Intelligent Strategies to Preserve Your Pipes in Cold Weather
Intelligent Strategies to Preserve Your Pipes in Cold Weather
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What are your thoughts on Winterizing Your Pipes?
All homeowners who live in temperate environments have to do their ideal to winterize their pipes. Failure to do so can lead to disaster like icy, broken, or ruptured pipelines.
Turn On the Faucets
When the temperature level decreases and also it seems as if the icy temperature will last, it will assist to switch on your water both inside and outdoors. This will certainly maintain the water streaming via your plumbing systems. On top of that, the activity will slow down the freezing procedure. Significantly, there's no need to transform it on full blast. You'll end up throwing away gallons of water in this manner. Rather, go for concerning 5 drops per minute.
Open Up Cupboard Doors Hiding Plumbing
It would be helpful to open cabinet doors that are masking your pipes when it's chilly outside. For instance, they could be somewhere in your kitchen or bathroom. This will certainly enable the warm air from your heater to circulate there. As a result, you stop these exposed pipes from freezing. Doing this tiny method can maintain your pipes cozy and also limit the possibly harmful results of freezing temperatures.
Require Time to Wrap Exposed Water Lines
One simple and also clever hack to heat up frigid pipelines is to wrap them with warm towels. You can additionally use pre-soaked towels in warm water, just don't neglect to put on protective handwear covers to secure your hands from the heat.
Attempt a Hair Clothes Dryer or Warmth Weapon
When your pipelines are practically freezing, your dependable hair clothes dryer or warm gun is a blessing. Bowling hot air directly right into them might assist if the hot towels do not help dislodge any type of clearing up ice in your pipes. However, do not make use of various other items that produce straight flames like a strike lantern. This can cause a larger calamity that you can not manage. You may wind up destructive your pipes while attempting to thaw the ice. As well as in the long run, you might also wind up melting your residence. Be careful!
Turn off Water When Pipes are Frozen
If you discover that your pipes are entirely frozen or nearly nearing that phase, transform off the main water valve instantly. You will typically find this in your basement or utility room near the heater or the front wall closest to the street. Transform it off right now to avoid additional damage.
Don't forget to close exterior water resources, as well, such as your hookup for the garden residence. Doing this will certainly avoid additional water from filling up your plumbing system. With even more water, more ice will load up, which will ultimately lead to break pipes. It is best to call a professional plumber for an inspection if you are unclear about the state of your pipelines this winter season. Taking this aggressive method can conserve you hundreds of bucks in repairs.
All property owners who live in temperate climates must do their ideal to winterize their pipelines. Failure to do so can spell disaster like icy, split, or burst pipes. If the hot towels do not assist dislodge any kind of settling ice in your pipelines, bowling hot air directly right into them might help. Turn off the major water valve quickly if you discover that your pipelines are entirely icy or almost nearing that phase. With even more water, more ice will load up, which will at some point 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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