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All house owners that live in warm environments need to do their best to winterize their pipes. Failure to do so can lead to catastrophe like frozen, split, or burst pipelines.
Activate the Faucets
When the temperature level drops and also it appears as if the icy temperature level will last, it will help to turn on your water both inside and outdoors. This will maintain the water moving through your plumbing systems. Furthermore, the activity will certainly decrease the freezing procedure. Especially, there's no demand to turn it on full force. You'll end up wasting gallons of water this way. Rather, go for about 5 declines per minute.
Open Closet Doors Hiding Plumbing
It would be helpful to open up closet doors that are masking your pipelines when it's cool outside. For instance, they could be someplace in your kitchen area or bathroom. This will permit the warm air from your heating unit to circulate there. Because of this, you protect against these subjected pipelines from cold. Doing this tiny method can maintain your pipes cozy and restrict the potentially harmful end results of freezing temperature levels.
Require Time to Wrap Exposed Pipes
One simple as well as awesome hack to heat up frigid pipelines is to wrap them with warm towels. You can cover them initially with towels. After protecting them in place, you can put boiling water on the towels. Do it gradually to let the towels absorb the liquid. You can additionally make use of pre-soaked towels in hot water, simply don't forget to wear protective handwear covers to protect your hands from the warm.
Try a Hair Clothes Dryer or Heat Gun
When your pipes are virtually freezing, your reliable hair clothes dryer or warm gun is a blessing. If the hot towels do not aid remove any kind of resolving ice in your pipelines, bowling hot air directly right into them might assist. Do not make use of various other objects that create straight flames like a strike torch. This can lead to a bigger catastrophe that you can not manage. You might wind up destructive your pipelines while trying to melt the ice. As well as in the long run, you may even wind up shedding your residence. So be cautious!
Shut Off Water When Pipes are Frozen
If you see that your pipelines are entirely icy or practically nearing that phase, turn off the primary water valve quickly. You will normally find this in your cellar or laundry room near the heating unit or the front wall closest to the street. Turn it off right away to avoid additional damage.
With more water, even more ice will pile up, which will at some point lead to break pipes. If you are not sure about the state of your pipes this winter months, it is best to call an expert plumber for an inspection.
All property owners that live in pleasant climates should do their best to winterize their pipes. Failing to do so can lead to calamity like icy, cracked, or burst pipelines. If the warm towels do not aid displace any kind of settling ice in your pipelines, bowling hot air directly into them may help. Turn off the primary water valve quickly if you observe that your pipelines are completely frozen or virtually nearing that phase. With even more water, even more ice will 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.
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