When it comes to home improvement, and specifically your home’s plumbing system, there are a lot of myths that get spread around on a daily basis. Eventually, these myths get ran through the rumor mill with such persistence that they become so-called “facts.” This usually happens when people make assumptions about what they don’t understand. As a group of reliable plumbers, we hear a lot of these myths on a daily basis. From the source, here’s the verdict on some of these common plumbing myths…
Exploding water heaters: Half-true
There is an old wives’ tale that’s been spread around over the years about suspicious noises that come from the water heater. Naturally, the human mind eventually reaches a paranoid conclusion that it could explode, and turn it off for a time. Plumbers get a lot of calls on these cases, but is there truth to them? Well, it’s not actually the case. The strange rumblings that come from your water heater are actually the sounds of the gas trying to push it’s way through the calcium buildup on the bottom of old water tanks. While this is wasteful, it is not actually putting you in danger.
However, water heaters can actually explode if the temperature is set too high. Heating an old water heater above 330 degrees can put 80,000 psi onto the bottom of the tank, and cause a devastating explosion. It’s typically a safe option to never put your water heater above 180 degrees, much less up to 300. However, there are safeguards in most modern heaters that prevent this, and the chances of an explosion are absurdly, ridiculously slim, and nearly impossible.
This claim is half-true.
Bleach can clean toilet tanks: False
There’s a long-held belief that putting bleach into the tank of your toilet will help keep it clean over time. However, the exact opposite of this is true. Letting bleach sit too long in anything mechanical will wear away parts and can cause your toilet to stop working. Never let bleach sit for too long in anything, as it can become dangerous if accidentally mixed with other types of cleaners. While bleach is a good cleaner, be smart about it and use it only for immediate cleaning, and nothing long term. Don’t buy toilet tablets that contain bleach.
This claim is false.
Leaky faucets cost lots of money: True
We often hear horror stories about how leaky faucets are costing lots of money and wasting lots of water, but are those tiny drips really adding up to anything significant? Actually, yes! A home that lets a leaky faucet sit, unfixed, can waste up to 3,000 gallons of water in a year. Based on the prices of using tap water, that means that one leaky faucet could be costing you over $300 a year! Combined, it’s estimated that we could be wasting close to 1 trillion gallons of water, annually, in this country. That’s means we are possibly wasting close to $100 million on water that we aren’t even using! Seriously, get those faucets fixed.
(Statistics from the EPA’s website.)
This claim is true.
