January 14, 2020
Getting ready to leave on vacation is always a bit of a scramble, trying to remember everything to pack and crossing off all the household to-dos before you leave your Hampton Roads home.
But if you’ve ever had to deal with burst frozen pipes and calling to schedule emergency plumbing service, you know just how much of a headache cleaning up the damage can be. So before you leave for your next trip, make sure to follow these tips to ensure you don’t come home to a nasty home performance surprise.
Why Do Pipes Freeze?
When outdoor temperatures dip below freezing, your plumbing’s pipes are in danger of freezing and bursting. Whether they freeze and burst depends on how much pipe insulation you have, and how vulnerable areas of your Chesapeake plumbing are to the cold outdoor temperatures.
When the water inside pipes freeze, the expanded ice puts more and more pressure on the entire length of the pipe. This is why, if you’ve ever seen a burst pipe, you’ll notice that the breakage often isn’t right where the freezing occurred.
How to Avoid Your Pipes Freezing
Do you have to insulate your pipes? No, but you’re taking on unnecessary risk if you don’t. Fixing burst pipes can be expensive, as piping can be located in areas without easy access. Plus, you’ll have to clean up any water damage from leaks that occurred from the time of the breakage to when you were able to shut off the water supply.
It would be far easier to avoid situations where your pipes are likely to freeze in the first place. Here are just a few things to remember before leaving your Norfolk or Virginia Beach home for an extended period of time in the winter:
1. Open Your Cabinet Doors
You may not realize it, but the space inside your cabinets doesn’t get direct heat, and cabinet doors can block out warm indoor temperatures. If it gets cold in cabinets with plumbing pipes in your home, like underneath the sink, leaving the cabinet doors open while you’re on vacation can help keep your pipes above freezing temps.
2. Insulate Your Pipes
Perhaps one of the most significant ways you can prevent freezing pipes is by insulting them. Pipe insulation can go a long way towards keeping cold pipes from bursting, and you’ll have less to worry about when the weather forecast shows frigid days and nights on the horizon.
3. Turn Off Your Water and Drain Your Pipes
If you’re going to be away for some time, it may be worth turning off your main water supply and draining your pipes. Then there will be no water left in your pipes to freeze, no matter how cold the temperature gets outside!
4. Check Your Basement or Crawl Space Sump Pump
If a pipe in your basement does freeze and water begins pouring out onto your basement or crawlspace floor, you’ll want to make sure your sump pump doesn’t overflow and create an even bigger mess. Inspecting your sump pump to ensure it’s working correctly will save you time, money, and headache.
5. Leave Your Faucet Running at a Drip
This isn’t an option for someone who is leaving their home for a long period of time, but if the temperature drops significantly and you’re worried about your pipes freezing, you can open one of your faucets slightly. The reason to leave faucets running is that moving water is less likely to freeze than still water.
How To Fix Frozen Pipes with Russell’s Plumbing Services
How much is it to fix burst pipes? That depends on the extent of the damage, and how quickly you were able to catch the leak and turn the water off. If you’ve recently experienced one of Virginia’s famous cold spells and think you may have a burst pipe, give Russell’s HVAC a call. We’ll send a plumbing expert over to inspect your home and determine whether it’s a simple fix, or something more significant, like drain pipe repair under slab.
