Preventing Frozen Pipes

Keeping your pipes from freezing during the upcoming winter should be high in your list of priorities when it comes to home maintenance tasks for this season. If your pipes freeze, there’s a good chance that they may burst. This happens because when the water remaining inside of the pipe freezes, it will expand inside of the pipe, which in turn can cause the pipe to crack or break.

When a frozen pipe bursts, it can cause several problems. First of all, you’ll have issues getting water throughout your home. Secondly, a burst pipe can result in serious water damage.

How to Protect Your Pipes From Freezing

The following are a few tips that you should follow to help prevent your pipes from freezing this winter:

• Insulate your pipes – Pipes that aren’t hidden in the walls are exposed to cold air, which can be an issue if they are located in areas of the home that aren’t typically heated, like the basement. While you can attempt to insulate your pipes on your own to help keep cold air from penetrating the pipes and freezing any water within them, a professional will be able to do so more effectively.
• Insulate your walls – If your home isn’t properly insulated, then heat is going to escape while cold air will be able to penetrate your walls more easily. By ensuring that your walls are properly insulated, you’ll reduce the risk of cold air reaching the pipes within your walls.
• Keep your heat on – If the heat in your home remains on, then the air will never drop to a temperature in which your pipes freezing becomes an actual risk. While this won’t be that difficult to do when you’re at home (odds are you’re going to use the heat when temperatures drop to freezing levels), you may not think about this if you go out of town for an extended period of time, such as on winter vacation. Make sure that you leave the heat on so that the temperature in your home remains roughly around 50 to 55 degrees Fahrenheit. This will ensure that your pipes won’t freeze but also that you don’t waste too much energy heating an empty house.
• Turn your water off – If you know that you’re going to be out of town for a while during the winter and you don’t want to leave your heat on, then one option is to turn off the main water valve. While this won’t prevent your pipes from freezing over (there will always be a little water left in the pipes that can be frozen, after all), it will prevent potential water damage if a pipe does freeze and break.

These are a few of the tips that you should follow in order to prevent your pipes from freezing and bursting during the winter months.