Five Tips to Prevent Pipes from Freezing This Winter

There are tons of people searching the Internet to figure out how to thaw their pipes after a deep freeze. If you don’t want to be one of them, you’ll want to take a proactive approach to your pipes so that this doesn’t happen. Fortunately, there are several things that you can do to ensure that your pipes don’t freeze, no matter how cold it gets outside.

Insulate Better

Insulation is everything. You need to insulate pipes underneath the house, in attic or basement spaces, and those on exterior walls. Make sure that you wrap pipes with insulation if they’re exposed to the elements in any way. Even improving the insulation of your home itself can help reduce the risk of pipes freezing.

Use Heat Tape

Another way to insulate your pipes is to install heat tape. As it sounds, this is a “tape” that wraps around the pipes and has a heating element running through it. When you plug it in, it keeps the pipes warm so that they don’t freeze. It’s a great choice for mobile homes and manufactured homes or older properties with less insulation.

Crack the Faucets

If you know that it’s going to be especially cold for a day or two, crack the faucets in your home. This means to open them just slightly, so an ever-so-small drop of water comes out slowly. The best way to do this is to turn on the water until it starts dripping quickly. Then, turn it back off slowly until there’s just one slow drip every now and then. That should be enough to keep the water moving in the pipes and keep them from freezing. Do this on every faucet in the home.

Turn Up the Heat

Some people tend to want to turn down their heat to save money, but in extra-cold times it can pay to keep it turned up higher. Even a few extra degrees can mean the difference between frozen and thawed pipes in some cases. Make sure that you’ve got circulation blowing heat into cold rooms, or you have other means of heating in place so that nothing is left cold.

Keep Your Garage Door Closed

If you have an attached garage, you’ll want to keep the overhead door closed as much as possible during the winter months. Open it to park and to leave, and that’s it. This will help keep more heat in your home so that you don’t run the risk of frozen pipes.

If you are proactive and use these tips, you won’t have to deal with frozen pipes, which can be its own kind of nightmare. Contact Elk Grove Village Sewer & Plumbing if you need any help.