8 Tips to Prevent a Pipe Freeze in Winter Season
A pipe freeze is nothing a homeowner wants to experience. Winter season can bring relief from the Houston heat, but what happens to our pipes when it freezes here? The cold weather brings with it a multitude of potential plumbing problems into your homes. Frigid morning showers, frozen or cracked pipes, broken radiators, flooding, and leaks are just a few of the common plumbing issues around this time.
Lucky for us, there are preventive measures you could adopt minimize a pipe freeze. TDT Plumbing is sharing these maintenance tips to keep your plumbing system hassle-free in the winter months.
Water expands when it freezes. A pipe freeze can split the pipe and flood your home. Luckily, you can find a way to help anticipate a freeze and the potential for pipe breaks.
- Disconnect hoses – A hose forgot about in cold weather can freeze. Frozen water in the spigot can cause the pipes to freeze and inevitably break. Remove all hoses from their faucets, channel them and store them for the winter.
- Shut off outside fixtures – When leaving home for more than a day, it is recommended to turn off your water supply at the shut-off valve. Run your water for a few minutes from the kitchen to remove water from pipes. In case freezing temperatures happen while you are gone, you have peace of mind knowing that your pipes are protected.
- Leave your faucets open with a slow drip – A drip is ok for an overnight freeze, but not the right long-term solution. Moving water won’t freeze as easily; however, leaving the water to drip for days can add to your water bill. Again, for long-term out of town trips during the winter, turning the water off at the source is the best solution.
- Turn up the thermostat – If you live in an older home constructed over an uninsulated crawl space, this isn’t the time to worry about your light bill. Turn up your thermostat to increase the air temperature in the crawlspace by projecting heat energy through the floor into the space. Be sure the area is insulated and air sealed.
- Turn off your ice maker – Turning off your icemaker so it doesn’t continue to make ice is also a good idea for long stays away from home. Regardless of whether the ice receptacle is full, the ice will dissipate, and the ice maker will attempt to make more.
- Insulate your garage door opening – On the off chance that you have water lines in the garage, these lines would also require insulation.
- Open kitchen and bath cabinet doors – Plumbing to a kitchen or bath sink on an exterior wall can be vulnerable because the wall is not insulated. One solution is to open the cabinet doors along that wall to project heat into the space, which is also a good thing to do when you are leaving town for a few days.
- Insulate pipes – If you have pipes in an unheated space, insulating them is a good idea. Put foam covers over outdoor spigots. Insulate water pipes with foam pipe insulation. You can find these materials at your local home and garden store.
If your home has PEX Piping, it is less susceptible to freezing, but will have problems with high heat. The best way to winterize your home is to contact a professional plumber who knows what to do with different pipe materials such as PEX, Copper or Galvanized pipe. If you already have pinhole leaks in your existing pipe, it’s even more important to get a licensed plumber in to inspect the integrity of your pipes.
About TDT Plumbing
TDT Plumbing has served Houston homeowners for over 20 years with exceptional service. We are forensic pipe specialists and can get to the bottom of any pipe leak in your home or in your sewer lines. We can often save homeowners money with our ePIPE technology. Call us today at (713) 697-2088 and we’ll do a thorough inspection. You can also visit: TDTPlumbing.com for more information.