Winter is a magically beautiful season, but it might not be the favorite for your plumbing. In order to protect your home from the impact of harsh and cold elements, you should ensure that you winter-proof your plumbing.
“Winter-proofing”, or winterizing, refers to the preparation of your pipes, plumbing, and other home fixtures to ensure that they are not impacted by the freezing temperatures. Making your home weather-resistant can be extremely beneficial, as it extends the lifespan of appliances and fixtures in your home, prevents expensive repairs, and keeps your home safe and comfortable.
1. Space Heaters
A helpful way to keep your home comfortable and ensure your pipes don’t freeze is to safely place space heaters around your home. Some areas, like laundry rooms, garages, closets, or basements, may be more prone to freezing, running the risk of frozen pipes and bursting. Even small space heaters can do the trick to provide warmth and winter-proof the room.
2. Know How To Shut Off Water
Though hopefully you won’t need to use the information, it’s best to be prepared in case of an emergency, like frozen pipes. You should ensure you know where to locate the main water shutoff valve. If any pipes freeze, you will need to immediately shut off the water to prevent bursting and damage.
3. Disconnect Outdoor Hoses
Unless you have insulated faucet covers, you should disconnect and fully drain any outdoor hoses. If water sits in the hose in freezing conditions, it could not only ruin the hose but the pipes. A helpful way to winter-proof your pipes and ensure your hose is in working condition by springtime is by disconnecting them during the winter. You will also want to put covers over any faucets or garden spigots to protect them from the frost.
4. Seal Gaps
If there are any gaps around pipes entering your homes, this could let in drafts. Drafts will not only make your home cold and unnecessarily increase your heating bill, but the cold air can lead the pipes to freeze. To winter-proof these areas, fill in any gaps with caulking or spray foam to ensure that the area is sealed.
5. Let Faucets Drip
Any faucets that have exposed outdoor pipes are more likely to freeze, causing bursting that will need expensive repairs. To winter-proof these faucets, it’s best to allow a small amount of water to drip through; running water can help prevent freezing.
Turn the handle the slightest bit to allow for a couple drops of water to come through every minute while the faucet is not actively in use. This is also a helpful trick for when you know you will be gone for multiple days and can’t monitor the pipes for freezing.
6. Insulate Pipes
A helpful and effective way to winter-proof your home is by insulating your pipes, especially those that are exposed to the elements or in freezing temperatures. By wrapping the plumbing in foam insulation, heat tape, or heating cables, you can keep the pipes warm enough to minimize freezing and give yourself peace of mind when the temperature drops.
7. Keep Heat On
Though most people crank up the heater during winter months anyways, this is actually a great winter-proofing technique. If the interior temperature of a home gets too cold, then this can cause even the inside pipes to freeze.
Some families will lower the internal temperature of their home while they are on vacation to lower their utility bills. But keeping your indoor temperature above 55°F (13°C) and opening up cabinets for circulation will prevent the risk of coming home to an unpleasant plumbing situation.
Plumbing Maintenance
Though these are all effective ways to DIY a winter-proofed home, you may sometimes need to call professional plumbing services. Regular maintenance, emergency repairs, and more personalized advice is always available from our 24 hour plumbers at S&B Plumbing. We specialize in providing excellent plumbing services that help keep your home in tip-top shape, even throughout the cold winter months.
If you have frozen pipes, pipe bursting, or need help maintaining your plumbing in the winter, don’t wait! Give us a call at (385) 339-0315 or fill out our contact form.
