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During winter the people in the Columbus area often experience brief periods of extremely cold weather. The unusually cold temperatures often cause the freezing of water pipes from time to time. As a result, normal water flow is obstructed since the pipe becomes blocked with ice.
To prevent this from happening to you, there are some steps you can take in case your home is prone to freezing pipes.
MoreAlthough there are numerous issues that a homeowner has to contend with from time to time none are more aggravating and troublesome than plumbing emergencies. Many plumbing experts will tell you that these situation are attributed to homeowner negligence or oversight rather than defective components and materials. Unfortunately, these annoying and potentially costly problems are not uncommon.
Preventative care and maintenance will decrease the risk of experiencing most plumbing emergencies. However, it will also ensure that your drains, fixtures, and pipes continue to operate properly. It will also enable the homeowner to identify potential problems so that those inconveniences do not occur with any frequency.
Blocked drains or toiletsIf you have a plumbing snake or plunger you can try to dislodge the obstruction yourself. If this doesn’t work then your only option is to contact an emergency plumber to correct the problem.
Before the plumber arrives to resolve this issue you should locate your home’s shutoff valve and stop the flow of water. This will enable you remove a lot of the water that has accumulated from the leak and help you to prevent any further damage from occurring. Also, turn your cold water taps on to remove any remaining water from your pipes.
This is a common problem throughout the Columbus area given the cold Winters we experience. If the freeze is hard enough the water in your pipes will expand and could cause them to burst. Again, you want to close the shutoff valve. Gently thaw out the pipes that are the closest to the taps using hot water bottles to avoid further damage. Insulation placed around your pipes before winter sets in will help you avoid this problem.
This is not something that even a skilled DIY’er should attempt to correct given the deadly nature of the problem. Your best option is to evacuate the premises and contact 24-hour plumbing company or your local gas company’s emergency hotline.
Leaking fixturesOnce you have closed your main shutoff valve, check the traps on your fixtures for debris, food particles, hair, soap scum, and anything else that may be obstructing them. This will prevent any overflowing from occurring.
If you are experiencing any of these problems, call us immediately after you have taken the recommended steps to prevent further damage or danger. Even if you suspect there may be a problem, we encourage you to contact us so we can evaluate your situation and make our recommendations.
With winter upon us in Columbus it’s important to learn a bit about frozen pipes and just what they can do to your home. A frozen pipe is a pipe that can burst at any minute, leaving your home susceptible to a serious amount of moisture.
With burst pipes, it’s not rare for flooring, furniture, and fixtures to need to be replaced after the flooding of water that occurs, so it’s always best to avoid the freezing of your pipes whenever possible.
There are several things that homeowners can do to avoid frozen pipes.
If for any reason your home is without heat, the first thing you should make sure to do is shut off the main water valve whenever possible in order to avoid having your pipes freeze. By turning off your main water valve you are not allowing water into your home or your pipes, helping them to avoid freezing.
Even in homes where heat is running smoothly, cracks, windows, or drafts can come in to areas where the pipes run and cause a freezing situation. In older homes especially, all pipe areas should be checked to ensure the areas can be kept warm, particularly when the winter winds begin to blow.
If your pipes rest outside of the walls, and turning off the main water valve isn’t a possibility, it’s important to allow a trickle of both hot and cold water to run into the sink or tub. This trickle will encourage a flow or water movement, which will cause your pipes to be less likely to freeze.
If you do experience a frozen pipe this winter, it’s important to shut off the main water valve as quickly as possible in order to help your pipes to avoid bursting. If it’s too late, or this cannot be done, our professionals at Plumbing Emergency Columbus are here to help at any time of the day or night.
Winter in Columbus, OH is usually a time when people need heat the most. However, it should be noted that the cold weather is no friend to water pipes. Most plumbing problems occur during winter.
This is why it is important to ensure that you are aware of any causes of emergency plumbing problems during winter.
When the water inside the pipes freezes, it will cause expansion. If there is not enough room in the pipe for this, the water pipe will end up bursting. This is a serious problem as it means that new pipes will need to be installed right away. This can be quite problematic because the water is frozen. However, an experienced plumber will be able to do the job.
How does one prevent burst water pipes? Well, the pipes can be protected from cold by wrapping any cold resistant material around them. Most of the time plumbers will recommend insulating the pipes to prevent freezing.
This is also another common plumbing problem during winter. Due to the cold weather, the pipes often freeze leaving a minimum amount of water to pass through. This can be very frustrating as it means that the water pressure in the taps will decrease. To prevent this problem, insulating the pipes is advisable. This ensures that the pipes are not affected by the cold and remain warm enough for the water to pass through.
If your pipes are not insulated, it is best to do so before the winter season to avoid the frozen pipe problem.
