Winter is officially here, and with it comes freezing weather. With these three quick precautions, you shouldn’t have any issues with burst water pipes.
Step 1: How to drain your pipes
First things first: Get the water in your pipes out. What we mean is removing all water hoses from any outside spigots. Turn it off if you have a shut-off value to your automated irrigation systems. Next, make sure you cover your spigots. You can find tidy, isolated covers that do the trick at the store.
Step 2: Insulate exposed piping
You will need to watch out for any exposed water pipes in unisolated areas, such as your attic or crawl space, or out in your well shed. These pipes need to be protected with insulation sleeves or wrapping that you can easily find at a hardware store.
Step 3: Open cabinet doors
Indoor pipes may need some extra protection. One quick, easy way to protect the pipes in the house is simply to open the cabinet doors in the kitchen or bathroom. This added airflow will keep your pipes nice and toasty.
Step 4: Let it drip, drip, drip.
Let your faucets drip when temperatures drop below freezing.
The Red Cross concurs that running water through the pipe—even at a trickle—helps prevent pipes from freezing.
“So many homeowners fail to take this simple precaution,” Summers says. “Letting cold water drip from the faucet helps relieve any pressure building from the ice inside a pipe.”