When winter comes around, the temperature drops and it gets to be time to bundle yourself up. Not all of your water pipes will get to enjoy the warmth of your home, so steps should be taken to ensure that the pipes do not get damaged by freezing water.

If your house will be occupied during the winter, then you only need to ensure that exposed piping gets drained and protected. The first thing that should be located is the main shut off valve for the water. This valve should be marked and tested during warm days, before it will be needed. You should also locate, mark and test the shut off valves for outdoor hookups for watering hoses.

At this point, when winter starts to come around, you should remove all hoses and make sure that they are fully drained. Nicely coil them and put them away. Then locate the outdoor hookup shut off valve and turn off the water for all outside hookups. Once all of the hookups have been shut off, then open up all of the outdoor spigots to let the water drain. Make sure that the water drains completely, and leave the valves open all winter. To make extra sure that the pipes are dry, using a air compressor and charge the system to force out all of the water.

For water pipes that cannot be discharged, then the faucets and pipes that are exposed to unheated areas should be wrapped with an insulating wrap. If your hot water heater is also in an unheated area, it too should get wrapped up to insulate the water reservoir and conserve energy and prevent water freezing. If you encounter a pipe that has been frozen, there are electric heating tapes that can be used to heat the pipes and hopefully prevent any damage from occurring. Above all else, have a trusted and well-reviewed plumber on speed dial.

There are further steps to take if you should leave the home unheated, or if the weather gets especially cold. In the latter case, you should find a faucet farthest from the water main, and turn it on to just a trickle. This will keep the water flowing in all of your indoor pipes and prevent them from freezing.

If you plan on not keeping the home heated for an extended period of time, such as for a winter home, then the entire water system should be drained. First, switch off the main water valve and ensure that no water is entering the system. Then open all faucets and drain the system. Do not forget to drain the reservoirs on all toilets and that any other system with a reservoir of water is drained. Then use an air compressor to make sure all of the water is discharged. To make sure that nothing freezes, you should put antifreeze in the drains, spigots and reservoirs for the various systems, sinks and tub/showers. This will help to ensure nothing will freeze.

Photo Credit: 1

Originally posted 2008-12-17 05:19:47. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Related Posts

• Book Review: What Your Contractor Can't Tell You: The Essential Guide to Building and Renovating by Amy Johnston Why do so many home improvement projects end in disaster? According to Amy Johnson, the author of What Your Contractor Can't Tell You, it's due to the fact that homeowners simply don't have access to the right tools, knowledge and planning abilities that the pro's do. Her basic premise is......
• How to Fix a Clogged Shower Drain If your showers are starting to feel more like a bath, thanks to the amount of standing water you have in your tub, it's definitely time to address some clogs. Bathtubs and showers have to deal with a lot of hair on a daily basis and it doesn't take......
• Joe the Plumber If your home, apartment or some other building is suddenly experiencing a water leak, then repairing the fixtures, the faucets and the pipes can become extremely urgent in no time at all. You may be able to do some of the repair work yourself, but in most cases it is......
• Simple Ways to Unclog a Drain When a drain gets clogged, it can be frustrating to have to deal with. You don’t want to call a plumber because that can get expensive, and sometimes the problem seems like it should be simple enough for you to deal with. You can unclog the drain yourself with a......
• The Stanley Complete Step-by-Step Revised Book of Home Repair and Improvement By The Stanley Company When it comes to home repair, one of the most trusted names has to be the Stanley Company. They make what many consider to be the best tools, and when you see that yellow and black label, you immediately know you can count on it. This branding has served them......

Related Websites

• Choosing the Right Birdhouse Are you thinking about adding a birdhouse to your country garden landscape design? This is a good thing! Birdhouses are especially important because they offer wild birds shelter as well as protection while they are nesting. Birdhouses also give us a unique opportunity to be able to watch these birds......
• Reduce Your Hot Water Bill with this One Simple Tip! After feeding my 10 month old daughter this morning, I turned on the kitchen sink faucet to soak a wash cloth in warm water to wash up. As usual, it took about a minute before warm water actually reached the tap resulting in wasted time, energy, and money. Even though......
• 10 things to always keep out of landfills and the water supply There are some things we may use in our lives that are so toxic to the environment that they should never make it to a landfill. We should also never dump these items (if in liquid form) into the water supply through a home sink or a street storm......
• Save Water At Home With A Few Drops Of Food Coloring. Did you know that with just a few drops of food coloring, you can run a test that could save you up to 200 gallons of water a day? Inside the back of a toilet is something called a "flapper", which is the valve that keeps the water in the......
• Frugal attempts to unclog the shower drain! Our shower drain has gotten rather clogged lately. So we've been attempting frugal solutions. Partially so that we don't have to spend money and partially to avoid pouring strong chemicals into it. Solution #1: (not terribly successful) Pour boiling water down the drain. It's worked before for a sink drain.......

Online Stores

• Hoses Hose Reels Watering Equipment Gardening Plants Yard, Garden Outdoor Living
• Valves Watering Equipment Gardening Plants Yard, Garden Outdoor Living

If you liked this article, vote for it on del.icio.us and stumbleupon.


Categories:

Handy Man, pipes

Tags:

air compressor, faucet, faucets, freezing water, hookup, hookups, hoses, hot water heater, indo, latter case, piping, plumber, shut off valve, shut off valves, speed dial, spigots, trickle, water drain, water pipes, water reservoir