Plumbing Tips to Prepare For the Onset of Winter

As the cold weather sets in, majority of the homeowners in the United States and other regions brace themselves for both soaring heating costs and plummeting temperatures. However, these are just among the few reasons that homeowners dread the winter season. Apart from the high energy costs, the winter season can bring about additional expenses in the form of broken heating units and frozen pipes. With the fall of temperatures during winter, homeowners should be completely ready and prepared for the inevitable changes in this season. In addition, they should make sure that the home plumbing system is protected from the cold. In this article, we shall see tips that can help insulate the pocketbook against additional cold weather costs.

Protect Outside Faucets

Most of the plumbing problems that occur during winter can be as a result of faulty piping that are outside the house. Protecting outside faucets is the best way through which one can prevent exterior piping systems from breaking. Detach and dismantle all exterior garden hoses and insulate the faucets against the frigid weather. You can wrap the faucets with some insulating material or use insulating foam to surround the entire faucet.

Protect Interior Pipes

During very extreme winter conditions, covered pipes or those in the interior can still freeze. This can be a huge menace to a home's plumbing system because it can result into the breakage of almost all plumbing pipes. To prevent the pipes from freezing, you can turn on an inside faucet. This will allow water to drip all through the coldest winter snaps. By allowing a drip, the water in your home's pipes remains in constant motion and circulation. This prevents pipes from freezing even in some of the most extreme winter cases.

Prevent Clogged Drains

One of the most common activities people engage in during the winter is prodigious cooking. During this time, the pipes and drains in a home can take a beating. In addition, the extreme weather conditions can solidify the fat resulting into higher cases of clogged drains. A home owner can stay away from drain problems by not putting hard do dissolve foods, oil and grease through the garbage disposal or down the drain. In addition, it is advisable to treat your drains on a weekly basis with an Eco-friendly dry cleaner.

Service Your Plumbing and Heating Units

As they say, prevention is better than cure. This is a statement that can be very true in this case. When the fall season begins, it is important to have a professional service your plumbing systems and furnace to make sure that it is in optimal operation. A furnace breakdown in the middle of a blizzard is the last thing a homeowner wants to hear.

Although the vagaries of the winter season cannot be controlled, it is possible to prepare for the inevitable impact. By heeding to the simple tips above, you can bypass some of the most daunting plumbing repair problems.