We thought frozen pipes had been a fear we’d left behind by transferring to Florida, however final month’s arctic blast despatched our temperatures plummeting into the low 20s for 3 nights in a row (with an all-time low of 18 levels, which they’re calling a once-in-a-century occasion right here in Northwest, FL).

This was particularly regarding as a result of Florida properties in our space aren’t all the time constructed with this climate in thoughts. Frozen pipes are dangerous information as a result of water expands when it freezes, doubtlessly inflicting pipes to burst or crack, resulting in leaking or flooding.

Fortunately, with a couple of simple prevention steps we efficiently stored our pipes from freezing! Which, sadly, isn’t one thing plenty of our neighbors can say. Many individuals we all know had a problem with a pipe or two bursting – so we’re extraordinarily grateful that the steps we took stored ours protected. Listed here are 5 issues that labored for us, together with a tip from an area plumber that saved our out of doors bathe!

Tip 1: Determine Your Drawback Pipes

The very first thing to do is assess the plumbing in your house for spots which can be particularly vulnerable to freezing. This step lets you prioritize your efforts and tells you what areas it’s best to hold a detailed eye on as soon as the temperatures drop. This consists of however isn’t restricted to:

• Outside plumbing fixtures like hose bibs or out of doors showers
• Pipes in unconditioned areas like garages, attics, or crawl areas
• Plumbing on exterior partitions
• Pipes closed off from warmth sources, like in indoor cabinetry or closets
• Pipes uncovered to wind, like on docks
• Uninsulated pipes anyplace

For us, our main concern was our exterior plumbing – particularly our water heater (seen above), out of doors bathe, and hose bibs. We had been much less involved about our inside plumbing as a result of we had been unlikely to lose energy/warmth (because of our whole-house generator & the peace of thoughts that provides us), and dropping inside warmth is often what endangers indoor pipes. However listed here are some suggestions for stopping frozen pipes when your warmth goes out, simply in case.

Tip 2: Add Insulation To Your Pipes

A few of our exterior pipes had been already insulated, just like the water heater proven above. However lots of them weren’t, together with an extended part of copper pipe working to our out of doors bathe (you may see it uncovered in this publish). In order quickly as we noticed the forecast, we beat the push to the shop and purchased a number of lengths of self-sealing foam tubular pipe insulation. They’re simple to put in and solely price about $3 for a 6-foot tube. Simply you’ll want to choose up some elbows and tees as wanted too

It took us about quarter-hour to put in the froth tubes on any uninsulated out of doors pipes. In spots the place we couldn’t match a full tube, we used a few of this adhesive insulating tape as a substitute. This labored nicely on a number of the knobby sections of sure hose bibs or the place some pipes had been put in snugly to the siding.

Lastly, we additionally double-checked a number of the plumbing in our attic to ensure it was sufficiently lined in insulation. We’ve got blown insulation up there and a few of it had gotten moved off of a piece of pipe, so we simply brushed it again over. We learn over and over that even when your plumbing is inside, if it’s uninsulated and in an attic, basement, or storage it might nonetheless freeze and burst (in actual fact my aunt in Richmond had that subject with a pipe in her storage final yr when it obtained further chilly up there).

Tip 3: Drip Your Taps

This tip is an oldie, however a goodie. Transferring water can’t freeze as shortly as stagnant water, so forcing your pipes to maintain flowing – even only a trickle! – is a good way to forestall frozen pipes. Simply don’t overlook to drip each your chilly and scorching water strains. We learn fairly a couple of articles that stated you simply must drip the chilly, however that undoubtedly tripped up a few our neighbors and so they had the recent water strains burst! So we undoubtedly had a very profitable end result by barely dripping each.

It was simple to drip the cold and warm water strains inside. Within the lavatory, we simply turned each the recent & chilly levers on barely. And within the kitchen, we set our faucet midway between scorching & chilly and opened it to a tiny trickle.

Our out of doors bathe was a bit trickier as a result of partaking the recent water would imply turning the bathe on to a full spray, which was not one thing we had been wanting to do for 3 days straight whereas it wavered between lows of 18 and 22 levels. Fortunately, an area plumber gave us the tip to take away the showerhead and put a cap on it as a substitute. Buuuuuuut, as a substitute of screwing the cap on tightly, simply hand-tighten it in order that a bit little bit of water can nonetheless leak out. This allowed us to set the bathe to a center temperature (which ensured that water was barely transferring by means of the recent water and the chilly water line), however nonetheless solely let it drip as a substitute of totally spraying 3 nights in a row. Considered one of our pals had their out of doors showers break through the deep freeze and he later realized he had solely let his chilly water drip, so the recent water line was the one which froze and burst. And our neighbor throughout the road didn’t drip something outdoors, so each of her bathe strains burst.

