Winter can bring extra challenges to your plumbing system. Sometimes a portion of your plumbing system will freeze and create frozen pipes which can then lead to burst pipes. Generally speaking, older homes are more prone to frozen pipes because of poor insulation. Other areas prone to freezing are sprinkler connections, outside hose bibs or outside faucets, water pipes in the garage or any other areas where there is poor insulation. In some instances, you can easily identify frozen pipes if you find no water coming, either hot or cold, from faucets. Irrespective of the size and location of the pipeline, frozen pipes are a household nightmare.
At Benjamin Franklin Plumbing, “The Punctual Plumber”, we guide our clients in taking preventive measures to avoid pipe bursts, especially caused by frozen pipes. We can do this several ways. First off, for those clients that want to leave their home for extended period in the winter time, we will winterize their home (also called winterization). This involves shutting off the main water supply and draining down the water heater and toilets. We ensure that the p-traps won’t freeze as well. This is quite the lengthy process as we take great care to make sure the job is done right! We can also provide a whole-home inspection to ensure that the water piping is up to code and look for problem areas that can be addressed proactively.
Here are some other measure you can take to proactively prevent frozen pipes on your own:
- Before the arrival of winter, ensure that the pipes in your home are in a heated area (sometimes referred to as ”conditioned area”)
- If you travel away for the winter, you should winterize your home and shut the water off to avoid any damage. It doesn’t hurt to have a friend or neighbor check out your home while you are gone.
- Always keep your stop tap in good condition for easy handling in case of an emergency.
- Take care to set the temperatures of your heating system in accordance with the cold conditions. You don’t want a “setback thermostat” to keep your home too cold otherwise you could end up with frozen pipes.
If you do have frozen pipes or burst pipes or have any type of emergency, we can help. A couple things you should do in this type of situation:
- Turn off the water supply. You can find the valve associated with the pipe and turn it off or if that doesn’t work, shut of the main valve. The main valve is typically located just off the basement floor on the side of the basement that faces the street.
- Next, remove all the items in the vicinity of the burst pipe.
- Then call Benjamin Franklin Plumbing. We have thaw machines to thaw frozen pipes so that the water can flow freely again. And if there is a crack or leak in the pipe we can fix it.
As a customer-friendly company dedicated to offering highly-reliable and professional plumbing services to help you solve the plumbing emergency of frozen pipes, we suggest you to contact us immediately once you feel signs of this situation.
Benjamin Franklin Plumbing, “The Punctual Plumber”—IF THERE’S ANY DELAY, IT’S YOU WE PAY! ™
For quality, dependable and on-time plumbing services in frozen pipes, call Benjamin Franklin Plumbing now:
952-888-4022 Minneapolis & Suburbs or 651-315-8135 St. Paul & Suburbs
