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All house owners that stay in warm environments have to do their finest to winterize their pipes. It is something you need to do throughout autumn before deep winter season truly begins. Failing to do so can lead to disaster like frozen, broken, or burst pipelines. Here are some useful winterizing hacks to maintain your plumbing system secured even if the weather condition exterior is frightful.
Attempt a Hair Dryer or Warm Weapon
When your pipelines are practically freezing, your trusty hair clothes dryer or warm gun is a blessing. If the hot towels do not aid dislodge any kind of resolving ice in your pipes, bowling hot air straight into them might help. You might end up destructive your pipes while attempting to thaw the ice.
Open Up Cabinet Doors Hiding Plumbing
When it's chilly outside, it would certainly be practical to open cupboard doors that are concealing your pipelines. Doing this tiny method can keep your pipes cozy as well as limit the potentially unsafe end results of freezing temperatures.
Take Some Time to Cover Exposed Pipes
One cool as well as very easy hack to warm up icy pipes is to wrap them with cozy towels. You can likewise utilize pre-soaked towels in warm water, simply don't neglect to use safety handwear covers to secure your hands from the warm.
Switch on the Faucets
When the temperature drops as well as it seems as if the icy temperature will certainly last, it will certainly help to transform on your water both inside and outdoors. This will certainly maintain the water flowing through your plumbing systems. You'll finish up wasting gallons of water this means.
Shut down Water When Pipes are Frozen
Turn off the primary water shutoff promptly if you notice that your pipelines are completely frozen or practically nearing that stage. You will generally locate this in your cellar or laundry room near the heating unit or the front wall closest to the street. Transform it off immediately to stop additional damages.
Do not fail to remember to close exterior water resources, too, such as your hookup for the yard house. Doing this will certainly prevent added water from filling your plumbing system. With even more water, more ice will certainly pile up, which will at some point lead to rupture pipes. It is best to call a professional plumber for an assessment if you are not sure about the state of your pipes this winter. Taking this proactive approach can save you hundreds of bucks in repairs.
All house owners that live in temperate climates have to do their best to winterize their pipelines. Failure to do so can mean disaster like icy, broken, or burst pipelines. If the warm towels do not help displace any type of working out ice in your pipelines, bowling hot air straight into them might help. Turn off the major water shutoff quickly if you observe that your pipelines are totally icy or nearly nearing that phase. With even more water, more ice will pile up, which will eventually lead to break 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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