Smart Strategies to Protect Your Pipes in Cold Weather
Smart Strategies to Protect Your Pipes in Cold Weather
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What are your opinions regarding Prevent Freezing and Bursting Pipes?
All home owners who live in pleasant environments have to do their finest to winterize their pipes. Failing to do so can lead to calamity like frozen, cracked, or ruptured pipelines.
Activate the Faucets
When the temperature drops as well as it appears as if the icy temperature will last, it will certainly assist to turn on your water both inside and also outdoors. This will keep the water moving through your plumbing systems. On top of that, the motion will certainly reduce the freezing procedure. Especially, there's no demand to turn it on full blast. You'll end up losing gallons of water this way. Rather, aim for about 5 decreases per minute.
Open Up Cupboard Doors Hiding Plumbing
It would be practical to open up cabinet doors that are camouflaging your pipelines when it's cold outside. As an example, they could be someplace in your kitchen area or washroom. This will certainly enable the cozy air from your heater to flow there. Consequently, you stop these exposed pipelines from cold. Doing this tiny method can keep your pipes warm as well as limit the possibly dangerous results of freezing temperature levels.
Take Some Time to Wrap Exposed Pipeline
One very easy and also cool hack to warm up freezing pipelines is to wrap them with warm towels. You can additionally utilize pre-soaked towels in warm water, just don't forget to put on protective gloves to safeguard your hands from the heat.
Attempt a Hair Clothes Dryer or Warm Gun
When your pipelines are nearly freezing, your dependable hair dryer or warm gun is a blessing. If the warm towels do not help displace any resolving ice in your pipelines, bowling hot air straight right into them may assist. You might finish up harmful your pipelines while trying to melt the ice.
Shut down Water When Pipes are Frozen
If you see that your pipes are entirely frozen or nearly nearing that stage, transform off the primary water valve promptly. You will generally discover this in your cellar or utility room near the heating unit or the front wall surface closest to the street. Transform it off today to avoid additional damage.
Don't neglect to shut exterior water resources, also, such as your hookup for the garden house. Doing this will prevent additional water from filling your plumbing system. Regrettably, with more water, even more ice will accumulate, which will eventually result in break pipelines. If you are unsure concerning the state of your pipelines this winter season, it is best to call an expert plumber for an evaluation. Taking this positive technique can conserve you hundreds of dollars in repairs.
All homeowners that live in pleasant climates must do their finest to winterize their pipelines. Failure to do so can lead to calamity like icy, cracked, or burst pipelines. If the hot towels do not assist remove any clearing up ice in your pipelines, bowling hot air straight right into them might help. Transform off the main water valve promptly if you discover that your pipes are totally icy or nearly nearing that phase. With even more water, more ice will load up, which will at some point lead to rupture 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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