Your house spent five months in 90°F heat with nobody watching it. Here's what a licensed plumber checks first — and why the problems that develop over a Florida summer can cost far more to fix later than to catch now.
Southwest Florida gets roughly 350,000 seasonal residents — snowbirds who arrive around October and head north again in April. That means their homes sit vacant through the heart of hurricane season, baking in summer humidity. In that window, a lot can go wrong with a plumbing system that nobody is watching.
We've been doing pre-season inspections for snowbird clients for years. The pattern is consistent: the homeowners who walk through this checklist on arrival save hundreds, sometimes thousands, of dollars compared to the ones who just turn the faucets on and hope for the best. Here's exactly what to look at.
It's not just the heat. Southwest Florida's combination of factors creates a uniquely punishing environment for an unoccupied home:
Before you do anything else, turn on every faucet — kitchen, bathrooms, laundry room, outdoor hose bibs — and let them run for 2–3 minutes each. This flushes out stagnant water that has been sitting in the lines since you left in April or May.
Water that sits in copper pipes for months can develop a biofilm and absorb elevated copper concentrations from the pipe walls. Running it out is simple and the single most important thing you can do on arrival day.
Your water heater is one of the first things to degrade after a summer of disuse. Southwest Florida's hard water leaves significant sediment in tank-style heaters, and that sediment layer makes the heating element or burner work harder — shortening the unit's life and raising your energy bill.
What to check:
If your water heater is 8–10+ years old and you're hearing popping sounds, it's worth scheduling a flush and inspection. In Florida's hard water conditions, tank sediment builds faster than in northern climates.
Get a flashlight and actually look. Slow drips from supply lines or drain connections that would normally evaporate quickly in winter can pool and cause significant mold or cabinet rot in Florida's humid summer — even with the AC running.
Look for:
Toilet flappers are made of rubber — and rubber degrades quickly in Florida's heat. A flapper that sits in warm water all summer may be warped or cracked by the time you get back. You won't notice it because a running toilet sounds the same whether it's working or leaking.
The dye test: Drop a few drops of food coloring into the tank. Wait 15 minutes without flushing. If color appears in the bowl, the flapper is leaking. A leaking flapper can waste 200 gallons per day — that's money leaving your account silently for months.
Also check that the fill valve shuts off cleanly after flushing. If you hear a hissing sound after the tank fills, the fill valve seat is worn and needs replacement.
This isn't strictly a plumbing item, but we see it cause water damage constantly and it's directly connected to your drain lines. Florida's summer humidity means your air conditioner pulls significant moisture out of the air all day, every day. That condensate drains through a PVC line to the exterior.
Over summer, algae and biofilm build up in that drain line. If it's blocked when you turn the AC on, the drip pan overflows — directly over the air handler, which is usually in a closet or attic. By the time you notice wet ceiling or flooring, there's already mold inside the walls.
Simple fix before you leave each spring: pour a cup of white vinegar or a condensate drain tablet into the access port near the air handler. When you return, flush the line with water to confirm it's clear before you crank the AC.
This is the master check for anything you might have missed. Go to your water meter, note the reading, and turn off all water use in the house for one hour. When you come back, the meter needle should not have moved at all.
If the meter moved, you have a leak somewhere — possibly in the walls, under the slab, or in an irrigation line. Don't ignore it. A half-gallon-per-hour leak seems small but adds up to 360 gallons per day, and in Florida's soil conditions, a hidden supply leak can undermine a foundation over time.
Irrigation systems are often the biggest source of wasted water on a vacant snowbird property. A broken sprinkler head can spray 5–10 gallons per minute — and if it's running three days a week all summer, the math adds up to a significant water bill that you won't see until you arrive.
Pro tip: before you leave each spring, photograph your irrigation timer settings. Contractors, landscapers, and power outages all reset timers. Coming back to an irrigation system running every day for 45 minutes instead of every 3 days for 15 minutes is an easy mistake to miss.
Quarter-turn ball valves under sinks and at toilets can seize if they sit in one position for months. If you ever have an emergency — a supply line bursts, a toilet overflows — you need to be able to close those valves immediately.
Turn each valve off and then back on. If a valve is stiff, don't force it — forcing a corroded valve can break it in the open position, which is the worst case scenario. Call a plumber to replace seized valves before they become an emergency.
Rubber washing machine hoses are one of the top causes of major water damage in Florida homes. They degrade faster in heat, and a hose that bursts while you're at dinner can dump 600+ gallons per hour onto your floor.
Check for bulging, cracking, or corrosion at the fittings. If your hoses are the braided stainless variety, they're much more reliable — but still check the fittings. Standard rubber hoses older than 5 years should be replaced proactively. Braided stainless is worth the $20–30 upgrade.
Southwest Florida homes are built on concrete slabs, and supply lines often run through or under the slab. When those pipes develop pinhole leaks — from Florida's corrosive water chemistry or the thermal cycling of a hot summer — the signs aren't always obvious.
Walk your floors and look for:
Slab leaks are more common in older copper pipe homes (pre-2000) in Florida's coastal counties. If your home is in Sarasota, Naples, Fort Myers, or coastal Lee/Collier County and has original copper plumbing, this is a real risk worth taking seriously.
The best snowbird plumbing strategy is to make the return inspection easier by preparing the house before you go. Here's what makes the biggest difference:
Most of this checklist is visual inspection — you don't need a plumber for that. But here's where to draw the line:
We see it every fall: snowbirds who ignored something small in October are dealing with a mold remediation job by December. The inspection takes an afternoon. The remediation takes weeks.
We offer pre-season plumbing inspections for snowbird homeowners across Sarasota, Bradenton, Venice, Fort Myers, Naples, and surrounding areas. We'll check everything on this list and give you a straight answer on what needs attention — no pressure, no upsell.
Licensed CFC1434209 · Serving SW Florida since 1999