Clever Winterizing Solutions: A Few Techniques to Stop Pipe Bursts
Clever Winterizing Solutions: A Few Techniques to Stop Pipe Bursts
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How do you feel about Winterizing Your Pipes?
All homeowners that live in pleasant climates have to do their best to winterize their pipelines. It is something you have to do throughout autumn prior to deep winter season absolutely begins. Failure to do so can spell disaster like icy, cracked, or ruptured pipelines. Here are some convenient winterizing hacks to keep your plumbing system secured even if the weather exterior is shocking.
Try a Hair Clothes Dryer or Heat Gun
When your pipelines are virtually freezing, your reliable hair dryer or warm weapon is a blessing. If the warm towels do not assist displace any kind of resolving ice in your pipes, bowling hot air straight right into them may aid. However, do not use other items that create direct flames like a strike torch. This can cause a bigger catastrophe that you can not manage. You might end up destructive your pipelines while trying to thaw the ice. And also in the long run, you might even end up melting your home. Be cautious!
Open Up Closet Doors Hiding Plumbing
When it's cool outside, it would certainly be helpful to open cabinet doors that are camouflaging your pipes. They might be somewhere in your cooking area or bathroom. This will allow the warm air from your heating system to flow there. Because of this, you stop these subjected pipes from cold. Doing this small method can keep your pipelines warm and limit the potentially hazardous end results of freezing temperature levels.
Take Some Time to Cover Exposed Water Lines
One clever as well as very easy hack to warm up frigid pipelines is to wrap them with warm towels. You can additionally use pre-soaked towels in warm water, simply do not neglect to put on safety gloves to protect your hands from the warmth.
Switch on the Faucets
When the temperature level decreases as well as it seems as if the freezing temperature level will certainly last, it will assist to turn on your water both inside as well as outdoors. This will certainly maintain the water streaming via your plumbing systems. Additionally, the activity will decrease the cold procedure. Significantly, there's no demand to turn it on full blast. You'll end up wasting gallons of water by doing this. Instead, go for regarding 5 declines per minute.
Turn off Water When Pipelines are Frozen
Shut off the primary water shutoff instantly if you observe that your pipelines are totally icy or practically nearing that stage. You will usually discover this in your basement or utility room near the heating unit or the front wall surface closest to the street. Turn it off immediately to prevent more damages.
Do not forget to close exterior water resources, also, such as your hookup for the garden residence. Doing this will certainly stop added water from filling your plumbing system. Regrettably, with even more water, more ice will certainly accumulate, which will ultimately lead to rupture pipes. If you are unclear regarding the state of your pipes this winter months, it is best to call a specialist plumber for an examination. Taking this proactive method can save you countless bucks out of commission.
All house owners who live in warm environments need to do their best to winterize their pipelines. Failing to do so can spell catastrophe like icy, split, or burst pipes. If the warm towels do not assist remove any resolving ice in your pipes, bowling hot air directly into them may aid. Turn off the major water shutoff quickly if you notice that your pipes are completely frozen or practically nearing that stage. With more water, more ice will stack up, which will eventually 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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