Tips for Winterizing Your Plumbing to Prevent Damage

Begin by insulating your pipes. Unheated parts of your house, like the basement attic, should have insulated piping. Use pipe sleeves or heat tape on the vulnerable piping. Make sure that the system is under some amount of 'inside' pressure so that it won't go below the freezing point. If you have a system that runs through the outside walls, then open the cabinet doors and let some warm air into the enclosed space around the pipes. Disconnect your outdoor system. Make sure that any plumbing that runs outside is ready for winter. A professional inspection might help. If nothing else, it will give you peace of mind.

Certainly! Here’s the text rephrased: Indeed, plumbing can freeze during Denver's frigid winter months. Preventive measures you can take include: - Insulate pipes properly. - Maintain a consistent temperature throughout the living space. - Allow faucets to drip just enough to keep the water flowing. - Seal any and all leaks or drafts that might let in the kind of cold air that can freeze plumbing.

Pipes generally start to freeze when temperatures dip to 32 degrees Fahrenheit (0 degrees Celsius) or lower. However, the specific temperature at which pipes freeze can vary based on several factors, including how well the pipes are insulated, where in the house the pipes are located, and how much cold air they are exposed to. It’s critical to take preventive measures now, before the mercury drops, to avoid potential damage from frozen pipes.

Certainly! Here’s a rephrased version of your text. The winter can be unkind to plumbing, turning otherwise benign water into a solid (or sometimes not-so-solid) problem. Draining your pipes is one of the very effective ways to make sure they don’t get the winter freeze—and the thawing aftermath that leads to mold and mildew. There are several reasons why leaving water in your plumbing over the winter can be a bad idea, and there are several methods for safely draining your plumbing. One starts—obviously—by shutting off the water supply, then opening fixtures and faucets and draining any remaining water. This method can be done by pushing the water out with compressed air; pushing the water out with air is extra insurance against any water left behind turning to ice in the pipes. This is a particularly useful method for winterizing vacated homes.

Water pipes in homes usually break when the temperature falls to around 20 degrees Fahrenheit (-6 degrees Celsius) or lower, particularly if the pipes are not well insulated. But the kind of material the pipes are made of, how well they are insulated, and how much they are stressed when the temperature drops can raise the freezing point to about 30 degrees Fahrenheit (zero degrees Celsius) under some conditions. To stop pipes from freezing and bursting, make sure they are well insulated, let the pipes pull under extreme cold, and maintain a steady temperature throughout the house.

It's recommended that you allow one faucet to drip during a freeze. If possible, let the faucet that is furthest from your home's water supply be the one that drips. If you have more than one floor in your home, or if you just want to be super-duper safe, you might let several faucets drip, one of which should be on each floor. Allowing a faucet to drip is a good way to prevent pressure build-up and reduce the risk of your pipes freezing and bursting.

Several strategies are used by the northern states to keep pipes from freezing during the winter months. One of the most common countermeasures is pipe insulation. Insulation is applied to both exposed and underground pipes, with special attention paid to high-elevation and unprotected areas likely to take the brunt of extreme temperatures. The types of insulation used in this context are not your average home improvement store buys. Instead, they are designed to withstand intense cold and maintain a warmer environment for the pipes within. Complementing pipe insulation is a coordinated effort to keep the indoor environment warm, in heated areas of the house as well as in spaces like basements and attics where the cold might ordinarily collect.

Frozen pipes can withstand the cold for a diverse number of hours or days before they rupture, depending on the several factors that affect them. These factors include the kind of material the pipes are made from, the kind of temperature they're exposed to, and the general environmental conditions around them. It's true that some pipes may not burst no matter how long they stay frozen—for the simple reason that they're designed to take the kind of abuse that colder-than-normal temperatures dish out—but the risk that any pipe might burst goes up the longer it stays frosty.

Pipes in unheated spaces like basements, crawl spaces, attics, garages, and exterior walls are at the highest risk of freezing. So are the outdoor hoses and spigots. The proper insulation of the piping in these areas, together with the sealing of any drafts, can reduce the likelihood of a freeze-up to a bare minimum.

Preventing the pipes from freezing is difficult, but shutting off the water can help. When you operate the main shut-off valve, you are effectively working the plumbing system from the top down. The water that is flowing from the "supply side" to all the fixtures throughout your house is cut off from the "drain side"—that is, before the water reaches any of the fixtures that could be located just upstream of the shut-off point. Still, there may be water remaining in the pipes between the shut-off valve and the fixture. To mitigate that risk, it is a good idea to drain the plumbing system completely, working from the top of the plumbing system to the drain side.