Helpful Tips for Winterizing Your Plumbing and Protecting Against Freezing Temperatures
Helpful Tips for Winterizing Your Plumbing and Protecting Against Freezing Temperatures
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How do you actually feel with regards to How to stop pipes from freezing during the winter?
All homeowners that live in pleasant environments should do their ideal to winterize their pipes. Failure to do so can mean catastrophe like icy, broken, or ruptured pipelines.
Turn On the Faucets
When the temperature declines and also it appears as if the freezing temperature will certainly last, it will aid to switch on your water both inside your home as well as outdoors. This will keep the water streaming via your plumbing systems. Additionally, the activity will certainly slow down the cold process. Especially, there's no requirement to turn it on full force. You'll end up wasting gallons of water in this manner. Instead, aim for about 5 declines per minute.
Open Cupboard Doors Hiding Plumbing
When it's cold outside, it would certainly be helpful to open cupboard doors that are concealing your pipes. Doing this little technique can maintain your pipelines cozy and limit the possibly unsafe end results of freezing temperatures.
Take Some Time to Wrap Exposed Water Lines
One easy and cool hack to heat up icy pipes is to cover them with cozy towels. You can additionally use pre-soaked towels in warm water, just don't fail to remember to put on protective handwear covers to safeguard your hands from the warmth.
Attempt a Hair Clothes Dryer or Warm Gun
When your pipes are virtually freezing, your trusty hair dryer or warm gun is a godsend. Bowling hot air directly right into them might assist if the warm towels do not assist remove any type of resolving ice in your pipelines. Do not use other things that produce straight flames like an impact lantern. This can lead to a larger disaster that you can not regulate. You may wind up damaging your pipes while trying to thaw the ice. And over time, you may also wind up melting your house. Be careful!
Shut down Water When Pipelines are Frozen
Shut off the primary water valve instantly if you notice that your pipelines are totally icy or virtually nearing that stage. You will usually discover this in your basement or utility room near the heating unit or the front wall closest to the street. Turn it off right away to prevent more damages.
Do not neglect to close exterior water sources, as well, such as your hookup for the yard house. Doing this will certainly avoid added water from filling your plumbing system. With more water, even more ice will load up, which will at some point lead to rupture pipes. It is best to call a specialist plumber for an evaluation if you are unclear about the state of your pipes this winter months. Taking this proactive technique can conserve you thousands of bucks in repairs.
All homeowners who live in pleasant climates have to do their ideal to winterize their pipelines. Failure to do so can mean disaster like icy, split, or ruptured pipelines. If the hot towels do not assist displace any type of resolving ice in your pipelines, bowling hot air straight into them might help. Transform off the main water shutoff immediately if you see that your pipelines are completely frozen or practically nearing that stage. With more water, even more ice will certainly stack 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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