This is also another problem during winter. When the debris that is carried by the water is left in the pipe, it may find its way into the water pipe and then freeze at the top. This will mean that there is no water passing through the drain. It can cause toilets, kitchen sinks and other drains to become clogged and create water damage.
It is always best to clean out any dirt around water pipes as well as gutters on the roof. This prevents the dirt from finding its way into water pipes or drains.
This is often caused by any water hoses that are left outside. They may freeze and cause damage to the pipes inside the home. Once the pipes in the home start leaking, it becomes a huge problem. The leaks can damage the basement or ceiling depending on where the pipes are located. Leaking pipes are dangerous as they are the main cause of flooding and water damage.
Flooding happens when the leaking pipes are left for too long. The leak can become larger and more water will get in the house. If the house is not checked for a while, there’s be a big possibility of too much water damage. This will cause you to spend lots of money buying new items as well as on mold removal services since mold will likely start to grow on the affected surfaces.
To prevent water hoses from getting frozen and affecting the pipes in the house, you can have insulated faucets. These will be a big help in ensuring no frozen water passes through. You should also turn off all taps that are connected to the hoses.
Due to the extreme cold, most hot water systems will have to be set at their maximum limit to ensure you are getting enough hot water. The water is unusually cold so this means that the water heater will be heating up extra to warm the cold water. This can often cause the hot water system to fail because it will be working at full capacity all through.
To prevent this problem, it is important to ensure that the hot water system is checked regularly before the winter period. You can also have it set at maximum limit severally before the winter so that the systems are used to these settings by the time it is winter.
If you have an emergency plumbing problem it is crucial to take care of it immediately to prevent any further damage because it will end up being more costly to repair.
Winterizing your outdoor pipes isn’t a complicated process, and it can save you from being faced with a serious plumbing emergency.
After your outdoor pipes and spigots are finished with their spring and summer time use, water can remain trapped within the pipe, and this trapped water can lead to the freezing, and then bursting of your pipes when cold weather arrives.
At Plumbing Emergency Columbus, we know just the difference it makes to winterize your outdoor pipes in an effort to save them from freezing, and this is something we often recommend.
Hoses trap water inside and this is water that can freeze when the temperatures drop, so removing all of your hoses during the fall is always the first recommended step in winterizing your outdoor pipes.
While you may have one or two faucets outside that you use regularly, you could have more that you may not be aware of. By simply walking around your property and locating all of these faucets, you can get a better idea of just what you’re working with in terms of which pipes you need to winterize.
Your outdoor faucets will have shutoff valves located inside of your home, and shutting these off will allow water to be cut off from reaching the pipe altogether.
After you’ve turned off the water to your outdoor pipes with your shutoff valve, you’ll then want to open or turn on the faucets to expel any water which may be trapped inside.
Insulating your outdoor spigots with insulation covers can help you to keep your faucets at a safe temperature and stop your outdoor pipes from freezing.
With winterization performed every fall, you can eliminate your worry about your outdoor pipes freezing and causing a problem within your home. We know how important winterization is for all local homeowners and business owners, and if you have any questions about winterizing your outdoor pipes, simply call us today to learn more.
With winter comes frozen pipes. However, this is not inevitable and you can do things to prevent it from happening.
At Plumbing Emergency Columbus, we know what winters can do to pipes, and we want to help all of our fellow area residents to save themselves from the catastrophe associated with a pipe’s bursting.
When a pipe freezes, it becomes susceptible to bursting, and a burst pipe is a pipe that can damage a great deal in your home. One common culprit for frozen pipes is the piping that leads outside of your home, as these pipes will be exposed to the raw and frigid winds of winter without much protection.
On outside faucets, make sure you disconnect any hoses that may be attached, and this will allow you to do away with any water that may still be exposed within the pipe or spigot. Once hoses are unattached, we also recommend covering these faucets to provide a little bit of insulation from the harsh temperatures.
For indoor pipes we recommend keeping your home at around 68 degrees or higher in order to keep all of your indoor pipes sufficiently warm. Piping that runs behind the walls or within cabinets can begin to chill rather quickly, and keeping your home nice and warm can help to give those pipes a little bit of much needed heat.
If you want to monitor your pipes to ensure freezing isn’t occurring, there are a few things you can do to accurately learn the state of your pipes in this regard as well. The easiest way to monitor your pipes is to simply look at the water flow, and a faucet that is experiencing minimal or dramatically lessened water flow, with no known cause and during the cold weather months, may be a pipe on its way to becoming frozen.
If your pipes do happen to freeze and burst we have you covered. We can send over one of our professionals quickly to your residence or business in order to make sure your property damage is minimized, and that your pipe is repaired quickly. If you have questions about freezing or frozen pipes, simply contact us today.
