When temperatures drop below 32°F, pipes, whether plastic or metal, can freeze and burst, leading to serious water damage throughout your home. Walls, ceilings, floors and personal belongings can all be affected in just a short time.
If you’re traveling this holiday season, your local Charlotte plumbing experts at PBI have put together a quick guide to help protect your pipes and prevent costly repairs while you’re away.
Step 1: Shut Off the Water
First, locate your main water valve, usually found in a basement, crawl space or mechanical room. Look for a wheel-shaped handle or lever near where the water supply enters your home. Once you have located it, turn it off.
Step 2: Open Interior Faucets
After shutting off the main water supply valve, open all faucets inside your home to drain the lines. In multi-level homes, start from the top floor and work your way down to the lower levels. This will help the water drain more quickly due to gravity. In single-level homes, start with faucets closest to the main valve and move outward.
Step 3: Adjust the Water Heater
Save energy while protecting your system by lowering your water heater temperature.
Many water heater models have a “vacation mode” that automatically drops the temperature to 50-55°F. If yours doesn’t, adjust it manually before you go.
Step 4: Winterize Toilets
To prevent frozen water from damaging toilet tanks and valves, flush each toilet to empty excess water. Then, pour an environmentally safe antifreeze (often called “RV and marine antifreeze”) into both the tank and bowl. Avoid using standard automotive antifreeze, as it’s environmentally hazardous and illegal to dispose down the drain in many areas.
Step 5: Protect Your Drains
Even with the water off, small amounts of water remain in the U-shaped sections of your pipes, called P-traps. These traps are designed to hold a small amount of water to prevent sewer gases from entering your home. To prevent freezing, pour environmentally safe antifreeze into all shower, tub, floor and sink drains.
Step 6: Open Cabinet Doors
Cabinets, particularly those located beneath kitchen and bathroom sinks, can trap cold air. Keep them open so warm air circulates around the pipes.
Step 7: Insulate Exposed Pipes
Add insulation to exposed pipes in unheated areas such as basements, garages or crawl spaces.
If you have time before your trip, pipe insulators such as foam sleeves, rubber insulation or fiberglass pipe wrap can be purchased for use. However, if your time is limited, items like pool noodles, bubble wrap, blankets or towels can also help keep them from freezing.
Step 8: Winterize Outdoor Faucets
Disconnect all hoses, splitters and other attachments from your exterior outdoor faucets and allow them to drain. Next, locate the shut-off valve for your outdoor faucets and switch it off. Once the water has been shut off, go outside and open the exterior taps to let any remaining water drain completely, then close them again before you go.
Step 9: Close the Garage Door
Attached garages can lose a lot of heat, which puts nearby pipes at risk. To keep the plumbing on adjacent walls from freezing, try implementing the following measures:
- Keep the garage door closed
- Add foam boards to the walls and ceiling for insulation
- Put a thick foam or rubber mat on the floor
- Replace old or cracked weather stripping
- Seal cracks with caulk to retain warmth
Step 10: Leave the Heat On
Before leaving, set your thermostat to at least 55° F to maintain a baseline of warmth. If your HVAC system hasn’t been serviced recently, schedule a quick inspection—especially before a long trip or an expected cold front.
Keep Your Pipes Safe Year-Round with Price Brothers Plumbing
At PBI, we help Charlotte-area homeowners protect their homes from plumbing issues year-round. Whether you need help winterizing your plumbing system, fixing a frozen pipe or scheduling preventive maintenance, our licensed plumbers are here to help.
Have questions about keeping your pipes safe this winter? Contact our team today by emailing [email protected] or filling out this form.