Our Top Winterizing Techniques: Five Ways to Secure Pipe Bursts
Our Top Winterizing Techniques: Five Ways to Secure Pipe Bursts
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What are your insights and beliefs on Prevent Freezing and Bursting Pipes?
All house owners who live in pleasant climates have to do their ideal to winterize their pipes. Failure to do so can lead to catastrophe like icy, fractured, or ruptured pipelines.
Try a Hair Clothes Dryer or Heat Gun
When your pipes are nearly freezing, your dependable hair dryer or heat gun is a godsend. If the warm towels do not assist displace any kind of settling ice in your pipes, bowling hot air directly right into them might aid. You might finish up harmful your pipes while trying to melt the ice.
Open Up Closet Doors Hiding Plumbing
It would certainly be valuable to open cupboard doors that are masking your pipes when it's cold outside. They could be someplace in your kitchen area or bathroom. This will certainly allow the warm air from your heater to distribute there. As a result, you protect against these exposed pipelines from cold. Doing this small technique can keep your pipelines cozy and also restrict the potentially harmful end results of freezing temperature levels.
Require Time to Cover Exposed Water Lines
One simple as well as cool hack to warm up frigid pipelines is to cover them with warm towels. You can cover them first with towels. After safeguarding them in place, you can pour boiling water on the towels. Do it gradually to allow the towels soak up the liquid. You can additionally make use of pre-soaked towels in hot water, just do not forget to use protective handwear covers to safeguard your hands from the warm.
Activate the Faucets
When the temperature level drops and it seems as if the freezing temperature will last, it will aid to turn on your water both indoors and also outdoors. This will keep the water moving with your plumbing systems. On top of that, the movement will slow down the cold process. Significantly, there's no need to transform it on full blast. You'll wind up throwing away gallons of water in this manner. Instead, aim for concerning 5 decreases per minute.
Shut down Water When Pipes are Frozen
Turn off the major water shutoff promptly if you notice that your pipes are totally icy or almost nearing that stage. You will usually discover this in your cellar or laundry room near the heating unit or the front wall surface closest to the street. Transform it off today to prevent additional damages.
Don't neglect to shut outside water sources, too, such as your connection for the yard home. Doing this will protect against added water from filling your plumbing system. Regrettably, with more water, even more ice will accumulate, which will at some point result in burst pipelines. If you are not sure about the state of your pipelines this wintertime, it is best to call a professional plumber for an evaluation. Taking this positive method can conserve you countless dollars out of commission.
All home owners that live in pleasant climates must do their finest to winterize their pipelines. Failing to do so can lead to catastrophe like frozen, fractured, or ruptured pipes. If the hot towels do not assist displace any type of clearing up ice in your pipes, bowling warm air directly into them may aid. Turn off the major water valve instantly if you see that your pipes are completely icy or almost nearing that stage. With even more water, even more ice will certainly pile up, which will ultimately 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/
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