How to Prevent Plumbing Issues During the Winter Months

There’s no doubt that the greater Kansas City metropolitan area can experience some very hard freezes during the cold winter season. As a homeowner, it’s important to protect your home from these freezes to maintain the integrity of your household systems. One of the most important systems to protect is your plumbing, as it’s prone to freezing due to the cold temperatures.

Why Does It Matter?

When the fresh water inside your water supply lines gets too cold, it will freeze. This will make it impossible for you to draw water out of your plumbing fixtures for activities like drinking and showering. Furthermore, a big danger of frozen pipes is that they’re more prone to bursting once they thaw out.

This is because, as water freezes, it expands in size. With the water already filling up the entirety of your piping, as it turns into ice, it will distort the walls of your piping. This will reduce their structural integrity and can cause cracking that will allow water to leak out whenever it thaws back out. Because no homeowner wants to deal with the dramatic damage that water can cause to their home, we’re sharing some of our best tips below on how to prevent it.

Insulate Your Exposed Piping

One of the best things you can do is to have a professional insulate any exposed piping on your property. Exposed piping is piping in a location that’s not heated, like your garage, attic, crawl space, or running through exterior walls. By using foam insulation, heat tape, or another similar solution, you can help ensure that these exposed pipes stay above freezing throughout the winter season.

Disconnect and Drain Outside Lines

Another must-do is to drain your hoses and all your lines leading to the outside of your home. All the supply lines for your outdoor hose bibs and irrigation system should have an interior shut-off valve with a bleeder.

By opening the bleeder after you turn the valve off, you should be able to drain all the water from the shut-off valve to the outside hose bib. This ensures there’s no water in that pipe that is exposed to freezing temperatures.

Keep Your Home Warm

If you spend time away from your home during the winter season, it could be tempting to shut off your heating system. This can be great for saving money on your utility bills. However, it can be highly detrimental to your plumbing system.

Instead of shutting your heating system off, opt for setting the temperature on your thermostat to around 55 degrees Fahrenheit. If you set your home this low, consider opening any cabinet doors to expose piping underneath your sinks to provide better air circulation in those areas.

Get Water Heater Service

With Kansas City experiencing hard water, it’s no surprise that sediment debris gets built up inside traditional tank water heaters. It’s vitally important to get your water heater flushed and properly serviced before the winter weather hits. When the weather outside gets colder, the demand for your water heater significantly increases.

With a higher demand comes a higher risk of experiencing problems if your water heater isn’t operating efficiently. Professional maintenance service will ensure that your water heater is operating both efficiently and safely going into the winter months. If your existing water heater is over 10 years old, you may want to consider upgrading it before winter. This will significantly minimize your risk of experiencing a problem.

Test Your Sump Pump

If you have a sump pump at your home to remove flood waters, it’s best to give it a test run before the winter season. This will ensure that it’s working correctly, giving you the peace of mind that it will turn on to remove excess water from snow melt. To test your sump pump, simply pour water down into the pit until you hear your unit turn on. Make sure that it removes the water and then shuts off automatically when the float switch lowers.

Get a Plumbing Inspection

One of the best proactive tips you can take to protect your plumbing system going into winter is getting a professional plumbing inspection. This is where one of our plumbers will come out to your home and inspect all the different components of your freshwater delivery and your wastewater removal systems.

This includes everything from pressure testing to inspecting shut-off valves to ensure that everything works correctly. Plumbing inspections are great for catching any small problems with your system, like an ineffective shut-off valve.

This way, you can have the issue taken care of before it creates major damage later on. For example, you don’t want to find out that your shut-off valve doesn’t work when you have a water leak spewing in your home that you can’t stop.

Get Drain Cleaning Service

One of the most frustrating plumbing issues you may deal with at your home during the winter is a clogged sewer line. This can allow sewage water to back up into your home and prevent you from being able to get rid of wastewater. One thing you can do to minimize your risk of experiencing a clog in your drain or sewer lines is to get drain cleaning service.

For homes with frequent clogs or older sewer lines, hydro jetting is a popular preventative maintenance strategy. It uses high-pressure water to thoroughly clean the inside of your drain and sewer lines. By removing any debris that’s currently in your lines, it will be much less likely for a clog to develop throughout the winter. The service can bring you peace of mind if you do a lot of holiday hosting at home.

Install a Smart Leak Detection System

One great upgrade that you may want to consider purchasing for your home is a smart leak detection system. This system has multiple small water sensors that you place near the plumbing fixtures in your home, such as on the floor near your clothes washer.

All of these sensors are connected to an app on your smartphone. Whenever any sensor detects water, it will send an alert to your smartphone. This can allow you to respond quickly to any water leak that your home may have. With a fast response time being the key to minimizing water damage, a smart leak detection system can be well worth the investment for any homeowner.

Importance of Prompt Repairs

While you can take all the necessary steps above to minimize your risk of experiencing a plumbing problem during the winter season, you can’t always eliminate your risk. If you do experience an unfortunate plumbing malfunction, it’s important to get prompt repair service. Even small issues with your plumbing can turn into even bigger problems in just a short amount of time. With the potential for water to cause extensive damage to your home’s structure and your belongings, it makes sense to get immediate repairs to protect your home. Water leaks can also lead to mold growth within just 24 to 48 hours, adding to the urgency.

Reliable Plumbing Inspection Service

MVP Air Conditioning, Heating, Plumbing & Electric offers reliable plumbing inspection service for the Kansas City, KS community. We can also assist with all your plumbing installation, repair, and replacement needs. Get in touch with us today to book your next appointment.