Frozen!

We are all feeling the extremely cold hand that winter has dealt us. Along with these icy temperatures comes issues in your home that may arise such as freezing pipes. If you’ve ever had a burst water pipe you know the kind of damage it can cause. Water is very unforgiving. When it freezes it expands and can break almost anything it’s contained in.

There are certain areas where water pipes in your home may have more of a tendency to freeze. Pipes that don’t have a lot of insulation and that run along an exterior wall are good culprits. Also exposed pipes in unheated basements, crawlspaces, attics, garages and even kitchen/bathroom pipes that are on an exterior wall are prone to freezing. Here are a few things to help prevent your pipes from freezing and some things to try if they do.

Prevention:

·        Insulate any exposed water pipes. There are many insulation products on the market today from pipe sleeves to heat tape, even ¼ inch of newspaper helps a little.

·        Open kitchen/bathroom cabinet doors during extreme weather to help the heat in your home circulate a little better around the pipes. (Make sure you’ve child/animal proofed any products you may be storing there!)

·        In extreme weather (like now!) let cold water drip from faucets supplied by exposed pipes.

·        When it’s super cold, forgo turning your heat down at night while you sleep. Let the thermostat run at a consistent temperature continuously.

Pipes are frozen, now what?

·        You’ll know they’re frozen if you turn the faucet on and just a trickle of water (or nothing at all) comes out. Applying gentle heat to the pipe is the solution. Gentle being the key word.

·        With the faucet open, heat the pipe with a heating pad, hair dryer or space heater of some sort. You could even wrap it with a towel that has been soaked in hot water. Don’t use blow torches or anything with an open flame!

·        Keep applying heat until the water is flowing. If you cannot get the pipe thawed out, it’s time to call a licensed plumber.

Cold weather can literally be a pain in the you-know-what but - in Benjamin Franklin’s wise words - An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

                                                                                                                                              (Source:  http://tinyurl.com/d5bjgmt)