Nearly everybody has got their unique opinion with regards to How to Prevent Frozen Pipes.
All home owners who live in temperate climates must do their best to winterize their pipelines. Failing to do so can spell disaster like icy, broken, or ruptured pipelines.
Turn On the Faucets
When the temperature level drops as well as it seems as if the frigid temperature level will last, it will aid to activate your water both indoors as well as outdoors. This will certainly keep the water streaming with your plumbing systems. On top of that, the activity will reduce the freezing process. Significantly, there's no demand to turn it on full force. You'll wind up wasting gallons of water by doing this. Rather, go for about 5 drops per min.
Open Cupboard Doors Hiding Plumbing
When it's cold outside, it would be handy to open up closet doors that are camouflaging your pipelines. They might be someplace in your kitchen area or restroom. This will certainly permit the warm air from your heater to circulate there. Because of this, you stop these exposed pipelines from cold. Doing this little trick can maintain your pipes cozy and limit the potentially dangerous end results of freezing temperatures.
Take Time to Wrap Exposed Water Lines
One nifty and simple hack to heat up cold pipelines is to wrap them with cozy towels. You can cover them first with towels. After securing them in position, you can put boiling water on the towels. Do it slowly to let the towels take in the liquid. You can also utilize pre-soaked towels in hot water, just do not neglect to put on protective gloves to secure your hands from the warm.
Attempt a Hair Dryer or Warmth Gun
When your pipes are almost freezing, your dependable hair dryer or heat gun is a godsend. If the hot towels do not aid displace any working out ice in your pipelines, bowling hot air straight right into them might assist. You might end up damaging your pipes while trying to melt the ice.
Shut Off Water When Pipelines are Frozen
If you observe that your pipes are totally frozen or practically nearing that stage, transform off the primary water shutoff immediately. You will normally discover this in your basement or utility room near the heater or the front wall surface closest to the street. Turn it off right now to stop additional damage.
Don't neglect to close outside water sources, too, such as your hookup for the garden house. Doing this will protect against extra water from filling out your plumbing system. Sadly, with even more water, more ice will certainly accumulate, which will ultimately bring about rupture pipes. It is best to call a professional plumber for an examination if you are unsure about the state of your pipes this wintertime. Taking this positive strategy can save you countless dollars out of commission.
All property owners that live in temperate environments should do their finest to winterize their pipelines. Failure to do so can mean disaster like icy, broken, or ruptured pipes. If the warm towels do not assist displace any type of clearing up ice in your pipes, bowling warm air straight right into them might help. Transform off the primary water valve right away if you discover that your pipes are entirely frozen or almost nearing that stage. With more water, more ice will load up, which will at some point lead to burst 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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