Summer Storm Plumbing: Protecting Your Palm Beach County Home

Between June and November, Palm Beach County homes take a beating from heavy rain, storm surge, and the occasional named system. Plumbing is one of the first things to go wrong — and one of the easiest things to prepare. ## Before the storm - **Clear your main cleanout.** Make sure the cap is accessible. If the city sewer backs up, you want a quick relief point outside the house, not inside. - **Check your sump pump and battery backup.** Power goes out before the rain even peaks — a backup battery is the difference between a dry slab and a flooded one. - **Inspect your water heater straps and gas shutoff.** Know where the shutoff is and how to use it. - **Hose off your AC condensate drain.** A clogged condensate line and a flooded yard at the same time is how ceilings come down. ## During and after - **Avoid running the dishwasher or washing machine during a city-wide outage** — the municipal sewer can be over capacity, and a backup will surface at the lowest fixture in your home. - **If you smell sewer gas, call us.** Storm surge can push gases up through dry traps. - **Watch for slow drains in the days after.** Debris from yard flooding routinely ends up in lateral lines and shows up as a slow tub a week later. If you are in Lake Worth, Lantana, Hypoluxo, Boynton, or West Palm Beach and want a quick pre-season plumbing check, give us a call. Half an hour now is cheaper than a flooded living room in August.