Just about everyone has their personal opinion when it comes to How to Prevent Frozen Pipes.
All homeowners that reside in warm climates must do their ideal to winterize their pipelines. It is something you have to do throughout autumn before deep wintertime genuinely begins. Failing to do so can spell calamity like icy, cracked, or burst pipes. If the weather condition exterior is frightful, below are some convenient winterizing hacks to keep your plumbing system shielded even.
Try a Hair Clothes Dryer or Warmth Gun
When your pipelines are virtually freezing, your reliable hair clothes dryer or heat gun is a blessing. Bowling hot air straight right into them may aid if the warm towels do not aid remove any type of clearing up ice in your pipes. Do not utilize various other things that produce direct fires like a strike torch. This can lead to a larger calamity that you can not manage. You may end up damaging your pipes while attempting to thaw the ice. And in the long run, you may also end up shedding your residence. So beware!
Open Up Cabinet Doors Hiding Plumbing
It would be valuable to open closet doors that are masking your pipes when it's cold outside. For example, they could be someplace in your kitchen area or washroom. This will certainly permit the warm air from your heating system to distribute there. Therefore, you prevent these exposed pipelines from cold. Doing this tiny trick can maintain your pipelines cozy and limit the potentially dangerous results of freezing temperatures.
Take Time to Wrap Exposed Pipeline
One nifty as well as simple hack to warm up freezing pipelines is to cover them with cozy towels. You can cover them first with towels. After securing them in position, you can put boiling water on the towels. Do it slowly to allow the towels absorb the liquid. You can also utilize pre-soaked towels in hot water, simply don't neglect to wear protective gloves to protect your hands from the warmth.
Activate the Faucets
When the temperature drops as well as it seems as if the cold temperature level will last, it will aid to activate your water both inside your home and also outdoors. This will certainly keep the water flowing via your plumbing systems. Furthermore, the motion will reduce the freezing procedure. Significantly, there's no demand to turn it on full force. You'll wind up throwing away gallons of water in this manner. Instead, aim for about 5 drops per minute.
Shut down Water When Pipelines are Frozen
Shut off the major water valve immediately if you see that your pipelines are completely icy or practically nearing that phase. You will usually locate this in your basement or utility room near the heating system or the front wall closest to the street. Turn it off right now to prevent more damage.
With more water, more ice will pile up, which will eventually lead to break pipes. If you are unclear regarding the state of your pipelines this wintertime, it is best to call a professional plumber for an assessment.
All homeowners who live in warm climates should do their finest to winterize their pipelines. Failure to do so can spell disaster like frozen, split, or burst pipes. If the warm towels do not aid dislodge any kind of resolving ice in your pipes, bowling hot air straight into them may help. Transform off the primary water valve instantly if you notice that your pipes are entirely frozen or virtually nearing that stage. With more water, even more ice will certainly load 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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