How to Winterize Your Plumbing: 5 Hacks to Prevent Bursting Pipes in Frigid Temperatures
How to Winterize Your Plumbing: 5 Hacks to Prevent Bursting Pipes in Frigid Temperatures
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We have uncovered this article involving Winterizing Your Pipes down the page on the internet and felt it made perfect sense to relate it with you here.
All homeowners that live in temperate climates have to do their finest to winterize their pipelines. Failure to do so can mean calamity like frozen, cracked, or burst pipelines.
Turn On the Faucets
When the temperature level declines and it appears as if the freezing temperature level will last, it will assist to activate your water both indoors as well as outdoors. This will maintain the water moving through your plumbing systems. Furthermore, the activity will reduce the cold process. Significantly, there's no demand to transform it on full blast. You'll end up throwing away gallons of water by doing this. Rather, go for concerning 5 drops per minute.
Open Cupboard Doors Hiding Plumbing
When it's cool outside, it would certainly be helpful to open cupboard doors that are masking your pipelines. They might be someplace in your kitchen or restroom. This will allow the warm air from your heating unit to distribute there. As a result, you prevent these exposed pipes from cold. Doing this small technique can maintain your pipelines cozy and restrict the possibly harmful outcomes of freezing temperature levels.
Require Time to Wrap Exposed Pipeline
One cool and also simple hack to heat up icy pipelines is to wrap them with warm towels. You can cover them initially with towels. After safeguarding them in position, you can pour boiling water on the towels. Do it gradually to allow the towels take in the liquid. You can also use pre-soaked towels in hot water, just don't forget to put on safety gloves to safeguard your hands from the heat.
Attempt a Hair Clothes Dryer or Heat Gun
When your pipes are nearly freezing, your dependable hair dryer or warm gun is a godsend. If the warm towels do not aid dislodge any type of resolving ice in your pipes, bowling warm air directly into them might aid. You may end up damaging your pipelines while attempting to thaw the ice.
Shut down Water When Pipelines are Frozen
If you see that your pipelines are entirely icy or almost nearing that stage, turn off the main water valve right away. You will normally discover this in your cellar or laundry room near the heating unit or the front wall closest to the street. Turn it off today to prevent more damages.
Do not neglect to shut outside water resources, also, such as your connection for the garden home. Doing this will prevent additional water from filling up your plumbing system. With more water, more ice will pile up, which will eventually lead to burst pipes. If you are unsure concerning the state of your pipes this winter season, it is best to call an expert plumber for an evaluation. Taking this proactive method can save you thousands of bucks out of commission.
All homeowners who live in pleasant environments should do their best to winterize their pipelines. Failing to do so can spell disaster like icy, split, or burst pipelines. If the hot towels do not help dislodge any kind of resolving ice in your pipelines, bowling warm air directly right into them may help. Transform off the main water shutoff right away if you notice that your pipes are entirely frozen or virtually nearing that phase. With more water, even more ice will stack 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.
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