It’s essential to protect your home’s plumbing system against the dangers of frozen pipes in the winter to avoid plumbing issues. It’s common for freezing temperatures and strong storms to cause costly damage to your home’s pipes during the cold season. Damaged and burst pipes often result in leaks that cause irreparable damage to parts of your home, including the ceiling.
When Are Pipes at Risk of Freezing?
Typically, once temperatures fall below 32 degrees Fahrenheit, the water inside your pipes is at risk of freezing. This is dangerous due to the physics of what happens when a pipe freezes. The frozen water will start to expand. As it expands, the pressure causes your pipes to crack, eventually resulting in leaks or even a burst pipe.
5 Hazards Of Frozen Pipes
Frozen pipelines in the home pose several dangers, and if not addressed promptly, can lead to significant damage and inconvenience. Here are five potential dangers associated with frozen pipes:
1. Risk of Property Damage
When a pipe bursts due to freezing, it can release a large volume of water into your home. Water damage can affect walls, ceilings, floors, and personal belongings. Mold growth is also a concern if the affected areas are not properly dried.
2. Risk of Injury
Iced pipes can lead to home flooding, increasing the risk of drowning, especially where young children and seniors are involved. It also triggers problems with your home’s wiring, which may eventually result in electrocution, house fires, electric shocks, and even death.
3. Added Costs of Repair
Emergency plumbing services can cost a lot as you have to meet the pipe repair cost, flood control, and the cost of cleaning up the mess left by the flooding. Remember, this is money that you never budgeted for. Therefore, there is a need to prevent pipes from freezing to avoid these additional expenses.
4. Disruption of Water Supply
Frozen water pipes mean you won’t have a water supply for days. If you are coping with burst pipes in your home, you will need to shut off the supply entirely to allow for repair.
Scheduling water and frozen pipe damage repair can take days, and as you wait for the repair company to fix the plumbing system, you will be without water. This can be inconvenient for daily activities such as cooking, cleaning, and bathing.
5. Health Risks
Water damage and mold growth resulting from burst pipes can create an unhealthy living environment. Mold can cause respiratory issues and other health problems, particularly for individuals with allergies or asthma.
How To Prevent Frozen Pipes
Now, knowing the dangers of frozen pipes in your home, it’s crucial to take steps to prevent this occurrence and save you money and the hassle of frozen pipe repair.
Here are some tips to help you avoid the freezing and potential bursting of pipes in your home:
- Insulate Pipes: Insulate both hot and cold water pipes in unheated areas of your home, such as the attic, crawl spaces, and exterior walls. You can use pipe insulation sleeves or heat tape to provide additional protection.
- Seal Leaks: Seal any gaps or cracks in walls, windows, and doors to prevent cold air from reaching pipes. Ensure that the areas where pipes enter your home are well sealed.
- Keep a Consistent Temperature: Maintain a consistent temperature in your home, especially during extremely cold weather. Continually adjusting the thermostat to prevent frozen pipes will only cause your heating system to overwork itself.
- Open Cabinet Doors: Keep cabinet doors open in kitchens and bathrooms to allow warm air to circulate around pipes under sinks.
- Let Faucets Drip: Allow faucets to drip slightly during very cold temperatures. The movement of water can help prevent freezing.
- Know Your Water Shut-Off Valve: Familiarize yourself with the location of your main water shut-off valve. If pipes do freeze, you can quickly shut off the water supply to minimize potential damage.
Your water pipes are at risk of freezing whenever the temperatures drop below the freezing point. It’s ideal to schedule a regular inspection of your pipes before the cold starts to affect crucial plumbing components in the home.
If you need a frozen pipe repair or emergency plumbing repair in Salt Lake City, contact Scott Hale. We are a leading HVAC and plumbing service and installation company servicing homes and businesses in Salt Lake City and the surrounding neighborhoods. Call us today to learn more about what we can do for you.
