Practical Methods to Guard Your Plumbing and Prevent Freezing in Frigid Conditions
Practical Methods to Guard Your Plumbing and Prevent Freezing in Frigid Conditions
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All homeowners that stay in temperate environments need to do their finest to winterize their pipes. It is something you should do throughout autumn prior to deep wintertime truly starts. Failing to do so can lead to calamity like icy, broken, or burst pipes. Right here are some helpful winterizing hacks to keep your plumbing system protected even if the weather exterior is shocking.
Try a Hair Clothes Dryer or Heat Gun
When your pipes are nearly freezing, your reliable hair clothes dryer or heat gun is a blessing. If the hot towels do not help remove any kind of resolving ice in your pipes, bowling hot air directly into them might help. Do not utilize various other items that create direct flames like an impact torch. This can result in a larger calamity that you can not regulate. You may end up destructive your pipelines while attempting to thaw the ice. And in the future, you might even end up burning your residence. Beware!
Open Up Closet Doors Hiding Plumbing
When it's chilly outside, it would certainly be handy to open up closet doors that are masking your pipes. Doing this tiny technique can maintain your pipelines warm as well as restrict the possibly hazardous results of freezing temperatures.
Take Time to Cover Exposed Pipeline
One very easy and also nifty hack to heat up freezing pipelines is to wrap them with warm towels. You can additionally utilize pre-soaked towels in warm water, just do not fail to remember to put on protective gloves to protect your hands from the warmth.
Turn On the Faucets
When the temperature drops as well as it seems as if the icy temperature level will last, it will certainly aid to turn on your water both indoors and outdoors. This will certainly keep the water moving with your plumbing systems. You'll end up wasting gallons of water this means.
When Pipelines are Frozen, shut Off Water
If you discover that your pipelines are entirely icy or almost nearing that stage, transform off the main water shutoff instantly. You will normally locate this in your cellar or laundry room near the heater or the front wall closest to the street. Turn it off right now to stop more damages.
Do not neglect to shut outside water sources, too, such as your hookup for the garden residence. Doing this will certainly prevent extra water from filling up your plumbing system. With more water, even more ice will pile up, which will at some point lead to rupture pipes. It is best to call an expert plumber for an inspection if you are not sure regarding the state of your pipelines this wintertime. Taking this proactive strategy can save you hundreds of bucks in repairs.
All homeowners who live in temperate climates must do their ideal to winterize their pipelines. Failing to do so can spell disaster like icy, fractured, or ruptured pipes. If the warm towels do not assist remove any type of clearing up ice in your pipelines, bowling hot air directly right into them might help. Transform off the primary water valve immediately if you discover that your pipes are completely icy or practically nearing that stage. With even more water, even more ice will certainly pile up, which will eventually lead to break pipes.
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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