subject: Prepare Your Home For Winter Plumbing Tips [print this page] Winter can be a difficult time for many homeowners, especially for large estate houses that have seen a few years. Plumbing problems can be especially disastrous because the plumbing system is the life pulse of your home. Faulty plumbing can not only diminish your comfort during the winter months, it can be downright dangerous and life-threatening. To make matters worse, inclement weather can mean that, in cases of emergencies, help may not be able to arrive right away. To ensure that your home works smoothly and comfortably during the winter months, Fairfax plumbers suggest several key areas that must be checked and serviced before the frost arrives.
Your Furnace or Boiler
According to Fairfax plumbers, making sure that the furnace or boiler is in tip-top working condition is one of the top priorities on your winter checklist. After all, heat is a definite necessity during the winter! In addition, maintaining the right temperature in your home can affect your other utilities, such your indoor water pipes. Because the furnace is so vital to the workings of the home and servicing it can be quite a large project, it is best to leave this task to professionals.
Your Kitchen Sink
Like heat, food is also necessary to your survival and comfort during the winter months. Your kitchen sink is indispensable for the preparation of food, including providing water for cleaning ingredients and cooking meals, as well as washing up. Fairfax plumbers explain that, because the kitchen sink is generally attached to an outside wall and near a window, it is much more vulnerable to the cold than other indoor pipes. To avoid frozen pipes, which may mean no water or backflow of wastewater, you can have your pipes professionally insulated or use heat tape to insulate the exposed pipes under the sink. Keeping your cabinet doors open can also help ensure that the heat in the room can reach your pipes and keep them from freezing.
Your Hot Water Heater
On cold winter mornings, nothing can help you start your day better than a hot shower. In the same vein, a warm bath can help you endure the cold winter nights. In addition, Fairfax plumbers also explain that hot water running through the pipes daily helps to keep them from freezing so keeping your water heater in tip-top running condition is doubly crucial. Again, due its importance and because of the sheer work involved, servicing your water heater is best left to professionals.
Your Septic Tank
As Fairfax plumbers will tell you, getting your septic ready for the winter is especially crucial because it is located underground and snow and frozen ground may prevent or delay repairs in case of overflow. An overfull septic tank may result in clogged toilets, or worse, backflow or overflow of wastewater, which would be greatly unsanitary and can be present a danger to your and your familys health.
