How to avoid frozen pipes?
Frozen pipes?
With the temperatures dropping it is an evident fact that pipes might start to freeze and possibly start to burst.
There are many ways to avoid frozen pipes, or even many ways to de frost them if they have already become frozen.
Any pipes that are exposed, and running through the house against the outside wall where there is no insulation, you should go out an purchase the insulation that is made to go over the cooper pipe perfectly without any extra to keep the pipe insulated and protected in these dropping temperatures.
If you are like most people you will have a hose hook up in your backyard that leads into your house under a sink. The pipe under the sink should have a valve that can be shut off. Shut that valve off and remove the hose off the pipe outside while leaving that valve open to let any extra water drip out. By doing this it will prevent the pipes that are running to the hose outside from bursting because no water is left there to expand and burst.
Another option to help avoid the pipes form freezing is to leave the faucets open about a ¼ of the way so the water is always moving. This is a great technique to avoid pipes from freezing especially during a power outage when there is no heat in the house. Keeping the faucet open a little will keep the eater moving at a slow pace preventing it from sitting still and reducing the risk of it freezing or at least the amount of time to freeze will take a lot longer.
A preventive option when traveling or a power outage for a period of time or even a day or two, could be to shut off the main valve of water supply then turning on the faucets to let all the water in the pipes drain. By doing this when you are not going to home or have a power outage leaves no water in the pipes avoiding the worries about the water that is sitting freezing or possibly making the pipes burst.
If there is a power outage you should also consider draining your water heater tank. By draining this you are avoiding doing damage to the inside of the water heater which could cost a huge amount of damage to the tank and you wallet.
Lastly if the pipes are already frozen, either no water is coming out of the faucets or very low water pressure could signal that the pipes are frozen. Ways to fix the problem is if you could locate where the frozen pipe is to wrap it with an electric heat wrap and de frost the pipe, another way is a hair dryer and try to defrost that portion of the pipe. If there is a little water pressure let the faucet run and once the full pressure is restored while trying to defrost the pipe, you know the pipe has be defrosted.
If there is no way of finding the problem, there is no water pressure and there is no way to defrost the portion that is frozen contact a licensed technician that could help.
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