Frozen pipes can be a dangerous and expensive problem. If you aren’t cautious, your pipes can freeze during an unexpected cold wave and you might not even notice until it is much too late. The worst thing about frozen pipes is that you might not even see the worst of the damages until they have defrosted.
What Temperature Do Pipes Freeze in a Home?
If you live in a region with cold winters, when nighttime temperatures start dipping below freezing, you probably should worry. The reality is that weather forecasting is not a precise science, and as soon as the weather turns cold, a surprise storm could always see temperatures go down below twenty degrees fahrenheit, which is the danger point for your pipes to freeze over and cause you to need to call an emergency plumber.
Protect Against Pipes From Freezing this Winter
Frozen pipes not only damage your plumbing but they can also cause water damages that can be even more substantial as well as costly. The most effective thing to do is prevent the pipes from freezing to begin with. Listed here are some ways that you can do that.
Insulation: One of the very best, quickest, easiest and most inexpensive ways to prevent your pipes from thawing is to insulate them. The price of the insulation is surprisingly low and it simply fits into place around the pipes for the most part. Pay special attention to basements, garages, crawlspaces and other unheated areas.
Seal Cracks: Sealing cracks is an important part of home winterization in general because it helps to keep the cold air out and your heating costs down. Be sure to seal up any cracks in basements and crawl spaces that will permit lower temperatures around your water pipes.
Heating Tape: If your water pipes are easy to access, heating tape can be an outstanding option. It is simple to apply directly to the surface area of the pipes. You can opt for a self-monitoring or manual type of the tape, but either way, be careful. There is always a risk of danger when you use any type of heat to a pipe directly.
Crawlspaces: See to it to seal or cover any kind of crawl spaces as this will help to keep the temperature levels around your pipes warmer.
As soon as the temperatures start to drop, there are some other things you can do to help keep your pipes warm. These thing include:
Leave the heat on.
Always keep the temperature consistent.
Open interior doors.
Open cabinet close to or containing pipes.
Shut your garage doors.
What to Do If Your Pipes Freeze
If your pipes have already frozen over, you should turn on a faucet. Sometimes the flow of water will help to dislodge the ice plug created from the freezing. You can attempt using a hair dryer or space heater to warm up the pipe.
Keep in mind that if you have located a frozen pipe, you may discover many more. It is also important to be in search of leaks. Oftentimes, the freezing process will have expanded the pipes creating loosened joints, cracks and even burst pipes.
Do Frozen Pipes Always Burst?
Every pipe that freezes does not burst. Nonetheless, any time a pipe freezes it is far more susceptible to bursting. The extremes of freezing and thawing take a toll on the stability of the pipes and also leave them more prone to leaks and failure.
Should I Shut off Water If Pipes are Frozen?
If you know that a pipe has burst you need to turn off the water. The sooner you shut off the flow of water the less property damage you will need to contend with later.
If you have a burst pipe you really need to shut off the water source immediately. Next, you need to call an emergency plumber that can fix the burst pipe for you. If you need an emergency plumber in Moore, OK call Mullin Plumbing Oklahoma City at (405) 977-3336 right away!
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