Tips To Prevent Your Pipes From Freezing

Winter in Canada brings plummeting temperatures. When winter starts the leaves begin to fall and the countdown to the first snow fall begins. But as the season starts the first thing that homeowners do is they start to prepare their houses for fingers. In winter, frozen and bursting pipes are one of the most common issues many people have to deal with. Dealing with ruptured and frozen pipes in the cold weather are one of the most common causes of property damage.

These damages can only be fixed by professional residential plumbers. But you can take certain precautions and steps to help prevent ice blockages and freezing pipes as well as protect your water system. In this blog post, we outline some tips to help you prevent your pipes from freezing in the winter season.

Insulate The Pipes

One of the best ways to keep your pipes from bursting in the winter is by buying specially designed insulation for them. As compared to the repair costs of a ruptured pipe, pipe insulation is remarkably inexpensive and is a very small investment. So, when you insulate your pipes the most attention should be given to those pipes that are located in the unheated, interior spaces of your home such as the garage, basement, and attic.

The best and most common kinds of pipe insulation are made from foam, fiberglass, and polyethylene. In the event of an unexpected cold snap you can use duct tape and wadded-up newspaper for temporary insulation.

Keep The Garage Doors Closed

Another way to keep your pipes from freezing and bursting is to keep your garage doors closed. This is extremely important if your water supply lines of your house go through your garage. As the garage most often features a high amount of smooth concrete, this keeps the area cold. Since the space is already cold, if the doors are kept open that will let more freezing air into the space and freeze the pipes. If you leave the garage door open, it leaves any water supply lines vulnerable to freezing temperatures.

Keep The Thermostat Consistent

One of the easiest ways to prevent ice blockage is by keeping your thermostat set to the same temperature during the day and night. Many people tend to lower their thermostat during the evening to save money on their heating bills, but in reality, this saving backfires because a ruptured pipe will cost much more than a slightly higher heating bill. So, you should try to keep your thermostat setting as consistent as possible during the day and night. The steady temperatures will help keep your pipes from freezing, and will also help you to avoid any sudden changes in the environment of your home.

Let Faucets Drip

Another way to keep your pipes from freezing is by leaving a faucet running. You don’t need to keep all your faucets running. The first step is that you will have to determine which faucets are fed by exposed piping, once you have found them keep them running. The running water, even a small drip, will carry more energy than standing water, due to the constant movement, friction is created and the moving water produces a small amount of heat. This makes running water hard to freeze as compared to standing water. By just leaving a few faucets running, the movement will help prevent ice blockages from forming in your pipes.

Apart from the small amount of friction and heat produced by the moving water, a running faucet also helps to relieve any pressure build-up in your cold pipes. This relieved pressure build-up keeps your pipes from bursting, even if the water inside them freezes. If both hot and cold water lines are exposed, leave both slightly running to make sure pressure doesn’t build up in one and not the other.

About Jack’d Up Plumbing

Jack’d Up Plumbing is Calgary’s most trusted plumbing provider. We are here to serve you and are available at all times to solve any of your plumbing-related issues. We provide prompt, professional, and affordable plumbing services to our residential and commercial customers in Calgary and surrounding areas. For more information contact us here.