Ready or not, summer is here. With it comes warmer temperatures, longer days and, if you have school-age kids, summer vacation.
As nice as it is having the kids around the house, they probably don’t know much about plumbing. Unless perhaps they’re the kids of plumbers, but that’s another story. Their lack of knowledge of how plumbing works may inadvertently contribute to higher plumbing bills. So here are some plumbing-related tips you can teach or remind your youngsters to learn a little bit about plumbing in Springfield Missouri.
Watch What You Flush
One of the simple pleasures of childhood is flushing the toilet, whether there’s anything in it or not. There’s a certain magic to watching the water swirl down a hole, but it’s not-so-magical to parents if the wrong things are going down with it.
Toys and valuables are obvious no-nos, but make sure your young ones know that other seemingly harmless items like dental floss, hair, baby wipes, and paper towels can create clogs. Flushing the toilet isn’t nearly as fun when the water doesn’t go anywhere.
Watch What You Dispose Of
Many kids enjoy turning on the garbage disposal in a sink as much as flushing a toilet, but it’s equally important to watch what you put down those pipes. Bones won’t go anywhere, stringy items like celery or corn husks can get caught in the blades, fruit pits are super-hard and can break your blade easily, plus pasta and rice can expand in the pipes and clog them.
A lot of these items are common sense to adults, but likely not to youngsters. For safety reasons and repair costs, you don't want them to have to learn things the hard way.
Learning To Take The Plunge
Believe it or not, many kids actually enjoy playing with a plunger. Use that enjoyment to your advantage by teaching them how to use a plunger to unclog sinks or toilets. It takes some strength to use a plunger properly, so you may need to wait a few years on this one, but it’s a valuable skill to learn at an early age.
After all, unless there’s a breakthrough in plumbing technology between now and their adulthood, there will always be clogged drains.
Watch Water Consumption
This one may prove the most beneficial—at least to your pocketbook. Kids at home means increased water usage, especially if they don’t understand the importance of water consumption.
Teach them to only run the dishwater or washing machine when they’re full, not to leave the water running when brushing their teeth, and not to flush the toilet excessively. Learning the benefits of using less water will serve them well when they’re paying their own water bills as adults.
Summertime at home with the kids is what you make of it—a potential plumbing nightmare or a great opportunity to teach them valuable plumbing-related lessons. Who knows? They may grow up to be plumbers in Springfield Missouri. They could even be working for United Plumbing in the future.