Wise Strategies to Protect Your Pipes in Cold Weather
Wise Strategies to Protect Your Pipes in Cold Weather
Blog Article
Just how do you feel in relation to Winterizing Your Pipes?
All homeowners that live in pleasant climates have to do their best to winterize their pipes. Failing to do so can mean disaster like frozen, fractured, or burst pipes.
Turn On the Faucets
When the temperature declines as well as it seems as if the cold temperature will last, it will certainly aid to turn on your water both indoors as well as outdoors. This will certainly keep the water moving via your plumbing systems. You'll end up losing gallons of water this way.
Open Up Closet Doors Hiding Plumbing
It would certainly be helpful to open cabinet doors that are masking your pipes when it's chilly outside. They might be somewhere in your kitchen or washroom. This will certainly enable the cozy air from your heating unit to circulate there. Consequently, you avoid these exposed pipes from cold. Doing this tiny method can keep your pipelines warm and limit the potentially harmful results of freezing temperatures.
Require Time to Cover Exposed Water Lines
One very easy and also great hack to heat up icy pipes 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 let the towels absorb the fluid. You can additionally utilize pre-soaked towels in hot water, just don't fail to remember to wear safety handwear covers to secure your hands from the warm.
Attempt a Hair Clothes Dryer or Heat Weapon
When your pipelines are nearly freezing, your trusty hair dryer or warm gun is a godsend. If the hot towels do not aid remove any kind of clearing up ice in your pipes, bowling hot air straight right into them might aid. You may end up damaging your pipelines while attempting to melt the ice.
When Pipes are Frozen, close Off Water
Turn off the main water valve promptly if you see that your pipelines are entirely icy or practically nearing that phase. You will normally locate this in your basement or utility room near the heating unit or the front wall closest to the street. Transform it off today to prevent further damage.
With more water, more ice will certainly stack up, which will eventually lead to burst pipelines. If you are uncertain about the state of your pipelines this winter season, it is best to call a professional plumber for an inspection.
All homeowners that live in temperate environments must do their best to winterize their pipes. Failing to do so can lead to calamity like frozen, cracked, or ruptured pipes. If the warm towels do not aid displace any kind of clearing up ice in your pipes, bowling warm air directly into them might aid. Transform off the major water valve quickly if you observe that your pipelines are totally frozen or virtually nearing that stage. With even more water, 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.
https://www.stinenichols.com/kansas-city/planning-ahead-for-winter-plumbing/
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