“Winter is here again, oh lord.” — “Wheel in the Sky,” performed by Journey.
Yep, Old Man Winter has arrived, and unfortunately your pipe problems have, too. This latest cold weather snap is cause to worry about freezing pipes, which can really wreak havoc on your home — and you.
Although not all freezing pipes burst, as any plumber will tell you, the best way to deal with a frozen pipe is to not let it happen to begin with. That means taking preventive measures that are fairly easy.
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“Keep your temperature warm in your house,” suggests Marie Green, longtime office manager at the Oak Park-based John Gilchrist & Son Plumbing. “Usually, the outside walls get cold.”
Most people are aware that water expands as it freezes. That expansion puts considerable pressure on whatever is containing it, including metal and plastic pipes. The force can cause a leak at a joint or crack your pipe. If the water thaws and a flow of it is unleashed in your home, it can lead to thousands of dollars in damage, not to mention major headaches for you.
How can you tell if your pipes are frozen? Probably the most obvious sign is that your faucets have stopped flowing and your toilets are not refilling once you’ve flushed. Of course if your water line looks frosty on the outside, that’s a pretty good sign too.
Following some simple tips from Green can help get you and your home through these long cold and miserable winter days. It’s mostly a matter of heat, she said. Open the bathroom and bottom kitchen cabinets to allow warmer air to get to the pipes. Or get a little heater and sit it close by.
“If there’s no heat to that room, get some,” said Green. And put your faucet on a slow drip — a trickle — as running water doesn’t freeze, she said.
“Look at Niagara Falls,” laughed Green.
You can also protect your pipes by wrapping them in insulation, she said.
“That helps,” said Green. “But it’s not a guarantee … nothing is a guarantee.”
Probable spots for frozen pipes include exterior walls or places where your water service enters your home through the foundation. If your pipes do freeze, take a blow dryer, put it on the highest setting, and run it along the wall in the basement, said Green.
“Get heat to it,” she said. (But please, do not use a blowtorch, propane heater, or any other device with an open flame and burn your house down).
If you leave town, keep your heat turned up. And for homeowners with radiators, be careful because those can split too, said Green.
“I’ve seen instances where people have moved, and the electricity and heat have been turned off but the water wasn’t drained,” said Green. “They call it winterizing.”
Hopefully, this bit of advice is helpful and will save you from the nightmare of burst frozen pipes and their subsequent water damage.
“Once you defrost, you got a mess,” said Green. “It’s something most people don’t think about until it happens.”
Felicia Dechter is a freelance columnist for Pioneer Press.