Finding the Leak in Your Laundry Room
You walk into your laundry room to move the clothes over from the washer to the dryer and immediately feel the cold wet water seeping into your socks. When this happens there are many things you should check before resorting to replacing your appliances. It can be hard to pinpoint what is wrong especially if your water heater is in the same space as well.
The first thing to check is your drainpipe
Behind your washer, there is a place where your drain hose runs into the wall. This pipe can become clogged causing water to back up and drip back down the hose and onto the floor. To fix this you will want to run a small snake down the pipe to clear any clogs.
Another issue that can relate to this pipe is if your vent is clogged above the pipe. Every main pipe in your home has a vent that allows air to escape for the water to drain properly. Check that vent to make sure it is also clear.
Frozen pipes
If it has recently dropped below freezing and your laundry room is against an exterior wall then the pipe inside of the wall may have become cracked and be leaking down and through the baseboards.
Next, check your water heater
Inspect the pan that the water heater sits in and see if there is any water. If there is then the leak could be coming from your water heater. Run your finger under the drain spout and if it feels dry then it’s not coming from there, run your finger or a dry paper towel down all the pipes around your water heater, if any of them are wet then you have found your leak. If they remain dry and the pan is still full of water then most likely there is a crack in your tank.
Hoses can get old
Another thing to check is the hot and cold water hoses that run from your water source into the washer. These can get tattered and cracked. The best replacement option for these is stainless ones that will last much longer.
The final option could be your washing machine itself
Check your drain hose that runs from the washer to the wall, sometimes they can become brittle and crack over time. Another option could be your drain pump it can spring a leak for a variety of reasons, and you will want to get that fixed before it gets the motor wet and you need an entirely new machine.
If after checking all these things, you still are not sure where your leak is coming from give us a call at 202-cool and one of our very experienced technicians will come out and solve your problem for you.