5 Tips To Keep Your Bathroom Pipes From Freezing

The best way to prevent frozen pipes is by making sure your home stays at or above freezing point. If this doesn’t happen, then there are five steps you can take that will help you avoid costly repairs. At Bill’s Plumbing and Sewer, serving Glenview, IL, we offer many services including fixing clogged pipes and leaky faucets.

Take it from us.

Keeping the Heat On

The heat should never exceed 50°F, but a low enough setting to prevent pipes from freezing. If you and your tenant are at home for longer periods, you need to make sure the heat is kept adequately on. But if the tenants pay their own bill, it might be difficult to ask this of them. An always-on heat costs you. However, frozen pipes are an issue to be dealt with by you both.

Tell them how it will help prevent property damage, and they should play along.

Let the Faucet Drip Water

If you are afraid a pipe will freeze, don’t open it to relieve pressure – instead, let the drips from that faucet flow freely. If anything is blocking its way (i.e., ice), then opening up the tap just slightly might be enough for now. This should keep your pipes safe. To prevent bursting when faced with such emergencies in future times of need, always make sure both cold and hot water sources come through well-maintained taps.

Keep Interior Doors Open for Flow of Heat

Keeping your home’s pipes warm when temperatures dip by keeping cabinet doors and interior doorways open is important. Ensure that there are no blocked vents or broken fan coils for the heat to flow throughout the house. Pipe insulation keeps homes cozy during the winter months. Using natural gas becomes quite common because of space heating needs; however, you don’t want to block any ventilation systems.

Seal Any Cracks and Holes

When it’s winter and your house is drafty, there are a few things you can do to make sure the cool air doesn’t flow out with every gust of wind. Seal up any gaps around holes in pipes running through walls or floors so that cold air from below when rising back up does not deter the temperature. Use caulk (or spray foam insulation) for this task if possible because it will prevent any air from entering. However, be careful with this. We recommend professional help. Call us in, we’ll do it for you.

Make Use of Heating Tape

Heating tape works like an electric blanket for pipes, supplying heat directly to keep it warm during cold spells. This can be a good solution for short sections of pipe at high risk for freezing and are easily accessible, so you can install the tape and monitor it for problems.

We hope you are all set to keep your pipes from freezing this winter. But should anything unseemly come to pass at your residence in Glenview, IL, you know where to find us.

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