As the fall flies by and the temperature outside begins to drop, it’s time to think about the arrival of winter. With that thought, thinking about your property being ready to handle the snow and the extreme cold is key. This includes your pipes; once the temperature drops below freezing, your pipes can freeze as well. As water gets cold enough to freeze, it begins to expand as ice and that will put pressure on your pipes.
If the expansion becomes too much for the pipe to handle, it can break or burst wide open, which could potentially cost you thousands of dollars in repairs. John THE Plumber would like to try and save your pipes, pocketbook and a huge headache by providing some tips below on how you can check if your pipes have frozen, and some steps you yourself can try and take before calling in the professionals.
It’s very simple: turn on one of your faucets in your home and see what happens. If you experience very little to no water coming out, then you more than likely have a frozen pipe. This generally happens first with the pipes that are located outside of your home or within the walls where there is little to no insulation.
Here are the most common ways to treat frozen pipes in your home; just remember they can only be effective if you’ve caught the freeze in time. Also, make sure that you keep your faucet open so that when the ice does start to melt it has somewhere to go, otherwise it will clog up your pipes even further!
For safety reasons, you’ll need to keep an eye but a portable space heater is an effective way to heat up the surrounding area of the frozen pipe. Again don’t leave the heater alone, and make sure you don’t place it too close to the pipe.
Wrapping an electric heating pads or blanket is another easy way to try warming up a pipe.
This one takes some patience; make sure you have the time to stand near the pipe for a good while. Aim the hair dryer at the frozen section of the pipe until you notice water is running out of the faucet again.
This is similar to using electric heating pads; soak towels in hot water and wrap them on the frozen pipe section. In this case you will need extra dry towels under the part of the pipe you’re heating so they collect any dripping water.
If you already see a cracked or burst pipe these methods won’t work. But if you do try and these methods are not successful then please give our Mississauga plumbers a call, and we’ll send you a licensed professional right away to help you.
To discover more on the full range of services offered by our Mississauga-based John the Plumber, please call our offices today at 289-430-5562 or visit our business website at johntheplumber.ca/mississauga
