Useful Methods to Protect Your Plumbing and Stop Freezing in Frigid Conditions
Useful Methods to Protect Your Plumbing and Stop Freezing in Frigid Conditions
Blog Article
Are you currently in search of related information around How to Prevent Frozen Pipes?
All homeowners who live in temperate environments must do their ideal to winterize their pipelines. Failure to do so can lead to calamity like icy, cracked, or ruptured pipes.
Attempt a Hair Clothes Dryer or Warmth Weapon
When your pipes are almost freezing, your dependable hair dryer or warmth weapon is a blessing. Bowling warm air straight into them may aid if the hot towels do not assist dislodge any resolving ice in your pipes. Nevertheless, do not use other things that generate straight flames like a strike lantern. This can cause a larger catastrophe that you can not manage. You might wind up destructive your pipes while trying to melt the ice. As well as over time, you may even wind up burning your house. So be careful!
Open Cupboard Doors Hiding Plumbing
When it's cold outside, it would be useful to open cabinet doors that are camouflaging your pipes. Doing this tiny method can maintain your pipelines warm and limit the possibly unsafe outcomes of freezing temperature levels.
Take Some Time to Cover Exposed Water Lines
One cool as well as very easy hack to heat up frigid pipelines is to cover them with cozy towels. You can also make use of pre-soaked towels in hot water, just do not fail to remember to put on safety gloves to safeguard your hands from the warmth.
Activate the Faucets
When the temperature level declines as well as it appears as if the freezing temperature will certainly last, it will certainly aid to activate your water both inside your home and also outdoors. This will maintain the water flowing via your plumbing systems. In addition, the movement will certainly decrease the freezing process. Especially, there's no requirement to transform it on full blast. You'll end up throwing away gallons of water in this manner. Instead, aim for concerning 5 declines per minute.
Shut down Water When Pipes are Frozen
Shut off the main water shutoff promptly if you discover that your pipes are entirely icy or virtually nearing that stage. You will generally find this in your basement or utility room near the heating system or the front wall closest to the street. Transform it off right now to stop further damages.
With more water, even more ice will load up, which will at some point lead to break pipes. If you are unsure about the state of your pipes this winter, it is best to call an expert plumber for an examination.
All homeowners who live in temperate climates have to do their best to winterize their pipelines. Failing to do so can lead to catastrophe like frozen, cracked, or burst pipes. If the hot towels do not assist displace any kind of resolving ice in your pipelines, bowling warm air directly right into them might aid. Transform off the primary water valve quickly if you notice that your pipes are entirely frozen or almost nearing that stage. With more water, even more ice will pile up, which will eventually lead to break 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.
https://www.stinenichols.com/kansas-city/planning-ahead-for-winter-plumbing/
I stumbled upon that piece about How to Prevent Frozen Pipes when surfing the internet. Sharing is good. Helping others is fun. Thanks for your time spent reading it.
Fast solution? Ring! Report this page