5 Methods We Prevented Frozen Pipes in Florida
We thought frozen pipes have been a fear we’d left behind by shifting to Florida, however final month’s arctic blast despatched our temperatures plummeting into the low 20s for 3 nights in a row (with an all-time low of 18 levels, which they’re calling a once-in-a-century occasion right here in Northwest, FL).
This was particularly regarding as a result of Florida houses in our space aren’t all the time constructed with this climate in thoughts. Frozen pipes are unhealthy information as a result of water expands when it freezes, probably inflicting pipes to burst or crack, resulting in leaking or flooding.
Fortunately, with a number of straightforward prevention steps we efficiently saved our pipes from freezing! Which, sadly, isn’t one thing lots of our neighbors can say. Many individuals we all know had a problem with a pipe or two bursting – so we’re extraordinarily grateful that the steps we took saved ours protected. Listed here are 5 issues that labored for us, together with a tip from a neighborhood plumber that saved our out of doors bathe!
Tip 1: Establish Your Drawback Pipes
The very first thing to do is assess the plumbing in your house for spots which are particularly susceptible to freezing. This step lets you prioritize your efforts and tells you what areas it is best to maintain a detailed eye on as soon as the temperatures drop. This contains however isn’t restricted to:
- Out of doors plumbing fixtures like hose bibs or out of doors showers
- Pipes in unconditioned areas like garages, attics, or crawl areas
- Plumbing on exterior partitions
- Pipes closed off from warmth sources, like in indoor cabinetry or closets
- Pipes uncovered to wind, like on docks
- Uninsulated pipes anyplace
For us, our main concern was our exterior plumbing – particularly our water heater (seen above), out of doors bathe, and hose bibs. We have been much less involved about our inside plumbing as a result of we have been unlikely to lose energy/warmth (because of our whole-house generator & the peace of thoughts that offers us), and dropping inside warmth is normally what endangers indoor pipes. However listed below are some ideas for stopping frozen pipes when your warmth goes out, simply in case.
Tip 2: Add Insulation To Your Pipes
A few of our exterior pipes have been already insulated, just like the water heater proven above. However a lot of them weren’t, together with a protracted part of copper pipe working to our out of doors bathe (you possibly can see it uncovered in this publish). In order quickly as we noticed the forecast, we beat the frenzy to the shop and purchased a number of lengths of self-sealing foam tubular pipe insulation. They’re straightforward to put in and solely value about $3 for a 6-foot tube. Simply be sure you decide up some elbows and tees as wanted too
It took us about quarter-hour to put in the froth tubes on any uninsulated out of doors pipes. In spots the place we couldn’t match a full tube, we used a few of this adhesive insulating tape as a substitute. This labored properly on a number of the knobby sections of sure hose bibs or the place some pipes have been put in snugly to the siding.
Lastly, we additionally double-checked a number of the plumbing in our attic to verify it was sufficiently coated in insulation. We now have blown insulation up there and a few of it had gotten moved off of a piece of pipe, so we simply brushed it again over. We learn time and again that even when your plumbing is inside, if it’s uninsulated and in an attic, basement, or storage it might probably nonetheless freeze and burst (the truth is my aunt in Richmond had that problem with a pipe in her storage final 12 months when it bought additional chilly up there).
Tip 3: Drip Your Taps
This tip is an oldie, however a goodie. Transferring water can’t freeze as shortly as stagnant water, so forcing your pipes to maintain flowing – even only a trickle! – is an effective way to stop frozen pipes. Simply don’t neglect to drip each your chilly and sizzling water traces. We learn fairly a number of articles that mentioned you simply have to drip the chilly, however that undoubtedly tripped up a few our neighbors and so they had the new water traces burst! So we undoubtedly had a very profitable end result by barely dripping each.
It was straightforward to drip the cold and warm water traces inside. Within the lavatory, we simply turned each the new & chilly levers on barely. And within the kitchen, we set our faucet midway between sizzling & chilly and opened it to a tiny trickle.
Our out of doors bathe was a bit trickier as a result of partaking the new water would imply turning the bathe on to a full spray, which was not one thing we have been desperate to do for 3 days straight whereas it wavered between lows of 18 and 22 levels. Fortunately, a neighborhood plumber gave us the tip to take away the showerhead and put a cap on it as a substitute. Buuuuuuut, as a substitute of screwing the cap on tightly, simply hand-tighten it in order that a bit of little bit of water can nonetheless leak out. This allowed us to set the bathe to a center temperature (which ensured that water was barely shifting by the new water and the chilly water line), however nonetheless solely let it drip as a substitute of totally spraying 3 nights in a row. Certainly one of our associates had their out of doors showers break throughout the deep freeze and he later realized he had solely let his chilly water drip, so the new water line was the one which froze and burst. And our neighbor throughout the road didn’t drip something exterior, so each of her bathe traces burst.
