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4 Steps To Prevent Your Pipes from Bursting

In the dead of winter, the threat of pipes bursting is always imminent for homeowners. Once freeze warnings are issued, it’s time to start the prevention process. Otherwise, you run the risk of frozen or pipes that burst from the pressure. If you’re a new homeowner, or you just moved to a city where winterization is relevant, read on to discover how to keep your home’s plumbing in mint condition. Most importantly, protect your new investment with a comprehensive Home Insurance policy.

Turn on your faucets.

Water collected in plumbing lines can freeze in plummeting temperatures of winter. To prevent this from happening, keep your faucets running during the days and nights the temperature drops below 32 degrees. You don’t need your water bill to skyrocket to do this. Instead, just keep the faucets on drip mode so that the water keeps moving.

Wrap pipes.

If your pipes are already on their merry way towards freezing, wrapping them with warm towels might do the trick. You can cover them with the towels first and then pour boiling water on top, or use already-wet towels — if your hands can stand the heat (use gloves for this). This should help loosen the ice inside and get your system running again, recommends House Logic.

Get out your hairdryer.

This is helpful if your pipes have started to freeze already and you need some extra direct heat. In addition to wrapping your pipes with hot towels, you can apply heat directly with a hairdryer. Never use a blowtorch, however, because direct flames can be extremely dangerous to your pipes. Instead, hot air and hot water should do the trick.

Shut off the water.

This is the opposite advice that we just provided before. However, if your pipes have already frozen over, turning on the faucets won’t do any good. Instead, you’ll need to locate your master shut off valve and down all of the water to the home off.

Make sure to close off any external water sources, like garden hose hookups. This will prevent more water from filling the system, adding more ice to the pile, and eventually bursting your pipes — the worst-case scenario. This also will help when the water thaws; the last thing you want after finally fixing your frozen pipes is for water to flood the system — and thus, your home, explains the article.

About Preferred Insurance

At Preferred Insurance, we specialize in providing quality insurance solutions that are tailored to your specific needs. We pride ourselves on working with you to give you the coverage you need at a price you can afford. For more information about our business line products and services, contact our experts today at (888) 943-5144.

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