5 Winter Hacks to Safeguard Your Pipes from Frigid Weather Bursts
5 Winter Hacks to Safeguard Your Pipes from Frigid Weather Bursts
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Are you on the lookout for information concerning How to Prevent Frozen Pipes?
All home owners that reside in warm environments need to do their finest to winterize their pipelines. It is something you should do throughout fall prior to deep wintertime absolutely begins. Failing to do so can lead to calamity like frozen, broken, or burst pipelines. If the weather exterior is frightful, here are some handy winterizing hacks to keep your plumbing system shielded even.
Switch on the Faucets
When the temperature level drops as well as it appears as if the frigid temperature will last, it will certainly aid to turn on your water both inside and outdoors. This will certainly maintain the water flowing through your plumbing systems. You'll end up losing gallons of water this method.
Open Up Closet Doors Hiding Plumbing
When it's cool outside, it would certainly be handy to open up closet doors that are concealing your pipes. Doing this small method can keep your pipes cozy and limit the potentially dangerous end results of freezing temperatures.
Require Time to Cover Exposed Water Lines
One very easy as well as nifty hack to heat up cold pipes is to wrap them with warm towels. You can cover them first with towels. After protecting them in place, you can pour boiling water on the towels. Do it slowly to let the towels soak up the fluid. You can additionally utilize pre-soaked towels in hot water, just don't neglect to use protective gloves to guard your hands from the warm.
Attempt a Hair Dryer or Warmth Gun
When your pipelines are practically freezing, your dependable hair dryer or heat gun is a blessing. Bowling warm air directly into them may assist if the warm towels do not aid displace any working out ice in your pipes. Nevertheless, do not utilize other things that create direct flames like a blow torch. This can cause a larger calamity that you can not regulate. You may end up destructive your pipelines while trying to thaw the ice. And also over time, you may even end up shedding your home. So be careful!
Shut down Water When Pipelines are Frozen
If you notice that your pipes are totally frozen or virtually nearing that stage, transform off the major water shutoff immediately. You will usually find this in your basement or laundry room near the heating unit or the front wall surface closest to the street. Transform it off as soon as possible to stop additional damages.
Do not neglect to shut external water resources, too, such as your hookup for the garden home. Doing this will avoid extra water from filling up your plumbing system. With more water, more ice will pile up, which will at some point lead to break pipelines. It is best to call a specialist plumber for an assessment if you are unsure concerning the state of your pipes this winter. Taking this positive approach can conserve you thousands of bucks in repairs.
All property owners who live in pleasant climates should do their best to winterize their pipes. Failure to do so can mean catastrophe like frozen, cracked, or burst pipelines. If the warm towels do not help displace any type of working out ice in your pipes, bowling hot air straight right into them may aid. Turn off the major water shutoff right away if you notice that your pipes are entirely frozen or nearly nearing that stage. With even more water, more ice will stack up, which will eventually lead to break 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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