Simply to be protected, we stored all of our inside and exterior fixtures very barely dripping for the complete 3 days of our chilly snap. We commonly checked our out of doors fixtures to ensure they had been nonetheless evenly dripping and there wasn’t any ice build-up or blockage. We even put indicators on our indoor sinks to remind our youngsters (and ourselves!) to not flip issues off in an early morning haze or late-night bout of forgetfulness.

And whereas it might really feel like a giant “waste” of water to go away taps on for therefore lengthy, dripping ought to have negligible results in your water invoice. I learn a couple of articles that stated it was round 2-5 cents per sink per day. And consider it this fashion: it makes use of so much much less water than having a giant leak that floods your own home or yard!

Tip 4: Flip Your Water Totally Off

An alternate technique is to simply totally flip the water off to your own home or parts of your own home. As an illustration, if we had had a separate shut-off for our out of doors bathe, we seemingly would’ve executed that as a substitute. It’s not like anybody was going to bathe outdoors in that climate! It’s additionally an ideal possibility in the event you’re leaving city and gained’t be residence to maintain your taps dripping or to watch for leaks. We truly flip off our predominant water anytime we go on a visit as a result of burst pipes can occur in any climate (now we have a pal who got here residence to a flooded first ground in the summertime! AWFUL!).

Simply do not forget that after shutting off the water, you continue to must launch the stress of the water that’s nonetheless sitting within the pipes. Discover your lowest plumbing fixture (often an outside hose bib) and open it for a number of seconds till the circulation slows down. This was a tip from a plumber pal in Cape Charles who informed us that generally folks flip off the water however don’t bear in mind to alleviate the stress and so they nonetheless come again to frozen pipes which have burst.

Tip 5: A Pool Seems Susceptible However Can Sometimes Deal with It

Like many Floridians, now we have a pool that we use year-round. It’s not lined or winterized or anything that’s typical in colder climates (an open-year-round pool is the norm right here). This was our first important chilly snap since our pool was accomplished so we had been fairly frightened at first. We noticed plenty of EXPOSED and UNSINULATED plumbing round our pool gear. Gulp.

However after talking with our pool cleaner (who’s from Kansas, so he is aware of chilly), we had been assured that our system could be advantageous. Our Hayward controller has a built-in “Freeze Defend” mode that mechanically engages each time the air temperature drops beneath 36 levels. This retains the pumps, fountains, spa jets, and pool heater working on steady cycles to make sure that the water by no means sits too lengthy or will get too chilly. Plus, he reassured us, that if the controller had been to fail, it could take a very long time for our massive PVC pipes to freeze totally by means of and crack. Even older swimming pools with out “Freeze Defend” can often simply be manually set to cycle water and use the pumps to maintain issues from freezing, in order that’s good to know.

Whereas we’d by no means advise you to not fear about your pool in any respect, we discovered plenty of consolation in watching our pool hold itself protected through the chilly climate. We did completely nothing and it simply kicked issues on and off and moved water round for 4 strong days. We nonetheless checked on it to ensure we noticed the fountains flowing and spa effervescent periodically – however it was fully self-sufficient and did an ideal job. So undoubtedly test your system or seek the advice of your pool firm earlier than chilly climate to know what to anticipate out of your specific pool, but when it has considerably latest expertise (like Freeze Defend) OR you may simply manually flip it on to maintain water flowing, it’s best to hopefully be all good. Oh and it actually helps to make sure that you’ll seemingly keep energy. A number of folks have back-up turbines right here for that peace of thoughts.

Tip #6: Nothing’s Foolproof…

Typically, the following pointers will not be sufficient to cease each single potential downside with pipes freezing relying in your specific scenario and climate occasion, however we’re extraordinarily glad we took these precautions and so they undoubtedly helped us really feel so much higher about going into this newest arctic blast and, for us at the very least, they stored us from experiencing any plumbing points in any respect.

Extra Freezing Climate Preparations

Along with prepping our pipes for this unusually chilly Florida climate, we additionally took a number of steps to defend our crops from freezing. You may learn the 6 steps we took, together with which of them labored higher than others proper right here on this publish.

And once more, in the event you occur to expertise your warmth going out, we’ve written a publish all about the right way to stop frozen pipes when your warmth goes out.

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