Winter Plumbing: How to Unfreeze Pipes & Prevent Damage

Your pipes may freeze when the weather turns cold. A frozen pipe can burst, causing thousands of dollars of damage to walls and floors, not to mention the inconvenience of being without hot water for a while. In addition to your household insulation, there are other steps you can take to protect your pipes from freezing and limit the damage if it does happen.

Turn on the faucet

As the temperature drops, water in pipes can freeze and expand, causing cracks, breaks, and leaks. By taking a preventive approach, you can help keep frozen pipes from occurring by allowing faucet handles to drip overnight. This will provide a small amount of water circulation within the affected pipe that could help prevent freezing and cracking.

Open cabinet doors

Ensure your pipes won’t freeze by keeping cabinet doors open. Open cabinet doors under sinks and near exterior walls to allow heat to circulate around them. The general rule of thumb is to open one cabinet door per run foot of pipe.

Apply heat to frozen pipes

Unfreeze your pipes before they burst. To thaw frozen pipes, you can use a hairdryer or heat gun, which uses surrounding air to blow warmth onto the pipe. To thaw out the insides of pipes, heat water in the sink until it’s warm but not hot and pour it slowly into the pipe.

Call your trusted Murrieta plumber

If any of the above-mentioned solutions do not work, it is high time you call for the help of a licensed and skilled plumber in your area. Letting the pros handle the job will help prevent serious plumbing disasters in your home, like flooding. With years of industry experience and a complete set of tools to use, your hired plumbing team can easily fix any major plumbing issues in your home in no time. Call your trusted Murrieta plumber at first sight of the problem!