Have you ever suffered a burst pipe? If not, then you don’t want to experience the damage all the water cause to your furniture. To avoid going through this, you need to ensure that your pipes don’t burst during the cold winter season.
Homeowners experienced over 10,000 water damage losses between 2013 and 2017. This ranked third as the most severe loss for homeowners based on claims lodged with insurance companies.
Water damage can cause molds, furniture, and fixture damage making your property uninhabitable. Additionally lost water contributes to direct financial losses and environmental degradation.
Here are five tips on how to prevent a burst pipe in your home.
1. Keep the Faucets Running Slowly
During the cold winter season water in the pipes tend to freeze. This can cause the water pipes to burst and flood the whole place. When water freezes, it expands, forcing the pipes to bulge out. Continuous bulging of the pipes can cause them to burst.
When you leave one or two faucets running slowly, it will prevent freezing. This is because water will keep moving along the pipes, and it will not have time to freeze.
Moreover, when the faucets are open, they reduce the water pressure in the pipes. This will ensure that the water pipes don’t burst due to pressure when the water freezes.
However, leaving a faucet open could end up wasting water in the long run. You can avoid this by getting a collecting bucket under the tap. This way you will be saving water and also preventing your house pipes from bursting.
The water collected can be used to carry out some house chores or watering some plants. Saving water is crucial to the environment, and you should always aim at protecting the environment all the time.
2. Insulate Any Pipes That Are Outside
Most of the water pipe burst occurs during the cold winter season. This is because water tends to freeze hence causing the pipe to bulge. After the pipe has expanded, it is pushed outside and causes it to burst.
A water pipe burst can cause a lot of damage to your property. The flooding may damage all of your furniture and appliances. Additionally, water may damage your house structure, making it weak over time.
You need to ensure that your water pipes don’t burst by insulating them if they are exposed to the cold. When you insulate your pipes, you ensure that the water in the pipes maintains an average temperature. This means that the water does not reach the freezing point.
Hence this prevents the water pipes from bursting. Maintaining the water temperature above freezing point helps in ensuring that the water pipes don’t burst.
3. Keep Your House Warm
When you are going on vacation, you might think that leaving your HVAC systems will be the right idea. It will save you on the energy bills, but it can do more damage to your water pipes. You don’t want to come from a vacation and find out that your pipes broke and your home is flooded.
You can prevent flooding from happening by ensuring that your home is heated all the time. If you are not around you can warm your house to a standard temperature. This will prevent the water in the pipes from freezing.
When the water in the pipe keeps flowing, then the pipes can’t burst. Imagine waking up one day from your warm bed and find that your home is flooded and you can’t get out of bed. This can be devastating and heartbreaking.
You can avoid the pipes from bursting by ensuring that you keep your home warm enough. Aim at maintaining an optimum temperature that will not use a lot of energy.
4. Open The Doors Which Are Beneath The Sinks
The pipes beneath the sink are prone to bursting. This is because they are always exposed to colder temperatures. When the pipes are exposed to lower temperatures, the water may freeze.
This may cause the pipes to burst. A busted pipe may cause flooding in your home. This, in turn, causes damage to your home structure, which may lead it to weaken.
You need to open the sink doors and let warm air from your home to get to the pipes. This will cause a balance in temperature and ensure that your kitchen pipes are intact. Warm air prevents the water in the pipe from freezing.
When the water in the pipes flows at a constant temperature, it does not freeze. This ensures that the pipes don’t burst due to the change in volume of the water.
Additionally, when water freezes in the pipes, it can cause an increase in water pressure. The water pressure can cause the water pipes to burst. Since the water flowing can forcefully push its way in the pipes hence causing water pipe to expand.
5. Seal All Burst Pipe Leaks In Your Home
Leaks in your home around the door or window can cause cold air from getting in. You need to insulate the leaks and prevent cold air from getting in. This will ensure that your home stays warm throughout the season.
When your home has air leaks that allow cold air to get in, it may alter the house temperature. This may lead to a water pipe burst. Additionally, this may lead to an increase in the electric bills as your heating systems work harder to maintain the temperature.
Frozen water clogs the pipes. When water tries flowing in the pipes, it causes an increase in pressure and the pipes burst.
When the weather is really cold, even a small exposure can cause water pipes to freeze and burst. Thus, it is advisable that you ensure that all the pipes are properly insulated.
Bottom Line
Having a burst pipe can be very devastating, not to mention the cost you have to incur to repair the damage. Contact us and get plumbing services and repairs. Proper maintenance will ensure that your water pipes don’t burst during the cold winter season.
I found it helpful when you explained that it is possible to keep pipes from freezing and then bursting by keeping water flowing through them constantly. Speaking of burst pipes, I think that there is a pipe somewhere in my basement that is leaking water because I keep having to dry up large puddles. It seems like it would be a good idea for me to have a plumber come and fix this issue for me.