Tag Archives: preventing burst pipes

Aug '23

Avoiding Costly Water Damage: How to Safeguard Your Home from Burst Pipes

Water damage caused by burst pipes can be a costly and devastating problem for homeowners. From ruined furniture and flooring to extensive repairs, the consequences of water damage can be overwhelming. However, with some simple precautions and preventative measures, you can safeguard your home from burst pipes and avoid the headache of dealing with water damage. In this article, we will provide you with valuable tips and guidance on how to protect your home and mitigate the risk of burst pipes.

Understanding the Causes of Burst Pipes

Before we dive into preventative measures, it is crucial to understand the common causes of burst pipes. By identifying and addressing these potential issues, you can significantly reduce the risk of water damage from burst pipe emergencies in your home.

Extreme Temperatures: One of the main causes of burst pipes is freezing temperatures. When water freezes inside the pipes, it expands, putting immense pressure on the pipes. This pressure can cause weak points in the pipes to burst, leading to significant water damage.

Poor Insulation: Inadequate insulation is another factor that contributes to burst pipes. Uninsulated or poorly insulated pipes are more susceptible to freezing and bursting during cold weather.

Age and Wear: Over time, pipes can become weakened due to corrosion, rust, or general wear and tear. Older pipes are more likely to develop cracks or burst under pressure.

Now that we have identified the primary causes of burst pipes let us discuss some effective measures you can take to safeguard your home.

pipe insulation to prevent burst pipes in wintertime.

To protect your pipes from freezing temperatures, make sure they are adequately insulated.

Preventative Measures: How to Safeguard Your Home from Burst Pipes

1. Insulate Your Pipes:

To protect your pipes from freezing temperatures, make sure they are adequately insulated. Insulation sleeves or foam pipe covers can be easily installed to keep the heat contained within the pipes. Focus on areas with exposed pipes, such as basements, attics, and crawl spaces.

2. Seal Air Leaks:

Air leaks around pipes can lead to a drop in temperature and increase the chances of freezing. Inspect your home for any gaps or cracks near pipes and use caulk or insulation to seal them. This will help maintain a stable temperature and reduce the risk of burst pipes.

The Importance of Proper Maintenance

Besides taking preventative measures, regular maintenance plays a vital role in preventing burst pipes and mitigating water damage. Here are some essential maintenance tasks to prioritize:

Visual Inspections:

Regularly inspect your pipes for any signs of damage, such as cracks, leaks, or corrosion. Pay close attention to areas prone to moisture, such as under sinks, around appliances, and near the water heater. If you notice any issues, address them promptly to prevent further damage.

Drain and Insulate Outdoor Faucets:

Before the winter season arrives, make sure to drain and disconnect any garden hoses. Shut off the outdoor water supply and insulate any outdoor faucets or pipes. This will prevent water from freezing and causing damage to the pipes.

Schedule Professional Inspections:

Consider scheduling regular inspections with a qualified plumber. A professional can assess the condition of your pipes and identify potential vulnerabilities that may lead to burst pipes. They can also provide guidance on the best course of action to mitigate any risks.

call an emergency plumber for burst pipe repair.

Contact an emergency plumber or emergency water damage restoration service as soon as possible.

Take Action in Case of a Burst Pipe

Despite our best efforts, emergencies can still occur. If you experience a burst pipe, it is crucial to act quickly to minimize water damage and protect your home. Here are the immediate steps you should take:

Shut Off the Water:

Locate your main water shut-off valve and turn it off immediately to stop the flow of water. It is essential to familiarize yourself with the location of this valve before an emergency occurs.

Open Faucets:

Next, open all faucets in your home to drain the remaining water from the pipes. This will relieve pressure and help prevent further damage.

Call a Professional:

Contact an emergency plumber or 24 hour plumbing service as soon as possible. They have the expertise and equipment to assess the situation, repair the burst pipe for you, and minimize water damage.

