Winter weather in Greene County can sneak up on you. When the temperature drops, the water inside your unprotected pipes turns to ice and expands. That expansion can crack your plumbing wide open, leaving you with a huge mess. The easiest way to stop this is to wrap the pipes in your crawl spaces and along your exterior walls before winter hits. If a freeze is already rolling in tonight, you need to take a few quick steps right now. Let your faucets drip and open up the cabinet doors under your sinks so warm air can get in. If a pipe does freeze solid, you can grab a hairdryer to thaw it out safely. Just keep a close eye out for hidden cracks once the water starts moving again. Not sure if your home is ready? Book a FREE Whole Home Plumbing Inspection with Honey Go Fix It. We'll track down those danger spots before the cold sets in.
Locating the Cold Spots and Prepping Your Home
A lot of the older houses around downtown Xenia and out toward Shawnee Park have unheated basements or drafty crawl spaces. The plumbing down there gets hit with freezing air all winter long. Kitchen sinks sitting on exterior walls are also a big risk. The insulation inside those outer walls can break down over the years, leaving your water lines exposed to the cold. Also, leaving a garden hose attached outside is a bad idea. It traps water in the spigot right against the side of the house, which pushes the freeze straight into your indoor plumbing.
You can fix these spots by filling in the gaps around your foundation with caulk or expanding foam. After that, wrap any exposed pipes with foam sleeves or electric heat tape. If you don't feel like crawling around in a dark basement yourself, let Honey Go Fix It handle it. Our licensed plumbers will do a FREE Whole Home Plumbing Inspection. We'll check your entire system, find the drafty areas, and help you get everything protected.
Quick Fixes When a Freeze is Arriving Tonight
The weather changes in a hurry here in Xenia. If the news is calling for single digits tonight and you haven't prepped your plumbing yet, you can still save yourself a lot of trouble with a few quick tricks.
Moving water takes a lot longer to freeze. Turn on the faucets that sit on your outside walls and just let the hot and cold water run at a slow trickle. This relieves the water pressure inside the pipe, which is what actually breaks the line when ice forms. Open up the vanity doors under your kitchen and bathroom sinks, too. That lets the warm air from your heater reach those hidden pipes.
Take a walk outside before it gets dark and disconnect all your garden hoses. Drain them out and put them in the garage. Also, don't turn your thermostat down at night during a hard freeze. Keep your heat at 60 degrees or higher so the warm air can make it all the way into the walls.
Thawing Frozen Lines and Checking for Leaks
You wake up on a cold morning in Xenia, turn the bathroom sink on, and nothing comes out. Your pipe is frozen solid. Deal with it fast before the ice breaks the line.
First, leave the faucet turned on. As the ice starts to melt, the water needs a clear path to get out. Apply some heat directly to the pipe. A hairdryer on high, a space heater, or some warm towels wrapped around the pipe will work just fine. Always work backward from the faucet toward the frozen spot. Don't even think about using an open flame like a blowtorch or a lighter. That much heat can boil the trapped water and blow the pipe apart, plus you might start a house fire.
Expanding ice puts a ton of stress on your plumbing. The ice plug itself usually holds the water back, so you might not even realize the pipe is cracked until it finally thaws out.
Watch the pipe closely as it thaws. Look for any drips or spray. If the pipe is behind drywall, listen for the sound of running water once it thaws. You should also check your water meter with all the faucets turned off. If the dial is spinning, water is leaking somewhere in the house. If you do find a broken pipe, shut off your main water valve right away to stop the flooding. Then, give Honey Go Fix It a call for an emergency repair.
Honey Go Fix It provides emergency winter plumbing services, pipe repairs, and whole-home inspections for homeowners in Greene County, Dayton, Beavercreek, Springboro, and surrounding communities.