How to Prevent Frozen Pipes

Prevention tips and ideas for frozen pipes in the interior of your plumbing system

Make sure you always keep the thermostat at 55 degrees or higher, even though it may increase your energy bills moderately- it is still cheaper than repairing frozen pipes.

Allow warm air to circulate through the interior of your home by keeping the windows opened, make sure the cabinet doors are also opened to ensure warm air reaches the pipes below the sink.

Allow your faucets to drip especially during the extremely cold nights. The faucets located on exterior walls are more prone to freezing conditions hence the dripping of water may prevent such freezing conditions. Opening the faucets, a little can also ease off the pressure and prevent bursting of pipes.

The exterior walls must be sealed and insulated. Make sure you keep areas such as the basement, crawl spaces, and garage, above freezing conditions, especially if some pipes run through such areas. You can make use of caulk to seal the windows and doors in the area, to prevent any form of leaks and you must also insulate the walls to keep the cold out of the area.

Exposed pipes should be wrapped with electrical heating tape, especially those pipes located in the garage, crawl spaces and basement. There are some pipes with in-built thermostats that automatically turn on the heat to prevent freezing conditions.

Make sure you drain the water system if you are leaving town, make sure you open the taps for all sinks and faucets and let the water run until there is no water running.

Preventing frozen pipes in the exterior plumbing

It is important to protect the pipes located on the outside of your home from extreme freezing conditions. You can take the following steps to achieve this;

Insulate all exterior pipes and hose bibs. Large rubber bands, hand towel, and garbage bags can be used to insulate the hose bibs. Any other plumbing component attached to the hose bibs must be protected with necessary pipe insulation.

Make sure garden hoses are disconnected and drained and stored in the garage or shed, during the winter season.