If the temperature inside a house gets below 0 Celsius, it's likely that the water supply pipes and the drain traps will freeze. When water freezes it expands 9 percent, and if there is no room for expansion it's possible that the pipe will burst.
When the ice thaws the pipe will leak, and in the supply system this leak could occur anywhere. Fixing a burst pipe can be expensive, but the damage from uncontrolled water leakage can easily reach into the thousands of dollars.
A properly-insulated house built to current building codes will probably never experience this problem under normal conditions. Normal conditions mean- the heating system runs properly, the electricity supply stays on, and the furnace fuel supply never runs out.
If yours is an old house, and if you think there is an insulation problem you can get it done during the remodeling. You can get the wall cavities insulated properly now, you can add foam insulation to the inner side of the studs or to the outer walls for extra protection.
You can even add more insulation to the attic if there is space for it. Spending money here will surely prove to be beneficial in the future because insulation will keep your plumbing system from freezing and in addition to that insulation helps in reducing home's heat loss, therefore less amount of energy would be required to heat the home. This will lower your electricity bills as well.
But major changes are not in everyone's budget. A common solution is to apply electric heat tape around the vulnerable pipes. Some of these products are thermostatically controlled so they only operate when the temperature is cold enough to pose a freeze hazard.
If a house is known to have a problem with freezing pipes, the simplest solution is to leave the water running when the temperature is cold enough for pipes to freeze.
The usual advice is to let the faucet run with a stream of water about the same diameter as a pencil. If a house has hot and cold water lines that are vulnerable to freezing, then the stream needs to be warm water. This is a waste of energy, but sometimes that's the only solution available.
Author Resource:
Scott Rodgers is a noted writer who has been providing great guidance on plumbing works all over the country. His incredible knowledge has, in fact, sparked significant rise in revenue for talented plumbers across the nation, from Pomona Plumbers to Boca Raton Plumbers .
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