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When you think of the great advances in medicine, your mind usually goes to lab coats, test tubes, and needles. It doesn’t think of your plumbing service. But it should. Health experts call the so-called Sanitary Revolution of the 19th century, when clean water and safe sewage disposal developed worldwide, as one of the greatest leaps forward in modern medicine.

What Does that Mean to Me Today?

Your local plumbing service didn’t have anything to do with the Sanitary Revolution. But it does have a lot to do with maintaining the good health of Fort Worth, TX residents. This is a fact many homeowners and business owners overlook when it comes to calling a plumbing service. Clean water and safe sewage disposal are taken for granted. Until something goes wrong with the plumbing.

Your Plumbing Service is Important to Your Health

In most of the developed world, good plumbing has dramatically cut down on the incidence of disease and infections. Clean water has slashed the number of water-borne diseases, such as cholera. Proper sewage has greatly reduced the number of parasitic infections. This is exactly what your own plumbing system is doing for you, right here in Fort Worth, TX. That’s why it is vital for homeowners and business owners to have a plumbing service that can maintain and repair their system.

What Dangers are Lurking in My Plumbing?

Odds are you won’t have an alligator coming out of your toilet. The dangers about which you need to be aware are a lot less obvious. The issues of water-borne disease and parasites from sewage will likely never be a concern for you, unless you have a catastrophic failure of your plumbing system. And the odds of that are lower than those of a gator popping through your toilet.

There are some things you should discuss with your plumbing service.

Lead contamination of water has become a popular concern over the past several years. You’ve likely read about the water supply of entire cities being contaminated. That hasn’t happened here in Fort Worth, TX but it is something you’ll want to discuss with your plumber. Lead in home water pipes is generally found in homes built before 1986. In homes without lead service lines, which are the pipes connecting your home to the water main, the most common problem can be brass or chrome-plated brass faucets and plumbing with lead solder. Water with high acidity or low mineral levels can corrode pipes which is another common source of lead contamination. If your home was built before 1986, talk with your plumbing service and have the professionals check the service lines.

The Temperature of Your Water

Just about everyone knows you can raise the temperature of the water coming from your water heater by adjusting the dial at the bottom of the heater. Did you know that 20% of the burn victims in the US each year are injured due to scalding hot water? That 2,000 children each year are burned by scalding water. The point of this is that you want to make sure the anti-scald control on your water heater, which is required by law in Fort Worth, TX, is functioning correctly. An anti-scald control will allow only water at or below a certain temperature to come out of your fixtures.

The other side of this coin is that you don’t want to lower your water temperature below 135 degrees. That’s the temperature at which bacteria can begin to grow in your water. Most common is the infamous Legionella bacteria, which can lead to pneumonia and Legionnaire’s disease.

Sewage Backups

Talk with your plumbing service to determine if your home or business is protected against sewage backups. The best protection comes from a backwater value that your plumber can install directly on to your sewage line. This is a one-way valve with a hinged flapper. Any water, in this case sewage water, flowing the wrong way will shut the flapper and keep the contaminated water out of your plumbing system. Keep the backwater valve in mind if you’re buying a home or live in a home that’s the lowest building on the sewage line. Water does run downhill. A major sewage backup could force wastewater to flow down to your home. The backwater valve would be your best line of defense.

Another issue that can cause problems is back siphonage. This occurs when there’s a major drop in pressure in the supply line. This can also be defended by a backwater valve.

Septic Systems

These are generally in use in rural areas; however, they are becoming more prevalent in some urban homes. Again, talk with your plumbing service about system maintenance. Your nose will generally tell you if there’s a problem. A system that’s starting to clog up will send an unmistakable odor through all the water drains in your home. Plus, those drains will be slow, and you’ll likely hear water in the drains. Another sign of trouble can be in the leach field. This is the area where water is distributed out of the system. It’s a good idea for you to know where it is on your property. If the grass in the leach field is dense and green and there are soggy areas, something’s up. You’ll want to keep pets and kids out of this area. Understand that a bad septic system can contaminate wells, groundwater and any nearby bodies of water.

An Ounce of Prevention…

…can possibly save you a pound of money. Modern plumbing is beneficial to everyone’s health. Just as with your own health, annual checkups by your plumbing service will keep your home healthy. Benjamin Franklin Plumbing of Fort Worth can check on your plumbing system, diagnose and explain any potential issues, and professionally repair any problems. Click here for more information.