Frozen pipes in homes are preventable
There are techniques people can do before or during winter months to make sure everything runs smoothly
With the winter months and freezing temperatures upon us, preventing pipes freezing has become extremely important.
A pro-active approach to avoiding frozen pipes can save a lot of headaches, inconvenience and costly bills if freezing leads to burst pipes and flooding.
David MacLean, an owner of MacLean’s Plumbing & Heating Ltd, said that during winter, its very simple for a pipe — whether for water or heating — to freeze and cause problems.
“As soon as the cold weather starts, pipes where cold air can infiltrate are a problem; it only takes a pinpoint of cold air on an exposed pipe to cause it to freeze. It’s hard to believe, but its true,” said MacLean, who also added there is a simple solution to make sure this doesn’t happen.
“The biggest thing is to make sure that the insulation is on the backside of the pipe and the pipe is shielded from air.”
MacLean said that although frozen pipes do happen, they are far less common in recent years.
“Over the past number of years, we’ve seen a real decrease in frozen pipes, mostly due to the fact that people are insulating better, houses are sealed better and there is better plumbing because people aren’t putting pipes where they shouldn’t be.”
He has a few tips that people can use both pre-emptively and during cold snaps to prevent pipes being sealed with ice.
“The best thing for most heating systems (before freezing occurs) is to put in propylene glycol; it’s non-toxic and has a high heat transfer rate. What we do is pump a solution through a heating system and it’s just about the best insurance you can get for protecting your heating system,” said MacLean, who went on to explain how to prevent water pipes from freezing.
“For waterlines, the best thing you can do is search out the areas in your basement where there’s no insulation and cold air can come in and blow on a pipe. And if you do have a freeze, don’t use a blow torch, use a hair dryer.
“Sometimes simply removing ceiling tiles in a suspended ceiling allows the heat from the basement to go up and thaw the pipe.”
MacLean also stressed that an important thing to do that people easily forget about to avoid problems or even flooding is to check to make sure their outdoor hoses aren’t still connected during the winter.
“One of the major causes of freeze-ups and broken pipes in a house is that people forget to take their hoses off their faucets and what happens is that it freezes right back into the house,” said MacLean.
“Sometimes in the spring when they open their faucets, water can run down into the inside of their basement walls because its splits the long tube.”
During power outages in cold months, pipes are particularly susceptible to freezing. There are some ways to avoid the problem, but they don’t work everywhere, said MacLean.
“You can keep the water running. It only works for those in a city because they’re on a municipal
supply so the water supply would remain constant,” said MacLean.
“For those people in rural areas that are on pumps, unless you have a generator you’re kind of at the mercy of the winds.”