How To Deal With Frozen And Burst Pipes?

Pipes are one of the most important plumbing fixtures in a house. These are conduits that snake through different parts of the house and serve a wide variety of purposes. These conduits carry clean drinking water from the main water supply to the roof tank in the house and from there to various quarters such as bathrooms, kitchen, utility etc. They also carry the waste water to the sewer. Piping system of a house can exhibit a lot of problems. They leak, corrode, freeze, and burst. Freezing pipe is a very common problem in the colder religions of the world, where temperature dips below sub-zero. Let’s see how to deal with the problem of frozen pipes.

• It is wise to cover the pipes with heating tapes and cables. This will slow the heat transfer. The heat in water does not radiate into the colder surrounding and therefore prevent it from freezing.

• Always keep your garage door closed if you have water supply lines there.

• Make sure that temperature in your thermostat stay approximately at the same level throughout the day and night.

• If you have a particular zone in the house where freezing pipes are encountered frequently, and then light a lamp of 60-watt there. It will warm the walls and pipes. However, there should not be any combustibles in that area.

• Always design the piping system of the house in such a manner, so that they run close to heated spaces. Pipes running though attic and unconditioned spaces always run the risk of freezing up. No matter how strong your pipes are, it not easy for them to withstand the sub-zero winter temperature that parts of the US experience. In case you are going to build a new house, place your water pipes away from the exterior walls that bear the brunt of cold wind during the winter.

• If you have pipes in uninstalled areas, buy foam pipe insulation. This works relatively well. However they will help only in moderate weather.

• Although it is a bit inconvenient, it is useful to keep cabinets open in winter. This allows the warm air circulating through the room to warm up the pipes.

• If you know that your pipes about to freeze, then open the faucet and allow the cold water to drip. The ice that forms in the pipe expands laterally. As a result if there is some water trapped between the ice and the faucet, the ice exerts tremendous pressure on the water. This cause the pipe to rupture. As a result opening faucet relieves this pressure. If the whole pipe is frozen, this won’t help.

• In that case open the faucet and thaw the pipe. You can use hot water bottles, a hairdryer or a towel soaked in hot water. Start from a point that is quite close to the tap. Do not use a naked flame or blowtorch for thawing.

• If you are going on a vacation in winter, drain the entire system or leave the faucet open. This is to ensure that the pipes will not freeze or burst while you’re gone

• All homes have a few pipes and wires running at the exterior walls. As a result these walls have some holes drilled in them that are needed to run the wires and pipes. Sometimes walls also develop cracks. Find out such holes near the pipes and seal them. Leave just as much as is required by the wires or pipes to pass through the holes.

• If you have pipes in the exterior wall, then cut a small opening to expose them to warm air in the rooms. You can place an insulation of fiberglass insulation behind the pipes and between the pipes and home's exterior wall.

• In case a pipe in the house bursts, first of all find out the main water supply. You should look for it in the basement and turn it off. Thereafter turn off the electric supply to prevent shot circuits and electrocution. Contact a plumber in your area ASAP.