Have you been looking for ideas about Winterizing Your Pipes?
All house owners who stay in temperate environments should do their best to winterize their pipelines. It is something you should do throughout autumn prior to deep winter months really starts. Failing to do so can lead to catastrophe like icy, split, or burst pipes. If the climate outside is frightful, below are some useful winterizing hacks to keep your plumbing system safeguarded also.
Attempt a Hair Clothes Dryer or Heat Gun
When your pipelines are virtually freezing, your trusty hair dryer or warm gun is a godsend. If the hot towels do not aid dislodge any kind of working out ice in your pipes, bowling warm air directly into them may aid. You might end up damaging your pipes while attempting to thaw the ice.
Open Cupboard Doors Hiding Plumbing
When it's cold outside, it would be valuable to open cabinet doors that are camouflaging your pipes. Doing this little method can keep your pipelines cozy as well as limit the potentially harmful results of freezing temperatures.
Require Time to Wrap Exposed Pipeline
One easy and also nifty hack to heat up cold pipes is to cover them with warm towels. You can additionally utilize pre-soaked towels in hot water, simply don't fail to remember to wear safety gloves to guard your hands from the warm.
Turn On the Faucets
When the temperature declines and it appears as if the freezing temperature level will last, it will assist to transform on your water both indoors and also outdoors. This will certainly keep the water moving through your plumbing systems. You'll end up wasting gallons of water this means.
When Pipelines are Frozen, close Off Water
If you notice that your pipes are totally icy or almost nearing that phase, turn off the primary water shutoff instantly. You will normally find this in your basement or laundry room near the heating unit or the front wall surface closest to the street. Transform it off right now to stop more damages.
Don't forget to close outside water resources, also, such as your connection for the yard house. Doing this will avoid added water from filling out your plumbing system. With even more water, even more ice will certainly stack up, which will ultimately lead to burst pipelines. It is best to call a specialist plumber for an inspection if you are unsure concerning the state of your pipes this winter. Taking this positive strategy can save you hundreds of bucks in repairs.
All home owners that live in temperate environments have to do their ideal to winterize their pipes. Failure to do so can spell catastrophe like frozen, cracked, or ruptured pipelines. If the hot towels do not help displace any settling ice in your pipes, bowling warm air directly into them may aid. Turn off the main water shutoff right away if you discover that your pipelines are entirely frozen or virtually nearing that phase. With more water, more ice will stack up, which will eventually 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.
https://www.stinenichols.com/kansas-city/planning-ahead-for-winter-plumbing/
As a reader about Prevent Freezing and Bursting Pipes, I figured sharing that excerpt was essential. If you appreciated our article if you please be sure to pass it around. We cherish reading our article about How to Prevent Frozen Pipes.
About