We all know how unpredictable winters can be here in Texas. That’s why it’s important to take preventive steps to protect your home’s plumbing system, especially if a serious cold front is approaching.
Here at Mr. Plumber, we are experts when it comes to plumbing. Here is how you can winterize your plumbing and prepare for extreme weather.
Winterizing Your Plumbing
Turn Off Your Home’s Water
Turning off your home’s water is one of the best steps you can take to prevent your plumbing from taking damage during a severe cold front. To do so, you’ll need to locate your home’s main water valve. Finding your main water valve can be tricky, though it is usually located near your water meter.
You should also turn off the water pump and water heater. This will protect the heating elements within the water heater.
Open The Drain Valve to Your Water Heater
Even the excess water in your water heater can wreak havoc on your plumbing when extremely cold weather hits. Make sure to drain it from your hot water tank. You can do this by opening the drain valve and letting it discharge into the floor drain. On some water heaters, you’ll have to connect a garden hose and let it drain into your yard.
Flush Toilets
Flushing your toilets to remove excess water can help prevent your plumbing from freezing. Obviously, this simple method will not remove all water from your toilets. If you want to be extra safe, you can add antifreeze to the toilet water to prevent it from freezing and cracking the toilet.
These simple steps should help protect your home’s plumbing from freezing up, but there are other steps you should take to prevent other pipes from freezing.
Protecting Your Pipes
Insulate Pipes
Insulating pipes, both indoors and outdoors, is the best thing you can do to prevent them from freezing. You can use insulation sleeves, towels, or other wrappings to prevent them from freezing. It’s important you don’t leave any gaps in the insulation. Even the smallest gap can cause the pipe to freeze regardless of how well it’s insulated.
Leave a Faucet Dripping
Leaving even just one faucet dripping can keep the water moving in your plumbing system. With the water constantly moving, it’s much harder to freeze up.
Insulate the Crawl Space
If you want to make sure you aren’t crawling around your home’s crawl space trying to fix frozen pipes during a cold front, then prepare your home and insulate the crawl space. Block all vents and other gaps that lead outside to prevent any cold air from entering the crawl space. Simply items like wood and cardboard can provide enough strength to prevent cold air from entering your home’s crawl space.
If you want more information on how to prepare your home for winter or need help with your plumbing system, contact Mr. Plumber today! We’ve been serving the San Antonio community for over forty years and we are professionals when it comes to all things plumbing. Whether you need help with your water heater, your bathroom plumbing, or a gas leak, you can trust us to get the job done right!
