When the cold winter weather starts to come back around, it's important to properly prepare your home. While you may be thinking about getting a roof inspection and pulling out your snow plow, you don't want to just stop there. There are various things that you want to do to help ensure that your pipes don't freeze up this winter season.

What Happens When Pipes Freeze Up?

Unfortunately, if your piping becomes exposed to extremely cold weather, the water inside can start to freeze up. When water freezes, it actually expands. This causes the ice to push out on your water lines and can result in major distortions. In some cases, this can cause cracking of the pipe. Once the temperature increases and the ice unfreezes, all of that water can come pouring out of your pipe. This can create an extensive amount of damage to your home.

Insulate

By far, one of the best things that you can do to help prevent your pipes from freezing is to insulate them. There are many different types of insulation materials that you can choose from. A very common option is to go with a styrofoam sleeve that simply slips over the pipe, as these are very affordable and easy to install. In locations where you're unable to physically put an insulation sleeve over the pipe, try to use spray foam to help provide adequate insulation to that location.

Turn Off Water Outside

If you're like most homeowners, you likely have multiple areas outside your home where you run water during the summer months. Unfortunately, anywhere that piping can come into contact with the outside air is going to be more susceptible to freezing. This is why it's so important that you shut off water going to those outdoor locations during the winter months. Most modern-day shut-off valves will have a bleeder that will allow you to drain the water from the pipe so that it can be completely empty during the winter season. If your shut-off valve doesn't have a bleeder on it, you'll want to open the faucet outside for optimal protection of your indoor line. By opening up the faucet, the ice will push out of it and prevent the pipe from expanding and distorting.

Install Heat Cables

If you have water lines going to an unheated area of your home, it's important to provide heat to your piping. For example, let's say that you have a water supply line going to a sink in your unheated garage. You don't want to shut off the water supply because you use the sink on a regular basis. What you can do is install a heat cable. This uses a thermostat connected to a cable that emits heat powered by electricity. Whenever the thermostat senses that the temperature is getting too cold, it will turn the cable on to produce heat to keep the water in your piping from freezing.

Run Your Heating System

One of the best ways to help keep the pipes inside of your home from freezing up is simply to run your heating system. When there is enough hot air circulating in your home, the pipes will remain warm. You may be tempted to turn off your heating system completely when you know that you're going to be away from home for days or even weeks. Avoid doing so as this can drastically increase your risk of experiencing a frozen pipe. Instead, opt for setting the temperature on your thermostat to 55 degrees Fahrenheit or higher.

Open Up Enclosed Areas

If you're going to be leaving your thermostat at a lower temperature when you're away, be sure to open up any enclosed areas that have piping in them. For example, open the cabinet doors underneath your kitchen or bathroom sinks. You may even want to consider taking the access panels to your shower valves off so that hot air can still flow through those locations. This tip can be particularly helpful when temperatures outside dip very low and your heating system is struggling to keep up with your heating demands.

How to Handle a Frozen Pipe

Whether your heating system stopped working or you forgot about one of your pipes in an unheated area, you may have to deal with a frozen pipe from time to time. Understanding how to handle this particular issue can help to minimize the amount of damage that happens to your home. The very first thing you want to do is assess the situation. Take a look at the piping and determine what areas are frozen. If you have multiple frozen areas, then you want to shut off the main water supply valve. If just one section of piping is frozen, opt for shutting off the supply valve in that location. This will help to prevent any fresh water from flowing to the frozen area whenever the water thaws. This can be especially helpful if there is a leak in the location, as it will stop a massive amount of water from coming out. Be sure to open up the faucet or whatever plumbing fixture is further down the line from where the frozen section is. As the water starts to unfreeze, it can push the water out of the faucet and minimize the amount that may come out of the leak. The next thing you want to do is assess the pipe to see if there is any cracking or leaks that are visible. If so, opt for putting a bucket underneath the location to catch any potential water that may leak out once the ice unfreezes. You can speed up the thawing process by applying heat to the frozen location. It's very important that you don't heat up the pipe too much, as you could cause permanent damage to it. Don't use any heating device that has an open flame as it will be too hot. Instead, opt for a more passive device like a space heater or blow dryer. As the ice starts to unfreeze, the water should start moving through your faucet. If there is a visible leak in your line, it's best to have a plumbing professional come out and repair it. If you happen to notice any sort of distortion of the piping, even if there isn't a leak, it's best to have a plumber come out and replace it to prevent a future leak from occurring. When turning on the water supply valve, do so slowly to prevent a massive amount of water pressure from surging through the line. This will also allow you to quickly shut it off in the event that there's a burst in the line.

Trustworthy Plumbing Repair Service

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