Smart Strategies to Protect Your Pipes in Cold Weather
Smart Strategies to Protect Your Pipes in Cold Weather
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The author is making several great points regarding Winterizing Your Pipes overall in this content in the next paragraphs.
All house owners that live in warm climates must do their best to winterize their pipes. It is something you must do throughout autumn prior to deep winter months absolutely starts. Failing to do so can lead to disaster like icy, broken, or ruptured pipes. Right here are some handy winterizing hacks to keep your plumbing system protected even if the weather condition outside is terrible.
Try a Hair Dryer or Heat Gun
When your pipes are practically freezing, your reliable hair dryer or warm gun is a godsend. If the hot towels do not help remove any type of settling ice in your pipelines, bowling warm air directly into them might assist. You might finish up damaging your pipes while trying to melt the ice.
Open Closet Doors Hiding Plumbing
When it's chilly outside, it would be handy to open up closet doors that are masking your pipes. Doing this little method can maintain your pipes warm and also restrict the potentially dangerous results of freezing temperatures.
Take Time to Cover Exposed Pipes
One easy as well as awesome hack to warm up icy pipelines is to cover them with cozy towels. You can also utilize pre-soaked towels in warm water, just do not neglect to wear protective gloves to protect your hands from the warm.
Turn On the Faucets
When the temperature decreases and also it seems as if the frigid temperature level will last, it will assist to turn on your water both inside your home as well as outdoors. This will certainly maintain the water moving via your plumbing systems. You'll finish up losing gallons of water this way.
When Pipelines are Frozen, close Off Water
Turn off the major water shutoff quickly if you discover that your pipes are entirely icy or almost nearing that stage. You will typically discover 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 additional damages.
Don't forget to shut external water resources, too, such as your connection for the garden residence. Doing this will certainly avoid added water from filling your plumbing system. Regrettably, with more water, more ice will certainly accumulate, which will eventually bring about break pipelines. It is best to call a professional plumber for an evaluation if you are not sure concerning the state of your pipes this winter months. Taking this proactive approach can save you countless bucks out of commission.
All property owners that live in pleasant environments have to do their ideal to winterize their pipes. Failure to do so can spell calamity like icy, split, or burst pipelines. If the hot towels do not help displace any type of clearing up ice in your pipelines, bowling hot air directly into them might aid. Turn off the main water shutoff immediately if you see that your pipelines are completely icy or virtually nearing that phase. With even more water, even more ice will pile up, which will at some point 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.
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