Tri County Plumbers Offer Cold Weather Winter Tips As Temperatures Drop

Online, December 3, 2013 (Newswire.com) - Winter weather and the cold season in general, starting in late fall with long streaks of cold weather can cause a variety of plumbing problems. The cold can cause plumbing systems to fail, break, or parts to wear out, resulting potentially in hundreds of dollars in costly and unnecessary repairs. Most winter and cold weather plumbing problems are completely preventable with proper maintenance. In fact, most plumbing problems and issues can actually be traced down to poor maintenance.

Here is a list of common plumbing problems faced by property owners during the winter and cold weather season, and the maintenance and precautions that can be taken to address these issues before these issues ever arise. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure when it comes to plumbing issues.

Frozen Pipes:
Pipes can break easily from the cold. The water if allowed to freeze with in the pipe will easily cause the pipe to expand, weakening it or causing it to burst completely. While outdoor pipes are most vulnerable, indoor plumbing has been known to burst as well, especially basement pipes and kitchen sink pipes, and bathroom sink pipes. In older homes, the kitchen sink pipes tend to be fed through an outside wall, so if your structure is an older building you may have this risk.

* Identify all at risk pipes in your home.

* Once at risk pipes are identified, several methods can be used to prevent them from freezing over which include the following:

1) Open up cabinets that house your pipes, allowing the air flow of the home to reach the pipes

2) Insulate pipes from the cold. Insulating pipes is a rather inexpensive way to safe guard against cold damage.

3) Drain and shut off any unneeded outdoor pipes. Leave only air in these pipes, so that no water remains to freeze and rupture your pipes. Unneeded outdoor pipes during the winter include your lawn sprinkler system, poop and fountain pipes.

4) Make sure your basement heating vents are open. Many people shut off heat to the basement, leaving these pipes vulnerable to freezing.

5) Heat your entire home, not just parts of your home. Your entire home should have even heating, this will ensure all pipes are evenly heated.

6) high risk pipes, you can leave a slow water drip on to help prevent your pipes from bursting.

7) When you are at work leave your heating on or get an automated heating system which slowly drops the heat while you are at work, and slowly raises the heat up before you are due to return home from work. This will help ensure you have a warmer home and hence warmer pipes.

Water Heater Problems

Sometimes the water heater element will fail as winter goes onwards. A simple test with a standard ohm meter can indicate whether the heating element needs to be replaced with in your hot water heater. A temperature dip does not necessarily mean that your element is failing however, it could simply be that you need to turn up the heat due to rapidly falling outdoor temperatures.

Septic problems

During the winter, home owners are vulnerable to back up problems with the septic tank. Check your septic tank levels often during the winter. Should you neglect this and a serious back up results, you can be looking at a costly excavation to fix the matter, as winter conditions will make the needed excavation more costly and add to the expense.

Most winter time plumbing issues can be totally avoided or prevented with simple and routine seasonal maintenance. Make seasonal plumbing maintenance part of your seasonal routine and you likely will never experience any of these winter time plumbing disasters, but should you end up facing the unexpected, remember you can always call an emergency plumber to assist you.

Mike Wallace is a master plumber for Tri County Plumbing Pros, you can learn more about cold weather prevention tips and winter home care for maximum energey savings.

Mike Wallace
248-278-7000
http://www.tricountyplumbingpros.com