Clever Approaches to Maintain Your Plumbing in Chilly Temperatures
Clever Approaches to Maintain Your Plumbing in Chilly Temperatures
Blog Article
Nearly everybody seems to have their personal rationale when it comes to Prevent Freezing and Bursting Pipes.
All homeowners who live in temperate climates need to do their finest to winterize their pipes. Failing to do so can mean catastrophe like icy, cracked, or burst pipelines.
Attempt a Hair Clothes Dryer or Heat Gun
When your pipes are virtually freezing, your trusty hair dryer or warm weapon is a godsend. If the warm towels do not help displace any resolving ice in your pipes, bowling warm air directly into them might help. You may finish up destructive your pipes while trying to thaw the ice.
Open Up Cabinet Doors Hiding Plumbing
When it's chilly outside, it would certainly be valuable to open up closet doors that are camouflaging your pipes. They could be someplace in your cooking area or bathroom. This will allow the warm air from your heating system to flow there. Consequently, you stop these exposed pipelines from cold. Doing this tiny technique can keep your pipelines warm and restrict the possibly dangerous results of freezing temperature levels.
Require Time to Cover Exposed Water Lines
One nifty as well as easy hack to heat up frigid pipes is to wrap them with warm towels. You can likewise utilize pre-soaked towels in hot water, just don't neglect to put on safety handwear covers to guard your hands from the warmth.
Activate the Faucets
When the temperature level drops and also it appears as if the freezing temperature will last, it will aid to turn on your water both inside your home and outdoors. This will keep the water flowing with your plumbing systems. You'll end up throwing away gallons of water this method.
Turn off Water When Pipes are Frozen
If you notice that your pipelines are completely frozen or almost nearing that stage, turn off the major water shutoff quickly. You will typically find this in your basement or laundry room near the heater or the front wall closest to the street. Transform it off right now to stop more damage.
Don't forget to close exterior water sources, too, such as your hookup for the garden home. Doing this will prevent extra water from filling your plumbing system. With even more water, more ice will load up, which will at some point lead to rupture pipes. It is best to call a professional plumber for an inspection if you are not sure about the state of your pipelines this winter. Taking this proactive method can save you thousands of dollars out of commission.
All property owners who live in warm environments should do their finest to winterize their pipelines. Failure to do so can spell disaster like frozen, fractured, or burst pipes. If the warm towels do not help dislodge any kind of resolving ice in your pipelines, bowling hot air directly into them might help. Transform off the primary water valve quickly if you observe that your pipes are totally frozen or virtually nearing that stage. With even more water, more ice will load 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.
https://www.stinenichols.com/kansas-city/planning-ahead-for-winter-plumbing/
We hope you enjoyed our post about Prevent Freezing and Bursting Pipes. Thank you so much for taking the time to read our article post. Sharing is good. Who knows, you will be doing someone a favor. I praise you for your time. Kindly check our site back soon.
Quick, reliable, call! Report this page