The cold temperatures of winter in Delaware bring challenges to keeping your family warm. The frigid air of the season can also make it a challenge to protect your residence’s structure when pipes freeze and burst. There are several things you can do to keep your indoor pipes from freezing that are easy to do and don’t require a great deal of time or expense.
Circulate Air Around Pipes
Pipes can freeze in winter when the temperature around them is cold. An effective solution to this problem is to promote warm air flow to exposed pipes by using the warmth from your home’s heating system to create a warmer air space. To keep pipes under a sink from freezing, open the cabinet doors beneath the sink, which allows warmer air to circulate and reach the cold pipes.
Drain Outdoor Hoses
A garden hose containing water can freeze and burst a pipe inside your residence. This is caused by an expansion in the frozen hose that creates a great amount of pressure in the plumbing system. To prevent this problem in winter in Delaware, simply drain the hose and store it. Additionally, you can promote water drainage by closing outdoor hose bibs.
Set Furnace Temperature When on Vacation
When returning from a vacation to your Delaware home in winter, finding that your pipes have frozen can ruin your homecoming. It is important to keep your residence warm while you are gone. You can turn down your heat while you are away, which can save you money on your energy bill, but be sure that your furnace keeps the indoor temperature no lower than 55 degrees Fahrenheit.
Use a Heating Cable
You can prevent a frozen pipe in winter by installing a heat trace cable. The product is self-regulating and functions by adjusting the cable’s heat output in correlation with the temperature of the pipe. Many heating cable brands are available on the market, with some ready-to-use and others as part of a kit which requires the cutting of the cable from a roll.
Turn on Faucets
When outside temperatures get particularly cold, turn on your hot and cold faucets at night. Only a slight and constant trickle of water is necessary, so you don’t need to let the faucets run at full blast. This helps to eliminate water pressure buildup, which can prevent the pipe from freezing or bursting.
Protecting the pipes in your home in winter in Delaware requires a few small actions that can make a big difference in avoiding frozen pipes. Burst pipes require quick attention, so shutting off your water and, if necessary, your electricity, is a good idea before phoning a plumber for emergency maintenance. By keeping your pipes warm and relieving air pressure, you can prevent your plumbing from becoming a problem in the cold weather.
To make sure that plumbing problems get correctly fixed and to avoid plumbing issues that frozen pipes may cause, speak with an HVAC professional who can fix your pipes and keep your plumbing running smoothly. First Class HVAC has been assisting residents in Delaware towns like Lewes and Rehoboth Beach and Maryland towns like Bishopville and Berlin in plumbing maintenance for more than 40 years. Contact us today for plumbing repair or pipe remodeling options for your home or business.