How to Winterize Your Plumbing

The holiday lights are up, the heating maintenance has been completed, all that’s left to do is winterize the plumbing!

Why Do I Need to Winterize?

Winterizing your plumbing is an incredibly important step in preparing for colder temperatures. As we learned in elementary science, when water freezes, it expands and causes the container holding it to expand or shatter.

So when the temperatures in Demopolis drop below 32 degrees, even if it’s just for a few hours, you could have a lot of broken plumbing on your hands.

Water Heater

When it comes to winterizing your plumbing, your mind most likely jumps to protect the pipes in your home, but don’t neglect your water heater. A standard tank water heater holds between 40 and 60 gallons of water, so if it freezes and shatters, you’ll have a major mess on your hands.

The best way to winterize any part of your plumbing is by adding insulation, and your water heater is no exception. There are specialty insulation blankets that you can purchase for your water heater and installing it is quite simple. All you have to do is wrap the blanket around the water heater tank and seal it shut with some tape.

Pipes

There are two sections of pipes that you’ll want to insulate, the exterior pipes and the interior ones. Luckily, you won’t have to worry about all of the interior ones, just those located in uninsulated spaces like the attic, crawl space, garage, and basement.

To protect exterior pipes from the cold, begin by disconnecting all hoses. Then turn off the water to exterior fixtures and drain those faucets of the remaining water. If there’s no water in the pipes, then the pipes are far less likely to be damaged by the cold.

If you run into any winter plumbing problems this season, don’t hesitate to contact the professionals at Anderson Plumbing, Heating & Electric. Visit our website or call us at (334) 231-6980 for more information!

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