What are your thoughts about Winterizing Your Pipes?
All property owners that reside in pleasant environments must do their best to winterize their pipelines. It is something you have to do during autumn before deep wintertime absolutely begins. Failing to do so can mean calamity like icy, split, or burst pipes. If the climate exterior is frightful, below are some handy winterizing hacks to keep your plumbing system protected even.
Turn On the Faucets
When the temperature level declines as well as it seems as if the icy temperature level will certainly last, it will certainly aid to transform on your water both inside as well as outdoors. This will maintain the water streaming through your plumbing systems. You'll finish up throwing away gallons of water this method.
Open Cupboard Doors Hiding Plumbing
When it's cool outside, it would be practical to open cupboard doors that are concealing your pipelines. Doing this tiny method can keep your pipelines cozy as well as restrict the potentially hazardous end results of freezing temperature levels.
Take Time to Cover Exposed Pipes
One great and very easy hack to heat up freezing pipes is to wrap them with warm towels. You can additionally use pre-soaked towels in warm water, just do not forget to put on protective handwear covers to safeguard your hands from the heat.
Try a Hair Dryer or Warmth Weapon
When your pipes are virtually freezing, your reliable hair dryer or warmth weapon is a godsend. Bowling warm air directly right into them may help if the warm towels do not assist dislodge any settling ice in your pipes. Do not make use of various other items that produce direct flames like an impact lantern. This can lead to a larger calamity that you can not regulate. You may wind up destructive your pipes while attempting to melt the ice. And over time, you may even end up melting your residence. Beware!
Shut down Water When Pipes are Frozen
If you observe that your pipelines are completely icy or practically nearing that stage, turn off the major water valve right away. You will typically discover this in your basement or utility room near the heating system or the front wall closest to the street. Turn it off as soon as possible to avoid more damages.
Do not forget to shut outside water resources, as well, such as your hookup for the yard house. Doing this will stop additional water from filling out your plumbing system. Regrettably, with more water, more ice will accumulate, which will at some point bring about rupture pipes. It is best to call a specialist plumber for an evaluation if you are unsure regarding the state of your pipelines this winter. Taking this positive approach can save you thousands of bucks in repairs.
All property owners that live in pleasant climates need to do their best to winterize their pipelines. Failing to do so can spell disaster like icy, broken, or burst pipes. If the hot towels do not assist remove any type of working out ice in your pipelines, bowling hot air directly into them might assist. Turn off the major water valve quickly if you see that your pipes are completely frozen or nearly nearing that phase. With even more water, even more ice will certainly stack up, which will at some point lead to rupture pipelines.
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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