe. Finding problems sooner rather than later is key to ensuring they don’t get worse.

DIY Fixes or Call for Professionals – With a full knowledge of your home’s plumbing, you can quickly determine if any issues you spot can be fixed with your own toolbox and a trip to the hardware store, or if you need to call in the local plumbing professionals.

Maintain Quality of Life – Although your great-grandparents may not have had indoor plumbing as children, we’re willing to bet you haven’t lived a day of your life without it. You may not give residential plumbing much thought, but it’s a vital part of your lifestyle that you might feel a little lost without.

Need a Fix?

Now that you know how your residential plumbing is supposed to work, you might notice that yours isn’t quite up to par. If that’s the case, please give Hulsey Environmental (a Blue Flow Company) a call. We can schedule a consultation visit to assess your system and develop a course of action to ensure it’s working properly.