Preparing Your Home Plumbing System For The Winter

It’s around that time when the snow starts to fall, temperatures drop and insulating jackets come out of the closet – its wintertime. Thus, you must prepare your household for the season. The safety of any home plumbing system is perhaps the number one concern that homeowners have as the seasons change.

As a rule of thumb, plumbing systems that are not prepared for the cold season are more susceptible to damage. This because of the water’s behavioral change as temperatures drop. When water temperatures drop, it begins to slowly freeze and turn to ice. This, in turn, expands its shape thus, resulting in elevated pressure within the water pipes – which leads to leakage and damage.

There are ways that you can winterize your household plumbing system to potential leaks and damage. This is where plumbing system experts come to play to ensure that the process is done with risk-free precision. Apart from following expert tips during the whole season, to mitigate the risk of water damage, customizing your plumbing system is highly recommended.

The first exercise should be to get any existing leaks fixed. Even the smallest of leakages can have quite an impact on the overall system. The majority of leaks act as weak spots by accelerating water freezing rates or fueling the bursting of pipes after the water has frozen. Hiring plumbing professionals ensures quality work is done and that all potential leaks are addressed due to their high degree of plumbing systems leak detection and repair.

The next step is to insulate all your household pipes. As the temperatures keep dropping, your pipes become more vulnerable. Hence, insulating your pipes helps to retain ideal temperatures for your water. Pay extra attention to areas such as basements, attics and the outdoors in garages or gardens where insulation on pipes may be too old or exposed.  And just like leak inspection and repair, you are safer with the help of a plumbing system professional. 

Ask your plumber about additional resources to complement your piping. Items such as heating tape are quite handy as they provide an electrical blanket for your pipes. Heating tapes help to directly provide heat to your pipe thus, preventing a significant drop in temperature for water that runs through your piping. However, as with any other electrical items, special care should be taken when using heating tapes.

To finish up the winterizing process, you want to familiarize yourself and map out your household plumbing system. Know your water main so in the event of emergencies or damage, without the need to call a plumber, it is easier to locate it and shut it off. You can also shut off the main before leaving the house in case you and your family will be spending some time away from the house.

Furthermore, you should get into a habit of practicing certain Do’s to help significantly reduce damage risk to your plumbing over winter. Don’t completely shut off the heat when you leave the house to maintain some warmth. Remove bibs from taps and drain settled water such as that in the toilets used for flushing. Shut off the main, if you will not be home for a long period whilst allowing taps to drain the excess water to prevent freezing.