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In Northern Kentucky right now the bitter cold has been with us for a week and it looks like it's here to stay for quite some time. In the meantime, the ground is slowly freezing and the earth becomes a thick crust, gauged in inches the longer a cold spell stays around. This can become a consideration to your plumbing system as your water line tracks to your home. Sometimes this can cause the piping to freeze at the meter or at the wall where it enters the structure, given the depth of the piping. Minimum depth at time of construction of every home built in Kentucky is set by the standard of 36" minimum depth requirement. Too often in my years as a plumber I've seen water services that did not meet this requirement and this causes water lines to freeze and burst.

Your most powerful allie in cold water are two things:

No Air Movement and Keeping Water in Motion

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Air Movement:


In the areas of your home where water piping extends through the structure, whether it be in the joist runs in your floor, against the foundation wall, inside the walls near an exterior wall or cantilever, up in the ceiling where insulation is used. Many situations can exist in this manner and keep in mind that we usually find out the vulnerabilities by incident most times.

Air movement in a home can spell disaster as the cold and freezing air can strike without warning, in an otherwise "warm" area where you would be least likely to have an occurrence. The cost of insulation is priceless against the disaster that so many plumbers encounter where a pipe or pipes were exposed to the frigid temperatures and ruptured/burst as a result. Taking the time to check for these areas where air can enter the structure is crucial. Taping up windows, putting seals around doors and checking your attic, basement and "cold" areas in your home for air movement is the key to beating the cold snap. If costs are an issue in preventing the correct materials from being used, rags, old towels cut up in strips, old newspaper, cardboard or plain paper can make a noticeable difference in slowing down the progressive motion of air into the home. Once air is standstill, you now have the opportunity to keep an otherwise cold area of your home to a stable temperature by the method of a light bulb or small heater, containing the heat produced and protecting the piping system in your home. A quick trip and $100 at your local Ace Hardware store can make the difference in keeping your home dry and water damage free.

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Water in Motion

Water piping that is in areas that cannot be properly insulated or protected can be used in a way that prevents the freezing and bursting of piping. Whenever you happen to notice water flow from a faucet that reduced in cold weather, this is usually the first indicator of the water line attempting to freeze. Opening the faucet, allowing water to move through the water piping is the best opportunity to bring water into the structure that will be above freezing. Any ice that is forming inside the piping will then be dissolved slowly by the difference in temperature, same as a cold beverage poured with ice, the ice slowly succumbs to the warmer of the two temperatures and thus becomes a liquid.

It is imperative that when you have a situation regarding frozen water lines and no water flow is present, open the faucets immediately. Turn your furnace or heating system up considerably higher and attempt to find where the water lines are that could be freezing. Worst case scenarios can lead to drywall removal in some cases but the effort is warranted if the first thing you notice when opening the walls or ceiling is air movement through the open cavities. As mentioned above, stopping the flow of air and the natural rise and progression of heat will find these colder areas of your home once air movement has ceased. If you can reach the piping that you believe to be is frozen, take a wet rag and wipe the piping and see if it instantly frosts the moisture on the pipe. If it does, you have located the problem area and this is where heat is directly applied. Heating up frozen water piping must always have a place for the water and ice to expand to, otherwise you will be the recipient of a burst water line even though you took the appropriate steps to prevent such occurrence. Leaving the faucets open, even removing the tips of the spouts to allow a larger flow of water is a good idea.

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Always remember to do some of the simple tasks in preventing a frozen water line in the first place:

1. Always turn off outside hose faucets
2. If you have a frostproof faucet, make sure you disconnect your hose from the faucet
3. Make sure all exterior doors properly close, do not leak air and seal the cold to the outside
4. Inspect the exterior of your home, make sure there are no openings or passageways for air to enter the home
5. Apply window fim over windows to slow down the loss of heat through non-insulated windows
6. Allow a small amount of water to flow from your faucets in areas of your home where freezing has been an issue
7. Use small household fans to move warm air into cooler areas of the home
8. Contact your local utility company and ask if there are any programs you can participate in regarding energy savings packages
9. Install outlet coverings on electrical outlets, along with light switches as well
10. Turn on lights in rooms for minimum heat that have a tendency for being cold
11. Consider space heating for climates that become extreme and additional heating is required

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Tags: home winterization  pipes freezing  frozen drains  frozen pipes  burst pipes