Effective Methods for Winterizing Your Pipes and Preventing Freezing in Frigid Weather
Effective Methods for Winterizing Your Pipes and Preventing Freezing in Frigid Weather
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All house owners who stay in warm environments have to do their best to winterize their pipelines. It is something you should do throughout autumn prior to deep winter season absolutely begins. Failing to do so can mean calamity like frozen, fractured, or burst pipelines. Here are some useful winterizing hacks to maintain your plumbing system protected even if the weather condition exterior is frightful.
Attempt a Hair Clothes Dryer or Heat Weapon
When your pipes are virtually freezing, your trusty hair dryer or warm weapon is a blessing. If the warm towels do not help displace any type of settling ice in your pipelines, bowling hot air directly into them might assist. Do not make use of other objects that produce direct fires like a strike lantern. This can cause a bigger calamity that you can not control. You might end up damaging your pipes while trying to melt the ice. As well as in the future, you might also end up melting your house. So beware!
Open Up Cupboard Doors Hiding Plumbing
When it's chilly outside, it would be helpful to open up closet doors that are concealing your pipes. Doing this tiny technique can keep your pipelines cozy and restrict the possibly harmful outcomes of freezing temperature levels.
Take Some Time to Wrap Exposed Piping
One clever as well as very easy hack to warm up cold pipes is to cover them with warm towels. You can cover them first with towels. After protecting 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, just do not fail to remember to wear safety gloves to protect your hands from the warm.
Switch on the Faucets
When the temperature decreases and it seems as if the cold temperature will certainly last, it will assist to activate your water both inside and outdoors. This will certainly maintain the water flowing via your plumbing systems. In addition, the movement will reduce the freezing procedure. Especially, there's no need to turn it on full force. You'll end up throwing away gallons of water in this manner. Instead, aim for regarding 5 declines per minute.
When Pipes are Frozen, shut Off Water
If you observe that your pipelines are entirely icy or almost nearing that stage, turn off the main water valve promptly. You will generally locate this in your cellar or laundry room near the heating unit or the front wall closest to the street. Turn it off immediately to prevent more damage.
With more water, more ice will load up, which will ultimately lead to burst pipelines. If you are unclear regarding the state of your pipes this winter months, it is best to call a professional plumber for an examination.
All house owners who live in temperate environments should do their ideal to winterize their pipes. Failure to do so can mean calamity like icy, cracked, or ruptured pipes. If the warm towels do not help displace any type of settling ice in your pipes, bowling warm air straight into them might assist. Turn off the primary water valve instantly if you notice that your pipes are totally icy or virtually nearing that stage. With even more water, more ice will certainly pile up, which will at some point 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.
https://www.stinenichols.com/kansas-city/planning-ahead-for-winter-plumbing/
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