Essential Tips to Prepare Home Plumbing for Winter

Safeguard Home Plumbing This Fall and Winter

As winter starts moving in and temperatures plummet, homeowners must understand how those chilly temperatures affect their plumbing. Being proactive against freezing pipes will help prevent a pipe burst and protect the home from costly damage or repairs. In this article, discover some effective strategies to help safeguard the home’s pipes throughout the winter. 

Wrap Pipes With Pipe Insulation

Pipe insulation is an incredible tool that is relatively easy and affordable to apply to vulnerable pipes. A small layer of foam insulation made for pipes can help prevent a frozen pipe because it keeps the pipes warm, even when the temperatures are freezing. 

Focus on the areas in the home that are prone to cold air and temperatures: 

• Attics and Crawl Spaces: These areas are often exposed to cold air with no heat, making them particularly susceptible to freezing temperatures and pipe bursts. 
• Unfinished Basements: An unfinished basement is typically shut off from most of the home’s heat, and insulation can help maintain a stable temperature to prevent freezing pipes. 
• Garages: Not all garages have pipes, but those that do expose them to outside temperatures and insulating pipes in these areas will help protect them. 

Insulating pipes will help maintain a safer temperature and reduce the risk of freezing or burst pipes.

Maintain Consistent Temperature With Open Cabinets

A simple thing homeowners can do when they know the temperatures are plummeting is to open cabinets with pipes inside them. Common areas are the kitchens and bathrooms of the home, but there may be other spaces, such as a laundry room. 

Maintain the home at a steady 55 degrees or higher. However, pipes hidden inside cabinets don’t receive much of that heat. Opening the cabinets will allow heat to flow in to help warm those pipes and keep them from freezing. 

Opening the cabinets for pipes on exterior facing walls will allow warm air to circulate around the pipes and prevent freezing in that area. If there are additional concerns, consider letting these faucets drip overnight to keep water moving when the temperatures are at their coldest. 

Detach Hoses and Protect Outdoor Faucets

Outdoor faucets are particularly vulnerable to freezing or burst pipes because they are outside and completely exposed to the elements. Although they are usually made with materials that will withstand cold temperatures, homeowners must still prepare them for winter. 

Follow these steps: 

1. Disconnect all hoses from outdoor faucets to prevent residual water and frozen pressure from the hose
2. Drain the water out of the hose
3. Turn off the water supply to the outdoor faucet if possible

If the faucet is needed throughout the winter, take these actions in between uses to help prevent freezing pipes or water pressure buildup. 

About JD Precision Plumbing Services

JD Precision Plumbing Services has been operating since 2010. They believe strongly in quality customer care and provide various plumbing services, including emergency services when needed. Contact them today for plumbing service or repair in Spring, TX. 

Contact Information:

JD Precision Plumbing Services

26310 Oak Ridge Dr Unit #40
Spring, TX 77380
United States

Nic Sonntag
(832) 743-7700
https://www.jdprecisionplumbing.com/spring/