Plumbing maintenance and inspection in northern Utah

A plumbing inspection looks at the parts of a plumbing system that wear out, leak, or fail without warning. Every building is different, but an inspection generally covers:

• The water heater. Its age, rust or water at the base, sediment, and the safety parts on the tank.
• Shut-off valves. The main water valve and the valve at each fixture, to see that they turn and close.
• Supply lines. The hoses and tubes that feed toilets, faucets, the washing machine, and the dishwasher.
• Drains and traps. The drain pipe you can see under sinks, and how quickly each fixture drains.
• Water pressure. A gauge reading, and the pressure reducing valve if the house has one.
• Toilets and faucets. Fixtures that run, drip, or rock.
• The sump pump. Whether it starts, pumps, and shuts off.
• Outdoor faucets. Drips, and damage from freezing.

Tell us what you want checked. If you have one worry, like an old water heater or a house you are about to buy, we start there.

There is no set rule for how often plumbing should be inspected. Once a year is a common rule of thumb, because many water heater manuals call for service about that often. Some things call for a look sooner:

• An older house. The Census Bureau's 2020–2024 estimates put the median year built for homes in Salt Lake County at 1986 (source) and in Weber County at 1984 (source). A house that age may still have its first shut-off valves and drain pipes.
• Hard water. Sediment and scale build up faster, so the water heater needs attention more often.
• Buying a house. Have the plumbing looked at before you close.
• A long vacancy. Traps dry out and valves stick when a house sits empty.
• A change you notice. A higher water bill, lower pressure, rusty water, or slow drains.

Spring and fall are good times for it: spring for the sump pump and the outdoor faucets, fall before the first freeze.

With hard water, the plumbing maintenance that matters most is on the water heater. Provo's 2025 Water Report lists typical hardness of 10–15 grains per gallon (source). Park City's quarterly tests ran from 9 to 24 grains per gallon, or 161 to 415 mg/L, from the third quarter of 2025 through the second quarter of 2026 (source). The U.S. Geological Survey classifies water with more than 180 mg/L as very hard (source).

The minerals settle out where water is heated and where it dries. Maintenance deals with both:

• Tank water heater. Flushing the sediment off the bottom of the tank, and checking the anode rod that protects the tank from rust.
• Tankless water heater. Descaling the heat exchanger.
• Faucets and showerheads. Cleaning scale out of the aerators and showerheads when the flow drops.
• Toilets. Replacing fill valves and flappers that scale keeps from sealing.
• Water softener. Checking that it has salt and still regenerates, if the house has one.

High water pressure and thermal expansion wear plumbing out early. Hoses, faucets, toilet fill valves, and the water heater take the strain. The first sign is often a drip or a banging pipe.

Provo's 2025 Water Report says household water pressure should stay below 75 PSI (source). Saratoga Springs says its pressure can vary from 40 to 150 psi depending on where you live, and that pressure reducing valves generally last 10-15 years (source). Eagle Mountain says its hard water can impact the lifespan of these valves, so regular checks are necessary (source).

Thermal expansion is the pressure that builds when a water heater heats water that cannot push back toward the street. Lehi City links a brochure that says to check that an expansion tank and a relief valve are in place (source).

A plumber reads the pressure with a gauge, then checks the pressure reducing valve and the expansion tank. Leave the relief valve to a licensed plumber.

Scheduled plumbing maintenance for a business, an apartment building, or an HOA means planned visits to the same buildings, so problems turn up on a walk-through and not on an emergency call. We set up ongoing service agreements and scheduled visits for businesses and property managers.

What gets checked depends on the property. Scheduled visits generally cover:

• Shared drains and sewer lines. The lines that have backed up before.
• Water heaters and boilers. Sediment, leaks, and the safety parts.
• Shut-off valves. Finding them, labeling them, and making sure they close, so a leak in one unit can be stopped.
• Restrooms and common areas. Running toilets, dripping faucets, and floor drains.
• Backflow assemblies. Utah's drinking water rule says they shall be inspected and tested at least once a year (source).

Tell us which buildings you have and what you want checked. Our commercial plumbing page covers the work we do for businesses. Call us to set up an agreement.

We give free estimates and do not post prices. These are the things that change the cost of a plumbing inspection or a maintenance visit:

• The size of the property. A house with one bathroom has less to check than a building with many units.
• What you want checked. A look at the water heater alone is a smaller job than the whole system.
• The equipment. A tankless water heater, a boiler, a water softener, or a sump pump each adds to the visit.
• The work done on the visit. Flushing a water heater or descaling a tankless one is work beyond looking.
• Access. Valves and pipes in a crawl space or behind finished walls are harder to reach.
• What turns up. A repair found during an inspection gets its own estimate.
• One visit or many. Scheduled visits to several buildings are a different job than a single inspection.

We tell you the cost before we start the work.

Between plumbing inspections, a homeowner can catch many problems early by looking and listening. Here is what to check:

• The main water valve. Learn where it is, and make sure it turns. Do not force one that is stuck.
• The water meter. The City of Orem says to close the building's shutoff valve and any sprinklers on the line. If the small red dial near the center of the meter keeps moving, water is leaking between the building and the meter (source).
• Under sinks and behind toilets. Look for drips, crust on the fittings, and bulging hoses.
• The water heater. Water or rust at the base means it is time to call.
• The sump pump. Pour water into the pit and watch the pump start, empty the pit, and stop. Do it before spring runoff. At the U.S. Geological Survey gauge on the Weber River near Plain City, the long-term average daily flow is highest in the second week of May (source). If the pump does not start, see sump pump repair.
• Garden hoses. Disconnect them in fall.