Winter is an especially hard time for your plumbing, even in East Texas. It is more common than you’d expect for water pipes to freeze up or even bust. Outside plumbing lines and ones in your attic or basement are most at risk. Fortunately, there are a few easy DIY winter plumbing tips and tricks that you can use to help prevent this from happening.
Wrapping pipes in newspapers is an option for areas like ours where freezing temperatures are short-lived. The newspaper captures warm air pockets around pipes to keep them insulated.
Foam tube insulation available at your local hardware store is another inexpensive way to wrap plumbing lines to prevent them from freezing. You may have to seal the foam pipe sleeves with an insulating tape for areas with long-term colder temps.
If you have under sink pipes that are difficult to reach, try leaving your cabinet doors open. It allows the heat from inside your house to circulate to those pipes and can keep them from freezing. Another option is running your indoor and outdoor faucets at a slow drip. Constant water moving in the lines makes them less likely to freeze up.
Be sure to remove water hoses from outdoor spigots. Also, drain and shut off water to any outside lines you won’t be using during winter months.
In the case the worst happens, there are still a few things you can do to get things moving again. Feel along pipes for extra-cold spots.
Once you have located a problem area, use a hair dryer, heat lamp or space heater to try and thaw the ice inside the line. Wrapping the line in a hot towel can also help thaw frozen spots.
NEVER use an open flame when trying to thaw pipes.
Sometimes plumbing freezes are unavoidable. Worse, frozen pipes are prone to bursting, risking flood damage inside your home.
Always know where your home’s water shut-off valve is. Knowing where the shut-off valve is and how to turn it off could save you from home water damage in addition to plumbing repairs.
If you cannot get a frozen pipe thawed, or if a pipe has burst, it is best to contact a licensed plumber right away to protect your home and property.
Stay warm, y’all!
Benjamin Franklin Plumbing Tyler serves the East Texas cities of Kilgore, Longview, Tyler, and Whitehouse with a team of certified plumbers. In addition to emergency plumbing repair, some of the plumbing services provided by the company include faucet repair, drain services, toilet repair, plumbing fixture installations, tub and shower installations, kitchen sink repair, faucet installation, water heater repair/replacement, and garbage disposal replacement. Call us today at (903) 730-6611 to schedule an appointment!