Can't Wait For The Heat? Your Plumbing Can
If it's still cold at your house, you may be pining for those summer days of heat and absolutely no snow. While you and your family might miss the heat, your pipes really don't. In fact, excessive summer heat can destroy plumbing pipes pretty quickly. It's vital that you shield above-ground pipes from sunlight in summer and monitor in-ground pipes as well. Plus, you could start to experience some problems that luckily are not that serious, though they can be annoying.
Pipe Expansion
One problem that pipes have in hot weather is that the heat makes the pipe material expand. If it gets really hot, and the pipe material keeps trying to expand, it can crack. So even though there's no freezing weather in sight and no ice in the pipes, you can still end up with a cracked pipe and a heck of a leak, if not a flood.
Shield outdoor pipes from direct sunlight on hot days; keep the interior of your home at a reasonable temperature during heat waves. Try to take note of any new dripping sounds (the pipes can burst suddenly, of course, but they are just as likely to crack a bit first instead and let out a small leak). If you live in a single-family home, watch the water pressure and call in a plumber if it seems to be a bit low.
Low Community Water Pressure
Speaking of low water pressure, if you live in a multi-family dwelling, like an apartment complex or apartment-style condo, the hot weather could very well lead to low water pressure without any leaks in sight. When it's hotter, people often jump in the shower for a very quick rinse-off in cold water to try to cool down. That extra usage, plus the extra usage from visiting family on summer vacations, and the extra usage from people trying to rinse out more pop-ice cups, for example, can put a strain on the plumbing. More water being diverted to other units means less on its way to you. There's not much you can do about this except be happy that, while it's annoying, it's not a major structural problem.
Cracked Ground and Cracked Pipes
Pipes that run underground to pools or in from the city water pipes under the street can suffer if the hot weather has parched and cracked the soil in your yard. As the soil compacts from drought and heat, it can compress the pipes, causing cracks and leaks. Be on the lookout for sudden wet patches in the yard or for areas where the grass seems to be doing suspisciously better than the grass in other areas of the lawn.
If you start having issues with plumbing during hot weather, call plumbing contractors at a company like A-Team Plumbing and have them check out all of the pipes. If there are any cracks, you want those fixed quickly, and the contractors will get to work.