The Main Components in Your Home Plumbing System

Have you ever thought about how the plumbing in your home actually works, such as how water moves in and out? It’s good to have a basic idea of your plumbing setup, especially if you need to call for plumbing services in Kingston. That will help you understand what’s going wrong, and potentially help the plumber know where to start looking.

So, let’s talk about how typical home plumbing systems are built.

An Overview of Your Home Plumbing System

To begin, it’s best to see your home plumbing as being two separate systems: one for bringing clean water into your home, and another for taking dirty water away from it. These systems do not directly connect, except via fixtures and appliances where you use water – such as clean water coming from your faucet, and dirty water draining out.

1. Incoming Water

Water entering your home comes in through a single large pipe, called the main water supply line or, more often, just the “water main.” This water is under pressure from the source so that it can circulate freely around your house.

The source is typically from a local municipal water treatment plant, although it could potentially also come from a private well or other natural sources.

One of the first stops of this incoming water flow is your water heater, typically in the basement. The water flow splits, so that some is diverted into the heater, while the rest of the water remains “cold” and ready for easy access. If you have a water softening system, or other in-home water treatment, incoming water is passed through it at this point as well. From here, the pipes in your home are split in two, with one set of lines carrying cold water and the other carrying hot.

If you use a tankless water heater, the setup is a bit different, as tankless heaters just pull from the cold water as needed. Either way, at this point the water is ready to use!

2. Outgoing Water

The wastewater system in your home is relatively simple. A separate set of pipes connecting to all your various water-using fixtures and appliances funnels all the wastewater into a single large pipe, which then sends the wastewater away from your home.

However, many people don’t know there’s a second set of pipes for gas venting. Wastewater, especially material coming from the toilet, generates gases that are unpleasant, or even dangerous. So, there are smaller pipes coming off of the wastewater pipes which lead upwards to your attic or roof. These open into small vents which release the waste gas harmlessly into the outside air.

Those are the basics of how your plumbing system works – and if you ever have problems with any of it, Toshack is here to help! We have ninety years of experience serving Brockville, Kingston, and the surrounding areas. Generations of local families have relied on us for plumbing services, and we’re here for you as well.

Contact us to schedule a service appointment.