How to Avoid Vacation Plumbing Problems While on Vacation. Tips to Avoid Plumbing Issues.

Well we've all heard of it happening or have had it happen. You go away for a relaxing vacation. Only to come home to a water disaster. Plumbing maven Linda Stanfield of Ben Franklin Plumbing is here to help us prevent water damage. First of all good to see you again. Thank you. What is the number one phone call you get from a water disaster when people have been gone for any length of time. These connection hoses bursting. A hose? A simple hose? A hose. It will burst and when it bursts the water just goes and goes and goes. Nothing is there to shut it off so it can run for 8 hours it could run for 2 days. It could run for 2 weeks? Yes Think about that, wow. First of all I want to take a look at some pictures you had sent me, can you just imagine, you come home, look at that, 4 inches of water throughout your entire home, an absolute disaster that's so easy to prevent, and like you said, it keeps running and running. Let's see the other pictures. Look at that. After a beautiful vacation can you imagine walking into this? These are real stories, these happen to our customers. Almost once a week we have somebody with a flood. I would cry. It's a simple fix you guys. And Linda you have the solution. These are some of the hoses and they come from, which hose in particular is it the water heater hose the washing machine hose? Any hoses, any connection hose will weaken. And you have a lot of pressure that goes against them so if you think about it when you have a sink faucet to the connection everything's off and there's water in that hose that's just pounding and pounding and pounding with pressure. These different types of hoses here, we're talking about the inexpensive? This is the weakest one, it's vinyl, it really doesn't allow you to hold the pressure, it will not last for very long at all. OK and by looking at it, I mean how would one know? Go by cost (laughing) This is the cheapest that you can buy out there and unfortunately when you see it at your home usually it's on a dishwasher or something like that, I would change it. ok, you get what you pay for. This is the next best hose? Why is this better than that one. This here is rubber. The connections are better, we still don't recommend this all the time. This here is about 8 years old, and as you can see the thickness as it wears out. This is the same brand, but this one has been used, oh you're right, the difference is pliable. This is amazing. What happens is the inside starts to break and it gets bigger and bigger and then all the sudden you get a bulge, and you get a burst. And look at what's around here. All of this, what is this? Calcium deposits. And see how much is inside? I don't find the right camera view, it's hard to see, but.. As you can see it starts inside, by the time you see it outside it's already been corroded and eaten away at the inside. And that's what makes it expand, all the stuff inside? Yes. And the pressure. This is called the stainless steel hose connection and here's one from your washing machine bib, that's usually where they're connected, but inside is also the rubber. So you have this reinforced by stainless steel, so that's really the best one, the one you want to use. So this is the right hose, you've got all this mesh right here protecting the hose, and something else very important, know where this is and what is this? That's right, this is your main shut off. Know if you want to turn that off before you leave on vacation. You want to make sure nothing in your house or pool or sprinklers need any water. You can separate your main shut off from your sprinklers and your pool. So a lot of people think, oh I only have one shut off, we can separate that so you can shut off the water to your home and allow your pool an sprinklers to work well. That is a brilliant idea, that way you can be safe to not come home to a disaster, yet everything is still alive when you get home. Linda thank you so much. thank you. Always always good information. Linda is Benjamin Franklin Plumbing and she has a special offer for you. You call (602)382-0013 make your appointment fpr a free service call. That's a $69 value and guess what, they'll come in and check those hoses for you and replace them if you need to. http://benfranklinphoenix.com/ is the website is the website for more information. Thank You Linda. Thank you.