What is a plumbing inspection checklist?
Plumbing problems can hit like a bolt out of the blue, and in the worst cases, may even be downright catastrophic. In the case of septic and sewage systems, failures and leaks can pose a major health risk.
The following plumbing inspection checklists are designed to keep that from happening. It will give plumbers, maintenance managers, and other safety professionals an effective digital tool to ensure that nothing is missed in the inspection of a home plumbing system.
This Article briefly explains:
1. Benefits of using a home plumbing inspection checklist
2. Essential components of a residential plumbing inspection
3. A digital tool for your plumbing inspection checklist
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Some of the benefits of using a home plumbing inspection checklist
Our systematic checklists will allow anybody using it to make sure all plumbing installations and fixtures are as specified by the applicable building codes. Using our meticulous home plumbing inspection checklist or commissioning template will help you find potential problems faster and before they result in irreparable damage.
Regular maintenance of any plumbing system is also crucial to keep the system running efficiently. Using a plumbing inspection checklist will ensure that the plumbing system is compliant with standards for functionality and design. This can save hundreds of work hours and countless dollars down the line!
Our thorough residential plumbing inspection checklist covers all the vital components of the plumbing system, which includes:
- Piping
- Valves
- Water tanks
- Water heaters
- Geysers, and
- Drains
These critical components are all listed so you can pinpoint any problem areas like incorrect installation and materials, weaknesses, leaks, drainage issues, wear-and-tear, and corrosion.
Essential components of a residential plumbing inspection
The following home plumbing inspection checklist deals with all areas where there is likely to be plumbing. Usually, this will be in the kitchen and bathrooms. Still, it will also apply to other areas like outside taps, basements, garages, laundries, utility rooms, workshops, rooftops, gutters, garden drainage, and downpipes, etc.
These are the essential steps and points that you should have on your plumbing inspection checklist:
1. Shut off the main water supply
- Check whether the main water shutoff valve and all shutoff valves are accessible and in good working order.
- Check all water feeds for leaks, defects, or damage.
- Check if the meter is still reading when the main shutoff valve is closed. If so, either the meter is faulty, or there is a leak in the system.
2. Have a good look at all the piping and its installation
- Has the correct piping been used as specified in the applicable code?
- Is the piping free from any cracks, visible brittleness, other defects, or leaks?
- Ensure that all pipes are properly fitted, insulated, and at the correct slope.
- If you can, make sure any trenching and bedding has been done using the correct materials.
- Make sure that a properly caulked sleeve protects any pipes passing through footings to protect the pipe.
- Ensure pipe supports are of an approved type that won’t cause galvanic action and are correctly spaced.
- Check that backflow preventers are installed on the main feed and in other locations as required.
- Finally, has the pipe work been labeled correctly?
3. Ensure that the plumbing system is watertight
Check that all joints have been correctly sealed and are watertight by filling the entire drainage system with water to the middle of the waste overflow of every bath, basin, and sink.
4. Conduct a water pressure test
Check whether the water pressure passing through the water pipelines is correct and whether the water flows well even at minimum or low pressure. Make sure all taps have the correct and adequate water pressure.
5. Conduct a thorough check of sewer and drainage lines
- Check all sewer lines and drainage systems from the property to septic tanks and the curb connection.
- Is the waste outlet correctly located and capped?
- Ensure there are no clogs, damage, or corrosion in the drainage system.
- Do all drains clear quickly with no water standing water build-up?
- Do all open drains have an air gap that is twice the diameter of the drain?
6. Examine the entire plumbing system in terms of supply lines, fixtures, and drains
- Are all fixtures correctly installed and supported, and spaced following accessibility standards?
- Have all fixtures been provided with separate valves to control the water supply to them?
- Are there any signs of water damage on internal or external walls, floors, ceilings, or cupboards?
- Are all taps working well with no drips or leaks, and can they be closed easily using normal force?
- Are all toilets, basins, and baths (where applicable) caulked adequately on the floor? Do the toilets flush and drain properly? Do baths, sinks, and basins drain properly?
- Have all open drains been supplied with an air gap that is twice the diameter of the actual drain line?
- Are all geysers and water heaters supplied with draining pans that are piped to an open drain site?
- Are all geysers and water heaters supplied with an expansion tank, or, in the case of bottom-fed water heaters, with an anti-siphon device?
- Are water heaters unobstructed and accessible to inspection?
- Ensure that the hot water temperature does not exceed 140º F or 60°C.
- Ensure that the water discharged from dishwashers and other appliances doesn’t exceed 140º F or 60°C.
- Make sure backflow devices have been installed where necessary, i.e., at coffee machines, etc.
- Do all guttering and downpipes meet specifications?
7. Check plumbing fixtures and fittings
Finally, a systematic check of faucets, sink drains, garbage disposals, dishwasher and washing machine connections, icemakers, vent pipes, sump pumps, outdoor fixtures, irrigation systems, and shutoff valves should be performed.
Remember that some residential properties may have their own specific requirements which should be added to this list. For instance, a residential plumbing inspection checklist should also extend to solar water heaters, swimming pool pumps (especially in the case of indoor pools), hot tubs, Jacuzzis, large scale water features and fountains, etc.
A digital tool for your plumbing inspection checklist
Organizing and managing paper-based plumbing inspection checklists and reports is tedious, consuming a lot of energy and time. Dealing with pen and paper can cause delays because documents get lost, photo evidence can't be captured, or water damage occurs. A digital and mobile inspection app like Lumiform prevents these difficulties. The powerful tool makes it easy to perform plumbing inspections because you can:
- Download ready-made digital checklists for plumbing inspections from Lumiform's template library or create your own templates using the form builder.
- Perform plumbing inspections from your mobile device via App, anytime, anywhere, even when you're offline. All inspections are automatically synced to the cloud as soon as you're connected to the Internet.
- Take unlimited photos, annotate the defects you find, and add detailed notes to clarify the damage to the plumbing system.
- Assign remedies from the app to fix the found incidents immediately. You can set the time, date and priority level for prioritizing the tasks.
- Generate automatic plumbing reports after your plumbing inspection is complete with just one click. Share and access data within your organization, securely stored in a cloud.
