Clever Strategies to Secure Your Pipes in Cold Weather
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All house owners that live in temperate climates have to do their ideal to winterize their pipes. Failure to do so can lead to catastrophe like icy, cracked, or ruptured pipes.
Try a Hair Clothes Dryer or Warm Gun
When your pipes are nearly freezing, your dependable hair dryer or warm gun is a godsend. If the warm towels do not help displace any kind of resolving ice in your pipelines, bowling hot air directly right into them might assist. Nevertheless, do not make use of other items that produce straight fires like a blow torch. This can cause a larger disaster that you can not control. You may end up harmful your pipes while trying to melt the ice. And over time, you may also end up shedding your house. So be cautious!
Open Up Cabinet Doors Hiding Plumbing
It would be helpful to open cupboard doors that are camouflaging your pipelines when it's cool outside. For example, they could be somewhere in your cooking area or restroom. This will permit the warm air from your heating unit to distribute there. Because of this, you avoid these subjected pipes from freezing. Doing this little trick can keep your pipes warm and restrict the potentially hazardous results of freezing temperature levels.
Require Time to Wrap Exposed Pipeline
One cool and very easy hack to warm up frigid pipes is to cover them with warm towels. You can cover them initially with towels. After safeguarding them in place, you can put boiling water on the towels. Do it slowly to allow the towels take in the fluid. You can likewise make use of pre-soaked towels in hot water, simply don't fail to remember to wear protective handwear covers to protect your hands from the warm.
Activate the Faucets
When the temperature drops and also it appears as if the cold temperature level will last, it will certainly assist to transform on your water both inside your home and outdoors. This will certainly keep the water flowing via your plumbing systems. You'll end up wasting gallons of water this method.
When Pipes are Frozen, close Off Water
Switch off the main water valve right away if you observe that your pipelines are totally icy or almost nearing that stage. You will usually find this in your basement or utility room near the heater or the front wall closest to the street. Transform it off today to stop more damages.
Don't forget to close external water sources, also, such as your connection for the yard home. Doing this will protect against additional water from filling up your plumbing system. However, with more water, even more ice will pile up, which will eventually bring about rupture pipes. If you are unsure concerning the state of your pipes this winter months, it is best to call an expert plumber for an inspection. Taking this aggressive approach can save you countless bucks out of commission.
All home owners that live in warm environments should do their ideal to winterize their pipelines. Failure to do so can spell catastrophe like frozen, broken, or burst pipelines. If the hot towels do not help displace any type of resolving ice in your pipes, bowling hot air directly right into them may assist. Transform off the primary water valve quickly if you see that your pipes are completely frozen or practically nearing that phase. With more water, more ice will pile up, which will at some point 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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