Preventing Frozen Pipes

Seasonal weather changes can affect the plumbing in your home. Depending on where you live, as the weather gets cold, you may have to deal with the issue of frozen pipes. This issue is not a problem exclusive to cold climates! In fact, if you live in Toronto, for example, and your pipes freeze too often, you should probably contact a service for plumbing in Toronto because there might be something wrong with your plumbing. It is interesting to know that most often frozen pipes turn into big problems in areas where the weather is usually not very cold. A drastic dropping of the temperature makes the chances of having to deal with this problem pretty high. If you are expecting such weather changes where you live, it might be a good idea for you to prepare your pipes. There are three areas that you need to pay attention to: inside your home, outside, and the areas which are easy to forget about like the garage or the attic.

Warm Home

Keep your home warm. Especially if you are going to leave, it would be a bad idea to turn off the heat completely. Also, keep the cabinet doors open. The pipes are usually located in cabinets and the circulation of the warm weather around them will prevent freezing. It might also help if you allow the faucets to drip a bit. If the water in pipes is not moving at all, chances are that it will freeze in cold weather. Allowing the faucets to drip will let the water move around a bit and will prevent the bursting of the pipes by reducing pressure.

Outside

As for the outside area of your home, the yard for example, it would be best if you turn off the water supply and let the taps drain completely. Extra insulation would be a good idea if you have exposed external pipework. You can use wool pipe insulation or pipe wrap insulation tape for example. Also, make sure that you know how to shut off the master water valve. If any of your pipes freeze or burst you need to shut off the water supply until the issue is fixed. Make sure that you don’t leave any doors or windows open in your garage or attic. Especially if there are water supply lines in your garage, that can turn into a big problem. Extra insulation is also a good idea in these areas which Nutech Plumbing is here to do.