Top 5 Winterizing Hacks to Prevent Your Pipes From Bursting in Cold Weather
Top 5 Winterizing Hacks to Prevent Your Pipes From Bursting in Cold Weather
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How do you feel on the subject of How to stop pipes from freezing during the winter?
All property owners who live in temperate climates must do their ideal to winterize their pipelines. Failure to do so can mean calamity like icy, cracked, or burst pipes.
Attempt a Hair Clothes Dryer or Warm Weapon
When your pipelines are almost freezing, your reliable hair dryer or warmth weapon is a godsend. Bowling warm air straight into them might assist if the hot towels do not assist remove any clearing up ice in your pipelines. However, do not make use of other items that generate straight flames like a strike lantern. This can lead to a bigger calamity that you can not regulate. You may end up damaging your pipes while trying to melt the ice. And over time, you may even wind up shedding your residence. So be careful!
Open Closet Doors Hiding Plumbing
When it's cool outside, it would be useful to open up cupboard doors that are masking your pipelines. For instance, they could be somewhere in your kitchen area or restroom. This will certainly allow the cozy air from your heater to flow there. Because of this, you avoid these exposed pipelines from cold. Doing this tiny technique can maintain your pipelines warm and restrict the possibly unsafe results of freezing temperature levels.
Require Time to Wrap Exposed Pipeline
One awesome and also simple hack to warm up cold pipes is to cover them with cozy towels. You can also make use of pre-soaked towels in warm water, just don't forget to put on safety gloves to safeguard your hands from the heat.
Turn On the Faucets
When the temperature declines and also it seems as if the cold temperature level will last, it will certainly aid to switch on your water both inside and outdoors. This will keep the water moving through your plumbing systems. On top of that, the motion will certainly decrease the freezing process. Significantly, there's no requirement to transform it on full force. You'll end up throwing away gallons of water by doing this. Instead, aim for regarding 5 decreases per minute.
When Pipelines are Frozen, shut Off Water
Turn off the main water valve instantly if you observe that your pipes are totally frozen or almost nearing that phase. You will generally find this in your cellar or laundry room near the heating unit or the front wall surface closest to the street. Transform it off immediately to avoid more damage.
With more water, even more ice will load up, which will at some point lead to break pipelines. If you are uncertain about the state of your pipes this wintertime, it is best to call an expert plumber for an examination.
All house owners who live in pleasant climates must do their ideal to winterize their pipes. Failure to do so can lead to disaster like frozen, fractured, or burst pipes. If the warm towels do not help dislodge any type of resolving ice in your pipelines, bowling warm air directly right into them might assist. Transform off the primary water shutoff right away if you observe that your pipes are completely frozen or practically nearing that stage. With more water, even more ice will stack 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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