5 Easy Ways to Prevent Frozen Pipes

With the temperatures dropping, it’s a good time to finish some last-minute winterizing around your home, especially in regards to your pipes. Winter weather can be very hard on your home’s plumbing. When water freezes and expands, it puts a great deal of pressure on your plastic, and even metal plumbing pipes. No matter the strength of the material, expanding water can cause pipes to break. Burst water pipes can cause thousands of dollars of damage when water soaks walls, ceilings, and floors.

Don’t let little things cause big problems with your home’s plumbing. Learn how to weather the cold weather with these tips to prevent frozen pipes.

Unhook Outdoor Hoses

The summertime garden hose is easy to overlook doing anything with, in the winter. However, it is very important to disconnect your water hoses from the exterior faucets, as well as insure that those faucets are completely off in the winter. If this is left unattended, and there is even a small amount of water in the pipe by the faucet, it will quickly freeze. Ice can damage both your faucet and pipe. Unhooking the hose is an easy thing to do to prevent potentially costly repairs.

Turn Off Isolation Valve

Most outdoor faucets are connected to an insolation or shut-off value in your home. This valve controls the flow of water to the outdoor faucet. Usually, the shut-off valve is located in the basement, crawl space, or utility room. If your exterior faucets have cut-off valves, close them. Then drain your pipes by turning the faucet on to get any remaining water out, and then turn them back off. Now your pipes are free of water and potential freezing.

Insulate Pipes

If your exterior pipes do not however, have a cut-off valve, you can insulate these exposed pipes with foam faucet covers. Any pipes that are located in unheated garages, crawl spaces, and unheated attics, are vulnerable to freezing and are important to protect. Insulating the pipes is an easy way to do so.

Close Foundation Vents

Even if you prepare your pipes for winter, a bitter cold night can make anyone’s pipes freeze and burst. While you hope that the leak can be easily fixed, more often than not, a ruptured water pipe leads to serious and expensive damage. Another easy thing to do to help prevent your pipes from freezing is to simply close your foundation vents. This will keep some of that bitter cold out of your crawlspace.

Leave The Heat On

If you plan on leaving your home during the winter, make sure you leave your heat on while you’re away. Keep your thermostat in the daytime setting during the night. If you want to at least turn the thermostat down while you’re away, always keep it set above 55° F.

Repairing Frozen Pipes

When in doubt, consult a Plumber. If you think your pipes may have already frozen, you need immediate help to avoid the pipe bursting and leading to more costly damage.

Contact Plumber Near Me for 24/7 service to handle your frozen pipe problems. We can provide a complete inspection to diagnose the issue and offer pipe replacements and repairs as needed.

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