Five Winter Hacks to Safeguard Your Pipes from Frigid Weather Bursts
Five Winter Hacks to Safeguard Your Pipes from Frigid Weather Bursts
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What're your opinions with regards to Prevent Freezing and Bursting Pipes?
All property owners who live in pleasant environments must do their best to winterize their pipes. It is something you must do throughout autumn prior to deep wintertime absolutely starts. Failing to do so can spell catastrophe like frozen, cracked, or burst pipes. If the climate outside is frightful, right here are some handy winterizing hacks to keep your plumbing system secured even.
Switch on the Faucets
When the temperature decreases as well as it seems as if the freezing temperature will certainly last, it will aid to turn on your water both inside your home and also outdoors. This will maintain the water moving through your plumbing systems. On top of that, the movement will certainly decrease the freezing process. Especially, there's no need to turn it on full force. You'll end up throwing away gallons of water in this manner. Instead, go for about 5 drops per min.
Open Up Closet Doors Hiding Plumbing
When it's chilly outside, it would be practical to open cupboard doors that are camouflaging your pipelines. They can be somewhere in your kitchen or bathroom. This will allow the cozy air from your heating system to circulate there. Consequently, you avoid these exposed pipelines from freezing. Doing this tiny technique can keep your pipes warm as well as limit the possibly hazardous results of freezing temperatures.
Require Time to Wrap Exposed Pipes
One very easy and also clever hack to heat up frigid pipelines is to wrap them with cozy towels. You can also use pre-soaked towels in warm water, simply do not neglect to use safety handwear covers to secure your hands from the warmth.
Attempt a Hair Dryer or Warm Weapon
When your pipes are practically freezing, your reliable hair clothes dryer or heat weapon is a godsend. If the warm towels do not aid remove any type of resolving ice in your pipelines, bowling hot air directly into them may aid. You may finish up damaging your pipes while trying to melt the ice.
When Pipelines are Frozen, close Off Water
If you notice that your pipes are entirely icy or nearly nearing that stage, transform off the primary water valve promptly. You will typically find this in your cellar or laundry room near the heating system or the front wall closest to the street. Turn it off as soon as possible to avoid more damages.
With even more water, even more ice will certainly pile up, which will ultimately lead to break pipes. If you are unclear about the state of your pipelines this winter season, it is best to call a professional plumber for an examination.
All homeowners who live in warm climates should do their best to winterize their pipes. Failure to do so can lead to calamity like icy, split, or burst pipes. If the warm towels do not assist dislodge any resolving ice in your pipelines, bowling hot air straight into them might assist. Turn off the primary water valve immediately if you see that your pipes are completely icy or practically nearing that phase. With even more water, more ice will certainly stack up, which will at some point lead to rupture 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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