Helpful Winterizing Strategies to Prevent Your Pipes From Bursting in Cold Weather
Helpful Winterizing Strategies to Prevent Your Pipes From Bursting in Cold Weather
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What are your beliefs about Winterizing Your Pipes?
All property owners that live in warm climates need to do their best to winterize their pipes. Failure to do so can lead to catastrophe like frozen, split, or burst pipes.
Activate the Faucets
When the temperature level drops as well as it seems as if the frigid temperature will last, it will assist to transform on your water both inside as well as outdoors. This will maintain the water flowing with your plumbing systems. You'll finish up squandering gallons of water this way.
Open Cabinet Doors Hiding Plumbing
When it's chilly outside, it would be practical to open up closet doors that are concealing your pipes. Doing this little technique can keep your pipelines warm as well as limit the potentially unsafe results of freezing temperature levels.
Take Time to Wrap Exposed Pipes
One great as well as simple hack to warm up cold pipes is to cover them with cozy towels. You can likewise make use of pre-soaked towels in hot water, just do not fail to remember to put on protective handwear covers to secure your hands from the warm.
Attempt a Hair Clothes Dryer or Warmth Weapon
When your pipes are almost freezing, your dependable hair dryer or heat weapon is a blessing. Bowling hot air straight right into them may help if the hot towels do not assist displace any working out ice in your pipes. Do not make use of other objects that create straight flames like an impact torch. This can result in a larger disaster that you can not control. You may end up damaging your pipes while attempting to thaw the ice. As well as over time, you might even end up burning your house. So be careful!
Shut down Water When Pipelines are Frozen
Turn off the major water shutoff right away if you see that your pipelines are entirely frozen or almost nearing that phase. You will typically discover this in your basement or laundry room near the heating system or the front wall closest to the street. Transform it off right now to stop further damages.
Do not fail to remember to close exterior water sources, too, such as your hookup for the garden home. Doing this will stop added water from filling up your plumbing system. Unfortunately, with even more water, even more ice will certainly pile up, which will eventually lead to break pipelines. If you are uncertain regarding the state of your pipelines this wintertime, it is best to call a professional plumber for an evaluation. Taking this proactive technique can save you thousands of dollars in repairs.
All house owners that live in pleasant environments need to do their ideal to winterize their pipes. Failing to do so can mean catastrophe like frozen, broken, or ruptured pipes. If the warm towels do not assist remove any type of working out ice in your pipes, bowling warm air directly into them might aid. Turn off the main water shutoff right away if you observe that your pipelines are completely icy or virtually nearing that stage. With more water, more ice will certainly pile up, which will ultimately 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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