Cold Weather Pipe Protection: 5 Hacks to Keep Them Intact in Freezing Temperatures
Cold Weather Pipe Protection: 5 Hacks to Keep Them Intact in Freezing Temperatures
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The writer is making a few great pointers relating to Winterizing Your Pipes in general in the article beneath.
All homeowners who reside in pleasant environments should do their finest to winterize their pipelines. It is something you have to do during autumn before deep wintertime truly begins. Failure to do so can spell disaster like frozen, split, or ruptured pipelines. If the weather outside is frightful, here are some convenient winterizing hacks to keep your plumbing system shielded also.
Activate the Faucets
When the temperature declines and also it seems as if the icy temperature level will last, it will certainly help to switch on your water both inside and outdoors. This will maintain the water flowing with your plumbing systems. On top of that, the movement will reduce the freezing process. Significantly, there's no demand to turn it on full blast. You'll end up throwing away gallons of water this way. Instead, go for concerning 5 drops per minute.
Open Up Closet Doors Hiding Plumbing
When it's cold outside, it would be useful to open closet doors that are camouflaging your pipelines. Doing this tiny method can maintain your pipes warm and limit the possibly unsafe end results of freezing temperature levels.
Require Time to Cover Exposed Water Lines
One simple as well as awesome hack to warm up cold pipelines is to cover them with cozy towels. You can cover them initially with towels. After protecting them in place, you can put boiling water on the towels. Do it gradually to allow the towels take in the liquid. You can additionally utilize pre-soaked towels in hot water, just don't neglect to use protective handwear covers to secure your hands from the warm.
Try a Hair Clothes Dryer or Heat Weapon
When your pipelines are practically freezing, your dependable hair dryer or heat weapon is a godsend. Bowling hot air straight right into them may aid if the hot towels do not help displace any clearing up ice in your pipelines. However, do not make use of other objects that create straight flames like a strike lantern. This can lead to a bigger calamity that you can not control. You might end up harmful your pipelines while trying to melt the ice. And also in the long run, you might also wind up shedding your residence. Be cautious!
Turn off Water When Pipelines are Frozen
Turn off the main water valve promptly if you observe that your pipelines are entirely icy or almost nearing that stage. You will normally discover this in your basement or utility room near the heating unit or the front wall closest to the street. Turn it off right now to avoid additional damage.
Don't forget to close external water resources, also, such as your connection for the garden home. Doing this will avoid extra water from filling up your plumbing system. Unfortunately, with more water, even more ice will certainly accumulate, which will ultimately result in burst pipes. It is best to call a specialist plumber for an examination if you are not sure regarding the state of your pipes this winter. Taking this positive method can save you hundreds of bucks in repairs.
All homeowners that live in pleasant environments must do their best to winterize their pipelines. Failing to do so can lead to disaster like icy, split, or burst pipelines. If the warm towels do not assist dislodge any kind of clearing up ice in your pipes, bowling warm air straight into them might help. Transform off the major water shutoff right away if you discover that your pipelines are entirely frozen or virtually nearing that phase. With more water, even more ice will certainly stack up, which will ultimately 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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