5 Winter Hacks to Safeguard Your Pipes from Frigid Weather Bursts
5 Winter Hacks to Safeguard Your Pipes from Frigid Weather Bursts
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All homeowners who stay in temperate climates must do their finest to winterize their pipelines. It is something you must do during fall prior to deep winter absolutely starts. Failing to do so can lead to disaster like frozen, split, or ruptured pipelines. If the climate exterior is terrible, here are some handy winterizing hacks to keep your plumbing system protected also.
Attempt a Hair Clothes Dryer or Heat Weapon
When your pipelines are nearly freezing, your trusty hair clothes dryer or heat weapon is a godsend. If the warm towels do not assist displace any working out ice in your pipelines, bowling hot air straight into them might help. Do not utilize various other items that produce direct flames like a strike torch. This can result in a bigger calamity that you can not regulate. You may end up destructive your pipelines while attempting to melt the ice. And in the future, you may even wind up melting your residence. Be careful!
Open Cabinet Doors Hiding Plumbing
It would be practical to open closet doors that are concealing your pipelines when it's cold outside. For example, they could be somewhere in your kitchen or shower room. This will enable the cozy air from your heating unit to circulate there. Because of this, you stop these subjected pipes from freezing. Doing this tiny method can keep your pipes warm and also limit the possibly harmful outcomes of freezing temperatures.
Require Time to Wrap Exposed Piping
One very easy as well as nifty hack to warm up cold pipelines is to wrap them with warm towels. You can cover them initially with towels. After securing them in place, you can put boiling water on the towels. Do it gradually to allow the towels soak up the fluid. You can also use pre-soaked towels in hot water, just don't forget to use protective handwear covers to safeguard your hands from the heat.
Activate the Faucets
When the temperature decreases and also it seems as if the icy temperature will last, it will assist to turn on your water both inside and also outdoors. This will certainly maintain the water streaming with your plumbing systems. You'll finish up losing gallons of water this means.
Shut Off Water When Pipes are Frozen
If you discover that your pipelines are totally frozen or nearly nearing that phase, transform off the primary water shutoff immediately. You will usually locate this in your cellar or utility room near the heating system or the front wall closest to the street. Transform it off right away to avoid further damage.
With more water, even more ice will pile up, which will eventually lead to break pipes. If you are not sure regarding the state of your pipelines this winter months, it is best to call an expert plumber for an examination.
All house owners that live in pleasant climates need to do their best to winterize their pipes. Failure to do so can lead to calamity like icy, broken, or ruptured pipes. If the hot towels do not assist displace any kind of resolving ice in your pipelines, bowling warm air directly right into them may aid. Transform off the primary water shutoff quickly if you notice that your pipes are totally icy or virtually nearing that stage. With more water, more ice will pile up, which will ultimately 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.
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