When the temperatures drop, pipes can freeze and break, resulting in significant Water Damage inside your home.
The good news is that there are things you can do right now to prevent your pipes from freezing!
If your pipes have already frozen, here are some tips for properly and safely thawing them!
Tips to prevent your pipes from freezing tonight
Are temperatures dropping tonight and you’re concerned that your pipes may freeze? Even if your walls are well insulated, these Northeastern PA winters can be harsh and temperatures can drop into the negatives overnight. Here are some steps you can take right now to prevent waking up to frozen pipes in the morning!
• Leave cabinet doors open to allow heat to better reach plumbing under sinks in kitchens and bathrooms.
• Set faucets to run at a trickle overnight, as moving water is much less likely to freeze. As hot water will also cool and freeze, it’s important to turn both on.
• Turn up heat in your home to reduce the extent at which the cold will be able to penetrate wall cavities.
• Wrap exposed water pipes with pipe insulation or heat tape. Heat tape in particularly is a phenomenal product that can keep pipes warm in areas with limited natural heat (such as crawlspaces).
Home renovations that will prevent frozen pipes
Are you planning a home remodel and would like to take some steps to prevent dealing with frozen pipes in the future? Here are some ideas that you may want to consider:
• Do you have plumbing in exterior walls (particularly corners), unheated crawlspaces, or garages? A remodel is an ideal time to relocate this plumbing so that it’s less susceptible to the cold temperatures outside!
• Upgrade your water supply lines to PEX. A flexible polyethylene tube used in plumbing applications, PEX is much more durable than copper pipes and will generally stretch rather than break. PEX is a phenomenal product that dramatically reduces the likelihood of damage should your water supply lines freeze.
• Better insulate areas around pipes and where cold air may be getting in. You can also install pipe insulation on pipes to prevent them from getting cold enough to freeze.
We certainly hope that you don’t experience water damage as a result of frozen pipes this winter. If you do however, please don’t hesitate to Contact your local Disaster Blaster offices, we’re happy to help!
Interested in older news stories? Please see our Archive.
