Winterization Tips for Your Home


Each year many customers find themselves without water because of frozen water pipes. Although you can never anticipate fully the wrath of winter, there are some steps you can take now to help avoid frozen pipes.

1. Disconnect and drain outdoor hoses. Detaching the hose allows water to drain from the pipe. Otherwise, a single, hard overnight freeze can burst either the faucet or the pipe it's connected to.

2. Insulate pipes or faucets in unheated areas.
If you have pipes in an unheated garage, unheated attic space, or cold crawl space under the house, wrap the water pipes before temperatures plummet.

3. Seal off access doors, air vents and cracks.
Repair broken basement windows. Winter winds whistling through overlooked openings can quickly freeze exposed water pipes.

4. Keep a small stream of water running. Allow a very small stream of water to run through potentially vulnerable plumbing or water lines to avoid freeze up.

5. Open cabinet doors. Keep cabinet doors open to allow heat to keep the internal water pipes warm.

6. Find the master shutoff.  It may be near the water heater or the utility room. If any pipe bursts in the house, this valve turns off the water. Know where it is, and what it does.

Winterization for Sprinkler Systems