Your pipes are a vital part of your plumbing, bringing water into and out of your home. Unfortunately, many of your pipes are exposed to the elements, especially in the winter time.

Failing to properly prepare your pipes can lead to them freezing. Water expands when it freezes, meaning your pipes could burst — causing costly damage and quite the headache.

To avoid this, you’ll want to prepare your pipes for cold temperature by doing the following.

1. Insulate Your Pipes

Insulating your pipes helps retain heat near them so they don’t freeze. Areas like your attic, crawl space, or garage are unheated, and thus leave your pipes exposed to cold temperatures.

Pipes in these areas are in the most need of insulation.

However, insulation on its own won’t do the job — in fact, it can make it worse by keeping heat away from these pipes. You’ll want to use heat cable along the pipes first, then insulate them to provide heat and keep it in.

2. Turn Off Your Outdoor Faucets

Make sure to turn off your outdoor faucets. To do so, first open them to drain out any extra water. Make sure the bleeder cap drains — otherwise, your pipes are still at risk of freezing and bursting.

Once you’ve drained them, turn them off at the shutoff valve.

3. Check and Get Maintenance on Your Furnace/HVAC Unit

Getting your furnace or HVAC unit before winter is a good idea regardless of your pipes. However, they do play a role in keeping your pipes in good shape. Should your unit stop working when it’s freezing outside, your pipes can freeze.

With that in mind, make sure you check your furnace or HVAC unit and get it all fixed up before it gets too cold out.

4. Look Around Your Home’s Exterior

If your home’s exterior has any cracks, cold air can slip in and pose a threat to your pipes, potentially even if you do the other things on this list. 

Take a walk around your home and scan the exterior. See if you can spot any cracks. If you see any, use caulk or spray foam to close up the crack and keep the pipes safe.

5. Open Your Cabinet Doors

This is less preparatory and more maintenance, but crack open your cabinet doors every so often when it gets especially cold out. Doing so will allow heat from your home to reach your pipes, preventing them from freezing over.

Pipes not prepared for winter yet? Not to worry — you can rely on Barner Murphy to help you out. Our professionals will make sure your pipes are kept nice and warm this winter so you don’t have to worry about frozen or bursting pipes. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help!