Guidance on Winterize Your Plumbing: Five Hacks to Prevent Bursting Pipes in Frigid Temperatures
Guidance on Winterize Your Plumbing: Five Hacks to Prevent Bursting Pipes in Frigid Temperatures
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Each person seems to have their own unique idea involving Prevent Freezing and Bursting Pipes.
All homeowners that live in temperate environments must do their ideal to winterize their pipes. Failing to do so can spell catastrophe like frozen, split, or burst pipes.
Switch on the Faucets
When the temperature level drops as well as it appears as if the cold temperature will last, it will certainly aid to transform on your water both indoors as well as outdoors. This will certainly maintain the water moving through your plumbing systems. You'll end up losing gallons of water this means.
Open Up Cabinet Doors Hiding Plumbing
When it's cool outside, it would be valuable to open closet doors that are concealing your pipes. Doing this small method can maintain your pipes warm and also limit the possibly hazardous end results of freezing temperature levels.
Take Some Time to Cover Exposed Pipeline
One cool as well as simple hack to heat up icy pipes is to wrap them with warm towels. You can also make use of pre-soaked towels in warm water, just don't neglect to put on protective handwear covers to secure your hands from the heat.
Attempt a Hair Clothes Dryer or Heat Weapon
When your pipelines are almost freezing, your dependable hair clothes dryer or heat weapon is a godsend. If the hot towels do not aid displace any type of working out ice in your pipes, bowling hot air straight into them might help. However, do not make use of other objects that create straight flames like an impact torch. This can cause a bigger calamity that you can not control. You might end up harmful your pipes while trying to thaw the ice. And over time, you might even end up shedding your residence. So be cautious!
When Pipelines are Frozen, close Off Water
If you notice that your pipes are totally icy or virtually nearing that stage, transform off the major water shutoff instantly. You will normally locate this in your cellar or laundry room near the heating unit or the front wall closest to the street. Transform it off right away to prevent additional damage.
With more water, even more ice will certainly stack up, which will ultimately lead to burst pipelines. If you are unclear concerning the state of your pipelines this wintertime, it is best to call an expert plumber for an evaluation.
All property owners who live in temperate environments have to do their ideal to winterize their pipelines. Failure to do so can spell disaster like icy, split, or burst pipes. If the warm towels do not assist dislodge any type of working out ice in your pipelines, bowling warm air directly into them might assist. Transform off the major water shutoff right away if you discover that your pipelines are totally frozen or virtually nearing that stage. With more water, even more ice will load up, which will ultimately lead to break pipelines.
Planning Ahead for Winter Plumbing!
Given how the weather has been recently here in Kansas City, it may not seem like it, but the truth is winter is quickly approaching. As we near the end of September, it is never a bad idea to start considering which areas of your home could use some preventative maintenance heading into the colder months, as well as what you should remember to do once the colder temps settle in. And considering your plumbing system can certainly be impacted by changing weather conditions, guess what we’ll be talking about today?
For those that are visiting our blog for the very first time, welcome to Stine-Nichols Plumbing. Here on the blog, we post weekly about various aspects of the plumbing world. Whether that be DIY tips, brand highlights or anything else, they’re all designed to make homeowners more knowledgeable about their plumbing systems. Believe it or not, even just some general knowledge about one’s plumbing can go a long way in preventing unneeded repairs and keeping everything running smoothly. As referenced in the previous paragraph, this week’s blog will walk through a few of the steps you can do to your own plumbing system to ensure you’re ready to go for the upcoming winter weather and tips for keeping it all in working order as the winter carries on. Let’s hop right in!
Disconnect Hoses
You’ve likely heard this one on multiple occasions, but it is certainly something worth mentioning. Make sure to disconnect any and all outdoor hoses and then turn off those outdoor faucets at the shut-off. The logic behind this is probably something you would have learned in a grade school science class. When water freezes, it expands. Thus, due to this, it’s going to occupy more space. And if there’s no space to occupy, trouble ensues. It’s as simple as that!
Long story short, if you have room to store them indoors, do so. If not, just be sure to completely drain them and then store them in a dry area, such as the garage or a shed. Failure to disconnect the hoses can easily result in frozen/bursting pipes and plumbing headaches for you, especially if there is still water sitting in the hose! Do yourself a favor and disconnect your hoses once you know you won’t be using them anymore for that season. It’s a quick-and-easy step that’s always worth the time.
Headed Out of Town?
Our next point will likely get more and more relevant as we get into the holiday season. Do you remember the extreme arctic blast that hit the Kansas City area in February of 2021? Sub-zero temps, frigid wind chills, it was definitely not the funnest of times for KC residents. Nonetheless, here at Stine-Nichols Plumbing, it’s safe to say our technicians were quite busy dealing with frozen/bursting pipes. What I’m hinting at here is that you never know when we’ll experience extremely cold temperatures. So if you’re going to be out of town for a little bit, it’s never a bad idea to turn off your water at the main shut-off valve. While this won’t prevent every possible plumbing issue, it will at least limit the damage if something bad were to occur. Especially if you don’t have a family member or friend that’ll be checking on your home while you’re away, make sure to keep this tip in mind!
By the way, it may sound like a no-brainer to most, but if you are headed out of town, make sure to also keep the heat on inside while away. You will have some added energy costs from heating a home while nobody’s there, but if it prevents you from dealing with a plumbing emergency, it’s well worth it!
Leave Cabinet Doors Open
As you may start to notice, the primary winter plumbing problem that you need to be mindful of involves pipes freezing. Whether it be indoors or outdoors, they can freeze for a few different reasons, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of various tactics you can implement to improve your odds of keeping everything in working order. Yet another one of these that you’ve likely heard before is leaving the cabinet doors under your bathroom or kitchen sink open. Will this provide complete protection? Not necessarily. However, this is an easy way to make sure some of the heat in your home is reaching those pipes that aren’t insulated under your sinks.
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