The winter has well and truly settled in, and if you haven’t done any pipe prep work before now, you might be sorely regretting it! When you wake up on a frozen morning and try to fill the kettle with some water, and the water isn’t forthcoming, the chances are that the taps are full of frozen water instead of moving water. Sometime in the night, the pipes froze and this is what you’re left with. Given the low temperatures outside, you need to think about whether it’s possible for the pipes to thaw on their own and if not, then you’ll need to learn how to fix the problem so that you can get your water flowing freely again.
A part of this will be in ensuring that firstly you have plumbers on hand to come and fix it for you. It doesn’t matter how many times you have had this problem, you have to know how to tell if the pipes are frozen and how to let them thaw while minimizing the risk of them cracking. So, with this in mind, here are the ways that you can fix the issue and make your pipes work without them cracking!
How to tell if your pipes are frozen
There are plenty of ways that you can tell if your pipes are frozen and here are some of the things to look for:
- Your toilets aren’t refilling and you can’t flush them
- The taps aren’t running any water through them
- The pipes have a condensation or a frosting on them on the outside
- They sound solid when you tap them
How to unfreeze your pipes
Once you’ve established that your pipes really are frozen, you need to get them thawed out as quickly as possible. Everyone will always give you different answers as to what to do about thawing out frozen pipes, but not all of it will be correct. If you haven’t got your pipes ready for winter, then you can still get through this and make sure that you can thaw them out. Some of the best tips you need include:
- Shut off the water supply before you get started. The last thing you need is any exploding pipework.
- Use a space heater or a well-positioned heat lamp to make sure that you can gently thaw the water frozen inside the pipe at a lower risk of cracking.
- Use a hairdryer but only do this inside!
- Wrap frozen pipes with electrical heat cables and keep an eye on the process of thawing.
- If the pipes are in the wall, it’ll be a little harder but not impossible. Turn up the thermostat and let the heat permeate the closest pipes. (A more drastic option would be to cut a hole in the wall to expose the pipes, but probably as a last resort!)
When all is said and done, getting the best plumbers is the best way to fix the issues you have with your pipes – no matter what the issue is.
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© Copyright 2021 Antonia, All rights Reserved. Written For: Tidylife
