Thawing frozen pipes quickly

Every winter freezing cold weathers can cause to pipe freezing. A lot of pressure inside the pipe can make the pipe burst and can lead to floor flooding, especially when no one is home to turn the water off. Unheated interior places like basements, garage pipes are most likely to freeze, even pipes running through cabinets or walls can also freeze and will damage the walls eventually. Few tricks can save your house from bursting and will keep your house dry.

To prevent pipe freezing

One of the best way to prevent pipe freezing is running the faucet barely running so the water flows and doesn’t freeze. The same thing happens with rivers, they never froze cause the water is running, flowing and lakes are trends to get frozen cause there are barely any movement happening. So the trick is to slightly turn your faucet open so it doesn’t freeze.

Another reason for bursting pipes are because, people turn off the heat when they leave their house for few days or so for obvious reasons. But one must keep the fan on to blow air into interior rooms and other spaces. At times the most insulated rooms will freeze if you turn the heat off. If you notice any vulnerability in your pipes take actions, a little can cause a lot during winters. Exterior pipes are mostly risky in this case, spaces such as basements, garages, attics. Pipes running through cabinets can also damage them or pipes running through walls can damage walls eventually.

If your pipe is already leaking, all you can do is calling a plumber. Stay away from the water.Since it can be very cold keep your pets and children away as it.

There are several other options for thawing the pipe. Continue applying heat until the water escaping from the faucet returns to full volume. One of the easiest options to thaw a pipe is using a hairdryer. Take proper precaution and protecting while heating up. Hot towels are also similar one as hairdryer, wrapping a hot towel around the frozen pipe helps to thaw the pipe slowly but steadily. A last and final option is to apply an electrical heating tape directly to the pipe.

Thawing enclosed pipes

Sometimes the frozen pipe is located in such area that cannot be located easily. So there are three ways to thaw the pipe.

If the pipe bursts

If the pipe already burst, the first thing you need to do is shutting of the main water line. This will immediately prevent additional water to ruin the current situation more. Shut off small water units, like sinks and toilets and other small shut-off valves. Most main shut-off valve is often situated near your water meter.

Taking precautions for winter

Turn the water supply off when you are not home for few or more days. Never turn the heat completely off during winter. Turn it down as far as you can but not fully off. If you notice a small leakage fix that or wrap a disposable diaper or call a plumber, take action. A small leakage call also harms your house. Place the infrared lamp in forward of the wall where the pipe is to thaw the blockage.