Efficient Methods for Winterizing Your Pipes and Avoiding Freezing in Frigid Weather
Efficient Methods for Winterizing Your Pipes and Avoiding Freezing in Frigid Weather
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All home owners that reside in temperate climates have to do their finest to winterize their pipelines. It is something you need to do during autumn before deep winter months absolutely starts. Failure to do so can mean calamity like frozen, fractured, or burst pipelines. If the climate outside is frightful, here are some useful winterizing hacks to keep your plumbing system safeguarded also.
Try a Hair Dryer or Warm Gun
When your pipelines are virtually freezing, your trusty hair clothes dryer or heat weapon is a blessing. If the hot towels do not help displace any kind of working out ice in your pipelines, bowling warm air directly right into them may assist. You may finish up damaging your pipelines while trying to melt the ice.
Open Cabinet Doors Hiding Plumbing
It would certainly be useful to open closet doors that are concealing your pipelines when it's cool outside. As an example, they could be somewhere in your cooking area or washroom. This will certainly permit the warm air from your heater to circulate there. As a result, you stop these subjected pipes from freezing. Doing this little method can maintain your pipelines cozy and also restrict the potentially unsafe outcomes of freezing temperatures.
Take Time to Wrap Exposed Pipeline
One very easy as well as awesome hack to warm up frigid pipelines is to wrap them with cozy towels. You can additionally make use of pre-soaked towels in warm water, just don't forget to use safety gloves to protect your hands from the warm.
Activate the Faucets
When the temperature drops and it seems as if the freezing temperature will certainly last, it will assist to switch on your water both inside and also outdoors. This will certainly keep the water streaming via your plumbing systems. In addition, the movement will reduce the cold process. Especially, there's no demand to transform it on full force. You'll wind up squandering gallons of water in this manner. Rather, go for concerning 5 declines per min.
When Pipes are Frozen, close Off Water
If you see that your pipes are totally frozen or almost nearing that phase, turn off the main water valve instantly. You will usually locate this in your cellar or laundry room near the heating system or the front wall surface closest to the street. Turn it off today to prevent further damage.
With even more water, even more ice will stack up, which will ultimately lead to break pipes. If you are uncertain regarding the state of your pipes this wintertime, it is best to call a specialist plumber for an inspection.
All house owners that live in temperate environments have to do their ideal to winterize their pipes. Failing to do so can spell disaster like icy, broken, or burst pipelines. If the warm towels do not help dislodge any resolving ice in your pipelines, bowling hot air straight right into them may help. Turn off the major water valve quickly if you see that your pipelines are totally icy or virtually nearing that stage. With even more water, more ice will certainly load up, which will eventually lead to break 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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