Frozen pipes are every homeowner’s worst nightmare for many big reasons. They have the potential to wreak havoc on your entire plumbing system, which could end up costing you thousands of dollars in damages.
Either way, it’s something that can (and should!) be avoided by „winterizing“ your home’s plumbing before the coldest days arrive.
In this article, we’ll provide some tips and tricks on how to prepare your pipes for the extreme weather conditions during the winter season.
So, without any further ado, let’s get right to the bottom of it!
1. Insulate Your Pipes
The simplest way to protect your pipes from freezing temperatures is by investing in a couple of insulation tubes. These are very simple to install and also quite affordable, which makes them one of our favorite solutions for winter-related plumbing issues to date.
You should try to insulate every pipe in your home, but also prioritize those placed in unheated areas such as your basement or attic. It’s a simple fix that could possibly save you hundreds of dollars by preventing a frozen disaster in your home.
Additionally, if some of your pipes were frozen last winter, make sure you pay extra attention to them this year around. This includes wrapping them up in heat tape before purchasing insulation tubes, for example.
2. Your Garden Hoses Shouldn’t Be Connected to a Faucet
If you leave your hoses outside during the freezing temperatures, they will most certainly freeze. If the ice builds up to your faucet, your pipes could be in some trouble. The easiest way to prevent this from happening is to simply unattach all of your hoses from your faucets and store them in a safe place. You should do this as soon as you notice the weather is getting extremely cold, as it can prevent potential damage to your pipes and your hoses.
It’s one of the easiest things you can do to protect your plumbing when the temperatures reach the below-zero mark, so don’t forget about it!
3. Shut Off the Water if You’re Going Away for a Couple of Days
If you decide to go away on a Christmas trip and leave your home unattended for a couple of days, the best thing you can do for your plumbing is to shut off the water supply. In this way, if your pipes do end up freezing, there will be much less damage to deal with.
Of course, this doesn’t mean you should shut off the water every time you leave the house. It’s for when you’re going to be away for a longer time period that this should be done.
4. Inspect Your Pipes Regularly
The quickest way to fix a frozen pipe before it has lead to catastrophic consequences is to call professional plumbers to the rescue. In order to do so, you’ll need to notice the issue as soon as it arises. So, inspecting your pipes on a regular basis is of the utmost importance.
All of this especially goes for those parts of your plumbing system that are positioned in unheated areas of your home. We’ve already mentioned your basement and attic, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have any other parts of your house to be worried about. Make sure you pay attention to every pipe inside of your home, just to be safe.
5. Have Your Plumbers on Speed Dial
As noted by LPGS, your plumbers should be available to you at all times of the day. The plumbing services of your choice should be licensed, experienced, and close to your home in order for you to be able to rely on them.
Keep the plumber of your choice on speed dial in case of an emergency during the winter. As we’ve already mentioned before, plumbing issues are best resolved quickly – as soon as you notice any malfunctions in your system.
6. Keep Your Home Warm
Keeping your home warm is key to a healthy plumbing system. We’re not saying you should go wild with your electricity bill this winter, but putting in the effort to bring some heat to otherwise unheated areas of your home certainly does help.
Apart from that, make sure you’ve fixed any cracks in your walls before the winter arrives. It’s not only going to help you prevent the issue of your pipes bursting due to the low temperatures, but it’s also going to lower your electricity bills in a major way.
7. Check for Leaks
When it comes to frozen pipes, prevention is simply better than cure. Make sure none of your pipes are leaking before the temperatures go down. That small leak could lead to your pipes freezing and eventually bursting under the pressure.
You should get a professional to inspect your entire plumbing system in the Autumn, just to ensure you’re prepared for what’s coming. Fix everything you can in time, and you’ll certainly see better results this winter.
8. Keep Your Cabinet Doors Open
Allowing your pipes to receive some heat during the coldest days of the year is of the utmost importance. It’s why many experts recommend keeping your kitchen cabinets open to let warm air reach your plumbing when the outside temperatures are below freezing.
If you’ve already had some issues with your kitchen’s plumbing, you could also get a portable heater to warm up your cabinets even further. Even though this might feel a bit excessive, as we’ve already mentioned before, prevention is much better (and cheaper) than cure in this particular instance.
The Bottom Line
Preparing your plumbing for the winter season can be a daunting task. There are many things you’ll need to think about, many of which will require professional assistance. However, as long as you put some effort into winterizing your system by following the tips we’ve provided above, there hopefully won’t be anything to worry about at all!
Either way, we hope you’ve found our article to be interesting and useful, and we wish you the best of luck in all of your future endeavors.
