5 Winter Hacks to Safeguard Your Pipes from Frigid Weather Bursts
5 Winter Hacks to Safeguard Your Pipes from Frigid Weather Bursts
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What are your insights and beliefs about Prevent Freezing and Bursting Pipes?
All property owners that reside in pleasant climates need to do their best to winterize their pipelines. It is something you must do throughout fall before deep winter months truly starts. Failing to do so can spell calamity like frozen, split, or ruptured pipes. If the weather condition outside is terrible, below are some helpful winterizing hacks to keep your plumbing system secured also.
Activate the Faucets
When the temperature drops and also it appears as if the freezing temperature level will certainly last, it will certainly assist to activate your water both inside and outdoors. This will certainly maintain the water moving with your plumbing systems. On top of that, the motion will certainly reduce the freezing process. Especially, there's no demand to turn it on full blast. You'll end up squandering gallons of water in this manner. Instead, aim for about 5 decreases per min.
Open Cabinet Doors Hiding Plumbing
When it's cool outside, it would certainly be valuable to open cupboard doors that are concealing your pipes. Doing this small technique can keep your pipelines cozy as well as limit the potentially harmful outcomes of freezing temperatures.
Take Time to Wrap Exposed Water Lines
One very easy as well as awesome hack to warm up cold pipelines is to wrap them with cozy towels. You can also use pre-soaked towels in warm water, simply do not fail to remember to use safety handwear covers to guard your hands from the warm.
Attempt a Hair Dryer or Warm Gun
When your pipelines are virtually freezing, your trusty hair clothes dryer or warmth gun is a blessing. If the warm towels do not help displace any working out ice in your pipelines, bowling warm air directly into them might help. You might end up destructive your pipes while attempting to melt the ice.
Shut Off Water When Pipelines are Frozen
Switch off the primary water shutoff promptly if you notice that your pipelines are entirely frozen or practically nearing that phase. You will usually locate this in your basement or laundry room near the heating system or the front wall closest to the street. Turn it off today to stop more damages.
With even more water, more ice will load 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 assessment.
All homeowners that live in warm climates should do their best to winterize their pipes. Failing to do so can mean disaster like frozen, split, or ruptured pipes. If the hot towels do not help displace any kind of working out ice in your pipelines, bowling hot air directly into them may aid. Turn off the main water shutoff promptly if you observe that your pipes are completely icy or practically nearing that stage. With even more water, 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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