Why Are Frozen Pipes an Issue?

Imagine walking into your bathroom when it's cold only to find no hot water. Frozen pipes might be the culprit. If blocked driveways and snowed-down roads weren’t bad enough, winter also comes with the hazard of frozen pipes. Worse, frozen pipes might burst and disrupt your entire plumbing system.

While there are many ways you can prevent your pipes from freezing, some end up freezing anyway. So, what can you do to avoid such situations in your home, and what to do when one of your frozen pipes bursts? This guide will walk you through all the information you need.

Is My Home at Risk of Frozen Pipes?

If it is cold and snowing outside your home, then yes, your home is at risk of frozen pipes. Especially if you live in the southern area, you might be at greater risk because the pipes are not usually insulated.

Similarly, if the temperature goes below 20 degrees Fahrenheit, you should keep an eye on your pipes. Certain areas in your home have a higher risk of having frozen pipes. These include:

Pipes in basements and garages
Crawlspaces and attics
Rooms with outside walls
Swimming pool supply lines
Pipes without insulation
Water Sprinkler lines

The ideal way to conduct preventive measures throughout these high-risk areas during winter is to reduce the risk of burst pipes and avoid emergencies.

Why Do Frozen Pipes Burst?

If you have never encountered such a situation, you must wonder why frozen pipes burst. The answer lies in simple physics. Water expands when it freezes, meaning it takes up more space than usual, which the pipe is not designed to withhold. If the additional pressure persists for a long time, the pipe can crack or leak at the joint. This can cause many emergencies, including unwanted water flow and disrupted water heating systems inside your home.

How to Identify Freezing Pipes?

A frozen pipe, if burst, can pose a serious situation for your household and cost you a lot of fixtures. That’s why it is ideal to inspect your pipes occasionally to identify a frozen one before it bursts. Usually, a frozen pipe is coated in frost and seems to bulge across its length. However, there’s a huge maze of invisible pipes in your home that you won’t be able to inspect.

In such cases, a few tell-tell signs can indicate if your pipes are frozen. These include:

Disrupted faucets
Unusual water flow during flushes

If you notice such signs, you should either take DIY measures to unfreeze your pipes or call emergency plumbing services to help you out.

Can You Fix Frozen Pipes?

Frozen pipes pose a potentially dangerous situation for your home. That’s why, if you’re not really into DIY home improvement projects, you should leave this task to the experts. However, if you want to skip the costs or conduct some fast fixes before you call a professional, here are some steps you should try.

Start thawing your pipe - To thaw your pipe yourself, simply apply heat to the area of your frozen pipe using a hair dryer or heating pad.
Keep the faucet running - Make sure to keep the faucet running during the process so that excess water and steam produced can escape easily.
Wait for the clog to resolve - After that, simply apply the heat until the water flow is normal.

However, this process can only be conducted if the pipe is visible. If you need help, you will have to contact a professional to work on the problem. Usually, professional plumbing service providers use expert techniques to identify and resolve frozen pipes to get your household water supply running again.

How to Prevent Frozen Pipes? - Short and Long Term Measures

Fixing a frozen pipe can cause problems in your plumbing system and cost a lot to fix. But there are several measures you can take to protect your pipes and prevent them from freezing. Some short-term measures include:

Closing every drain and exterior faucet before winter arrives so that the remaining water doesn't freeze.
Remove any garden hoses or other connections from exterior faucets.
Insulate all exterior faucets with faucet socks
Keep cool drafts out of crawl spaces by closing foundation vents and fixing broken windows.
Assess all devices, such as water softeners, washing machines, and pressure controllers, and drain any excess water, so it doesn’t freeze inside.
Seal cracks in wall openings
Apply caulk around basement windows and crawl space openings.
Insulate your home and pay proper attention to walls with enclosed pipes.
Install pipe heat cables and connect them to your thermostat.
Replace old windows with storm windows to keep the cold draft out.
Contact a licensed builder or certified plumber to help safeguard your home from frozen pipes.

Protect Your Pipes With Punta Gorda's Top Plumbers

As a homeowner, there’s only so much you can do to avoid frozen pipes in your home during winter. With most of your plumbing system enclosed inside your home walls, it is easy to miss a frozen pipe if you don’t recognize the symptoms. If left unattended, a frozen pipe can burst and wreak havoc in your household or commercial building. However, that’s no reason to worry. Instead, give us a call and speak to our experts to get help right away.

Our professionals can help you put preventive measures in place to mitigate the risk of frozen pipes in your home or commercial building. Then, in an emergency, our licensed team will immediately deploy qualified individuals to solve the problem while incurring minimal damage to your building structure.

Whether you want to complete pipe insulations in your home or simply want to identify and fix frozen pipes, our experts can do it without burning a hole in your pocket. Our pocket-friendly diagnosis and preventive services help you avoid the high costs of fixing burst pipes in the future.

When winter’s around the corner, you must call Charlotte County Expert Plumbers to avoid frozen pipes in your property.