Spring Plumbing Maintenance Checklist: What Every Alabama Homeowner Should Do Before Summer

Most people only think about their plumbing when something goes wrong. A leak, a backup, a water heater that starts making sounds like a rock tumbler in the garage. Then it's a crisis.

Spring is actually the best time to get ahead of that. Before the summer heat kicks in, before you're running the AC nonstop and the house is already humid enough, spend a Saturday walking through a basic plumbing maintenance checklist. It's the kind of thing that prevents the 2 a.m. emergency call.

At Ethridge HVAC we get called out for plumbing issues across Greater Birmingham all year, but summer is always the worst. Hot water usage goes up. People are outside running hoses. Heavy spring storms dump rain into yards that haven't been checked in months. Here's the short list of what every Alabama homeowner should do before the weather turns.

1. Flush your water heater

This one is almost always overlooked. And it's the single highest-impact item on any plumbing inspection checklist.

Central Alabama has fairly hard water, especially if you're on a well but even on city water. Over time, calcium and mineral sediment settles to the bottom of your water heater tank. That sediment insulates the burner (or heating elements) from the water, which means your heater has to work harder, uses more energy, and recovers slower. It also kills the lifespan of the tank. A tank that should last 12 years might tap out at 7.

A water heater flush fixes this. Here's the short version of how to flush water heater sediment out:

• Turn off the power (electric) or set the gas valve to pilot
• Shut off the cold water supply at the top of the tank
• Connect a garden hose to the drain valve near the bottom and run it outside or to a floor drain
• Open a hot-water faucet somewhere in the house to break the vacuum
• Open the drain valve and let the tank empty — it'll run rusty/cloudy at first, then clear
• Once clear, close the drain, turn the cold supply back on, let the tank refill, then restore power

If you've never flushed yours, the first time can be a little dramatic. Don't be alarmed if what comes out looks like chocolate milk with gravel in it — that's exactly what you're trying to get rid of. Once a year from here on out and you'll never see that volume of sediment again.

2. Inspect every hose bib and outdoor spigot

Outdoor spigots take a beating in Alabama. Even though we don't get the kind of brutal freezes that the Midwest deals with, we had a few hard frosts this past winter, and that's usually enough to cause a hose bib leak that nobody notices until spring.

Walk around the outside of the house. Find every spigot — front, back, side yard, and anywhere your irrigation connects. For each one:

• Turn it on full blast with a hand pressed against the wall of the house near the spigot
• Feel for water inside the wall or listen for hissing that doesn't match the flow you're seeing
• Check around the handle and the connection point for any drip when the water is on — and a second check once you shut it off
• Look at the hose itself. Cracks near the connection are a common slow-leak culprit people blame on the spigot

The reason this matters? A cracked hose bib often leaks inside the wall rather than outside, so you don't see the damage until drywall is soft or a ceiling below is staining. By then you've got a real repair, not just a plumbing fix.

3. Watch for slab leak warning signs

Most homes in central Alabama are built on slab foundations. That means a lot of our plumbing runs through or under concrete. When a pipe under the slab develops a pinhole leak or a crack, it's called a slab leak — and it's one of the more expensive plumbing problems a homeowner can face.

The frustrating part is that they can go undetected for a long time. By the time someone notices, the damage bill has usually grown considerably.

Common slab leak signs to watch for:

• A noticeably warm spot on your floor — usually the hot water line
• The sound of running water when nothing is turned on
• An unexplained spike in your water bill month over month
• Mildew or a musty smell in one area of the house without an obvious source
• Cracks in the floor, baseboards, or drywall that weren't there before
• Low water pressure that seems to be getting worse, not better

If you hit two or more of these at once, don't wait — get it looked at. A slab leak caught early might be a cut-and-patch repair. A slab leak caught late can mean tearing up floors.

4. Test your sump pump before the storms hit

Alabama springs bring storms. We all know this. If you have a sump pump in a basement or crawlspace, right now is when it earns its keep — or reveals that it gave up six months ago and nobody noticed.

Testing it is simple. Pour a bucket of water into the pit. The float should rise, the pump should kick on, and the water should be moved out within a minute or two. If nothing happens, if the motor hums without moving water, or if it cycles on and off repeatedly, something's wrong. Could be the float switch. Could be a clogged discharge line. Could be a dead motor.

Check the discharge line outside too — make sure it's clear and draining away from the foundation. A pump that works fine but dumps water right back toward the house isn't doing you any favors.

Give your drains some attention

Basic spring plumbing wouldn't be complete without a drain check. Not a chemical drain cleaner — we've talked before about why those are hard on pipes. Just a simple flush and inspection.

Run hot water down every drain in the house for about a minute. Watch how it drains. Any fixture where water pools or takes noticeably longer to clear is telling you something is building up. Catch it now, while it's a small issue, and you avoid the backed-up kitchen sink on the day your in-laws arrive for Memorial Day weekend.

Bathroom drains especially — hair catchers, clean the stoppers, and if your shower has been slow, now's the week to deal with it. Not the first weekend of July.

6. Know your home's water pressure and shut-off valves

Two things every Alabama homeowner should actually know and honestly, most don't.

First, your main water shut-off valve. Find it. Test it. It's usually near the water meter at the street or where the main line enters the house. If you ever have a burst pipe or a failing fixture, this is the valve that saves your hardwood floors. If it's seized up or you can't find it, fix that now — not during a flood.

Second, your home's water pressure. Most houses should sit between 40 and 60 psi. Anything above 80 psi is hard on your pipes, your fixtures, and especially your water heater. You can pick up a simple pressure gauge at any hardware store, thread it onto an outdoor spigot, and read the number. High pressure is usually fixed with a pressure-reducing valve — a small, affordable addition that extends the life of basically every plumbing component in your house.

Hard water is real, and it's costing you money

One last thing that's specific to our area. Central Alabama water — depending on exactly where you are — runs moderately hard. You'll see the evidence everywhere once you know to look: white crust on faucet aerators, cloudy glassware coming out of the dishwasher, soap that never seems to lather the way it should, and hard water problems slowly eating away at the inside of your water heater.

You don't necessarily need a whole-home softener, but it's worth knowing where you stand. A basic water hardness test strip from the hardware store will tell you in 30 seconds. If you're above 10 grains per gallon, a softener starts paying for itself pretty quickly — in appliance life alone.

In my experience, most Birmingham homeowners are surprised by the test result. They assume the water's fine because it tastes fine. The mineral content isn't something your tongue picks up — but your plumbing definitely does.

The 30-minute version (if that's all you've got)

Look, we know not everyone has a free Saturday for plumbing. If you've only got half an hour this week, do these four things:

• Walk every spigot and check for leaks while the water is running
• Pour a bucket of water in the sump pit and confirm the pump kicks on
• Locate your main shut-off and make sure it turns
• Run hot water down every drain for a minute and note anything slow

You'll have covered the big risks in about 30 minutes. The water heater flush and the hard-water test are bigger jobs — save those for when you've got a little more time, or call us.