Practical Tips for Winterizing Your Plumbing and Protecting Against Freezing Temperatures
Practical Tips for Winterizing Your Plumbing and Protecting Against Freezing Temperatures
Blog Article
Everyone will have his or her own assumption in relation to Winterizing Your Pipes.
All house owners that live in pleasant environments have to do their best to winterize their pipes. Failure to do so can mean disaster like frozen, broken, or burst pipelines.
Attempt a Hair Dryer or Heat Weapon
When your pipelines are practically freezing, your dependable hair dryer or heat weapon is a blessing. If the hot towels do not assist remove any settling ice in your pipelines, bowling hot air straight into them might help. You might finish up harmful your pipelines while trying to thaw the ice.
Open Cupboard Doors Hiding Plumbing
When it's cold outside, it would certainly be useful to open up cabinet doors that are concealing your pipelines. They could be somewhere in your kitchen or shower room. This will certainly permit the warm air from your heating unit to circulate there. Therefore, you prevent these subjected pipes from freezing. Doing this tiny trick can keep your pipes warm and restrict the potentially harmful end results of freezing temperature levels.
Require Time to Wrap Exposed Pipes
One cool and also easy hack to heat up frigid pipes is to cover them with cozy towels. You can cover them initially with towels. After safeguarding them in position, you can put boiling water on the towels. Do it slowly to allow the towels take in the fluid. You can likewise utilize pre-soaked towels in hot water, simply do not fail to remember to put on protective handwear covers to secure your hands from the warmth.
Switch on the Faucets
When the temperature level decreases as well as it seems as if the cold temperature level will certainly last, it will certainly assist to activate your water both inside your home as well as outdoors. This will keep the water flowing through your plumbing systems. In addition, the motion will reduce the freezing process. Especially, there's no requirement to transform it on full force. You'll end up wasting gallons of water in this manner. Instead, aim for about 5 drops per min.
Shut Off Water When Pipelines are Frozen
Shut off the primary water shutoff right away if you discover that your pipes are totally icy or practically nearing that stage. You will generally discover this in your basement or laundry room near the heating system or the front wall closest to the street. Turn it off as soon as possible to prevent more damages.
Don't fail to remember to close outside water sources, too, such as your connection for the garden house. Doing this will certainly avoid added water from filling your plumbing system. Unfortunately, with even more water, even more ice will pile up, which will eventually result in break pipes. If you are unsure regarding the state of your pipelines this wintertime, it is best to call a professional plumber for an examination. Taking this aggressive method can conserve you countless bucks in repairs.
All home owners who live in pleasant environments must do their best to winterize their pipes. Failure to do so can mean catastrophe like icy, broken, or ruptured pipelines. If the warm towels do not help remove any settling ice in your pipelines, bowling hot air directly right into them might aid. Transform off the major water shutoff right away if you discover that your pipelines are completely icy or virtually nearing that stage. With more water, more ice will certainly load up, which will eventually 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.
https://www.stinenichols.com/kansas-city/planning-ahead-for-winter-plumbing/
As a devoted reader on Prevent Freezing and Bursting Pipes, I assumed sharing that excerpt was smart. Sharing is caring. Helping others is fun. Thank-you for going through it.
Plumbing woes? Connect. Report this page