How to Protect Your Pipes From Bursting in Frigid Weather: Top 5 Winter Hacks
How to Protect Your Pipes From Bursting in Frigid Weather: Top 5 Winter Hacks
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All home owners that stay in warm climates need to do their best to winterize their pipelines. It is something you must do during fall before deep wintertime absolutely begins. Failure to do so can lead to calamity like icy, split, or ruptured pipelines. If the weather outside is frightful, right here are some helpful winterizing hacks to keep your plumbing system safeguarded even.
Activate the Faucets
When the temperature level declines as well as it seems as if the freezing temperature will certainly last, it will certainly aid to switch on your water both inside your home as well as outdoors. This will maintain the water moving through your plumbing systems. In addition, the activity will slow down the cold process. Especially, there's no requirement to transform it on full force. You'll end up losing gallons of water by doing this. Instead, aim for about 5 declines per min.
Open Cupboard Doors Hiding Plumbing
When it's cool outside, it would be practical to open up closet doors that are concealing your pipes. They could be someplace in your kitchen area or bathroom. This will certainly permit the cozy air from your heater to flow there. Because of this, you prevent these revealed pipes from cold. Doing this small method can keep your pipelines cozy and also restrict the potentially hazardous end results of freezing temperatures.
Take Time to Cover Exposed Pipes
One clever as well as easy hack to warm up frigid pipelines is to wrap them with cozy towels. You can likewise make use of pre-soaked towels in warm water, simply don't fail to remember to wear protective handwear covers to secure your hands from the heat.
Try a Hair Clothes Dryer or Warm Gun
When your pipelines are virtually freezing, your dependable hair dryer or warmth weapon is a blessing. If the hot towels do not help remove any kind of working out ice in your pipes, bowling hot air directly into them may assist. However, do not use other things that produce direct flames like a strike torch. This can cause a larger calamity that you can not control. You may wind up destructive your pipes while trying to thaw the ice. And also in the long run, you might even end up shedding your house. Beware!
Shut Off Water When Pipelines are Frozen
Shut off the main water shutoff instantly if you observe that your pipelines are completely icy or virtually nearing that stage. You will normally locate this in your cellar or laundry room near the heater or the front wall surface closest to the street. Transform it off as soon as possible to stop further damages.
Don't fail to remember to shut exterior water sources, as well, such as your connection for the yard home. Doing this will avoid extra water from filling your plumbing system. With more water, even more ice will certainly pile up, which will at some point lead to burst pipelines. If you are unsure concerning the state of your pipelines this winter months, it is best to call a professional plumber for an inspection. Taking this aggressive approach can save you countless bucks out of commission.
All house owners that live in pleasant climates should do their best to winterize their pipes. Failure to do so can spell catastrophe like frozen, fractured, or ruptured pipelines. If the warm towels do not help dislodge any working out ice in your pipes, bowling warm air directly right into them might assist. Transform off the primary water valve immediately if you see that your pipes are entirely frozen or nearly nearing that stage. With more water, even more ice will stack up, which will at some point lead to burst 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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