My Recommended Winterizing Techniques: 5 Ways to Prevent Pipe Bursts
My Recommended Winterizing Techniques: 5 Ways to Prevent Pipe Bursts
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We've uncovered this post on Winterizing Your Pipes below on the web and felt it made perfect sense to relate it with you on my blog.
All property owners who live in temperate environments need to do their best to winterize their pipelines. Failing to do so can spell calamity like icy, broken, or ruptured pipes.
Attempt a Hair Dryer or Warmth Gun
When your pipes are practically freezing, your trusty hair clothes dryer or heat gun is a blessing. Bowling hot air directly right into them might help if the warm towels do not assist dislodge any settling ice in your pipelines. However, do not make use of other things that produce straight fires like a strike lantern. This can cause a bigger catastrophe that you can not manage. You might end up damaging your pipes while attempting to thaw the ice. And over time, you might also end up melting your house. Be careful!
Open Up Cupboard Doors Hiding Plumbing
When it's cold outside, it would certainly be practical to open up cabinet doors that are masking your pipes. They might be someplace in your kitchen or shower room. This will enable the cozy air from your heating unit to circulate there. Because of this, you prevent these subjected pipes from freezing. Doing this tiny method can keep your pipes warm as well as restrict the possibly dangerous outcomes of freezing temperature levels.
Require Time to Cover Exposed Water Lines
One simple as well as awesome hack to warm up frigid pipelines is to cover them with warm towels. You can additionally make use of pre-soaked towels in warm water, simply don't forget to use safety gloves to secure your hands from the warmth.
Activate the Faucets
When the temperature declines as well as it appears as if the freezing temperature level will certainly last, it will certainly assist to transform on your water both inside your home and also outdoors. This will maintain the water flowing with your plumbing systems. You'll finish up squandering gallons of water this means.
When Pipelines are Frozen, close Off Water
Switch off the major water shutoff immediately if you notice that your pipes are completely icy or virtually nearing that phase. You will normally discover this in your basement or utility room near the heating unit or the front wall closest to the street. Transform it off right away to stop additional damages.
Don't forget to shut external water resources, also, such as your hookup for the garden home. Doing this will stop additional water from filling your plumbing system. With more water, more ice will certainly load up, which will at some point lead to burst pipes. It is best to call a professional plumber for an examination if you are uncertain concerning the state of your pipes this winter season. Taking this positive technique can conserve you hundreds of dollars out of commission.
All property owners that live in pleasant environments should do their best to winterize their pipelines. Failing to do so can mean disaster like icy, split, or ruptured pipelines. If the hot towels do not assist remove any type of clearing up ice in your pipelines, bowling warm air straight into them may aid. Turn off the primary water shutoff right away if you see that your pipes are entirely icy or practically nearing that stage. With even more water, even more ice will certainly pile up, which will eventually lead to rupture 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/
I was shown that write-up on Winterizing Your Pipes through an acquaintance on our other web property. Sharing is good. You never know, you will be doing someone a favor. Thank you for going through it.
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