Yes, heat can definitely affect your plumbing, both directly and indirectly, especially with the kind of intense heat experienced in places like North Texas. Here’s how:
- Pipe Expansion and Contraction:
- Pipes, especially metal ones like copper, expand when heated and contract when cooled. While designed to handle some of this, extreme and prolonged heat, followed by eventual cooling (even nightly), can put stress on pipe joints, seals, and the pipes themselves. Over time, this repeated stress can lead to weaknesses, causing small leaks at joints or even cracks in older or more vulnerable pipes.
- Increased Water Demand:
- Hot weather typically leads to increased water usage – more showers, watering lawns and gardens, filling pools, etc. This puts a greater strain on your entire plumbing system. If there are any existing weaknesses (like a small, unnoticed leak or a struggling pump), the increased demand can exacerbate them, making them more apparent or causing a minor issue to become major.
- Soil and Foundation Issues (Very Relevant in Texas):
- Prolonged extreme heat can severely dry out the soil around and under your home’s foundation. Clay soil, common in Texas, shrinks significantly when it dries. This soil shrinkage can cause your foundation to shift or settle. When the foundation moves, it puts immense stress on the rigid plumbing lines (both water and sewer) that run through or under it. This is a very common cause of underground pipe breaks and leaks in areas with expansive clay soil and hot, dry periods.
So, while we often think of freezing temperatures as the main weather-related plumbing threat, extreme heat certainly brings its own set of challenges, especially concerning foundation-related pipe damage and general wear and tear from expansion.
If you have a plumbing problem and don’t know what to do….CALL PLUMBEROO!!
817-766-6000
