Tips to Protect Your Pipes From Bursting in Frigid Weather: Top 5 Winter Hacks
Tips to Protect Your Pipes From Bursting in Frigid Weather: Top 5 Winter Hacks
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All homeowners who live in temperate environments have to do their ideal to winterize their pipelines. Failure to do so can mean disaster like icy, cracked, or burst pipelines.
Turn On the Faucets
When the temperature level drops and also it appears as if the cold temperature will last, it will assist to turn on your water both inside your home and also outdoors. This will certainly maintain the water streaming through your plumbing systems. In addition, the movement will decrease the cold procedure. Notably, there's no demand to transform it on full force. You'll end up wasting gallons of water by doing this. Rather, go for about 5 declines per min.
Open Closet Doors Hiding Plumbing
It would certainly be useful to open up cupboard doors that are masking your pipelines when it's chilly outside. They could be somewhere in your kitchen or restroom. This will enable the warm air from your heater to circulate there. Because of this, you stop these exposed pipes from cold. Doing this small trick can keep your pipelines warm and also limit the possibly dangerous results of freezing temperatures.
Require Time to Cover Exposed Pipes
One simple as well as nifty hack to heat up icy pipes is to wrap them with warm towels. You can cover them first with towels. After safeguarding them in place, you can put boiling water on the towels. Do it slowly to let the towels take in the fluid. You can also make use of pre-soaked towels in hot water, simply do not neglect to wear protective gloves to safeguard your hands from the warmth.
Attempt a Hair Clothes Dryer or Warm Gun
When your pipes are almost freezing, your trusty hair dryer or heat gun is a godsend. If the hot towels do not assist remove any kind of resolving ice in your pipes, bowling hot air straight right into them may aid. Nevertheless, do not utilize various other objects that produce straight fires like a strike torch. This can cause a larger calamity that you can not manage. You might end up destructive your pipes while attempting to thaw the ice. And in the future, you may even wind up burning your residence. Be cautious!
Shut down Water When Pipes are Frozen
Shut off the main water shutoff immediately if you notice that your pipes are totally frozen or almost nearing that stage. You will generally discover this in your basement or utility room near the heating unit or the front wall surface closest to the street. Transform it off today to avoid more damage.
Don't neglect to shut external water resources, too, such as your hookup for the garden residence. Doing this will protect against extra water from filling your plumbing system. Regrettably, with even more water, even more ice will certainly accumulate, which will eventually result in burst pipes. If you are unsure about the state of your pipes this winter season, it is best to call a specialist plumber for an evaluation. Taking this positive technique can save you hundreds of bucks out of commission.
All house owners who live in temperate environments must do their best to winterize their pipelines. Failing to do so can lead to catastrophe like frozen, cracked, or burst pipes. If the hot towels do not assist remove any resolving ice in your pipes, bowling warm air straight into them may help. Turn off the major water shutoff quickly if you see that your pipelines are entirely frozen or virtually nearing that stage. With even more water, more ice will certainly pile up, which will eventually lead to rupture 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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