Dealing with frozen pipes almost seems like an inevitability when you live in part of the world where winter happens, doesn’t it? The ground freezes, your pipes are in the ground, so it seems like your pipes would naturally freeze, right?
Believe it or not, this couldn’t be further from the truth.
Pipes aren’t supposed to freeze. But even if they do, the damage caused can be a lot more than just the minor annoyance it might seem to be. In fact, frozen pipes can be absolutely catastrophic to your home.
If you’re dealing with frozen pipes, you need the best plumbing contractor in Philly. You need Mount Airy Plumbing.
Our friendly and helpful Philly residential plumbing contractors or commercial plumbers will help you understand if you’re at risk for frozen pipes, and work to repair the damage if you’ve already dealt with frozen pipes.
And of course, if you have frozen pipes that have burst, call our 24 hour Philadelphia emergency plumbing company and we’ll be there.
Why Are Frozen Pipes Bad?
It may not seem like such a big deal. After all, frozen pipes just means your water doesn’t flow for a while, right? So long as your hot water heater is working well, the problem should resolve itself, right?
Not quite.
Have you ever been to Florida before? Notice how much smoother their roads tend to be when compared with ours? It’s not because they have better repair crews, it’s because they don’t have winter.
When water freezes, it expands. This is what causes a lot of the cracks in our roads and other paved areas. When water in the ground freezes and expands, it pushes itself outward.
And if the water in your pipes freezes, it does the same thing. As a result, it can cause you to need leaky pipe repair or even main sewer line backup repair.
In the worst situation, your pipes can burst altogether. This can cause a catastrophic situation where the water in your pipes thaws and keeps flowing. Naturally, this can lead to basement flooding, damaging the foundation of your home, and potentially even causing it to collapse all together if it runs for too long.
So as you can see, this is a much bigger deal than you might think.
How To Prevent Frozen Pipes
Fortunately, there are ways to avoid needing to call a 24 hour emergency plumbing contractor for frozen pipe repair.
Let’s take a closer look.
Don’t Leave Your Thermostat Off
If you are like many of us, you like to go on vacation during the winter. By all means, go ahead, but make sure you leave the thermostat on. This will keep your pipes warm enough to avoid freezing.
Alternatively, If you do know you’ll be gone for a while, consider draining your pipes altogether. Give us a call and we can help you with this.
Seal Any Drafts
Not only is this good for the environment and your energy bill, sealing the drafts in your home near pipes will help you avoid frozen pipes.
If you’re concerned about drafts causing frozen pipes, we can help you find and seal them.
Insulate Your Pipes
In some cases, your home’s insulation might be enough to keep your pipes warm. This is especially true if you live in a newer home.
However, if your home is older, or your insulation is not sufficient, you may still end up with frozen pipes. We can help.
Frozen Pipes Repair Plumbing Services In Philadelphia
If you notice your pipes are frozen, the first thing you should do is shut off your main water line. This is to reduce pressure on your pipes which could cause a burst, and to prevent any potential burst from flowing into your home causing damage.
From there, see if you can find the frozen part of your pipes. It should be fairly easy to spot. Once you find it, use a hair dryer or similar personal heating device to thaw the ice. Be sure you do not use an open flame, since that can cause further damage to your pipes.
If you can’t find the frozen pipe, or you notice it has already burst, call Mount Airy Plumbing right away. We will be there to help as soon as possible.