With the temperature dropping, frost forming, and freezing temperatures approaching, it is important to keep your home, and pipes, warm! By preparing your home for winter, you can prevent any costly mishaps from happening.
Five Ways to Prevent Your Pipes From Freezing:
1. Insulate Your Pipes
The pipes in your home run through walls, underground, and outside your house. It’s important to keep a close watch on the pipes in drafty areas or pipes that are exposed to outside elements.
To start, ensure all pipes are insulated in your crawl space and/or basement. Insulate all pipes, hot or cold. Also, add tape to the joints of insulation to make sure the insulation won’t come loose.
There are many options to insulate your pipes which include:
- Snap-on foam
- Spray-on foam
- Miter foam
- Tubular sleeve covers
- Pipe gap insulation
2. Keep Pipes Warm With Heat Tape
Heat tape is a great way to keep your pipes from freezing in the cold winter months. By selecting a UL-approved tape, it will activate itself when a pipe drops below a certain temperature. This tape comes with a built-in thermostat, which will prevent your pipe from overheating.
3. Turn Off Outdoor Faucets
Most people in cold climates have no use for their outdoor faucets in the winter. Because of this, it is best to shut off the faucet. Preventing the outside pipe from freezing will work to not affect the interior pipes.
4. Allow The Faucets To Drip
This is an old trick that continues to work wonders! When temperatures drop below freezing, turn on the hot and cold tap to allow a slow drip; this is essential as they come from different lines. With water constantly running, it will not freeze over. This is especially important for faucets on the outside of a wall. This old trick also releases the build-up of pressure in your pipes!
5. Open Cabinet Doors
This trick is the cheapest if you are scared your pipes will freeze! Simply open your kitchen or bathroom doors and place a heater nearby. The heat surrounding will prevent freezing.
Make sure to save and share these tips to avoid costly pipe bursts due to cold temperatures!
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