Articles

Don't Let Your Pipes Freeze

By Tom Nelson, HUD LLB-Real Estate One-Rochester, MI

Buying a HUD Property Series November 2023

Winter is just around the corner and in much of the country this means temperatures below freezing.  With those cold temperatures comes the risk of frozen pipes.  This leads to a great expense, mess and delay in using your home.

Water is one of the rare liquids that expands when it transitions from a liquid to a solid. This is the same force that breaks mountains apart by getting in cracks of rocks the shattering them when the water freezes and expands.  If it does that to rocks your plumbing doesn’t stand a chance.

Consequently, you need to take action if the home is without head or has an exposed area.  Exposed areas may include pipes situated outside the home.  It may also be a crawl space that is well ventilated-good in summer, but bad in winter.  In some homes the attic that id not temperature controlled may have pipes that could be subjected to freezing temperatures as well as uninsulated walls.

There are a number of products that have heated plug in wrapping for exposed pipes.  Another way to temporarily prevent a pipe from freezing is to let the water run a bit faster than a steady drip.  This may prevent the water from freezing for two reasons, 1-moving water needs colder temperatures to freeze, and 2-water is fed from pipes in the ground and the ground temperature is generally several degrees above freezing, thereby, allowing warmer water to dilute the colder water in your pipes.

Enjoy this winter and keep you pipes safe!

Copyright Tom Nelson DASAT Properties, LLC 2023