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All property owners that reside in temperate environments need to do their finest to winterize their pipes. It is something you should do throughout autumn before deep winter genuinely begins. Failure to do so can spell catastrophe like frozen, fractured, or burst pipes. Below are some handy winterizing hacks to maintain your plumbing system secured even if the weather condition exterior is terrible.
Activate the Faucets
When the temperature declines and it seems as if the frigid temperature level will certainly last, it will certainly help to activate your water both inside your home and outdoors. This will maintain the water moving via your plumbing systems. Furthermore, the activity will certainly decrease the freezing procedure. Significantly, there's no demand to turn it on full force. You'll wind up wasting gallons of water by doing this. Rather, aim for regarding 5 decreases per minute.
Open Closet Doors Hiding Plumbing
When it's chilly outside, it would certainly be practical to open up cupboard doors that are concealing your pipelines. Doing this little technique can keep your pipes warm and limit the potentially harmful results of freezing temperatures.
Take Time to Wrap Exposed Pipeline
One awesome and also easy hack to warm up cold pipelines is to wrap them with cozy towels. You can additionally utilize pre-soaked towels in hot water, simply don't forget to put on safety gloves to protect your hands from the heat.
Attempt a Hair Dryer or Warmth Gun
When your pipes are virtually freezing, your trusty hair dryer or warm weapon is a blessing. If the hot towels do not aid dislodge any type of resolving ice in your pipes, bowling warm air straight into them may aid. You may end up harmful your pipelines while trying to melt the ice.
Shut down Water When Pipes are Frozen
If you see that your pipelines are completely frozen or almost nearing that phase, transform off the major water shutoff immediately. You will generally find this in your cellar or utility room near the heating unit or the front wall closest to the street. Transform it off today to stop more damages.
With more water, more ice will pile up, which will eventually lead to break pipelines. If you are not sure regarding the state of your pipelines this winter season, it is best to call an expert plumber for an evaluation.
All house owners who live in temperate climates need to do their finest to winterize their pipelines. Failing to do so can lead to calamity like icy, broken, or burst pipelines. If the hot towels do not aid remove any settling ice in your pipelines, bowling hot air directly right into them might aid. Turn off the main water shutoff promptly if you observe that your pipes are entirely icy or almost nearing that phase. With more water, even more ice will pile up, which will at some point 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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