Mechanical Plumbing

All water based plumbing systems are mechanical.  Water can pass through many different components in a plumbing system.  Components vary but they may include piping, check valves, regulators, pumps, relief valves, or a multitude of other equipment.  All mechanical systems are slowly breaking down during their use, to where they will eventually stop functioning correctly or at all; therefore, these mechanical systems need to be maintained regularly.  Fire sprinkler systems have many code requirements regulating how to test and maintain them, but unfortunately domestic water systems are often neglected.  Many times, people do not realize that they have neglected maintaining these types of systems until they have encountered a real problem.

Many components on a water based system are there for safety reasons (like a relief valve on a hot water heater), or for efficiency (like a regulator to lower water pressure to conserve water usage).  All water based systems, including domestic water systems should be maintained regularly.  Valves should be exercised, relief valves and regulators tested, and all other components of the system should be tested that enable water based systems to operate properly.  Properly maintaining and inspecting your water based system is critical, not only to check the components of the system, but also to inspect the integrity of the installation itself.   You can have the best quality materials available during the time of installation, but that does not mean that you may have had a quality installation (it would depend on how careful the original installer was).  The process used during the installation is critical to ensure a correctly functioning system.  Quality materials and sound installation practices are both needed to end up with a solid water based plumbing system.