It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that Michigan gets cold in the winter. Luckily, we install and repair furnaces to keep you and your family nice and cozy throughout the next few months. However, today we want to talk about a sometimes overlooked aspect of winter preparation—winterizing your pipes. We work with water heaters as well and we can attest to the problems frozen pipes can cause. In this blog, we’ll explain how you can prevent them with just a few simple preparations.
Insulation
Insulation isn’t just for keeping your home warm. Special insulation sleeves are cheap and easy to apply to exposed pipes. We recommend taking steps to add these especially in areas of your home that can get especially cold like your basement. Additionally, home insulation can play a role in this. If the outside of your pipes keeps warm, the odds of the water inside freezing is less. Insulation already has benefits for your space heating and helping with frozen pipes is just an added bonus.
Other Tips
There are a few other easy ways to prevent pipe freezing. One is to keep your garage door closed. If you have a garage, you know how cold it can get especially if you leave it exposed to the elements by having the door open. This is a small thing, but it’s not uncommon to see it open.
We also recommend draining outside faucets like hose bibs if you haven’t already. Often these can freeze and you won’t notice until the spring. Due to the nature of ice, it’s not uncommon to see in spring that your pipes have suffered massive damage because they weren’t drained properly.
Lastly, running water will take longer to run than still water. If you hear that a particular night is going to be extremely cold, it’s not a bad idea to try running the faucets even a little to lower your risk of frozen pipes.
If you need HVAC or water heating help this winter, the pros at Haisma would love to help. Simply fill out an online contact form or call us at (616) 319-2121 to schedule a service appointment!
