Prepare for a plumbing emergency this winter Everyone’s worst plumbing emergency’s nightmare after a long day is to return home to a cold house when all you are thinking of is a hot shower/bath and to get cosy with the heating on to then find out that there is no hot water coming from your shower and your heating won’t turn on! Don’t let this be you this winter! Make sure you are prepared and get your pipes ready for the cold weather. Frozen and burst pipes are quite common you need to know how to prevent this from happening. Following the tips below, you can avoid a plumbing emergency. Find Your Water Shut-Off Valve The most important thing is to know where your water valve is in your home and how to turn it off. If you had a burst pipe you would need to turn the valve of quickly. If you aren’t already aware of where this valve is, your house could suffer quite a lot of damage if it takes you a while to find it the quicker you cut the water supply, the less damage to your home and the loss money you need to pay to repair it all. . Taking the time to find were your water valve is situated is crucially important. This can help avoid a plumbing emergency. Insulate Your Pipes Pipe insulation is easy to get hold of as it is sold at most DIY stores, and it is quite a simple task to apply it to your pipes. You can cut it down to size and attach it to any pipes you can find, hopefully preventing these pipes from freezing in the winter. Pipe insulation simply works as a way to stop the water from getting too cold, not letting the cold air in and not letting warm air out, if you cannot find pipe insulation you can improvise with newspaper instead and wrap it around your pipes. Insulating your pipes over the winter is a practical and simple way to avoid a plumbing emergency. Open Press Doors beneath Sinks If you know it’s going to be a cold night, open up the press doors beneath the sinks to let the warm air from the house circulate around the pipes. This little bit of warmer air being able to get to the pipes should stop them from freezing. Keep the House Warm This doesn’t mean keeping your heating on constantly, it just means not letting your house get to a temperature below a certain point. If the temperature drops whilst you’re asleep you could wake up to frozen pipes, so don’t let it get that cold! Keep your home worm this winter and avoid a plumbing emergency. If you follow these tips, frozen pipes hopefully won’t be an issue for you this Christmas. However, if you do experience a plumbing emergency this winter, and you need help from the plumbing experts, give your local Drain Doctor a call! We are open 24/7 365 days a year!
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