Snow-covered winter weather presents a great opportunity for things like sledding down the neighborhood hill or snowball fights in the front yard. That being said, winter weather can be difficult on your home. Extremely cold conditions can encourage the water lines in your house's plumbing system to freeze and burst, which can lead to severe water damage and long-lasting negative effects.

Once your pipes are frozen, you may want to contact a plumber in Bend to resolve the issue. Nevertheless, there’s several tasks you can perform on your own to prevent this from happening – and even minor prevention can go a long way.

What Pipes Are at Risk of Freezing

The pipes at the highest risk of freezing are uncovered water lines. Frequent locations for exposed pipes are in attic crawlspaces, near exterior walls, in the basement or even running underneath a modular home. Water lines that are not appropriately insulated are at the greatest risk.

How to Keep Pipes from Becoming Frozen in Your Home

Thoroughly insulating exposed water lines is a great first step to keeping your pipes free of ice. You’ll often locate most of these materials from a local plumbing company, and may also already have some somewhere in your home.

Be careful not to wrap up other flammable insulation materials where they can catch fire. If you don’t feel safe insulating the pipes on your own, call your local plumbing services professional in Bend to get the job done right.

If you do prefer to insulate the pipes yourself, common insulation materials for pipes include:

  • Wraps or roll insulation: Lots of plumbers, hardware stores and large retailers provide insulation – usually fiberglass, foam wraps or pipe sleeves – that you can wrap or fit around your pipes. They are sold in numerous lengths and sizes to fit the needs of your home.
  • Newspaper: To a decent degree, newspaper can be used as an insulator. If the weather is cooling down and you aren’t able to buy insulation in time, try wrapping uninsulated pipes in this.
  • Towels or rags: If you aren’t able to buy insulation and don’t have any newspaper close by, wrapping particularly vulnerable pipes with towels or clean rags as a final effort may be just enough to keep the cold air off the pipes.

One other preventative step you can attempt to stop pipes from freezing in your home is to fill any cracks that could let cold air in your home. Keep an eye on the window frames, which can allow in surprisingly strong drafts. This not only will help to prevent your pipes from freezing, but it will have the extra benefit of making your home more energy efficient.

Five More Ways to Keep Your Pipes from Freezing:

  • Open the cabinet doors. Opening the cabinet doors underneath the sinks and other spaces of your home that have pipes will allow more warm air from the rest of the room to reach the pipes.
  • Letting water drip. Keeping a flow of water by letting your faucets drip even just a little can help avoid frozen pipes.
  • Open interior doors. By opening doors for rooms or hallways, your home can be heated more equally. This is mostly important if there's a room that is frequently colder or hotter than other rooms.
  • Close the garage door. The exception to the open doors recommendation is the garage door, which you should keep closed – especially if your water lines can be found near or under the garage.
  • Keep the heat consistent. Experts encourage setting the thermostat at a stable temperature and leaving it in place, rather than permitting it to get cooler at night. Set it no colder than 55 degrees.

How to Prevent Pipes from Freezing in an Empty Home

When you’re at home, it’s easy to realize when something goes wrong. But what added steps can you try to keep pipes from freezing in a vacant home or vacation home when the damages from a frozen pipe may not be discovered for days or even weeks?

As with the main residence, insulating any exposed water lines, opening interior doors throughout the home and winterizing the vacant home are the best steps to take.

Other Steps to Stop Pipes from Freezing in a Vacant Home:

  1. Leave the heat on. Even though you aren’t going to be there, it’s best to leave the heat on – even if you adjust the thermostat down lower than you would if you were there. As with a primary home, experts suggest keeping the temperature at no lower than 55 degrees.
  2. Shut water off and drain the lines. If you’re going to be out of the house for an extended period of time or are winterizing a vacation cabin or cottage, shutting the water off to the house and emptying the water out of the water lines is an easy way to keep pipes from freezing and bursting open. Try not to forget to drain the water out of your appliances, such as the hot water heater, as well as the toilets. See to it that you get all the water from the plumbing. If you’re unsure of how to flush the water from the pipes, or don’t feel confident handling it without any help, a plumber in Bend will be glad to assist.