Winterizing Your Outdoor Pipes

Winterizing your outdoor pipes isn’t a complicated process, and it can save you from being faced with a serious plumbing emergency. After your outdoor pipes and spigots are finished with their spring and summer time use, water can remain trapped within the pipe, and this trapped water can lead to the freezing, and then bursting, of your pipes when cold weather arrives. At Plumbing Emergency Rescue, we know just the difference it makes to winterize your outdoor pipes in an effort to save them from freezing, and this is something we often recommend.

A few simple steps to get your outdoor pipes ready for winter are:

1. Removing hoses – Hoses trap water inside, and this is water that can freeze when the temperatures drop, so removing all of your hoses during the fall is always the first recommended step in winterizing your outdoor pipes.
2. Locate all of your outside faucets – While you may have one or two faucets outside that you use regularly, you could have more that you may not be aware of. By simply walking around your property and locating all of these faucets, you can get a better idea of just what you’re working with in terms of which pipes you need to winterize.
3. Find your shut-off valves – Your outdoor faucets will have shutoff valves located inside of your home, and shutting these off will allow water to be cut off from reaching the pipe altogether.
4. Open faucets – After you’ve turned off the water to your outdoor pipes with your shutoff valve, you’ll then want to open or turn on the faucets to expel any water which may be trapped inside.
5. Insulate – Insulating your outdoor spigots with insulation covers can help you to keep your faucets at a safe temperature and stop your outdoor pipes from freezing.

With winterization performed every fall, you can eliminate your worry about your outdoor pipes freezing and causing a problem within your home. At Plumbing Emergency Rescue, we know how important winterization is for all of our Long Island area customers, and if you have any questions about winterizing your outdoor pipes, simply call us today to learn more.