Last week my water heater sprung a leak and had to be replaced. The heater was 20 years old, but I think the direct cause of the failure was a stuck pressure valve that I hadn’t thought to check in the almost 2 years since I moved here. I wanted to make this thread to remind people that such valves should be checked yearly. Knowing that could have saved me a lot of trouble and money.
Anyone have other home maintenance tips that they wish they knew before it was too late?
Apologies if there is an extant thread suitable for this topic.
I get laughed at for this, but it’s true. Turn off the water supplies to your washing machine between washes. Those hoses will fail one day. Better that they fail when you are there to remedy the situation. Rather than flood your house. It has happened to me.
I have had zero hoses fail while connected to a water source (in over 35 years of house ownership). I have had multiple valve handles (the kind you rotate to open/shut) fail when trying to use them to shut off water under my house.
Related, clean the filters on the washing machine regularly.
If that blocks up nothing gets cleaned properly, and sometimes the machine won’t drain.
And when you do unblock it you get a pool of fetid water to clean up!
Edit:
Also washing machine related, in my Airbnb the location where the machine drains into got blocked. Slowly over the course of 2 years small blockages added up and there was a slight pong we couldn’t get rid of until I identified the location.
The solution was a fuck ton of baking powder then adding in hot water mixed with vinegar, letting the solution slowly dissolve the blockage, because it was around a bend so I couldn’t get to it physically.
Spent the whole night dripping in hot water and vinegar, then lemon juice
Super vinegary, lemony smell in the morning, and blockage cleared.
So, check your drainage.
Related to the same Airbnb, check your wiring, constantly. So if there is ever a short circuit you can identify the location quickly.
Aaarrgggh!!! As the garage door was closing there was loud bang and it got stuck 6 inches from the ground. I pulled the garage door opener release and was able to shove it to almost closed. A quick googling indicates this is likely a broken spring. We had been talking about replacing the doors and planned to do it next year. I guess the timetable just changed.
Douse your garage door wheels, axles and tracks with silicone lub spray every year. Mine often popped off the track until I did this 15 years ago. I don’t think that’ll help with broken springs, though.
If you’re on well water, change the sediment filter every 6 months. I’m been surprised when folks tell me that their water pressure is low and when I ask about their filter, I get a glassy stare.
Shoot a squirt of WD40 into exterior door locks that are exposed to the weather every year.
Drain your hot water heater every 3 or 4 years (NVM ya’ll that have tankless heaters :) ). It’s scary the amount of sludge that accumulates in there, even with a sediment filter on your main supply. There’s a drain valve on the bottom, it’s there for a reason.
For those on septic, you MUST have the tank pumped out at least every 5 years, fewer if you have a house full of girls and women (like I did) who tend to use much more hair product than guys. That crap gums up the tank good. I go for every Presidential election year even now that my daughters are out of the house.
I don’t turn off the water supply to the washer routinely, but I DO turn it off if we’re going away for a week. I replace the hoses every 5 years.
If you have an oil furnace, get the burner and filter cleaned once per year. I don’t know if burner maintenance is needed for gas furnaces. I don’t do that myself.
To @Douglas , that’s a great tip and I’m embarrassed that I haven’t been doing that. Going downstairs now to check, and will put that on my maintenance calendar.