Conclusion

Water damage caused by burst pipes can be a nightmare for homeowners. However, by understanding the causes of burst pipes and implementing preventive measures, you can significantly reduce the risk of water damage. Insulating pipes, sealing air leaks, conducting regular maintenance, and knowing how to react in case of a burst pipe are all essential steps towards safeguarding your home. Remember, your proactive actions today can save you from costly repairs and the stress of dealing with water damage in the future.

Oct '22

Burst Pipes: How to Prevent Them

How exactly do you prevent burst pipes? A burst pipe in your home is one of those plumbing emergencies you think cannot happen to you until it does. Every year millions of homes in the USA suffer damage from burst pipes. This year alone, it is estimated that as many as 250,000 households will face this issue, with the average insurance claim for each home at around $15,000.

When a water pipe breaks and releases water into your home, as Keyrenter McAllen explains, not only does the incident disrupt your daily life, but you are also faced with thousands of dollars of out-of-pocket costs, along with the paperwork of an insurance claim. This is in addition to how the incident can inflate your insurance premium. What can you do to avoid the aggravations of a burst pipe in your home?

How to keep pipes from bursting

There are three main reasons why pipes burst:

The pipes could be defective due to age, corrosion, or other reasons.
Improperly installed pipes are more likely to rupture or leak.
But the main reason that water lines burst in cold weather.

If pipes are exposed to very low temperatures during winter, the water inside them can freeze. Frozen water expands up to 10%. If that water is inside a pipe, it will have no place to go and can exert up to 40,000 pounds of pressure inside the pipe, and that’s enough to burst any pipe. Even worse, the pipe may not burst at the site of the freeze, further complicating issues.

How do you keep pipes from bursting because of cold temperatures?

Insulate walls and rooms

Crawlspaces, exterior walls, attics, and basements; pipes in these areas of the home are particularly susceptible to freezing. That’s because most attics and basements are not heated, while crawlspaces and exterior walls are exposed to the cold weather outside the house. Insulating exterior walls, attics, crawlspaces, and basements will keep the pipes that run in them from freezing.

Let warm air circulate

Keep the doors of under-the-sink closets open to allow the warm air inside your home to circulate to these areas. If the closet doors are shut, cold air will seep into the area from the outside, and the pipes could freeze. Keeping closet doors open when temperatures are low is a simple way to keep pipes from freezing during winter.

Keep faucets trickling

Pipes are less likely to freeze and burst if water flows through them. The constant movement of water through the pipes ensures that cold water does not stay long enough in one place to freeze. The easy way to do this is to leave faucets slightly open so that a dribble of water constantly flows from them.

Install heat tape

If a pipe is prone to freezing and taking the above steps does not solve the problem, use heat tape. Wrap this around the pipe to warm it when temperatures get low. Note that covering pipes with foam insulation will not do much to keep them warm. Heat tape is a more effective solution.

Disconnect garden hoses

Disconnect any garden hose connected to your external faucet. Drain the hose and store it for use in spring. Open the tap to let any water inside it drain; turn off the shut-off valve inside your home before you do this. Lastly, keep the faucet open throughout winter. It is also a good idea to install freeze-proof fixtures in this part of the house.

What to do when a pipe bursts

What if your pipe has burst, what can you do about it? The first order of business when you have a burst pipe is to try and minimize damage. The following steps will help you do that.

Know the location of the water shut-off valve

This fixture will cut off the water supply to the entire home, buying you time during an emergency. You should know where it is located beforehand. In most homes, you can find it after the water meter. But you may also find it in a small box outside your home if the house is in an area with moderately cold winters.

When you find the water shut-off valve, explain its use to your household and teach everyone in the home how to operate it. Attaching a bold label to the shut-off valve is an excellent idea to make it easy to identify. This small step can help you reduce expensive water damage to your home if a pipe burst.

Use self-bonding tape for emergencies

If the pipe bursts at night, you may be unable to get a plumber immediately, or the cost of getting a plumber may be too high. In that case, you can apply silicon self-binding tape to the pipe to seal it. This will let you turn the water on for short periods to get through the night. Calling an emergency plumber can apply a permanent solution.

