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Last Updated: Monday, January 15th, 2001, Created: Monday, January 15th, 2001
There are two places in a home where you can almost count on a plumbing leak some day -- so it's worth taking action to avoid it.
The rubber hoses that bring water to a clothes washer, particularly the hot water one, will age, swell, and eventually burst, usually right where they bend coming out of the faucet. The official instructions with all clothes washers are to turn these faucets on and off every time you use the machine. I did meet one person once in my life who actually did that. The rest of us just hope that the washing machine dies before the hoses do. You can buy better hoses, with a flexible metal sleeve that is less likely to burst, or you can check out a special washing machine wall box that has a really nifty single-lever double water valve that just opens and closes both faucets with the flick of a lever, made by Oatey. There is even a place in the wall box for the drain stand pipe. Now THAT I might actually do between loads of clothes.
The second flood is going to come from the hot water tank. All hot water tanks eventually die, and again, we hope they stop making hot water before they start leaking. When they start leaking first, you may be replacing a finished ceiling above, or a nice floor nearby. You can now find alarms that sound if there is water on the floor, and catch basins to put under water tanks. Using these together will definitely let you know if the water is getting out of the tank. The Flood Alert that we had on the show came from First Alert and was battery operated. You can also find these kinds of things at marine stores (to check for rising water in the bilge). Even some central alarm companies now have water alarms that you can tie into your whole house alarm system and not worry about changing batteries. An especially useful alarm both for floods and for filling tubs and pools without overflow, the
Keywords: Flood, Hose, Plumbing, Valves, Washing Machine, Water
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