Helpful Methods to Winterize Your Plumbing and Avoid Freezing in Frigid Weather
Helpful Methods to Winterize Your Plumbing and Avoid Freezing in Frigid Weather
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Everyone seems to have their own individual opinion when it comes to Winterizing Your Pipes.
All house owners that live in warm climates need to do their ideal to winterize their pipes. Failing to do so can mean calamity like icy, fractured, or ruptured pipes.
Activate the Faucets
When the temperature decreases and it appears as if the freezing temperature level will last, it will certainly aid to switch on your water both indoors as well as outdoors. This will certainly keep the water moving through your plumbing systems. On top of that, the movement will certainly slow down the freezing process. Especially, there's no requirement to turn it on full force. You'll end up squandering gallons of water in this manner. Instead, go for about 5 decreases per minute.
Open Closet Doors Hiding Plumbing
It would certainly be valuable to open up cabinet doors that are concealing your pipelines when it's cool outside. They can be someplace in your cooking area or bathroom. This will certainly enable the cozy air from your heating system to distribute there. As a result, you stop these revealed pipelines from cold. Doing this tiny technique can maintain your pipelines cozy and limit the potentially dangerous outcomes of freezing temperatures.
Require Time to Cover Exposed Water Lines
One easy and also nifty hack to heat up icy pipes is to cover them with cozy towels. You can also utilize pre-soaked towels in hot water, simply don't forget to wear safety handwear covers to guard your hands from the warmth.
Try a Hair Clothes Dryer or Warm Gun
When your pipes are almost freezing, your reliable hair clothes dryer or warm weapon is a godsend. Bowling warm air directly right into them may assist if the warm towels do not assist remove any type of settling ice in your pipes. Do not make use of various other objects that generate direct fires like an impact torch. This can cause a bigger disaster that you can not manage. You might wind up destructive your pipes while attempting to thaw the ice. And in the long run, you may even end up melting your home. So be cautious!
Shut Off Water When Pipes are Frozen
Switch off the main water valve quickly if you notice that your pipes are totally frozen or nearly nearing that phase. You will usually find this in your basement or utility room near the heater or the front wall closest to the street. Turn it off right now to avoid further damage.
Do not neglect to shut exterior water resources, also, such as your connection for the garden house. Doing this will avoid extra water from filling your plumbing system. With more water, more ice will pile up, which will eventually lead to break pipelines. If you are unsure about the state of your pipelines this winter months, it is best to call a specialist plumber for an examination. Taking this aggressive technique can save you hundreds of bucks in repairs.
All house owners who live in pleasant environments must do their finest to winterize their pipes. Failing to do so can lead to disaster like icy, broken, or burst pipes. If the hot towels do not aid remove any kind of clearing up ice in your pipes, bowling hot air straight into them might aid. Turn off the major water shutoff right away if you discover that your pipes are totally icy or virtually nearing that stage. With even more water, more ice will certainly pile up, which will at some point lead to rupture 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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