Over the long history of indoor plumbing, many different materials have been put to use for constructing pipes. During much of the 20th century, metals such as galvanized steel (steel coated with zinc to prevent corrosion) and cast iron where the most common residential piping materials. Cast iron went out of favor after World War II, and starting in the 1970s galvanized steel was replaced with copper, a lighter metal with better corrosion resistance. Plastic pipes such as PVC and PEX also became popular for plumbing systems.
Modern homes today use plastic and copper piping almost exclusively. But if your house is one of the many in the Des Moines Metro Area that was built earlier than the 1980s, it may have some amount of piping, fixtures, elbows, and joints made from outdated material. We recommend you arrange for repiping services to replace steel and iron plumbing pipes, which are in danger of corrosion and may even lead to toxicity in your fresh water.
We stress water heater maintenance every year, the same way that we stress maintenance for a furnace or boiler. Without routine inspections and tune-ups, a storage tank water heater is in danger of developing problems such as corrosion due to a rusted out sacrificial anode rod. Maintenance will catch troubles with leaks and high water pressure and ensure the best efficient use of energy.
There was a time when garbage disposals were new devices and only a few homes had them installed into their kitchen sinks. Today, it’s difficult to imagine daily life in the kitchen without a garbage disposal. A disposal makes it easier to get rid of food waste and clean up after cooking, and it helps to keep a large amount of organic waste out of landfills.
It’s a warm day, and your air conditioner starts working to cool down your home, either because you changed the settings on the thermostat or because the thermostat’s programming has automatically turned on the AC. The compressor kicks on, making a familiar hum. And then, the compressor stops—earlier than you expect it to. Then it starts again. And stops soon after. This continues until you start to wonder if something is wrong. 
A burst pipe is one of the worst 
We’re starting to enjoy warmer weather in the Des Moines area, with pleasant 70°F weather. It’s a time when you won’t need your heating system, but you probably won’t need to lean much on your air conditioning system either. (We recommend only turning on the AC when temperatures rise above 78°F. Simply running the blower fan of your HVAC system can handle keeping you cool if you have the windows open.)
Spring means warmer weather is on the way, and this is when homeowners start making plans for the middle of the year. We recommend you schedule your air conditioning maintenance now so your cooling system will be in peak shape for when the first heat wave arrives.
