Home Owners
Your work day is over, the heat is on, you’ve just enjoyed a warm meal and are about to get tucked into bed. That bliss you are feeling is about to all come crashing down on you because you never expected that you would have to deal with frozen pipes – thats right, YOUR pipes are frozen … it happens to the best of us!
Here’s how you are about to spend your night:
- Battling the extremely cold temperatures outside to find out exactly what is going on with your pipes.
- Using a hair dryer along all of your pipes to try to thaw them out
- Mopping up tons of water that has now flooded your home, because you forgot to turn the main water valve off
- Googling “toronto plumbers” at 3am and trying to reach one who is willing to come to your home this early
Sound like fun? Didn’t think so.
Here are a few things you can do to prevent and deal with frozen pipes during this polar vortex!
Before the cold
- Get rid of any sources of cold air near water lines by insulating walls, eliminating drafts, and repairing windows.
- Find out where your main water shut off valve is – you may need this in the future, and you’ll want to move quick if you do!
- Insulate any exposed pipes
During the cold
- If you have any pipes that you think may freeze, keep a small trickle of water running overnight to keep them from freezing.
- Open up any cabinets to allow for warmer air to keep the pipes from freezing.
Your pipes have now officially frozen. What now?
- Shut off your main water valve immediately!
- While water is shut off, try to heat up the frozen pipes by warming the air around them or by apply heat directly to the pipes (that hairdryer always comes in handy). Once pipes have thawed ensure that you turn the water flow back on slowly to make sure there are no leaks.
- Call for help – you can call your local plumber to help you with this entire process.
Looking for a qualified plumber to have on hand for these types of household issues? Send me an email and I would be happy to refer you to some great resources!