Smart Winterizing Solutions: Five Techniques to Stop Pipe Bursts
Smart Winterizing Solutions: Five Techniques to Stop Pipe Bursts
Blog Article
What're your beliefs about How to stop pipes from freezing during the winter?
All homeowners who live in warm climates need to do their finest to winterize their pipes. Failure to do so can lead to catastrophe like icy, fractured, or burst pipelines.
Attempt a Hair Dryer or Heat Gun
When your pipelines are almost freezing, your trusty hair dryer or warmth gun is a godsend. If the warm towels do not assist dislodge any type of resolving ice in your pipes, bowling warm air straight into them might aid. You might finish up damaging your pipes while attempting to melt the ice.
Open Cupboard Doors Hiding Plumbing
When it's cool outside, it would certainly be valuable to open closet doors that are concealing your pipes. Doing this little technique can maintain your pipes warm and limit the potentially hazardous results of freezing temperatures.
Take Some Time to Wrap Exposed Water Lines
One awesome and also easy hack to warm up frigid pipelines is to wrap them with cozy towels. You can cover them initially with towels. After protecting them in position, you can pour boiling water on the towels. Do it slowly to allow the towels absorb the liquid. You can likewise utilize pre-soaked towels in hot water, simply don't forget to wear safety handwear covers to protect your hands from the warm.
Activate the Faucets
When the temperature level decreases and it appears as if the icy temperature level will last, it will help to turn on your water both inside as well as outdoors. This will maintain the water moving via your plumbing systems. You'll end up losing gallons of water this way.
When Pipelines are Frozen, close Off Water
If you observe that your pipelines are entirely frozen or almost nearing that phase, transform off the primary water valve immediately. You will typically find this in your basement or utility room near the heating system or the front wall closest to the street. Transform it off as soon as possible to prevent more damages.
With more water, even more ice will pile up, which will ultimately lead to burst pipelines. If you are unclear concerning the state of your pipelines this winter, it is best to call a professional plumber for an assessment.
All house owners who live in temperate climates must do their best to winterize their pipes. Failing to do so can mean calamity like icy, cracked, or ruptured pipes. If the warm towels do not help dislodge any type of settling ice in your pipes, bowling hot air straight right into them might assist. Turn off the major water valve instantly if you see that your pipes are totally icy or nearly nearing that stage. With more water, more ice will certainly stack up, which will ultimately 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.
https://www.stinenichols.com/kansas-city/planning-ahead-for-winter-plumbing/
Do you like reading up on How to Prevent Frozen Pipes? Try to leave a comment below. We'd be pleased to hear your insights about this article. Hoping to see you back again soon. Loved our post? Please share it. Let another person locate it. Thanks for your time. Visit again soon.
Schedule Estimate Report this page