Smart Winterizing Solutions: Several Approaches to Preserve Your Pipes in Cold Weather
Smart Winterizing Solutions: Several Approaches to Preserve Your Pipes in Cold Weather
Blog Article
Everyone may have their own opinion with regards to Winterizing Your Pipes.
All house owners that live in pleasant climates need to do their ideal to winterize their pipelines. Failure to do so can mean disaster like frozen, cracked, or ruptured pipelines.
Try a Hair Clothes Dryer or Heat Gun
When your pipelines are almost freezing, your trusty hair dryer or heat gun is a godsend. Bowling hot air directly right into them may help if the warm towels do not help remove any working out ice in your pipelines. Do not use various other things that produce direct fires like a strike torch. This can cause a bigger calamity that you can not manage. You might end up harmful your pipes while trying to thaw the ice. As well as in the long run, you may also end up shedding your house. Beware!
Open Cupboard Doors Hiding Plumbing
When it's chilly outside, it would certainly be useful to open cupboard doors that are concealing your pipes. Doing this small technique can keep your pipelines cozy and limit the possibly hazardous end results of freezing temperature levels.
Take Some Time to Cover Exposed Pipeline
One simple and also awesome hack to warm up icy pipelines is to cover them with warm towels. You can also utilize pre-soaked towels in hot water, just do not neglect to wear safety handwear covers to protect your hands from the heat.
Switch on the Faucets
When the temperature decreases as well as it appears as if the freezing temperature level will last, it will certainly help to turn on your water both inside and outdoors. This will maintain the water moving through your plumbing systems. You'll finish up losing gallons of water this way.
Turn off Water When Pipelines are Frozen
Turn off the major water valve quickly if you observe that your pipes are entirely frozen or almost nearing that phase. You will generally discover this in your cellar or laundry room near the heating unit or the front wall closest to the street. Transform it off right now to avoid further damage.
With more water, even more ice will load up, which will eventually lead to break pipelines. If you are unsure concerning the state of your pipelines this wintertime, it is best to call a professional plumber for an evaluation.
All home owners that live in warm environments need to do their best to winterize their pipelines. Failing to do so can spell catastrophe like icy, broken, or ruptured pipelines. If the warm towels do not help dislodge any settling ice in your pipelines, bowling hot air straight into them might assist. Turn off the main water valve immediately if you see that your pipelines are completely icy or almost nearing that stage. With even more water, more ice will pile up, which will ultimately lead to burst 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/
Do you appreciate more info about Prevent Freezing and Bursting Pipes? Leave feedback further down. We will be pleased to know your ideas about this blog post. Hoping to see you back again before long. Are you aware of somebody else who is curious about the subject? Take a moment to promote it. Thanks a lot for your time. Don't hesitate to check our site back soon.
Plumbing crisis? Contact our experts. Report this page