Prevent the Freeze: 5 Essential Hacks to Keep Your Pipes From Bursting This Winter
Prevent the Freeze: 5 Essential Hacks to Keep Your Pipes From Bursting This Winter
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How do you really feel in regards to How to Prevent Frozen Pipes?
All home owners that live in warm environments must do their finest to winterize their pipelines. It is something you must do during fall before deep winter truly begins. Failure to do so can lead to catastrophe like icy, split, or burst pipes. Right here are some handy winterizing hacks to keep your plumbing system shielded even if the weather exterior is shocking.
Activate the Faucets
When the temperature decreases and also it appears as if the freezing temperature will certainly last, it will certainly assist to turn on your water both inside as well as outdoors. This will certainly keep the water flowing through your plumbing systems. You'll finish up squandering gallons of water this way.
Open Up Closet Doors Hiding Plumbing
When it's chilly outside, it would be handy to open up cupboard doors that are camouflaging your pipelines. Doing this little trick can keep your pipes warm and also restrict the potentially hazardous outcomes of freezing temperature levels.
Take Time to Cover Exposed Pipes
One simple and great hack to heat up frigid pipes is to cover them with warm towels. You can cover them first with towels. After safeguarding them in position, you can put boiling water on the towels. Do it gradually to allow the towels take in the liquid. You can also make use of pre-soaked towels in hot water, just do not forget to use safety handwear covers to guard your hands from the warmth.
Attempt a Hair Clothes Dryer or Warm Gun
When your pipelines are practically freezing, your reliable hair dryer or heat weapon is a godsend. If the warm towels do not help dislodge any type of working out ice in your pipes, bowling hot air directly into them might assist. Do not utilize various other things that create straight fires like a strike lantern. This can lead to a larger catastrophe that you can not regulate. You might wind up damaging your pipes while attempting to thaw the ice. As well as over time, you may even end up burning your home. So beware!
Shut Off Water When Pipelines are Frozen
Shut off the major water valve immediately if you notice that your pipelines are completely frozen or almost nearing that phase. You will generally locate this in your basement or laundry room near the heater or the front wall closest to the street. Turn it off immediately to stop additional damages.
With even more water, more ice will certainly pile up, which will ultimately lead to burst pipelines. If you are unsure regarding the state of your pipelines this winter months, it is best to call a specialist plumber for an examination.
All house owners that live in temperate climates have to do their best to winterize their pipelines. Failing to do so can lead to calamity like icy, split, or ruptured pipelines. If the warm towels do not help dislodge any type of settling ice in your pipes, bowling hot air directly into them may help. Turn off the primary water valve instantly if you notice that your pipes are completely frozen or almost nearing that stage. With more water, more ice will stack up, which will eventually lead to burst pipes.
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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