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All You Need To Know About Frozen Pipes

plumbing

Why Does a Plumbing System Freeze?

A plumbing system consists of several pipes that are connected to each other, in order to allow you to have water in your home. When the weather gets too cold outside, certain pipes can freeze, break, and cause leaking, or lack of water in the home. It's possible for a pipe to freeze, but not break, which will lead to lack of water.

If a pipe instead breaks, you'll have no water, except for what is leaking into your home from the pipe. If a home is not properly insulated, or the pipes stay frozen too long, the water in the frozen pipes will expand, causing a break in the pipe. The biggest reason why plumbing systems freeze, is due to lack of warmth, or if no preventative measures are taken when someone leaves home for a long period of time during the winter.

How Can I Prevent This?

There are several ways to prevent your plumbing system from freezing. If you can, install insulation around your pipes, but make sure to install it on the side away from the home, so the pipe gets the warmth of the home. If you have pipes that are underneath the sink, or close to a window, you can wrap them with foam insulation, to keep them warm. Pipes underneath the sink will benefit from opening the cabinet doors, and allowing the warm air from the home to come in.

Wrapping electric heat tape around pipes, also allows them to stay warm, and helps to prevent freezing of the pipes. If you're going to be away from the home during the winter months, make sure to leave the heat on with the thermostat set to automatically turn the heat on periodically. When a home is kept warm, it's less likely that pipes will freeze.

Why Is It Important To Keep This From Happening?

Because frozen pipes can lead to breaking, which in turn, can lead to leaking, you'll want to prevent pipes from freezing. If a pipe breaks and leaks in your home, they can possibly lead to flooding, which can cost serious money to repair. You could be looking at thousands of dollars, just to repair damage that a leaking pipe has caused, especially if it goes undetected for days. It's always wise to prevent leaking pipes as much as possible.

Is the cold Lakeland winter making you think about the security of your plumbing system? Call Samco Plumbing today at (863) 509-1718 for top quality frozen pipe services. 

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