Maintaining Your Laundry Room

The laundry room is an essential part of any home. Neglecting laundry room maintenance can lead to a big inconvenience in the future, such as flooding or broken machines. Keeping up with regular maintenance and a simple checklist will prevent problems and increase the life of your washer and dryer.

Clean Dryer Lint

After every load of dry clothes, the lint should be cleaned out of the lint trap. Allowing lint to cover the trap entirely will prevent clothes from drying, requiring extra cycles and a bigger electric bill. Cleaning the trap and vent will also prevent a fire hazard.

Use strainers over drains

Strainers help prevent wet lint from clogging your pipes over time. Put strainers over all your drains in the laundry room, including the washing machine hose. There are specially designed inexpensive strainers that fit over washing machine hoses. They can be found in the plumbing section of hardware stores or through online retailers.

Pipe cleaner supplies

Build-up in your pipes can still occur even with a strainer. Lint will still get in pipes, along with soap scum, grease and other debris that can clog pipes. Using pipe cleaning agents can help dissolve grime and protect your pipes from scum accumulating, avoiding the need for a plumber to clean your drains.

Flush the P-trap

A P-trap is a U-shaped pipe located on most drains in the house. It retains water that creates a seal to prevent bad gasses and odors from entering the room from the drain. When drains aren’t used, the water will evaporate, and drains will begin to smell. If this is happening, pour a bucket of water down the drain to reseal the P-trap.

Check the hot and cold hoses

Inspect the hot and cold hoses connected to your washer machine. If you find a small crack or split, this can lead to a leak, so the hose needs to be replaced immediately. Hoses made of braided stainless steel are burst-resistant, so consider updating when replacing the hose.

Use a sensor valve to protect against flooding

Sensor valves help protect against extensive damage from floods. It attaches to the water source and has a sensor on the floor. When it detects water, it will automatically turn the water off. An expert from Reliance can help install the tool, or you can purchase one at the hardware store and install it yourself. Call Reliance today or schedule online for a professional maintenance or repair.