How to Winterize Your Plumbing: 5 Hacks to Prevent Bursting Pipes in Frigid Temperatures
How to Winterize Your Plumbing: 5 Hacks to Prevent Bursting Pipes in Frigid Temperatures
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All house owners who stay in warm environments should do their best to winterize their pipelines. It is something you should do throughout autumn prior to deep winter genuinely begins. Failing to do so can mean calamity like frozen, fractured, or ruptured pipes. Below are some helpful winterizing hacks to maintain your plumbing system secured even if the weather exterior is terrible.
Turn On the Faucets
When the temperature decreases and also it appears as if the frigid temperature will last, it will aid to turn on your water both indoors and also outdoors. This will maintain the water moving through your plumbing systems. Furthermore, the movement will decrease the cold process. Especially, there's no need to turn it on full force. You'll wind up losing gallons of water this way. Instead, aim for regarding 5 decreases per min.
Open Up Cupboard Doors Hiding Plumbing
When it's cool outside, it would be helpful to open up closet doors that are concealing your pipelines. For example, they could be somewhere in your kitchen or bathroom. This will certainly enable the warm air from your heater to circulate there. Therefore, you protect against these revealed pipelines from cold. Doing this small trick can maintain your pipelines warm and restrict the possibly hazardous results of freezing temperatures.
Take Some Time to Wrap Exposed Piping
One easy and also clever hack to warm up frigid pipelines is to wrap them with cozy towels. You can additionally utilize pre-soaked towels in hot water, simply don't neglect to use protective gloves to secure your hands from the heat.
Attempt a Hair Dryer or Warmth Weapon
When your pipes are almost freezing, your dependable hair dryer or warmth gun is a blessing. Bowling warm air directly right into them may assist if the hot towels do not assist displace any kind of working out ice in your pipelines. However, do not make use of other things that produce straight flames like an impact torch. This can cause a bigger calamity that you can not control. You may end up harmful your pipelines while attempting to thaw the ice. And over time, you might even wind up shedding your residence. So beware!
Shut Off Water When Pipes are Frozen
If you observe that your pipelines are completely frozen or nearly nearing that phase, transform off the major water valve instantly. You will normally locate this in your cellar or utility room near the heating unit or the front wall closest to the street. Turn it off today to prevent further damage.
With even more water, even more ice will load up, which will at some point lead to rupture pipes. If you are unclear regarding the state of your pipes this winter months, it is best to call an expert plumber for an assessment.
All property owners that live in warm climates have to do their finest to winterize their pipelines. Failure to do so can mean disaster like icy, cracked, or ruptured pipes. If the warm towels do not help dislodge any type of working out ice in your pipelines, bowling hot air straight into them might help. Transform off the major water shutoff right away if you notice that your pipelines are totally icy or almost 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.
https://www.stinenichols.com/kansas-city/planning-ahead-for-winter-plumbing/
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