Jul '22

How to Thaw and Prevent Frozen Water Pipes

Frozen water pipes are a constant threat during winter. If the only issue with frozen pipes is the temporary disruption of water supply to parts of your home, the problem would be easier to endure. But frozen water in your pipes can leave you with damaged pipes and expensive repairs, warns Liberty Real Estate Services.

Water expands when it freezes and can exert pressures of over 2000 pounds per square inch. This is enough force to rupture your pipe or, at the very least, weaken them. Typically, you don’t even know this is happening until the ice thaws and your basement is suddenly flooded.

The result is damaged walls, ceilings, and floors that cost tens of thousands of dollars to repair. This problem mostly happens to pipes that are connected to outside-facing walls, pipes in under-the-sink cabinets, unheated basements or crawlspaces, and outdoor faucets.

What can you do if a pipe in your home is frozen but not ruptured? Is there a way to thaw the frozen pipe without damaging it? Yes, you can thaw a frozen pipe without damaging it. Below are the steps to do this, depending on the location of the pipe inside your home.

Frozen pipes inside walls

Pipes embedded in the walls or ceilings of your home may become frozen. Unfreezing them is harder than thawing pipes that are exposed. If you find that one of the pipes inside the walls or ceilings of the house is frozen, here is what you can do:

Turn up the heat in your entire home – Ensure you leave the cabinet door open if the frozen pipe is in a wall inside your bathroom or beneath the base cabinet for your kitchen sink or vanity. This will let warm air in your home carry heat to the wall.

Open up the wall section – If you cannot wait to let the heated air in your home defrost the pipe, maybe because you think a burst pipe is looming, use this solution. Cut the section of wall or ceiling directly above the pipe and use the same methods you would use to thaw an exposed pipe (explained in the next section).

Thawing exposed pipes that are frozen

If it is an exposed pipe, thawing it is easier since you can apply the steps above directly to the pipe. There are three ways to thaw exposed pipes. Regardless of the one you choose, always start by applying the heat from the faucet side of the pipe or the side closest to the water main and move forward to the frozen area.

Using a hair dryer – This method is the easiest and safest. The items you need are things you already have in the home. To help direct the heat to the backside of the pipe, place a cookie sheet behind the pipe. When defrosting a frozen pipe with a water heater, apply the heat using a sweeping motion across the frozen pipe section.

Use a portable heater – You may also thaw frozen pipes with a space heater. Turn the space heater to its highest setting and let it warm the air around the frozen pipe. Remember to open the doors of the cabinet if the pipe is in a cabinet under the kitchen sink or bathroom vanity.

Use an electrical heat tape – The third way to thaw frozen pipes is with a heat cable; a freeze protection cable you place directly on pipes to unfreeze them. To use the tape, attach it to the copper or plastic pipe with electrical tape, making sure the thermostat is directly on the pipe to sense its temperature.

How to prevent your pipes from freezing

The best way to deal with frozen pipes in your home is to not have them at all. After thawing the pipe, here are a few simple steps you can take to make sure you don’t have this problem ever again.

Keep faucets dripping – If it gets really cold and you think a pipe in your home might freeze, leave the faucet dripping to keep the water inside the pipes moving. This will prevent freezing.

Open the cabinet doors – Keep cabinet doors open to let warm air from the rest of the house circulate into the colder areas inside the cabinet. This will usually be sufficient to keep pipes from freezing.

Wrap the pipe with electrical heat tape – If a pipe is in the habit of freezing, wrap it permanently with electrical heat tape and turn on the heat if the weather starts to get cold.

Add insulation to pipes – To keep pipes in unheated spaces like basements and crawlspaces from freezing, wrap them with foam insulation. But this will only work if the rest of the room is not cold.

Install a permanent space heater – Permanently installing a space heater in unheated spaces in the home – garage, basement, and crawlspace – will keep exposed pipes or pipes inside the walls from freezing.

Disconnect garden hose in winter – If your faucet is not frost-proof, it will be vulnerable to freezing. Prevent this by turning off the water supply to the faucet and removing the garden hoses connected to it. If the outdoor faucet freezes it may need a repair or replacement come Spring time.