The weather is reaching incredibly low temperatures and our phone is ringing off the hook with customers who have frozen pipes. When it’s extremely cold outside, you need to take extra precautions to ensure you have running (and warm) water throughout your home.
Follow these five tips to avoid freezing pipes at your home:
- Run both hot and cold water from one or two faucets in your home. Water moving through your water lines should prevent the line from freezing. While you will likely have a higher water bill next month, those extra few dollars on your water bill are way cheaper than a plumbing service call. The fixtures and faucets you want to focus on are located on or near exterior walls.
- Open up cabinet doors in your bathroom and kitchen. If your sinks are near an outside wall, it’s a good idea to leave your cabinet doors open so that warmer air can flow near the pipe.
- Make sure your garage, basement, and side doors are completely closed shut. The smallest crack from a door can allow that blistering cold air to freeze pipes in your garage or house. Double and triple-check all your doors before going to bed or leaving your house to make sure you don’t wake up or return home to frozen water lines.
- Introduce a space heater to particularly cold areas in your home. You can use a space heater in rooms that are prone to frozen water lines. Use a space heater to help temperatures from dropping below 32 degrees, especially in any areas of your home with water lines (bathroom, kitchen, laundry room, etc.).
- Look for air leaks around electrical wiring, dryer vents, and pipes. You can use caulk or insulation to keep the cold air out. With its severely cold, even the smallest opening can let in enough cold air to cause a pipe to freeze.
If your pipes do freeze and you want an expert to take a look, call Hope Plumbing at (317) 641-4673. We can come to visit your home and advise you on how to prevent pipes from freezing again. Stay warm, friends!
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