Tips to Protect Your Pipes From Bursting in Frigid Weather: Top 5 Winter Hacks
Tips to Protect Your Pipes From Bursting in Frigid Weather: Top 5 Winter Hacks
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Almost everyone is bound to have their own unique assumption about How to Prevent Frozen Pipes.
All house owners who live in warm climates need to do their finest to winterize their pipelines. Failing to do so can lead to disaster like icy, split, or ruptured pipelines.
Activate the Faucets
When the temperature decreases and it seems as if the cold temperature level will certainly last, it will aid to activate your water both inside as well as outdoors. This will maintain the water streaming through your plumbing systems. Additionally, the motion will decrease the freezing procedure. Notably, there's no need to turn it on full blast. You'll wind up throwing away gallons of water this way. Instead, go for concerning 5 declines per minute.
Open Cupboard Doors Hiding Plumbing
When it's chilly outside, it would certainly be handy to open up cupboard doors that are concealing your pipelines. They could be somewhere in your kitchen or washroom. This will certainly enable the warm air from your heating unit to circulate there. As a result, you protect against these exposed pipelines from cold. Doing this little method can keep your pipes cozy and also restrict the possibly dangerous results of freezing temperatures.
Take Some Time to Wrap Exposed Pipes
One cool as well as simple hack to warm up freezing pipelines is to wrap them with warm towels. You can also make use of pre-soaked towels in hot water, just do not neglect to use protective handwear covers to secure your hands from the heat.
Attempt a Hair Clothes Dryer or Heat Weapon
When your pipes are virtually freezing, your reliable hair dryer or heat weapon is a blessing. If the hot towels do not assist dislodge any kind of settling ice in your pipes, bowling hot air straight into them may aid. You might finish up destructive your pipelines while trying to thaw the ice.
Turn off Water When Pipelines are Frozen
If you notice that your pipelines are entirely icy or practically nearing that phase, transform off the main water valve right away. You will normally locate this in your cellar or utility room near the heater or the front wall closest to the street. Turn it off right away to prevent additional damages.
Do not neglect to shut outside water sources, too, such as your connection for the yard home. Doing this will prevent added water from filling your plumbing system. However, with even more water, even more ice will pile up, which will at some point bring about break pipelines. It is best to call a professional plumber for an inspection if you are unclear regarding the state of your pipelines this wintertime. Taking this proactive approach can conserve you countless bucks out of commission.
All house owners who live in pleasant environments have to do their best to winterize their pipes. Failing to do so can lead to disaster like frozen, cracked, or ruptured pipes. If the hot towels do not assist displace any kind of resolving ice in your pipelines, bowling hot air straight into them may help. Turn off the major water valve immediately if you notice that your pipes are totally icy or practically nearing that stage. With more water, more ice will certainly pile up, which will eventually 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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