With the bitter cold temperatures we have been experiencing this week, a lot of people are suffering with frozen pipes and burst pipes.
We have a few tips of things you can do to help prevent this from happening:
If your home has a crawl-space:
-Consider putting heat tape and insulation on all water lines within the crawl space; at minimum you should cover all openings into the space, including any vent openings.
-If you can do so safely, you may also consider putting an electric heater in the crawl space.
-If you have access to the crawl space from within the home, you can leave the access door open to allow some heat to make its way into the space.
If your home has a basement:
-If your basement is normally closed off, open any heat vents that are in the basement and open any doors that lead to the main area of the home to allow heat to enter the basement.
-If you do not have heat vents in the basement, a good option is to run portable electric heaters there to help heat the area.
If you live in a slab home that has the main water line entering the home in a garage closet, you should consider placing portable electric heaters there to help heat the area.
Regardless of the type of home you live in, you should consider these ideas to prevent frozen pipes:
-Add portable or space heaters to any bathroom or area where you know the water lines are located within an outside wall.
-Leave cabinet doors open under your bathroom vanities and kitchen sink.
-Consider raising the temperature setting on your main thermostat to add heat to all areas of the home.
-Leave several faucets throughout the home dripping water into the sinks and tub/showers (but first, make sure you don’t have a clogged drain that would allow the water to build up and overflow).
If you do have a frozen pipe or burst pipe, call MasterTech—we can help take care of it for you!
