Plumbing And Frozen Pipes

As winter sets in, the temperatures begin to drop considerably and begin attacking the plumbing that is exposed to the brutal cold. You may be under the impression that your plumbing system is in excellent working condition and there is very little possibility of a pipe burst or any kind of flooding.  However, there is one situation that most of us are not prepared for – Frozen Pipes. Quite often, during winters water freezes in an unprotected pipe thereby causing the pipe to expand. Such an expansion can create a rupture even in a very good pipe.

Frozen pipes are a very common emergency plumbing problem. This is because the exposed plumbing pipes freeze in low temperatures. If they do not thaw immediately, they burst. So, before the temperatures begin to drop, look for any exposed pipes that may require insulation or protection against the harsh winter temperatures. Ensure that you wrap heat tapes around the exposed pipes so that they remain warm during the winter season.

A frozen pipe can be quite inconvenient and it has the potential to create a bigger problem if not solved immediately. Taking proper preventive measures will ensure that you do not have to bother about thawing frozen pipes, or repair a burst frozen pipe.

Given below are a few plumbing tips that can help you fix frozen pipes.

Firstly, open the faucet so that the steam produced by the thawing will be able to escape. Next, start thawing pipe at the faucet and move back towards the other end of the frozen section. As the ice melts, steam and water will escape through the faucet. Make sure that you do not start from the middle section since the steam produced by melting the ice will get trapped inside and build up enough pressure to burst the pipe.

In fact there are quite a few things that you can do to thaw the frozen pipes. The safest and the most popular method of thawing frozen pipes is to use hot water. Wrap a burlap bag or a heavy towel around the pipe in order to hold the heat against it. Then place a bucket under the pipe to hold the run off water. Now, pour hot water over the towel.

If you do not want to use hot water in order to avoid the danger of melting soldered joints with propane torch, you can try using a heat lamp or a hair dryer as your heat source. Though these work rather slowly, they are very safe.

If you want to thaw a frozen pipe, remove the trap and insert a length of the garden hose into the pipe. Next, raise the end of the hose and push some hot water through a funnel. This ensures that the hot water gets right into the problem zone.

Finally, exercise caution while using this technique since the hot water you pour will come backward and overflow until the entire ice melts and drains down the pipe. Make sure that you have a bucket at hand to catch the overflow.

Plumbers Brisbane