Simply to be protected, we saved all of our inside and exterior fixtures very barely dripping for the total 3 days of our chilly snap. We repeatedly checked our out of doors fixtures to verify they have been nonetheless frivolously dripping and there wasn’t any ice build-up or blockage. We even put indicators on our indoor sinks to remind our children (and ourselves!) to not flip issues off in an early morning haze or late-night bout of forgetfulness.
And whereas it could really feel like a giant “waste” of water to go away taps on for thus lengthy, dripping ought to have negligible results in your water invoice. I learn a number of articles that mentioned it was round 2-5 cents per sink per day. And consider it this manner: it makes use of quite a bit much less water than having a giant leak that floods your home or yard!
Tip 4: Flip Your Water Totally Off
An alternate technique is to only totally flip the water off to your property or parts of your property. As an example, if we had had a separate shut-off for our out of doors bathe, we possible would’ve achieved that as a substitute. It’s not like anybody was going to bathe exterior in that climate! It’s additionally an amazing possibility when you’re leaving city and received’t be residence to maintain your taps dripping or to watch for leaks. We truly flip off our predominant water anytime we go on a visit as a result of burst pipes can occur in any climate (now we have a pal who got here residence to a flooded first flooring in the summertime! AWFUL!).
Simply do not forget that after shutting off the water, you continue to have to launch the stress of the water that’s nonetheless sitting within the pipes. Discover your lowest plumbing fixture (normally an outside hose bib) and open it for a number of seconds till the movement slows down. This was a tip from a plumber pal in Cape Charles who informed us that typically folks flip off the water however don’t keep in mind to alleviate the stress and so they nonetheless come again to frozen pipes which have burst.
Tip 5: A Pool Seems Weak However Can Sometimes Deal with It
Like many Floridians, now we have a pool that we use year-round. It’s not coated or winterized or anything that’s typical in colder climates (an open-year-round pool is the norm right here). This was our first vital chilly snap since our pool was accomplished so we have been fairly frightened at first. We noticed lots of EXPOSED and UNSINULATED plumbing round our pool gear. Gulp.
However after talking with our pool cleaner (who’s from Kansas, so he is aware of chilly), we have been assured that our system could be nice. Our Hayward controller has a built-in “Freeze Defend” mode that routinely engages every time the air temperature drops under 36 levels. This retains the pumps, fountains, spa jets, and pool heater working on steady cycles to make sure that the water by no means sits too lengthy or will get too chilly. Plus, he reassured us, that if the controller have been to fail, it could take a very long time for our massive PVC pipes to freeze totally by and crack. Even older swimming pools with out “Freeze Defend” can normally simply be manually set to cycle water and use the pumps to maintain issues from freezing, in order that’s good to know.
Whereas we’d by no means advise you to not fear about your pool in any respect, we discovered lots of consolation in watching our pool maintain itself protected throughout the chilly climate. We did completely nothing and it simply kicked issues on and off and moved water round for 4 strong days. We nonetheless checked on it to verify we noticed the fountains flowing and spa effervescent periodically – but it surely was utterly self-sufficient and did an amazing job. So undoubtedly test your system or seek the advice of your pool firm earlier than chilly climate to know what to anticipate out of your specific pool, but when it has considerably current know-how (like Freeze Defend) OR you possibly can simply manually flip it on to maintain water flowing, it is best to hopefully be all good. Oh and it actually helps to make sure that you’ll possible preserve energy. A number of folks have back-up mills right here for that peace of thoughts.
Tip #6: Nothing’s Foolproof…
Basically, the following tips will not be sufficient to cease each single potential drawback with pipes freezing relying in your specific scenario and climate occasion, however we’re extraordinarily glad we took these precautions and so they undoubtedly helped us really feel quite a bit higher about going into this newest arctic blast and, for us no less than, they saved us from experiencing any plumbing points in any respect.
Extra Freezing Climate Preparations
Along with prepping our pipes for this unusually chilly Florida climate, we additionally took a number of steps to defend our crops from freezing. You’ll be able to learn the 6 steps we took, together with which of them labored higher than others proper right here on this publish.
And once more, when you occur to expertise your warmth going out, we’ve written a publish all about learn how to forestall frozen pipes when your warmth goes out.
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