The Town of Kirklin released advice for homeowners to consider as the time of year where freezing weather may cause frozen pipes that lead to further damage within the home.
The Town recommended all community members to allow faucets to drip when a cold wave hovers above their area to prevent frozen pipes while also considering additional tidbits, including:
If allowing only one faucet to drip, make sure it’s the furthest away from the area where water enters your home through the pipes. Why? So that water will flow through the entire length of the system. If you aren’t sure where the incoming water source is, setting any faucet to drip will at least help and is better than nothing, though not ideal.
Pay close attention to pipes that remain in attics, garages, basements and crawl spaces because temperature levels in these unheated interior areas tend to mimic outside temps.
While any pipes can burst, the ones that usually cause the most problems are located in basements, crawl spaces, attics, kitchen cabinets, and garages. These are usually exposed and don’t have the insulation other interior pipes may have.
Speaking of insulated pipes….this is a very good way to prevent problems in the first place. If you cannot do it yourself, call me and I can give you some names of businesses and handymen in the area who can.
Drain and store your outdoor hoses. Every year we have at least one resident who has a leak due to forgotten attached hoses.
To protect pipes located in the cabinets under the kitchen and bathroom sinks, remove anything that could be a danger to children and leave the cabinets open so the warm air in your home can get to the plumbing.
Each year we also hear people say they “don’t want their utility bill to go up by allowing faucets to drip.” We get it – we pay a bill just like you. We do not get free or reduced utility bills, contrary to what some may believe. So we understand the pain of increased costs. But I will suffer a little higher than normal bill over a plumber bill any day.
What is a “drip” anyway? By dripping we don’t mean a running stream but rather a slow, steady, well um….drip. I’ve seen some with high bills that when I look at their hourly usage over a cold spell, it’s clear they were really unnecessarily overdoing it. Even so, that’s still going to be better than a plumber bill.
