Mastering Pipe Winterization: 5 Key Hacks to Use in Frigid Temperatures
Mastering Pipe Winterization: 5 Key Hacks to Use in Frigid Temperatures
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Are you on the lookout for selective information on Winterizing Your Pipes?
All property owners who live in pleasant climates should do their ideal to winterize their pipes. Failure to do so can lead to catastrophe like icy, cracked, or burst pipes.
Attempt a Hair Clothes Dryer or Warm Weapon
When your pipes are nearly freezing, your dependable hair dryer or warm weapon is a godsend. Bowling hot air straight right into them might help if the hot towels do not aid dislodge any working out ice in your pipes. Nonetheless, do not make use of other things that generate straight fires like an impact lantern. This can cause a bigger disaster that you can not manage. You might wind up damaging your pipelines while trying to thaw the ice. And also over time, you may even wind up melting your home. So be careful!
Open Cabinet Doors Hiding Plumbing
It would be valuable to open cabinet doors that are camouflaging your pipes when it's cold outside. They might be somewhere in your kitchen area or restroom. This will enable the cozy air from your heating system to flow there. Therefore, you protect against these subjected pipes from cold. Doing this little technique can keep your pipelines cozy as well as restrict the potentially hazardous results of freezing temperatures.
Take Time to Wrap Exposed Pipeline
One awesome and also very easy hack to heat up frigid pipelines is to cover them with warm towels. You can likewise make use of pre-soaked towels in hot water, simply do not forget to use safety gloves to safeguard your hands from the warm.
Activate the Faucets
When the temperature level drops as well as it appears as if the cold temperature will last, it will help to turn on your water both inside and outdoors. This will maintain the water moving through your plumbing systems. You'll end up squandering gallons of water this means.
Shut down Water When Pipelines are Frozen
If you observe that your pipelines are entirely icy or almost nearing that stage, turn off the main water valve right away. You will generally locate this in your cellar or laundry room near the heating system or the front wall closest to the street. Turn it off right now to avoid additional damages.
With even more water, more ice will certainly stack up, which will ultimately lead to burst pipelines. If you are not sure concerning the state of your pipelines this winter season, it is best to call a specialist plumber for an examination.
All property owners who live in pleasant climates must do their best to winterize their pipelines. Failure to do so can spell calamity like icy, cracked, or ruptured pipes. If the warm towels do not assist dislodge any kind of clearing up ice in your pipes, bowling warm air straight right into them may aid. Turn off the major water valve immediately if you observe that your pipes are entirely frozen or virtually nearing that stage. With even more water, more ice will certainly pile up, which will at some point lead to burst 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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