Cold winter temperatures have the potential to cause pipes to freeze in your home. When pipes are exposed to freezing or below freezing temperatures, the water inside the pipes can become frozen as well. To avoid damage to your home, it’s important to take precautionary measures that will help you and your home get through this cold weather hassle free.
7 Ways to Keep Your Pipes from Freezing
Frozen pipes can be an extreme hassle that often costs quite a bit of money and effort to fix. Below are steps you can take to keep the water in your pipes flowing freely.
1. Insulate Your Pipes
Use fiberglass insulation over any water pipes that are poorly protected. The insulation will protect the pipes against cold moving air and will keep the pipes dry. While this is a good first step, it alone doesn’t prevent freezing. There are other important measures to take as well.
2. Turn Up Your Thermostat
If your home has an uninsulated crawl space, increase the temperature inside the crawlspace by turning up the thermostat. The warm air will project heat energy through your floor and inside the space. Ideally, you’ll want to insulate and air seal your crawlspace for a long-term solution.
3. Use Heater Tapes or Use a Heated Reflector Lamp
You can wrap heater tape between the insulation and the pipes. Some tapes can’t take insulation covering them, so be sure to follow the manufacturer’s instructions. Alternatively, you can use a heated reflector lamp in an enclosed and dry area. Check the lamp on cold nights to ensure it’s working.
4. Turn on the Faucet
If you lose power, or if the power is unavailable, turn on the faucet just enough that it constantly drips. Turn the hot side on first, and then a slightly faster drip on the cold side. You don’t have to run a lot of water to make this trick work, just enough that the bathroom isn’t freezing.
5. Use a Space Heater
Place an electric heater near your unprotected pipes to keep them above freezing. Make the room just warm enough to keep the pipes from freezing, as there’s no need to make the area toasty warm.
6. Open Your Cabinet Doors
Kitchen walls that aren’t insulated are vulnerable to freezing. You can lower the chances of these pipes freezing by opening the cabinet doors along the inunsulated walls that contain the vulnerable pipes. Doing so will project heat into the area.
7. Turn Off Your Water
If you’re pretty certain that your pipes might freeze and there’s nothing you can do about it at the moment, turn off your main water valve when you think you won’t need it. If a pipe freezes and then breaks while you’re sleeping or away from home, the spillage from the pipe will only contain the water that is already in the pipe.
There are also products you can have installed that help protect pipes from freezing, such as a ReadyTemp, which monitors the temperature inside the pipes; a hot water recirculation valve that continually recirculates warm water as needed; and an ICE LOC, which fits inside the pipes and prevents them from rupturing.
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