Preparing your pipes for wintry weather could save you thousands
In cold temperatures, pipes can freeze and burst causing thousands of dollars of water damage to homes or apartments.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — With freezing temperatures expected to hit central Arkansas, your pipes could freeze leaving you with a large bill.
However, there is a way to prevent freezing pipes with just your kitchen sink.
“Pipes don’t give you any warning before they freeze. It is sudden, rapid and then boom,” Jeff Fuller, co-owner of Fuller and Son Hardware, said.
Turning on your faucets could be just as important as prepping the rest of your house for cold weather — and it can save you money.
“Go ahead and leave a little trickle on both sides of the faucets because running water rarely freezes at all. That could definitely save your pipes,” Fuller said.
On top of leaving the water on, Fuller says that using heaters or other items to keep the pipes warm is another step to ensure that there’s no damage to your home or apartment.
“If you have a crawl space or any exposed pipe, any kind of insulation you can put on them is great faucet cover for outside pipe insulation, heated tape. If you have a crawl space, or a room that doesn’t get as much heat that may have some pipes in the walls, if you want to put just an auxiliary form of heat in there,” Fuller said.
Heaters can also be used as a tool to keep the water running through the pipes in the cold.
“If you have an old halogen work light, those put off a tremendous amount of heat. So you can use that in a crawl space or any place where there’s exposed pipes, or pipes in any kind of room that may not be getting much heat. Throw that light up against the wall. It may save your pipes,” Fuller said.
There are some signs to lookout for if pipes start to freeze.
“When the water quits flowing, that’s when you need to start looking for a leak. It can be really hard to find a busted pipe in a wall,” Fuller said.
It could take a few months after a thaw to find out if there is a problem with pipes.
Fuller says that a burst pipe could cost you thousands.
“If a pipe busts inside of a wall, you don’t see it until a lot of the damage is done. So you’re talking replacing flooring, plumbing, flooring, drywall. Probably not the studs, if it’s something that happened that quick, but there’s a lot damage that goes on with water damage,” Fuller said.
To prevent frozen pipes, you can also leave the cabinet doors under sinks open to allow warmer air to circulate around pipes under the sink.